Gina's Mexican Cafe — Restaurant in Nanaimo

Omg! This place is atrocious! The name claims it’s MEXICAN, yet the server refer to the menu as “sort of Tex-Mex”. THAT should have clued us in, as to the sort of terrible gastronomic experience we were about to embark on. The rice is bland… this is the “mexican” style rice that comes with all meals as a filler. If you can’t nail the basic rice, wow! The sauce tasted like it was out of a can. Not of a good brand one with premium ingredients. No no. More like the bargain brand that doesn’t matter which kind you buy, all taste pretty much the same. Terrible! I was conflicted when I read the reviews for this place before posting mine. How is it possible to have so many failed ones so often and so recent, while also receiving good ones? Are they paying neighbors/regulars with discounts?? Based on my experience and how others also agree with my view on their food based on their experience as well, my guess would be the dishwasher is being allowed to cook from time to time. How do you mess up an enchilada? That’s what I got. Seemed that enchilada never saw the inside of an oven…. Maybe a microwave over, cuz the tortillas used for it sure had signs of it had been made in a microwaves. And every answer I see from the restaurant claiming they are known to have good food. I think it may be words from people who Can’t cook and can’t afford good food. I definitely would never recommend this place. Server could be working a cash register at a gas station with easy, with her attitude. Definitely wasn’t helpful when asked questions about items on the menu. Does she not ever taste the food? Her personality was heavy. Someone who is negative and unhappy in life. That shouldn’t transfer to the job… but that was something we overlooked. Could be a bad day for her, but the food was a dead sentence for This place. Wouldn’t even recommended it to my worse enemy. Terrible food. We taste things and left it all on the plate. We just paid and left. Last time we will ever go there when on the island. Under new management perhaps? Under lack of management? What is the story? How did it go from 4.2 stars here with over 1.6K reviews, to be such a disappointing experience to so many ? It’s like a hit and miss when it comes to The reviews. I’m serious. Don’t let the dishwasher cook. Clearly our food wasn’t...

We stopped by Gina's to have lunch on a Saturday while a friend was in town and staying nearby.

The place was probably half empty and we were seated promptly inside (the patio has no liquor license).

You are given a small basket of chips and salsa to start. Their house salsa is mild and more sweet than spicy, and I enjoyed it.

The ladies got a pitcher of margaritas which were by all accounts delicious.

I ordered diet cola, as I normally do, and was told that they have no diet soda of any kind, which struck me as odd, so I went with normal coke expecting a can or to be paying for refills, but it was a flat cost and I drank 3.

As it was lunch time, we skipped the appetizer course.

When we decided to come here, I was hoping for some good roast pork tacos, but alas there was no pork to be seen on the menu, so instead I had a small order of the beef nachos, which were plenty cheesy, and had a decent amount of beef and possibly too many tomatoes. They came with their own side of salsa. Guacamole was extra, but the portion is generous. For one person (of my considerable size ((I'm fat))) they were maybe a little small, but they'd be a great opener for two people to share without getting super full.

Partner ordered the cheese quesadillas and shrimp flautas combo plate. Their flautas here resemble more of an egg roll style than a traditional flautas, but they are very crispy. The shrimp inside were ample albeit a little bland. The cheese quesadillas were very simple, but very crispy and tasty.

Our friend had the huevos rancheros, and I was impressed with the sheer volume of food on her plate, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was also hoping for some good house made hot sauce because I'm a sucker for that stuff, but their go to sauces are Valentina's on the mild end and El Yucatan green on the spicy end.

By the end of our meal we wanted to try dessert but our stomachs would have none of it, so I'll have to fill that in next time, because we will be back.

Lunch for 3 with a pitcher of margaritas and tip came...

We should have trusted the negative reviews we read before coming to Gina’s because they were all actually accurate. The most bland food I’ve ever had. There was no authentic flavour and the main flavours were salt and pepper.

We waited 30 minutes to get a table which was totally fine because it was a dinner rush. However it took 1.5 hours for our food to actually arrive! Our table was dirty from the last customer and I had to ask 2 times for the waitress to wipe it down. The table even had a dead moth on it…

Our water glasses had something floating in it (lemon from the previous customer maybe) and my margarita glass had someone’s lipstick on it!! Like legit someone’s lipstick, the glass was not washed and I was drinking from it. I don’t even want to consider the covid exposure there. The waitress kindly replaced my drink which I appreciate because that’s the only item I had as I waited for 1.5 hours to get my order.

The food was bland, like seriously just salt and pepper. The cheese nachos were the only thing that saved the night as they tasted okay. We ordered guacamole for $3 and they gave us a teaspoon worth and said ‘this was all we had left’ but then proceed to charge us full price for the guacamole lol. After we reminded her that she didn’t bring us our full guacamole, she removed it from the bill.

All in all, not a good experience. The waitresses are friendly I suppose, the building is a quirky pink color but I would NEVER spend money here again. Trust me, my family and I love to eat and love to support local small business but this is defs...