The Schooner Restaurant — Restaurant in Tofino

Over priced for what it is, food is passable, and the service was pretentious, rude and disappointing.

The food was ok, but generally heavy and very reliant on cream. The halibut (which they push as one of the more expensive dishes) was slightly overcooked and covered with a rich sweet sauce that tasted more like caramelized onion then the "apple peppercorn brandy sauce it was meant to be." It was also oddly served with a cup of plain salted rice and a roast pepper. The "chowder" was a overly creamy bisque with bacon and while the fish was cooked decently inside it, garnishing it by floating a lemon on a bed of cabbage is just odd and unnecessary. The calamari was ok but too breaded and salty (and also weirdly garnished with an oily attempt at a shrimp chip) and the bacon wrapped scallops were under-done, small, and wrap in a thick, overpowering bacon. The fish and chips were well done and makes me think this restaurant should stick to pub food.

The service deserves a lower score. We were not offered drinks when we arrived and the server instantly made us feel unwelcome with rude comments that might have been meant to be jokes but were off putting. We were meeting someone and poured some of their beer into our water glass to try it (since we werent provided with drink menus) and the server finally came by telling us "I guess you won't be getting water tonight". Worst part is, I guess he was serious and I had to ask the girl who brought us food for water and she responded by saying "there are already water glasses here" and pouring water into dirty glasses we used for beer. The waiter was inattentive, regularly only cleared half the used plates and cuterly and left the majority of it on our table for most of the meal. For a place that stresses that water glasses are just for water, they should have higher standards for clearing tables and checking on their guests (almost never).

In short, this restaurant tries hard to be "something" but it's basically an over priced decent pub serving...

There's always a first for everything. Before the deep dive, I should mention our server was 10/10 fantastic . I didn't catch her name, but she was tall with brown hair and very lovely.

My girlfriend ordered the crab stuffed halibut.. after seeing her disappointed reaction to the first bite, I had a taste and confirmed the fish was very dry. The server came over to check in on our meal and offered to remake the fish. Normally, this isn't a big deal.

About 5 minutes later a gentleman stormed over with the plate of fish in hand stating that he's the owner and has been cooking food for many years and that the fish was not dry placing the plate back down at our table. He began to explain why & how it was cooked to perfection, all done through in an aggressive manner as if he took this personally.

As soon as he left, my girlfriend broke into tears about the situation, which ruined our dining experience. Disgusting behavior by a so-called owner & chef. We drove from Ucluelet just to dine here, and I was talking highly about this restaurant all weekend prior to arrival.

Still in shock, I left the table and confronted this guy. He explained to me more about how much cooking experience he has and what a perfect texture to fish looks like, clearly missing the point. He made my girlfriend cry and ruined our experience.

I am not a professional chef, but I know the difference between a $50 restaurant piece of fish vs. what my mom cooks (sorry mom, I love you). I asked him if he tried a bite of the plate and how he precisely knew what it tasted like.

It took all my willpower to keep calm while talking to this child stuck in a man's body. Unsolicited, the lovely server came back and took care of the bill after witnessing her boss' embarrassing behavior. I have a strong feeling this isn't the first time something like this has happened before seen through staff facial expressions. "Oh no, he's done it again."

note to restaurant: you should hire someone full-time to 'keep the angry coach...

Okay - I just had to share my experience here: my boyfriend and I are absolute foodies, and I am always looking for the best meals. We came here after searching the entire Tofino strip and every restaurant had over an hour wait. We got right in at this place. To my surprise, the menu was absolute fire (surf and turf) and the service was awesome. We had Justin as our waiter and he sold us on so many delicious food options. We ended up having the Admiral’s seafood feast for two and it was TO DIE FOR. Everything was top notch, you’d be hard-pressed to pick your least favourite item. It came with fried oysters, fire-grilled prawns, mussels and clams in an amazing sauce, blackened cod with pineapple salsa, stuffed halibut and another fish (can’t remember), scallops, and crab legs! It all came with delicious garlic butter for dipping and homemade sourdough loaf. Also the basmati rice and seasonal vegetables were unreal (whipped yam and broccolini) - I didn’t think vegetables could taste this good! Also the starter raw oysters were some of the best I’ve ever had (with a tequila cucumber mignonette). The waiter recommended a local Pinot Grigio which was delicious. Service was unreal, atmosphere was great (sat on the patio), drinks were on point and THE FOOD. OMG. We came back the next night as we had to try the seafood chowder and it was hands down the best we’ve ever had (sorry Cow Bay, this one tops it). It’s a meal size and also comes with sourdough loaf for dipping. The host/part-owner Waylon was great as I ordered a glass of wine the second night instead of the bottle (simple mistake) and he poured a little extra as he took the bottle away—what a guy! Do not...