Willow Street Café — Restaurant in North Cowichan

Cute atmosphere and appealing options, but the food was overpriced and average in taste and presentation. Pop was included in the kids' menu deal, but we were charged extra without notice after one of our kids ordered San Pellegrino pop. All of this would have been forgivable, if not for the terrible behavior of the man I assumed to be a co-owner of the restaurant. We knew we were cutting it close when we ordered our food, so when it got close to the time we needed to get in line for the ferry, we asked if we could get the food to go when it was ready. They brought it out to us and we left, but when we got to the car we realized they had only given us half the order. I went back in to get the other half, making no complaint, but simply letting them know what had happened. The hired staff were friendly and apologetic and all was well. Then the aforementioned owner started making veiled statements, saying things like "Customers shouldn't complain when they were told in the first place how long things would take." He was saying these things only a few feet away from me, and to my surprise, I realized that he was referring to me! I asked him to please not complain about me, right in front of me, particularly since I had in fact NOT complained, but had simply come back to retrieve my food. He then quickly backpedaled, saying something like, "Oh, don't listen to me, I just talk. My partner and I get pretty busy running things," but it was too late. Even if I had complained, his response as an owner/manager was completely out of line and unprofessional. It was after we left that we opened our to-go boxes to find burnt quiche, burnt grilled cheese, and bland pea soup. An $80...

Four of us had lunch on Mother's Day, I found it to be a rather limited menu. The Quesadilla was pretty good, the salad looked excellent and was consumed, as was the Quiche and the scone. The Squasage soup of the day was not a fav, could not tell if there was actually meat in it??? Is this what the name meant? I did not feel like meat so I ordered the Veggie Feast sandwich, the sign promising a veggie delight. It was neither a feast or much of a delight. Some spinach leaves, sliced tomato, something forgettable under the cheese slice (which they should have asked about, when someone orders a veggie sandwich it may mean they are vegan or vegetarian and don't eat cheese). I must say I expected more veggies, maybe at least cucumber, some avocado perhaps, some sprouts, coleslaw, pickles, peppers, the list goes on. Unless they step up their game I would not recommend this sandwich, it was certainly not worth $16.95. The accompanying pasta salad, however, was delicious. Service was lackluster, They were busy but not THAT busy. And when I asked if they had refilled the water cooler, which ran out just before I got there, the waitress actually went inside, looked, they came out to tell me that they had. She was right there, she could have brought a glass of water out with her. Nice to sit out on the patio, above the main street in Chemainus, and watch the people go by, but we will probably not be back...

Service was no where near pleasant, the employees and owner were acting as if they were wasting their time serving us. I ordered a curry quesadilla, which the girl at the till told me was available upon ordering. I sat down to wait for my food and had the owner walk up and say “we have to cook the stuff for that and we aren’t going to, do you want something else?” no refund, no money back, even when asked she refused to give the refund. I ordered a chicken wrap in place of it , which was a few dollars cheaper then my original order and no money was given back or anything to make up for it. Once i got my food it was disgusting. the wrap was worse than a gas station wrap and looked and tasted like it had been in the fridge all night. i took a bite and was sick to my stomach, the chicken was rubbery and horrid. waiting to see if i get food poisoning. i immediately took my food back (1 bite taken) and requested a refund. management refused and gave us a gift certificate we will not be using. that went straight into the trash. this cafe is a joke and the business owners clearly have no clue what they are doing. health hazard. also no mention of any of the ingredients for...