Reviews for Simonholt Restaurant in Nanaimo, BC
Nice atmosphere, but service was terrible. Had dinner with 4 people. It took forever to take a drink order then a long time to... then get the drinks to the table. Food was just okay. Ordered the lamb which they reccomend to get medium rare, which I didand it came well done. The server was nowhere to be seen to check in on us or even offer a second round of drinks. When he didshow up I showed him that the lamb was well done, and he didn't know what to do... said it would take a long time to send me aproperly cooked lamb, then disappeared to talk to the kitchen/manager and never came back until everyone finished their meals,then just offered 50% off the over cooked lamb. If customer service isn't a priority to a restaurant, it's not a place I wantto ever eat at again. Combine that with average tasting food and it's a definite reason not to eat here. Read more
Food is pretty good, but when a waiter simultaneously spilled two drinks on two guys laps, the manager only offered to comp the... drinks. Definitely not an appropriate response to such a major mistake, but after a great deal of debate with the manager, thetwo guys got their meals comped. Should have just started with that. Staff are usually friendly, and the atmosphere is casual.Great place for an expensive pub-style meal and an equally expensive drink, or to watch the game, they just need to brush up onthe finer points of hospitality. Most of the staff and managers are young students, or just young in general, so lack ofhospitality (and life) experience is definitely understandable. Great place to go to support working students. Read more
We had a group of 6, made a reservation in advance to celebrate one of our friend's birthday tonight. After waiting awhile,... watching workers walk past us and ignoring our table we ended up walking out. Not one worker said anything to us as we wereleaving. Absolutely appalling customer service, we ended up going somewhere else and had an incredible time. I wouldn'trecommend this place to anyone. Read more
This restaurant was recommended to us as “the best in Nanaimo” What a joke. I had the 10oz stake. It was alright, nothing... surprising but not bad. Not exactly sure if it’s worth almost $50 price tag, but I let it slide. Inflation, right? My wife hadthis pasta in picture. I only had a taste and a piece of salmon from it, and as we are leaving I already feel little weird in mystomach. But I let it slide too, I have weak stomach I get this a lot. My wife finished the whole thing and got the worst foodpoisoning entire night and was still throwing up next morning. And she rarely gets food poisoning, it’s usually me, as I haveweak disgust system. You should be grateful that we didn’t go full Karen the next day in your restaurant. We will never setfoot in this place ever again. Read more
We were in Nanaimo for the day and decided to give this restaurant a try for dinner. Unfortunately, we weren’t happy with our... food. My pasta was flavourless and hard, and my sister’s rice was wet. The service was good and our server was really nice,but we weren’t impressed with the food. Not worth our money unfortunately. Read more
We have had many enjoyable meals at Simon Holt in the past, but we will not be returning. At the beginning of last month my... husband called the restaurant to book a dinner reservation for his birthday. We called early because his birthday coincides withFather's Day weekend and we knew it would be fairly busy. We have had his birthday meal at Simon Holt in the past, almost alwayson Father's Day weekend. When he called, the young woman on the phone seemed confused, she told him she would need to speak tothe manager. After speaking to the manager she returned to tell him that they had space still for that weekend, but "didn't wantto have to set up a large table because it was a busy time." My husband said "so you won't reserve us a table?" And she said"no." We were requesting a reservation for 6 people plus 1 infant in a highchair, hardly a massive party. Apparently our moneywasn't wanted, so we took it elsewhere and will continue to do so. Very disappointing. Read more
I had a disappointing dinner experience so I was hoping my lunch would make up for it and it really did. Very nice servers,... attentive but not overly so and very friendly. I just popped in for a quick lunch and was seated on their rooftop patio whichwas lovely! I had the bbq chicken and brie wrap (very good sized portion) and a glass of rose. For such a simple dish theflavours were complex, there was a fruit chutney on it too with apples that complimented both the brie and bbq flavours reallynicely and the chicken was very tender and moist. I had the French rose and it was crisp and refreshing, finished it off withthe key lime pie, for me I would prefer it a little more tart, it was quite creamy and sweet, but still very good. I'm onlyvisiting but I plan to return to the island soon and I will definitely come back! ???????? Read more
This place is where it's at! Great food. Great drink. Friendly staff, Brynn- our bartender was so attentive and amazing... ???????????? Definitely will be back again - and I highly recommend this place! Can't wait to visit this place again???????????? such a great atmosphere Read more