Dinghy Dock Pub — Restaurant in Nanaimo

I never post reviews, but feel compelled to this time .. A BAD EXPERIENCE GENERALLY.. READ ON.(note that some good reviews are from Google local guide reviewers who get perks , just saying..) First time to Dinghy Dock, from description on site and menu thought it would be delicious food, and a nice restaurant. This was a special occasion and we wanted a great experience. The boat ride was the best part, and was a nice experience with the captain friendly and informative. the only reason 2 stars not one. The food however and the general feeing, NOT. On entering, the music was blasting like a party night , but they did turn it down somewhat. THE FOOD, -The WORST FIRST..the corn fritters ($13.) were so over deep-fried that only two small pieces had any batter showing the rest were just like what is left in the fryer. tried to eat them, but did call attention to the waitress who said "what do you want me to do about it" then gave me a concillatory stock answer, "thank you for bringing this to our attention!!!" -no real feeling for the unhappy customer. at all. I have had corn fritters everywhere in the world and know what a good one is. These were so terrible(she took off 25% on the bill , no taking it off the bill totally, I guess, because we had eaten a couple pieces from the mess) but they should never have been served . A good cook would have know they were overdone. We should have sent back right away but we didn't want to make a right fuss off the bat. Not to mention when trying to grab one with a fork it was so hard it went flying and spattered my brand new shirt. (waitress said, they are finger food) Anyway...TERRIBLE! Also, the brussels sprout dish which had been appealing online, had been taken off the menu. (another customer expressed disappointment they weren't available also) It was replaced by a large mess of fried cauilflower, no garnish & greasy. The salad was average, what you'd find anyway, baby green etc. Thegarlic parmesan fries were also very greasy and appeared to have been sprinkled with extremely strong garlic juice that was bitter and awful and shocking when you bit into it, and then sprinkled with a dusting of parmesan for $9. Picked around them as we were hungry but not good. Every other place serving garlic parmesan fries coats the fries and then fries them, this was a weird and unappealing version. The crab cakes were okay nothing outrageously good, but they and the salad the only decent part of a $51. lunch, plus tip. Yes, i still tipped her. Then , you have to wait an hour to get off the island. which was another 20. for the two of us. So almost $80. for a bad experience.

I would never recommend this place to anyone, will tell others how bad it was for us, and would never go again. It was a birthday celebration, and had it not been for discovering the wonderful Stella Trattoria, in the Old Town later in the day and for the SAME MONEY having a three course outstanding meal with a sensational dessert, the day would have had a dark cloud on it. You had better up your game and think about what decent food really is and what good customer service really is and operate this a a toursit destination, not a local dive. We are no strangers to the food service/hospitality business as both frequent restaurant customers and previously on the service/quality sides and this was NOT a...

Every summer when my family and I drive to Nanaimo from Calgary, the Dinghy Dock Pub on Protection Island is always at the top of our list of restaurants to visit. The experience of riding the ferry across the harbour, fishing as we wait for our meal, enjoying the gentle ocean wind on the outside patio, and having some great calamari while watching the sail boats go by is, without a doubt, the best part of our vacation. At least that's normally how our experience goes and we were anticipating another fantastic Dinghy Dock visit today (July 11, 2021). Sadly though, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

When we arrived, we starting to seat ourselves on the outside patio, as we've done many times before without incident. A hostess who identified herself as Muriel took issue and told us that we're not allowed to seat ourselves and that we needed to wait in the line that had now formed since the ferry arrived (despite us being the first family to disembark the ferry). My Mom explained that we requested the table situated with half sun/shade (sun for her, and shade for me due to my sun burn). Muriel rudely explained that the patio is no longer self-seated and proceeded to seat the next family waiting in line. To all of our shock, Muriel proceeded to take the next family in line directly to the table we requested in what can only be described as an intentional act of childish spite for attempting to seat ourselves.

The other family, who overheard the conversation, politely declined the table that Muriel insisted they sit at and asked to sit at one of the other 3 vacant tables on the patio. Muriel was clearly salty that she was unsuccessful in having the other family sit at our requested table and when she returned, she directed us to sit inside the pub. Again, we requested the table on the patio to which Muriel boldly exclaimed "DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM HERE?!?"... Unbelievable!

After some heated dialogue by both sides, a manager named Ashley came out and attempted to de-escalate the situation and apologized for the way we were treated by Muriel. Unfortunately, the confrontation had gone on for so long that it really ruined our appetite and we did not feel comfortable staying for lunch due to possible retaliation. Ashley apologized again and refunded our money that it costed us for the ferry.

If we ever decide to return to the Dinghy Dock in the future, I really hope that we may have a better experience like the ones we've grown accustom to over the many years of being returning patrons. Sadly though, this recent visit really shook our confidence and left me and my family feeling incredibly disappointed, not to mention humiliated at the spectacle of this ridiculous and...

My first visit to the DDP today; my wife has been once before. It was a beautiful July day. My brother and his wife were visiting from Alberta, and the four of us went for lunch.

If you're not already familiar with getting to the DDP, the boat ride over to Protection Island is $14/person return, so you basically need to add that to your restaurant tab. The cash-only ticketing system was quite inefficient; the young guy selling tickets just prior to boarding had to occasionally use the calculator on his phone to figure out people's change. There's no orderly system for ticketing. We, along with many others, had been seated in the "waiting room" well prior to boarding, but when ticketing began, other people just walked in and cut into the lineup ahead of everyone else.

The boat is small; our 12:10pm sailing was packed, I'd estimate 25+ passengers. A few people were left behind on the dock, so you should arrive early if you really want a seat at peak sailings. The crossing takes about 10 minutes and is pleasant enough. I was glad our out of town guests could enjoy that experience.

At the restaurant, we were seated quickly (we chose a table outside) and provided menus, but we waited 15+ minutes before our order was taken. When our server eventually arrived, she asked if we "needed a few more minutes to decide" and I really had to hold my tongue 😆

The menu selection is decent enough, basic pub fare. But expensive. The two-piece halibut and chips is $39 (two-piece cod and chips $32). We all ordered a burger, $25 each, and we were surprised at how small they were! Compared to a burger at Bin 4 or downtown at Top Notch Burgers, these were about half the size -- but for about the same price 🤔 (I didn't notice what other people at nearby tables were having so I can't really speak to portion sizes of other items on the menu). Taste-wise, my small burger (bacon cheese) was pretty average, definitely nothing special. The bun was untoasted and slightly cold as if it had just come out of the fridge. Honestly, I've had a better burger at Wendy's.

Basically, you're paying for the overall experience, which is neat: a floating restaurant on a small island, accessible only by boat. But in the final analysis, we paid over $150 for the four of us, one drink and tip, and of course the ferry included. I was glad we could share a bit of local colour with our guests today and I mostly enjoyed my first visit there. But my wife and I certainly would not consider the DDP for eating out on our own when there are so many other much better food...