Mrs. Riches Restaurant — Restaurant in Nanaimo

Featured on "You Gotta Eat Here", and boasting award winning wonton soup, we thought we'd stop in for lunch, finding the place mostly empty at noon on a Saturday.

I started with the wonton soup, and got a small bowl with a lot of vegetables that I feel don't add much. Big, boring chunks of broccoli, carrot and cauliflower take up important broth and wonton space! Broth is pretty good. Wontons are large but a bit bland. I'm not sure what the comparison was but I think the pool must have been pretty small.

I ordered the bacon onion brioche burger and fries. The burger was substantial, but otherwise unremarkable, despite having bacon, cheese, onions and onion rings on it.

House fries aren't bad. Middle of the road, but they also have little competition from anything else, so maybe they just seem better than they are.

Partner had the fish and chips with prawns, which were unfortunately, one of the worst plates we've had in the city so far. The fish is VERY heavily breaded, which makes it extra greasy, and really makes it taste of the fryer, and there was universally more breading than fish. The accompanying tartar sauce was not great, and the 5 small grilled(?) Prawns tasted of nothing but salt.

The only thing that might draw me back here is the foolish k2 burger challenge, because I'm a sucker for absurdity.

(I will at least suggest that they subscribe to the US theory of 'more is better' because you get a LOT of food even on the normal orders)

With all respect to John Catucci, you absolutely don't gotta eat here.

The above with sodas (free refills) came to...

So.... place looked closed and looked completely empty. Went inside and they had everyone there clustered in the one corner of the restaurant so instead of having a nice amount of room when you only have 3 tables in to eat you are sitting RIGHT beside the other people. The server was very friendly and helpful. 5 starts for the server. So I order a beer. It comes and the lemons rotten....look at there menu and it's probably one of the worst menus to get through. Eventually just got the taste plate to share with my friend. Came out quick....probably because they didnt cook the garlic bread.....everything was pretty soggy feeling except the woutons. So I get up to go to the washroom and find out that one of the two stalls is out of order.....the door swings back and they didn't have it closed so I didnt even notice the sign till I went to close it. Went to the other stall and the toilet seat wasnt even attached!!! I just about fell bare butt onto the public bathroom ground. Went back out to my table, ordered another beer, which came with another rotten lemon. And I mean besides the fact it was rotten, it wasnt a lime!!! Anyway. Pretty much just left after that. Wont be going back, felt like trash after eating the...

It was a grim, gray day outside, but my wife and I had some things to do, and we wanted to spend time with a friend. So we headed on down to Mrs Riches for lunch. It started to rain, then to snow, but we were not deterred.

Arriving at the restaurant, we were promptly greeted, welcomed, and shown to a comfy booth. With menus in hand, we examined the selections. I usually go for the chicken thumbs, delicious tender chicken breast strips, but today, I felt like trying something different.

I ordered the teriyaki chicken, with fries. It came with tasty veggies(broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) seasoned with a steak spice, and an excellent portion of chicken in teriyaki sauce. The meat was hot, juicy, and satisfying, and the sauce was excellent. I even dipped some of the fries in it.

For dessert, I had a slice of chocolate cake, with whipped cream. Five layers, with a fudge icing. Delicious.

Our waitress was attentive and we had a good experience. This is why Mrs Riches is a favorite...