Cactus Club Cafe — Restaurant in Nanaimo

The absolute worst meal I’ve ever had and for the price we spent I could have eaten better at McDonald’s for less and fed my extended family for a month. My wife and I went out for our 17th anniversary. When we arrived it was quite busy and took 15 minutes to seat us even after we had a reservation. Our waitress was busy talking more to her coworkers than serving us or checking in on our table. It took 15 minutes to have our server ask what we’d like to drink. Then when we ordered, my wife’s drink didn’t come for another 10 minutes after the fact. We should have known then to walk out. My wife’s an optimist though and said hey it’s our anniversary, let’s just have a nice meal. So we decided to start with two appetizers. We ordered schezchuan chicken lettuce wraps and calamari. Then we decided to look at the menu for our meal while we waited for our apples. It took 20 minutes for our appetizers to arrive. So by this point we had been at the restaurant for one hour. We had one drink, just for our appetizers and our waitress had been to our table once. The calamari was $20 and there was maybe a handful. We continued to look for our waitress hoping to order our food so it would come when we finished our appies, not to mention, we didn’t have a drink refill. Finally she arrived to clear our plates and asked how it was. We said we’d like to order our meals. She replied with oh ya of course. Again, should have known better and walked out. I ordered the Millionaire Steak and asked for the 12 oz and my wife got the Cajun Chicken Burger. Well let me tell you, it’s not worth the money. My medium rare steak, which was an 8oz and not the 12 I asked for, was over cooked, tasted burnt on top and over priced at $57. When we questioned the 8 oz steak, the server admitted she made a mistake and said she could get another made. At this point we are going on an hour and 45 minutes. I responded with forget it, it’s too late for that. I asked for salt given the steak had no taste and was given a salt shaker that was rock solid in one clump that had been sitting there for I’m sure ages. Sorry, getting back to the steak dinner - it had zero flavor other than the burnt taste, and it was served with a whole five over cooked fishy tasting prawns and a small scoop of mashed potatoes. Now that the waitress had screwed up, she really avoided our table. Never once did our waitress ask us how our meal was. My wife’s chicken burger was like the size of a piece of paper. So if you’re not looking for much of a burger, or the size of a McDonalds cheeseburger for quadruple the price, this is your place!!! The place is way overpriced portions are pathetic especially for the ridiculous prices they come with. It’s to bad the keg is gone could have eaten so much better for so much less and had...

I came in at around noon at the end of August on a Sunday and was greeted by a lovely hostess. She was the only saving grace this whole review. However, after it went downhill after that. I was seated by her and then ignored by I'd say 4 to 5 staff members for about 10-15 minutes. I'd understand if the restaurant was incredibly busy then my review would show alot more understanding. I showed clear signs that I was ready to order. Looking for a server etc. I actually had to ask someone if they could be my server. The food was excellent. The server I had was incredibly superficial and did the bare minimum that was asked of her. When I had to pay and she approached with the machine. I told her I had to pay with cash. After she heard that she immediately walked away and went to another table to take their payment and didn't give any directions on where I had to pay. I had to get up and ask another server if I could have a box to take home the fries I ordered. I had accidently walked behind the server area out of confusion. The woman who gave the take home box, after I had apologized for walking into the servers area, had said " I acted as if I had owned the place". Even in a satirical sense, I thought it was incredibly rude and unprofessional. At this point I was so taken aback by everything that occurred. The only overall feeling I had was how I quickly I wanted to leave. Mind you I was by myself because I had just finished a job orientation. I mistakenly left without paying and had one of your staff chase me out of the restaurant. Which was absolutely humiliating. I work across the street and at this point don't see myself returning. Usually you'd expect a restaurant like Cactus to have a certain level of customer service. I've personally worked in customer service for over 8 years and I know great customer service when I see it. And that was not it. It's not the end of the world and I hope anyone reading this doesn't have the same terrible...

I've loved Cactus Club since the early days at the first restaurant on Pemberton in North Vancouver. That is a long time! A friend and I hadn't seen each other in two years and chose your restaurant to dine at on Sunday night

Our experience: We were told the restaurant did not use Menus and just snap a pic of the QR Code stuck on the table. I attempted to download an app and , which weren't loading correctly. My firend knew what she liked - she'd have the hunter chicken but without the aspargus. She was informed she could have carrots, brocolli or peppers. She choose carrots.

I didn't know the menu so just ordered what I'd had for many many years Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad. They no longer have Caesar Salad. The waitress read me a few other salads so I chose the Raincoast Greens.

Someone stopped by our table to inform my friend that the Cactus Club use carrots anymore, would she like brocolli or peppers. She changed her order to Szechuan Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

Our order arrived. The Avocado on my salad was fanned out but was all black and bruised on the underside. My friend called someone over and replaced it. The replacement wasn't ripe.

Our service was mediocre but a friendly enough waitress served us.

Complaints No Menu - not everyone uses QR codes Waitress didn't know the menu as she suggested carrots Plate was sent out with avocado that was bruised The replacement avocado wasn't ripe No manager stopped by to apologize Appetizer plates remained on a small table until the end of dinner

I used to love this restaurant and was so very disappointed. Yes, covid changed somethings, but giving up menus, in my opinion, was a...