The Clam Bucket — Restaurant in Port Alberni

I usually have a wonderful experience when eating at the clam bucket, am sad to say today did not live up to my expectations of what I expect when visiting the clam bucket.

The staff; Hostess: seemed annoyed not friendly, told us 3 times to stay at the front and took off with some stuff to set the table for us, then points and says your on the patio, last table and didn't even show us to our table when I saw people before and after us be shown to their table. Main waitress: was more of a I'm friendly cause I'm at work friendly and it showed. Took her near 10min to take our drink orders and little over 5 min to get our drinks. She took our order and we didn't see her for 20 min, and she only came to tell us that one of the orders needed to be adjusted because they were out of a side. She never came to check on how we were, did we need more drinks (it was a hot evening and we were sitting outside). When we got our food we ordered drinks because we had been sitting near a half hour with one drink, then our drinks didn't come till we were almost done our meal. 2nd Waitress who brought some of our food: super rude, didn't bother asking who ordered what and just started putting things in front of anyone, and got none right and seed annoyed to even have to bring us our food. It was mentioned they were busy, but I saw 3 tables around us that got checked on often, and they wouldn't even glance in our direction and one other table I noticed was treated the same, everyone around these 2 tables got smiles and check ins through out their whole visit, I just would have appreciated the same.

Cleanliness: dining area was neat and clean, bathroom however felt like it needed a proper wipe down, which is weird because before covid their bathrooms were always super clean.

I again was not expecting this kind of service from here, as I've always had a good experience dining in here.

I gave 3 stars cause I love the food and I've had better experiences. Normally I would have rated them 5 stars as I love their food and usually have a way better dining...

August 2024 - James Brown might have been the hardest working man in show business but I don't think that he could have kept up with the crew at the Clam Bucket. If you have a sweet tooth you have to try the homemade cheesecake that is different every week. It's on their weekly special menu on every table. Highly recommended. March 2024 - It's back!!! After a hiatus because of COVID-19 soup of the day is once again available! Boy oh boy is it beyond expectations! Every day the chef's whip up a different soup, so if you are looking for a great soup to go with your dinner look no further. Cream of steak & mushroom should not be missed, it's probably even better than my mom's soup which I'm not saying lightly. The other soup that is outstanding is Spanakopita with chicken. The only thing better than the awesome food they serve is the even more awesome staff - everyone from Chef Glen & team in the kitchen to the FOH staff under Ami's experienced hand all the way to the bus staff (McKenna) are very professional and friendly. 1st assessment from last year. Very willing to accommodate individual tastes in my experience. I've tried the fish and chips (cod) and found it to be above average. All the wait staff are well trained and on the ball. But I find one the most amazing things about the Clam Bucket is the kitchen staff - usually just two persons and it's a pretty small space they work in BUT that doesn't stop them from really cranking out an amazing volume of food when it's busy. They are always on their A game and never falter IMO. Puts many bigger establishments to shame IMO....

We were excited as we were finally getting the chance to check out the atmosphere at Clam Bucket this Friday afternoon (4:30 pm). Ordered a beer and mojito and scanned through the menu; decided we would come back another night for food and told our server we were good with the drinks.

Well. Our server decided to cop an attitude and then told us that they were a “food primary” establishment and that we would “have to” order food. Never heard of this before and there are no signs posting this anywhere, so this was news. After trying to bully us into ordering something we asked if we had to order something as we would just leave. Get this; she went to the kitchen staff at the back to “confirm” if this was okay. Omg.

I’m not sure why I even tipped or said thank you on our exit, not once but twice to her as she wasn’t receptive at all, and never acknowledged us or said good bye. Seriously the attitude was the worst, most abysmal service. She made us feel as though we were a complete inconvenience. What a joke. Hope you can find some more friendly and professional servers that can do their job properly and not chase paying customers out of...