Original Joe's

Reviews

• SA

  Susan Ananiassen

  2 days ago
  1.0
  Sub-par expensive food, bad service, and then charged 20% tip because we were a group! Email to Bria Sharkey, Director of Operations and she said that it’s common practice in Nanaimo restaurants! It’s actually a terrible business practice and I’ll spend my money elsewhere. No one told us either!
• CT

  Christopher Tassey

  Mar 23, 2026
  5.0
  It's A Great Place to Eat. Absolutely. It has a great atmosphere and the talent is ....talented. lol. Had the French Onion soup today. .... excellent 👌. Took about 12-13 min to make. Perfect. Great vibes too. At least on this visit. I'm new to the area . The interior is clean , organized, laid out nice as well. The pretty girls are fantastic servers. ..Just moved from Windsor Ontario. Gottsta say.....love me some Original Joe's!
• SP

  Surinder Pierce

  Mar 21, 2026
  1.0
  On March 20, 2026, I was visiting from out of town and placed a takeout order at 6:30 PM. The system said it would be ready in about 20 minutes, so we headed over. As we were driving, the pickup time changed, and when we arrived we were told it would be another 10 minutes. That additiinal “10 minutes” was extended yet again and we ended up waiting nearly an hour for our food. What made it worse was the complete lack of apology or acknowledgment. Yes, it was a busy Friday night, but our order was just a burger and a rice bowl, nothing complicated. It was clear our order wasn’t properly queued and that we were bumped behind others. Very disappointing overall. If this is considered acceptable service, I’m glad I was only visiting, as I won't be returning.
• E

  Ånna Evjen

  Mar 13, 2026
  3.0
  I would rate 5 stars for my own experience but two of our party-of-four didn't enjoy their meals. I get chicken strips and fries at every restaurant on VI to compare with others (just for fun) and OJ's took the cake, my favourite so far. One member got the fish & chips and said the fish was entirely flavourless. One member got the nachos and wasn't impressed with the flavour or freshness. One member got the pork bites (?) and enjoyed them thoroughly. I will absolutely be returning as I quite enjoyed the meal, but unfortunately we won't be returning as a family again.
• DE

  Donna Evren

  Mar 10, 2026
  1.0
  The restaurant was not busy but we waited such a long time before our waitress even showed up. Took 15 minutes to receive our ordered drinks and more than one hour for our food after ordering. We had 3 hungry kids with us so one can only imagine how that went. I had to complain about the wait time before we finally got our food served. Waitress never came to check on us or to see if we had everything. We had to tell a different waitress that we needed our drinks refilled which then again we waited another 15 minutes for the refills to be served. Food was alright but not very hot. Asked for the bill and sat another 30 minutes until we got up and went to the front to pay. All in all bad experience for a not so cheap price.

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