Modern Cafe Nanaimo — Restaurant in Nanaimo

On August 31 2023 at 615 p.m. I had planned to attend the restaurant next door but on my way by I saw the mussels/clams dish on an outdoor table at Modern and thought I would take a chance.   I saw an table open up but unfortunately I had stood in the wrong place.  There needs to be better signage of where they would like you to stand or go to get a table.   I had waited for some time and the server came and invites someone else to a table.   My fault for not intuitively figuring it out.   That said, once I stood in the right place I got some very speedy service.   Unfortunately there was no more outdoor seating available and I was seated inside.   Not a great start.   However though I was feeling fairly grumpy by this time the efforts of the staff promised something better so I decided to stay.   Very efficient on a really busy day.  I ordered the mussel/clam appetizer and a half order of the oysters. I was struck by the speed and efficiency of the staff.    These people hustle and do a great job.  The owners are getting full value for the dollar.   These are obviously very experienced and highly skilled wait staff. The decor is cool with lots of exposed brick and some neat overhead features.   I'd call it a good spot for a date or a group dinner.   I saw people from a variety of age groups that seemed to be having a nice evening.  Music is sort of modern lounge I would describe it.   It works with the space and wasn't overwhelming.

The food was great.  I was really pleased.   They source all their ingredients as locally as possible and clearly put some real effort into the preparation.   Presentation was great.   I'm sorry that a shot of the half order of oysters has no oysters.   They were great and I ate them all!  The menu has a reasonably broad range that can suit a lot of preferences.  It is a winner.

This was a home run experience all the way.    I would absolutely eat here again and I think it's a treat not to be missed in Nanaimo.  The staff brought me from grumpy and generally dissatisfied with life to a pleased diner even though I was not able to get the outside table.  A really...

I really want to love this restaurant. I have been coming to the Modern since I was a kid and expected good things from the new ownership as their other cafe is excellent. We made reservations to celebrate a friend's birth day last week. When we got there, I was The updated decor is on point. Well-staffed. I was looking forward to a great dining experience.

I ordered a lemonade - it was not good - it seemed like it was just lemon juice with a bit of water. I had to ask for some simple syrup and more water to make it drinkable. Menu choices seemed interesting, but unfortunately my meal (lasagna) was cold. The weird thing was that another person in our party also ordered lasagna and it was not cold. The waitress took it away for a remake but when I got the replacement, it was again cold. By this time, everyone else was almost finished eating and I still hadn't even started. The server suggested a salad, so I asked for a salad with chicken.

I guess ordering chicken on it was a mistake, as it seemed to take a very long time for preparation. By the time the salad came, everyone was done and I was still waiting to eat. I was so disappointed to see that the salad greens had not been rinsed properly and there was actual dirt on some pieces. As I was famished by this point, and all my friends had finished eating, I picked through the salad and ate the decent bits. It is difficult to eat a salad when you have to examine each piece of lettuce before you eat it.

To sum it up: Strange (incorrectly-made) drink, 2 plates of cold lasagna, and a salad with dirt in it. This was my experience with the newest version of the Modern Cafe.

Meal was comp'ed, the server was very sweet and apologized, but I would have expected the manager to make an appearance at some point. That did not happen.

I hate to say it, but I will not recommend the Modern Cafe anymore. I really wanted to like it here. What a...

I honestly don't write reviews often, but I needed to write something for my experience here.

I was traveling from out of town and decided to try The Modern Cafe, but they were experimenting with a new spring menu or something and got the Smoked Brisket eggs benny (not my first choice - but they seem to run out of food options throughout the day here by other reviews).

Unfortunately the food wasn't brisket that good at all. The brisket was rather flavorless, and the "fresh croissant" that made the bed of the benny was extremely hard, I couldn't even pull it apart with a fork to be honest. I think this was by design, but man the hard croissant just wasn't it. The brisket was nice and soft though!

For a single benny and a handful of potatoes, paying $24 wasn't the best feeling either for the amount of food I got. I basically paid $24 for an medium poached egg and a bowl of potatoes (but those were yummy at least).

The staff asked me how the food was, but avoided me after I said the food wasn't that great. Understandable I guess. One of them mentioned how they weren't a fan of the croissant either, but I'm not sure what that was supposed to do 😅

Unfortunately this place just missed the mark for me. Since I'm from out of town and won't likely be back in the near future, perhaps I'd recommend other out of towners to try...