Firehouse Grill — Restaurant in Nanaimo

Maybe it was unusual, but when I was there with my wife, it took an hour to receive a chicken club and some pastas... The waitress took a very long time before taking our order, during which time other guests arrived at their tables and got their order taken long before us. In the end, at least 3 other tables were served and had mostly finished eating before we received our own food, while we arrived before them. After almost an hour the waitress came to us saying the kitchen was backed up, explaining the long wait. Well it sure didn't seem backed up for the other people who arrived after us!! Worst is, my 12$ chicken sandwich's chicken was way overcooked (I'm pretty sure it sat on the grill for half an hour while they were trying to do my wife's pasta or something), the buns were hard and dry all around for about half an inch thick (each), I had part of one pathetic leaf of lettuce which I had to tear myself to make it fit in the burger, and the most insulting I think: only 1 tomato slice, and it was tiny and white in the middle (unripe), and from that part of the tomato where it is hard and untasty, near where its "tail" was (sorry I don't know the exact name for that). They serve the burger open, showing the lettuce and tomato on one side, so I really don't understand why the cook thought it was a good idea to put that tiny white tomato slice there, where I could see it plainly.... At the end, when bringing us the bill, the waitress said she gave us a discount for the long wait. We received a biiiiig $2.58 discount (for waiting half an hour too long, that's like giving us half the minimum wage salary!). Considering the service and the food, and the insulting 10% discount at the end, I gave her back her 10% as tip (I always tip 18%+ unless I receive a really bad service like this). In short, I waited an hour to receive an overcooked yet too-quickly-prepared $12 chicken sandwich. I would have eaten much better at McDonald's for half the price. Maybe it is usually good there, I believe it must be, other peoples' plates sure looked like it, but my experience was not a good one and I was insulted even more with a $2.50 discount at the end. Other than that, the restaurant is in an old church and looks...

Firehouse Grill has been on our "need to go" list for awhile, and as our time here is starting to dwindle, we thought we'd come by for dinner on an average Thursday night.

First impressions - this place is loud. It can't do much about that, because it's a brick firehouse with a 50 foot ceiling, but don't come here expecting a quiet intimate evening. You're gonna have to talk to be heard.

As mentioned in other reviews, I'm a giant fatass and I'm going down the keto path to try and deal with that. Because of evil carbs, we opted for no appetizers. (The partner, bless her, encourages me and doesn't order delicious appies when she knows I can't have any.)

I opted for the tuna and salmon mixed sashimi with a side of avocado. For the price, you get a large portion of fish, but at least tonight, the fish wasn't that great. The salmon had a particularly "fishy" taste, and the tuna, while better, still wasn't amazing. They also serve it on a huge bed of spring mix, which seems odd to me, but what do I know.

My partner struggled to narrow down her dinner choice as there were several things that looked good, but ultimately chose the cracklin shrimp and chicken. In the immortal words of the guy from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (almost) she chose... poorly.

The grilled chicken was overcooked, bland and dry, tasting pretty much only of a bit of burned/charcoal flavour. (Not to mention there wasn't much of it.)

There was maybe a half dozen shrimp that were absurdly small and bland, rice that was entirely flavorless, and some veggies that also suffered from a distinct lack of anything.

There was also what I assume is jarred tomato sauce tasting of red peppers and a bit of spice (which didn't at all seem like the creole Dijon sauce that it's advertised with.)

Overall, we were very let down, especially at the price point they sell at, and despite a handful of intriguing rolls on their sushi menu, we won't be back.

It's not rhymes-with-smeechpliers bad, but it's not much better.

Two mains and two pops was...

We’ve been going to Firehouse at the old location for years, so decided to check out the new spot with a group of friends for dinner.

On the plus side it’s a nice location, space is cozy, our server was attentive and friendly. They have the same menu which has a good variety and some solid selections.

My wife ordered the salmon, which is has been her fave dish there (and one she’s probably had 8 times in the past). When it came out, it was raw. I understand that properly cooked salmon is in that “medium”range to use a steak comparison, but this was the equivalent of blue rare. Basically sashimi with a bit of a cooked outer shell.

Usually no big deal, often restaurants err on the side of under rather than over cooking. When brought up to the server she consulted with the manager who sent her back to tell us “that’s just the way we cook our salmon here”. The manager hadn’t looked at the state of the food to actually gauge how it was cooked, and as I’ve mentioned we been there multiple times with the same dish, so know how It’s usually cooked. We explained that to the server, and again without actually coming out to look at things the manager told her to give us “a discount” on the item. Ok cool, they at least are willing to compensate.

But when we get the bill it’s a whopping 10% off the salmon, taking a $32 meal (that my wife was barely able to eat)down by a whole $3.

Two of us also had the chicken sandwich, which had some good flavour but was extremely dry and didn’t have a whole lot else on the bun to offset that.

Overall a disappointing experience. As mentioned we’ve been going to them for years but not too sure we’ll be back again...