Smuggler's Cove Pub — Restaurant in Saanich

I want to be has positive as I can so will start with yesterday Sunday, I'm going give a positive ,it was very busy as there was a Japanese older car event at gyro park just down from the pub. I didn't know this event was on or would have gone elsewhere. According to the girls serving there were only 2 servers to manage inside and the patio, it was a hot day so the patio was busy. It is possible that another server was sick but would have thought there should have been a total of 4 servers there. We go there because it's close to home and for driving reasons. So back to my story, I arrived on the patio and went to a table that was free but hadn't been cleaned in fact the credit cd machine was on the table, 15min later a server ask if the glasses on the table we're mine I said no. A few mins later she cleaned the table went away and came back, she asked what I wanted to drink I told her a beer,she went away and a few minutes later she brought me a beer, I would think at this point she would have asked if I knew what I wanted to eat but no she moved to a different table to ask what they wanted (they came about 5 min after me)they he other server came out and took orders from 2 other tables who came in about 10min after me,they hehe they took payments from other tables who were waiting for her to bring machine which was sitting on fixture in front of us. I waited for everyone to get served and payments out of the way which total 35 mins figuring I would get my order for food but not to be,I approached my server inside and said I have been here for 35 min and haven't been looked after for food, I was upset with no service and told her this ,she said would you like to order now or not ,I said no but wanted to pay for my beer and proceeded to sit down at my table, she came out and told me I was free to go and didn't have to pay. We have had food problems before and complained to management they gave us gift certificate for our complaint, We try to support the pub because it's local and again close to home but I think something should be done about staffing, food quality. So yesterday was the last straw for me,by the way I went to another pub and was looked after within 30 secs and finished my...

I recently went to Smuggler's Cove for wings night with friends. I had though that it was going to be a relatively large space, but when you go upstairs to the pub you find a fairly small space that has a generous, if somewhat cramped, patio. Most of us ordered wings, which were worth the $5/lb we paid and not a penny more. While they were individually small, which wasn't particularly surprising given the price, they were also incredibly dry, which was a bit surprising and disappointing. I had dry-rubbed wings, and the rub was relatively tasteless and failed to really convey the flavour of dried red-pepper and garlic. My companions, who purchased wings that had sauce-based flavouring, enjoyed their wings more than I, though their wings were also dry. The moisture of the (unevenly distributed) sauce helped to offset some of the dryness.

Smugglers has a modest beer selection, and they actually ran out of their special beer of the day just after we ordered our first pitcher. Nothing on their beer menu was unique; you can get the same (or better!) fare almost anywhere in the city.

Will I return to Smuggler's Cove again? Maybe. When the graduate lounge at UVic is on 'regular' hours again I suspect that it will be my default pub, and Smuggler's will be last-ditch there-is-no-other-place-as-convieniant-and-nearby backup. If you can go somewhere else, conveniently, then do so. If you can't then bring good company and try not to focus...

• Wish I had taken a photo before hand to show how pitiful the natchos were. *

I went to this pub yesterday(Labour Day Monday) with 2 family members. Went to have the nachos and chicken strips as an early afternoon snack as it opened at 12 noon. I have to say nachos had to be the worst I've ordered in a pub....EVER!!! $26 for chips(which actually tasted good mind you), tomatoes, onions which we asked 🚫NO ONIONS🚫, and miniscule amounts of cheese on them. I mean half my chips I picked up didn't even have anything on them. Loaded in onions. Didn't even get the olives it said came with them. No wonder they put "Extra Cheese" as a topping you can pay $4 extra for. I bet that amount extra wouldn't have even been a good amount to make them tastier. 😦😖 I have to say the chicken strip are tasty. Then you get to wash it down with a ?$9.25 a pint for my beer. 3 people one drink each, nachos and chicken strips..... ?$87.00+ without tip! 😳😲 Last time for this rip off joint.👋😞

P.S. I notice this pub doesn't have any manager or staff to answer/remark back on people's reviews. Why? Afraid of the truth...