Ricky's All Day Grill - Parksville — Restaurant in Parksville

Last two times we were in Parksville Ricky’s there was , (sorry for this description) but he is Darker fellow. He was a very attentive, efficient, polite, friendly server. Another time there was a fellow that loved to tell jokes. He had us in stitches till our food came, as he walked by saying a quick joke each time.He did ask if it was too much. We told told him we loved that. He made our experience so fun! We all stated, that all servers should be like him, Showing energy, fun, efficiency, making us laugh but not intrusive.

Went for brunch with Family today.Sat in last booth, parking lot side. Food was delicious for us all . Service (by I think middle aged woman) was good, but she looked straight faced almost angry looking, no smiles. But her attentiveness was very good.

Went back with my Partner for dinner. A younger girl seated us and gave us our menus. She was very polite. Two servers them came over. The fellow, as he leaned against the side of my booth seat, (I think Marc or Marcus), said “ I apologize, Im training her. I need to shadow...”. The girl Karly asked if we were ready to order. She was polite, efficient but he again butted in & apologized “for training her in front of us” two more times. Karly just kept on serving us very well. He seemed to want to be noticed by the looks of it. I told him to stop that it was ok. I ( a senior) once was trained many moons ago, ai know what its like, Its ok. Instead of waiting until they left the table he looked at her writing and told her to leave a space ......To me ,that may of been embarrassing in front of customers. That should of been done once they left our table. He said my coffee was being made so it would take 4 minutes. The same girl in training brought us our meals. Once 90 % done with our meals, no waiter to train her to bring the coffee or ask if we needed anything. We were left alone. Another gal Bekah, came by and asked if we needed anything. I asked for my coffee. She came back saying it will be made and only take a few minutes, as there wasn't any. So Marcus should of been more concerned with better training for himself too, and made that coffee. Plus, he had left work without telling us his shift was over and another server would take over.

Bekah took very good care of us. We saw the new girl working constantly on the other side, so we were impressed with that . Bekah brought my coffee, apologized for it being missed... Then asked if we wanted anything else brought, then brought us the bill. She was friendly, cheery and efficient. Just Very pleasant.

After we paid. I walked over to tell the new girl that her trainer M should of not kept apologizing, i found it to become rude as she was doing a great job taking our order and serving it. But ‘he’ forgot my coffee and to check on us. She did explain a number of staff had been training her not just one. I thanked her and Bekah and asked their names.

Karly, follow Bekah and you will do awesome in the industry. Check on customers, refills etc.,keep that friendly smile of yours too. You are off to a good start. Lots to learn at first. It wont be overwhelming soon. Thank you to both of you girls and the first two guys mentioned for a job well done. And amazing job to all of the Kitchen staff. Delicious food, awesome plating & very clean dishes! kitchen staff; your food is far better than other nearby Rickys we have been too! The music was a bit unusually loud...

Went in there for dinner on Aug 28, 2023. Ashley was my waitress. I was sat down to a dirty table that was sticky. The menus were sticky as well. There was a dark hair under the plastic covering the menu. I ordered an appetizer, and a meal. It was not busy. The food took a long time to be served, at least 45 minutes to and hour, from the time of placing our order. The appetizer took a long time to be served. After the meal was served the waitress looked over at my table many times, but never bothered to check to see if I needed anything. I needed a refill on my drink, and considering this establishment charges over $3 for a pop, I don't see any harm in getting a refill. The waitress finally got me one toward the end of my meal. I even tried making excuses for her, and even mentioned to her "Maybe your busy tonight?" She replied "I'm not busy it is slow." If she is admitting it is slow then there is no reason to lack on customer service. I believe there are 3 golden pillars that restaurants can fulfil to keep customers coming back. These are providing good food, good service, and a clean place to eat. With my visit the place wasn't clean, the service wasn't good. The food was satisfactory, but to take almost an hour to serve a meal when the place is slow, shows me there is something going wrong with the flow of this place. A waitress in another section cleaned just the top of the table, no cleaning the ketchup bottles, just the bare minimum. A side chore that should be done several times during the day is waitstaff or hostess should clean the menus. They should get out their bottle of spray cleaner and wipe all the menus down. There shouldn't be someone else's hair in behind the plastic of the menu. Menu's shouldn't be sticky and dirty. The table should be cleaned with two different clothes. One for the table and one for the seat part. Never seat a customer down at a dirty table. I spoke to the manager the next day, he sounded sympathetic, said she is still fairly new, and felt like he was pacifying me. The manager never attempted to resolve the complaint. I also noticed during my visit there was no manager walking the floor checking on guests and the operations of the restaurant. I highly recommend all staff take a food safe course, that cleaning policies be implemented for all tables to be cleaned before a customer sits down, and that all the menus get cleaned every day. They should be cleaned after every use. If you don't you can get cross-contamination. So with the high prices, horrible service and unclean conditions this restaurant has, I will not be returning. I was a regular,...

The restaurant has a great atmosphere, and the food is pretty good as well. However, their COVID protocol seems more for show than anything else, they just don't appear to be taking it seriously. Yes, they do have the hand sanitizers available in the lobby, floor markers encouraging social distancing when waiting to come in. And, they also have plexiglass partitions between booths providing greater separation so overall they seem to be trying to do the right things. Unfortunately, that is where things go sideways as it appears masks are optional, and certainly not strictly enforced. We have seen large groups of people walk in, and right by our table with not a single one of them wearing a mask! I can only assume they were neither asked to put masks on, nor refused service if they refused to do so. Also, nobody seems to be enforcing mask wearing when people get up from their table to go to the restroom. There were people walking around with no masks at all. As things are I cannot recommend anyone who has not yet been vaccinated or is concerned about COVID to come to here, at least until they start taking this pandemic seriously. I will certainly not bring my family here for a long time.

UPDATE!! - OCT 2021 We made the mistake of giving this place another try, and it was another fail. The food was great, no complaints there. However, the COVID-19 passport QR codes were not being scanned and verified. The hostess simply glanced at our printouts to confirm that the names match our ID, or at least she pretended to. When I asked if she was going to scan to validate that my QR code was actually valid she said they don't have to which was news to me! Unfortunately, taking into consideration with my earlier experience from a few months ago it would seem that these things are being done intentionally by the upper management. As it is, this place is great for the ANTI-VAX minority crowd who want to dodge the COVID-19 passport requirements with fake COVID-19 passports. Not sure why this place has such major issues with following the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols as every other restaurant in town doesn't seem to have any issues adhering to them like this place! I am definitely NOT...