Minnoz Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Nanaimo

Hotel breakfast has two requirements: be available, and be prepared correctly. I don't need it to be fancy, I don't need it to be absolutely perfect or creative. I just need my order to be done in a reasonable amount of time, and done right.

Our experience at Minnoz was that the food was sort of right and sort of on time, but not fully, in either case.

Our server was friendly and apologetic and clearly hustling hard, but the fact that a group of six or seven guests had ordered just before us shouldn't have meant we had to wait extra time for breakfast -- it's essentially a group of two small tables, not a busload of people. Alas, that's what we were told, more than once, as were other guests. And the flurry included slow seating, slow coffee/tea and water delivery.... so I guess that should have been our clue that the kitchen and service staff was easily overwhelmed.

As such, just as we heard other guests commenting that their orders were also wrong, my eggs were over hard, not over medium, and my wife's eggs were poached light, not hard, for her order of avocado toast.

Otherwise, our breakfasts were decent, and fairly portioned. Coffee was hot and plentiful, and tea was delivered already steeping -- a small point, but an important one, if you drink tea.

Hard to be enthusiastic about a $17 eggs & bacon breakfast not cooked correctly to order, hence the three stars. But yes, if I were staying in the Coast Bastion again, I'd give the Minnoz breakfast another shot, to see if it could in fact be worth the price and the time invested...

I am a fan of Minnows, especially Stephanie. She has served me several times & did everything right with her friendly attentive style. I took my daughter for brunch one day, but it was 5 to 11:00 so we couldn't get brunch. This was a disappointment. We were seated in another person's section. The service was terrible, she got our orders mixed up, our food took exceptionally long to arrive. She brought me something I didn't ask for , blamed it on the kitchen & was generally inattentive, including no spoons! Like how do you stir your coffee? It was woefully disappointing. Next time I went for brunch I was relieved to have Stephanie & told her so. She then proceeded to go out of her way to provide us with prompt , perfect service & the best eggs Benny & mimosa - ever! She has a lovely, friendly personality on top of exceptional serving skills. Overall, that was the only negative experience I have had at Minnows in years of going there. Except for the Happy hour. It's too late! With our downtown office back in the building there are a lot of people looking for happy hour on Friday. We are all home in bed by 9:00 on a Friday. Come on, bring it back at the normal time. Your competitors Top Notch has it from 3-5 & the Prosecco is $7 a glass not $10. Thankfully you have Stephanie keeping customers happy! Well done Stephanie &...

I had dinner 🍽️ and appy hour two nights in a row for this current business trip. I did went here two months ago but it was with a brief stay for a glass of Blue Grouse wine with a group of executives 🍷 during early appy hour before departing for a business dinner with another executive group across the street.

First evening I had the fungi flatbread & the 10 oz striploin. I was so hungry after arriving from Victoria that I had a voracious appetite and the food was amazing.

Second night I missed early appy hour due to complications and had the salmon first, then came back for the chicken pesto flatbread. Again simply delish but somewhat disheartened with the service in late appy hour. I didn't get the chance to order a second flatbread and by the time I finally had that server's attention, I was denied for a second order of flatbread.

Either way, totally recommend. If you stay at the hotel from Wednesday to Saturdays at the Coast Bastion Hotel, you get 15% off dinner entrees and 50% off flatbreads during appy hour periods. Compliments to the chef, hope I get to try again next time I'm...