Dairy Queen Grill & Chill — Restaurant in Nanaimo

My husband and I have visited this DQ several times. Consistently friendly service.

Staff is very accommodating and pleasant, special mention of the "girl with the green hair" and the "girl with the short, light blonde hair" who were both working on the day shift this past Wednesday, August 30th (sorry I don't have your names)!!! Both these young woman were extra nice and know what "going the extra mile" means. :-).

I'm taking off one star as I noted staff handling money and then proceeding to pour coffee etc...it is SO easy to cross-contaminate food and serving items, even if not actually cooking. Touching the edges of cups after money, etc is just as bad. I think that hygienic issue needs to be addressed immediately.

There was also an unfortunate incident while we were there of a man coming into the restaurant (appeared to be high on something) who was disruptive and upsetting. Going in and out of the doors repeatedly, looking at customers in a threatening way and at one point, slamming one of the outside doors close to our table, so hard that I was shaken up when the walls actually shook ! The staff did not seem to be aware of this going on. Something to keep in mind, for EVERYONE'S safety. If I had been the manager at that point, I would have been calling the police.

As far as the complaints about the oil and deep fryers here, I can't comment. We usually order only decaf coffee (excellent) and sometimes ice cream.

Keep up the good work DQ staff. :-) Your smiles and good service are appreciated.

Helpful votes most...

I went in last Thursday (August 7th) around lunch time - to pick up an ice cream cake for a 17th year service award celebration. I am a neighboring business owner (in the same industry - Quick Service Restaurant). From the moment i walked in, i was impressed! The restaurant was immaculate and tidy. The dining room was fairly full with the lunch crowd, as well as a small line up at the front counter (understandable). I went over to select a frozen cake and stood 3rd in line. The gentleman taking the orders at the register was super pleasant and efficient. As soon as i stepped into the lineup, he glanced up and saw me standing with the cake and asked if I needed it decorated. I shook my head and said no it’s fine as is. The line up wait was quick (not surprising given how quick and effecient the team worked). By the time I got to the counter, i sheepishly said i changed my mind and if its not too much trouble to decorate a message on the cake (I anticipated a wait - which he tried to avoid by preemptively asking while i was in in line). He said absolutely no problem. At the same moment a young lady was bringing out some cakes from the back - he asked and she cheerily took my cake in the back, and in what seemed no time at all, brought the cake back out, perfectly customized with the message. I was very impressed. And the cake was a hit with all our staff. Bravo DQ...

I was really surprised when they didn't flip our blizzards upside down but considering the service and attitude, I wasn't surprised.

Overall, I got the impression that we were being rushed to order as soon as we walked in even though it was totally dead. For our group of 5, you'd think they'd be a bit more inclined to make a sale, but hard to do when you feel like your being hurried up and out the door. We didn't even get the food we wanted because he wouldn't give us a chance to order anything else after the ice cream before he totalled it off and stood there waiting for payment. It was so uncomfortable that my husband said just grab this stuff they actually let you order and let's go elsewhere for food.

We don't have a dairy queen where we live now, so to people like our kids that the guy was rushing, the experience is special and they truly don't know the menu but he wouldn't even explain what a dipped cone was. We had to explain everything to them. Don't work there if you don't want to work.

In all my life going to this location, this was the worst, coldest interaction any of us had. I got glass in my dq birthday cake as a kid, from the Parksville store that Tore my mouth up bad, still less painful than this experience. Skip...