White Spot North Nanaimo — Restaurant in Nanaimo

A Vancouver Island and BC go to for many years. Improved menu with the good original items kept. Items like ' zoo sticks', which are zucchini sticks coated in panko crumbs and deep fried, served with a ranch dip. Tried the new 'Humboldt squid strips' no tentacles here, lovely tender squid strips, also deep fried with a side of 'zoo' dip (ranch dressing) they were supposed to come topped with banana peppers, however ours seemed to skip that step in dish prep, was disappointed in that. Was looking forward to that version of 'calamari '. Also tried the mushroom gruyere Flatbread with arugula. Lovely, crispy crust, light version of an oval pizza, but would have liked to have had a balsamic drizzle for the arugula. It helps it stay on the Flatbread and adds a slight sweetness to the arugula. Overall though, very good. I brought it home and added my own drizzle. Also at our table was the 'spot salad'. A basic mixed greens salad with a bit of salad topping mix, possibly an 'in house' compilation of dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and a couple of other minor ingredients. That was ordered with a piece of salmon for the protein. A good size piece, but thin, also always overcooked. I would have preferred it lightly steamed given that it is such a low fat version of salmon (likely sockeye). Another dish at the table was the 'cobb' salad with the crunchy buttermilk coated chicken breast. It was a good meal size salad with a good amount of protein with the chicken breast, a couple of eggs quartered, greens, nicely sliced half of an avocado, tossed in a jalapeno ranch dressing. All hot dishes were hot, and fresh but took awhile. It was a busy night right at the dinner hour. Recommend going after 8 for a few bites and nibbles to get the benefit of the ' happy hour ' prices. They have 2 happy hour times, the earlier is 3-5. Drink specials change daily. Good micro crafted beers and house beer called' Nat's'. No dessert at our table, but a few choices for those with a sweet tooth. You won't leave hungry. Good, reliable choice of dining establishment. Pleasant waitstaff. Nice place for family get- togethers, or any large crowd get togethers, in addition to those dining solo or couples 'night out' occasions. Will...

Well, it was Christmas Eve day. I was all excited to have Whitespot Burgers and fries and chocolate milkshake.

Parking was easy, plenty of parking and free. Easy access by car and by walking or Uber.

$$$

This is not a drive inn you will find the Drive in on Marine Drive, North Van.

We walked in and yes it is wheelchair accessible and friendly.

We went to the hostess desk and we were waved off as if we didn’t exist, the hostess was extremely rude, then the next customer came up and as well, he was stopped hand gesture, and told rudely to sit and wait!!

Are you serious, in all the years I have come here, I have never ever had the hostess so outrightly rude!!!!

I can partially understand if you’re having a bad day, but suck it up buttercup and be professional and polite and friendly , fake it till you make it!!

We were then seated , our section was busy and it looked as if it was short staffed, the problem , management staffed as if it was a normal Monday not that it was holiday week.

We found out later that Park Royal WS has been closed and moved the staff here and that management was not managing properly.

They were obviously short staffed in the kitchen. Family of 6 had been waiting well over an hour, the server was doing the best he could to accommodate and serving compliment fries, the next table had not been served in quiet sometime as we were served before anyone else.

Looks like Management failed their team.

Bathroom well maintained and the restaurant itself was clean and cheery and bright. The server from the other section came and helped our server which was great , good team work.

The servers were cheerful and professional and well organized.

It was just a shame that your front and back staff did not have it together.

Usually I give 5 stars but this evening failed.

I do not blame the servers or the back staff. I blame management and the hostess.

I felt for the servers and they get 5stars.

The food was delicious and the standard of WS and the menu has a wide selection of different dishes and I can say over the years I have almost had everything on the menu and...

My friend and I went there after a movie for drinks and appys at the woodgrove location. I had to ask one of the staff members if they were closing because nobody had been to our table in 10 minutes. It was actually so awful we were laughing hysterically at by the end.

Someone finally sent service over and we were able to order.

We were brought our food and drinks with absolutely no cutlery and no napkins. We had to go ask for napkins.

The server did not come back for who knows even how long so we couldn't ask for another drink or more food. (It's a good thing my friend and I are patient and we're just out relaxing otherwise it would have been a really frustrating trip two white spot)

Finally I flagged somebody over and asked for another round of appies. Again we were given no cutlery so it was good that I don't mind eating shrimp potstickers with my fingers because everything else was kind of finger food.....

...when the server came back with our napkins she literally tossed them on our table and they landed on a plate with appies....we were so stunned that a server actually did that we just started laughing our heads off at the whole experience. Who tosses the customer napkins? How about just placing them on the table?

We were sitting in the lounge right by the fireplace which was nice but I suppose it around 9:30 10:00 at night they didn't care to offer good service. Lol

Honestly I did not understand what was happening that night but we literally had to ask for every single thing we needed a server did not come to our table once at their own choice. Lol. We had to ask for menus, drinks, and service ....at one point my girlfriend and I were joking that the bar is right there, we can just go pour our own pint and save them the effort! In the lounge side there was only one other table with two people, so it wasn't like they were busy on the lounge side .

My Shrimp Gyoza were really...