The View Oceanside Grill — Restaurant in Nanaimo

Tuesday date night. Covid restrictions have been lightened and we can dine indoors again. With the hardships the restaurant industry has faced, one would assume any establishment hoping to save themselves would bring their A-game. Online reviews all seemed to rave about The View, photos and descriptions of their menu items were drool-worthy. After several shockingly disappointing meals out during Covid times, we were full of optimism that tonight's meal would be outstanding and deliciously memorable. Not the case.

We'll begin with our Caesars, spicy, too much Worcester. Next, appys. We ordered the calamari, it was delicious! Not greasy, at all. Although my hubby isn't convinced it was actually squid...

We ordered our meals (sesame crusted tuna and the steak oscar). We then proceded to wait close to an hour for the main course. We were close to leaving when finally our food appeared.

The tuna was mediocre, edible, somewhat underwhelming and not overly flavourful. The rice was dry and bland, the coleslaw was under sauced and also basic in flavoring.

THE VEGETABLES WERE AMAZING (except for that one undercooked carrot). The beets and roasted carrots, mmmm, I could have eaten a whole plate of those and been a happy customer.

Now, for the steak. My hubby makes delicious steaks at home, he cooks them with care and attention and love and it shows. He asked for a medium rare steak. When it arrived it was sadly, obviously, well done and chewy. He didn't want to say anything because he felt badly, and well, I think we're all a little worried about what happens behind that swinging kitchen door when people send food back.

They took his plate back to redo the steak. When it returned, after I was done my meal (of course I shared while he sat with no dinner), there was an additional helping of vegetables and roasted potatoes. The steak this time was rare, still chewy and covered in gravy. He ate it, more out of hunger than anything. The potatoes, cooked ok but boring in flavour.

Back to the drinks, they advertised "prosecco", $6/glass. Upon asking it was discovered their prosecco was in fact "Baby Canadian"...what?! Thats barely a sparkling wine! And as for the wine, well I won't mention the house wine is boxed because I'm sure most restaurants do that, but dang...what a markup!!

At the end of it all, the long wait, the disappointing food, undesirable drinks, what could we do but laugh. In an industry that is supposedly starving for support, why when I spend over $100 on a meal for two am I left disappointed and feeling as though I've wasted my money?

Long story short, I wouldn't eat here again and I will be sharing my experience with those I know so they don't waste...

I came here for all the good reviews that I saw on Google but it was such a disappointment. The service was fine and the atmosphere was good, but the food is way below expectations. Me and my friend had two entrees, one is the steak and the other is the seafood with coconut rice. The medium steak was burnt on the outside, it was hard and the hard shell tasted bitter and on the inside it was raw,but definitely not juicy, it was both raw in the inside and overcook on the out side. The seafood rice probably didn't contain the ingrediants which they claimed to have. The prawns are tiny and fishy, tastes like it has been frozen for a while. The scallop was no hokkaido scallop, it was very salty and very fishy as well. The shell even had sand in it-I wouldnt have a problem if its just one shell tasting like this but it was every shell, it too was extremely fishy. They were served with exactly same side vegetables and even the steak was served with rice as well. I dont know if this is some kinds of attempt for an Asian fusion but it was a really strange one because every dish looked the same, with the same rice and same side dish. There were no adaptation between different foods, which is some thing should be done with such a price. We ordered a calamari as an appetizer. At least the calamari itself was soft and fresh, but the seasoning taste like it came from panda express or smth like that. It was very random and I can see the attempt of an Asian fusion with the use of spicy sause and ginger but i would really have to say it was not a successful one. I didn't earn my money out of nowhere and spending them on here really disappointed me. I hated to waste food but I really can't finish my dish because it upsets my stomach. Think twice if you are planning to go here. I was so upset with the food so bad I didnt take any pictures, but here is a receipt for reference that I wasn't talking about this...

We've enjoyed several terrific dining experiences at the View. Today wasn't one of them. For Father's Day, my wife and our oldest son visiting from the Mainland surprised me this morning as I was getting breakfast started: "Nope, we have reservations at the View." I didn't object! But regrettably, it wasn't the greatest Father's Day brunch I've had. I ordered the Big Breakfast, which would have been excellent had it been prepared properly. Both the bacon and back bacon arrived on the plate cold. The eggs, ordered over easy, were overcooked. The toast--never seen this before!-- wasn't buttered, or more specifically, only one half of the two pieces of diagonally sliced bread, was buttered, the other three were not. I had resolved not to complain, just eat, but my wife called the waitress over and mentioned the toast. So I explained. Very surprised was I when the waitress replied in a curt, even bitchy tone: "sir, your toast IS buttered." Well, I said, one piece is, three are not. So she brought me a small serving of melted butter. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? Rather than to deal with her again, I wiped clean my coffee spoon and used it to ladle the liquefied butter onto my toast and spread it around. I ate my cold bacon and back bacon, my overcooked egg, and drank my coffee--which was very good. My wife and son, who paid the tab, left the usual 15% tip. I didn't argue with them about it, but I sure wouldn't have. I can't imagine returning to the View any time soon. Update: I messaged the View outlining my Father's Day brunch experience... seems that they couldn't be bothered to...