Bare Bones Fish House & Smokery — Restaurant in Port Alberni

My whole life I've wondered why you never see salmon fish and chips. I would lie in bed, my eyes fixed on the ceiling dimly lit from the street light outside. "Maybe salmon doesn't fry well," I would mutter softly. "What's that?" my partner would say groggily. "No, nothing." "Are you thinking about why there's no salmon fish and chips, again?" "It just doesn't make any sense."

Well, no more sleepless nights.

On day two of my Port trip this summer my mom took a header on the new path down by the water. I brought her to the hospital fearing she'd broken her nose. A couple hours in I thought I'd wonder outside for some fresh air. But smoke had enveloped the valley in a haze. The wind had shifted and a fire on the far side of Cameron Lake had pushed the morose pollution our way. Life is pain and there was no reprieve from it.

A few hours later and my mom was discharged. Possible hair line fracture and possible concussion. I wanted to go home, lay down, and stare at the ceiling wondering about an utter lack of breaded deep fried salmon in the world. How could it be? What was the problem? But my mom said, "Let's go out for lunch." She is made of sterner stuff than I, and so who was I to argue?

Just then a spark of memory lit a fire inside me. I spend hours on google maps sometimes. I refer to it as "looking at stuff from space" and I'd say it's a minor hobby of mine. I'd come across bare bones and a buddy of mine had said he'd been and it was good. Their menu had said they had sockeye fish and chips. I don't think I could fully register it when I'd first come across it. Surely it was just pan fired salmon with chips. I guess when my mom had mentioned that she'd like to go to lunch some faint glimmer of hope had ignited within my subconscious. I said, "Let's try Bare Bones, I've heard it's good.

We got there and were seated right away. It was busy but we seemed to have arrived after the lunch rush. I ordered the sockeye fish and chips still unsure what to expect. My mom falling played inside my head somewhat silencing my life long question. I was so powerless to help her. Would these feeling of futility ever abate? But before long my food had arrived.

Light shone down through the former church windows upon golden fillets of fish with just a slight glimmer of pink beneath. They'd done it. They'd cracked the enigma. It was delicious. It was everything I'd hoped it would be. It was everything I'd hypothesised it could be.

Life is pain but sometimes there...

Was driving through Port Alberni 07-18-23, and wanted to have something to eat. Drove for 14hrs straight, making sammy’s, just wanted to sit down somewhere, and eat some good island food. After seeing the reviews for this restaurant, I decided to go there. I walked in the door, a server looked me up and down, then walked away. The typical “mean girl” behaviour was alluding. I wasn’t sure if it was self seating, as I didn’t want to just barge in. So I asked politely if it was self seating; she looked at me with frustration, didn’t say a word to me and pointed at a table. I was stunned at first. I told her that if I was a bother, I’ll go somewhere else. I didn’t mean to upset or bother her. I followed her to a table, sat down and felt extremely uncomfortable. After waiting for 15 minutes for her to return, I went to use the washroom. While in the washroom, I heard the server talking to another patron just outside the washroom door, “did she finally leave?” I walked out of the washroom, the patron looked surprised to see me, the server realized that I heard her. I walked out without saying a word. I went to subway next door. Two servers were working, that I was able to see. It wasn’t very busy in the restaurant. I don’t know either of these women. I don’t know why that particular server behaved the way she did. Mean girl attitudes don’t belong in the...

Edit, New Owners: Went on Friday for lunch with my mom. Staff: super friendly and helpful. Got to chat with owner briefly, he was happy and chatty, offered up details for further plans for the place, was nice conversation. Dinning area: Looks more spacious with new paint and set up, really enjoyed our visit. Food: we got shrimp and chicken tenders for appetizers and the homemade honey mustard was delish, went perfect with chicken. The shrimp was chimichurri I think, we were happily accommodated to get the sauce on side as wasn't sur we would like it, I enjoyed it very much on the side, my mom wasn't w fan of it. I got halibut and chips and loved the food and tartar sauce.

We had a couple chicken tenders left and fries and took them with us, my daughter who was at school when we went had the cold leftovers and loved it. She can't wait to go herself.

Will definitely be going again.

Only issue was no wifi yet 😆

I do love their food, miss their original Cesar dressing as it certainly doesn't taste the same but it's still good. All their batter options are delicious, I always get half fries and half Cesar. They also have very yummy chicken strips. Their keylime cheesecake is the only desert i have tried and i certsinly enjoyed it. Can say that 99% of my visits are positive, one waitress was a little unpleasant and I only saw...