Crow & Gate Pub

Just makes me happy to be in this special old building! And their Yorkshire Pudding special was delicious and satisfying!

The food was absolutely delicious. The portions were enormous, our server was a darling, and the atmosphere was intoxicating.

The food is fairly average now. They only have about 2 or 3 British pub plates and dishes on the entire menu. Go for the atmosphere & ambiance and drinks instead.

This place is the closest to magic you’ll ever get! Imagine Legend with Tom Cruise and Tim Curry, the little cottage in the woods vibes, Snow White vibes! Unreal food and atmosphere with 2 fire places inside. You’ve never seen anything like it.

Crow & Gate is a really amazing spot to go while on the island. Food is served fast and warm, delicious and with it’s own spin on Pub food. Seriously such a beautiful property with historic value I’m sure. The staff are friendly and professional and keep a clean work environment. Bring your family or date and you won’t be disappointed.

A hidden gem. Crow & Gate Pub is 19 and older. Has a beautiful outdoor patio (seasonal) or indoor seating. Traditional bangers n mash Friday nights. Food looks wonderful and reasonably priced. Lots of free parking. Prices are reasonable, vegan menu option available.

My favourite spot when passing through. I could sit here all day and marvel in the atmosphere

Last was a decade ago but has always been good well worth the drive from Victoria or other island beds

Food always good as is the atmosphere. Sadly they have stopped having pot pies and now only have the top crust. Otherwise good, but small space. Understaffed I think.

Please be aware this is NOT a dog friendly restaurant. Your dog would have to stay outside the patio setting area, there is even a wall dividing the area. It’s ridiculous.

The food is always fantastic, with the beef dip being a perennial favorite. There are also some nice vegetarian options and some dietary restrictions can be accommodated. There is a decent selection of local beers on tap with a rotating guest tap.

Service is prompt and staff are friendly and knowledgeable. The atmosphere both inside and out is wonderful, especially the garden in spring and summer. Dogs are allowed in the garden although they need to be leashed in a dedicated area and can't stay with you at the table.

Meh. Beautiful place with a lot of history. Good beer selection. But the food was pretty limited and kind of disappointing. Go for the drinks and the scenery

Very nice atmosphere to enjoy an awesome meal, warmth of a wood fireplace and a brew. Well worth the drive.

You know every time we to come to this wonderful pub my partner and I are always impressed by Chrissy who knows what we like.
The service is great, the food is always good and consistent.

Beautiful location, great atmosphere and excellent food. Quite busy but worth the wait for a table.

We stopped by as we were taking a country drive. Decided to eat here again, it has been a few years. The food is excellent and the service is wonderful. I had the warm winter salad and would recommend it. We will be back most definitely.

Unfortunate taste of both the food and beer.
The meat in the soup was quite hard.
The steak and mushroom pie was quite bland and cause some stomach issues later on. Both the beers a had (different kinds) were off, the guiness tasted watered down and flat and the dark matter was very old.
Will notbe returning, would not reccomend to any one.

Last stop for dinner for us on our visit to the islands, and the Crow & Gate made made it all the more memorable. Amazing food, and beautiful setting. Definitely recommend the Oyster Soup and Crab Cakes.

It gets a 4 star only because our server seemed to never be around and we had to hunt her down for the bill. Otherwise a great location and food was excellent!

Gorgeous grounds, intimate indoor space, a great selection of bevvies, friendly staff in an authentic English Pub setting! I can remember enjoying this place over 40 years ago when I came with my family, and it's only gotten better with age! You won't be disappointed by the drive, or the destination, should you venture out to this place. VI hospitality and charm at its best.

Not my favourite food sorry to say! N unfortunately the waitress we had well she was not very attentive at all!

Warning for non Canadian citizens! We couldn't get in! We had US proof of Covid vaccination and California driver's license for ID but they require a passport (or photo of passport on phone) to dine in.
So bring passport (or photo of passport) if you are not a Canadian citizen!
The place looked very cozy though. I wish they had this info on their website

We’re told it was 45 min wait for a table, 30 min wait for food. More than enough time for us to dine and get to our flight on time. We were sat after an hour, and gave our orders at 3: 20pm expressing we had to leave no later than 4: 20 to make our flight. By 4: 00 the food still isn’t ready after 40 minutes of waiting. I go and ask if it will be ready soon because we only have twenty minutes to eat. Staff says it is being plated. By 4: 20 I asked again if the food was ready and if they could put it into boxes as we now had no time to eat the meals we purchased. The food wasn’t in my hands until 4: 30. It took 1 hour and ten minutes for 4 meals when we were told food was taking half an hour. I almost missed my flight. Had to eat our food in the car.

I ordered the steak and mushroom pie… the pie filling was dry, over cooked beef stew with a cold
Puff pastry biscuit on the side. I paid $2 for Stilton sauce and didn’t get it. We also paid $8 extra for bacon and $4 for pickled onions and didn’t receive any extras.

So basically I paid to have an anxious hour waiting for my food, that was not enjoyable by any means, just to eat it in a rushed car drive to the airport.

Next time please just be honest with your customers! I would rather be turned away and told we didn’t have enough time to dine rather than strung along because the establishment is understaffed and overbooked. Also, the pie filling should be braised low ‘n slow, not boiled into dry, tough dog food.

Money wasted. Time wasted. Food not great. Not impressed.

I had the Beef Dip and would highly recommend it! Wish I took a photo of it! Stacked with beef and very very tasty

It was awesome! Great food and service! Definitely going back next time out on the island. Highly recommend it it!

Food was VERY good, but it took over an hour to get. I only ordered a Caesar salad and my girlfriend ordered a beef dip. Hardly takes over 15 minutes to make a sandwich and a salad.

As someone that's just moved here from the UK with his wife and 1 year old daughter, we were very much looking forward to going for a pint and some lunch at a proper English pub.

We'd been recommended the Crow & Gate by friends, and we're completely shocked at being turned away from lunch because we had an infant with us (we hadn't looked up the website because we trusted the recommendations). There's not a pub in England that would do the same, and when you consider that it's a simple process of submitting a bit of paperwork to allow minors until 10pm (when accompanied by an adult) as long as food is served, it feels incredibly discriminatory.

Just like being in a pub back home in the UK. Excellent food, the Bailey's cheesecake is very rich, definitely better for sharing.

The food was ok but the views were the best part. Lovely English style pub with a wonderful garden and small pond. I saw a humming bird and a frog! I ordered a steak and mushroom pie for food which was warm and filling. Definitely a good spot however I’d recommend reserving a spot. The pub was busy even for a Monday night.

LOVE THE CROW! Honestly the best food! The best service and I HIGHLY recommend to everyone if you are in the area, GO TO THE CROW!

I'm saddened to write this, as I love the Crow and Gate, but their wait times are outrageous and the food isn't as wonderful as it has been in the past. Today we waited 50 minutes to get in, then 1 hour and 20 minutes for our food. We ordered the beef dip, with salad and roasted potatoes.

Lovely gardens to walk around. Outdoor seating area was nice. Had the seafood chowder and Reuben sandwich. Both were great. Also at the table was the beef dip and shrimp sandwich. Lots if shrimp in it. Good sized portions. Good value for price. Highly recommend.

The old English gardens, pub, food and atmosphere were fabulous. However, the wait for a table and time taken to serve food were unacceptable.

Exceptional restaurant. Fabulous, friendly and happy staff. Food was delicious, and the drink (I said 'surprise me') was fantastic too. Such a great environment to unwind with a meal in a vibrant but quiet space. We were there during the 2nd wind of the heat wave of 2021 and the menu was 'cold' which was great. Good selection considering and the flavour was phenomenal. Big thanks for a much needed quiet evening meal out. Actually excited and looking forward to going again during 'hot meal season' just to see what they can do given how amazing the 'cold meal' menu was.

A true English Pub. The food is delicious and the staff very friendly. We love this restaurant!

Still a fantastic destination!
Property is great-staff is on top-best service in years-menu is modern for pub food with simple quality plant based options.
Look forward to our next visit.

Wow. It really felt like being back in a small pub in England. Great atmosphere. Great food. Great service. And they even had Smithwick’s Red Ale!

This little Pub is absolutely amazing. From the location, to the service to the building and plants. What a cool experience from start to finish. Worth the visit.

Delicious burger, love the lettuce salad and potato salad! Try to go here at least once every time we travel to Vancouver island. Prices are still reasonable (August 2021). Always recommend this place to friends and family.

Wish I could give 0 stars. I have never been treated so rudely for having cancer and needing to wear a mask. As an immunocompromised stem-cell transplant blood cancer patient, having both vaccines means I'm still susceptible to COVID transmission. A friend of ours went ahead to grab a table, with the idea that we would wait until a table outside became available.
When ordering my drink, my waitress told me, "I can't hear you. " As if I was there to cause a scene for just sitting in a chair. Because I was wearing a mask. My family closest to her heard me just fine. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and said it again quickly with my mask down before replacing it.

Myself and my mother went to step outside into the large garden to get away from the cramped seating and maskless waitstaff, just to wait away from the tables in the grass so I could feel safe while we waited for our table. We were yelled at, told we HAD to wait inside no exceptions, and we explained that I was immunocompromised and would like to sit in the outer garden. Told begrudgingly that we could sit on this one bench. That's fine, I wasn't expecting to be given a table for it, I just wanted to wait where I would be most comfortable and out of their way.
Our drinks arrived, and my father tried to bring them out for us while the rest of my family waited inside. He was accosted at the door, told he wasn't allowed outside, and he loudly explained that one of us is immunocompromised and was waiting outside. We stayed where we were told, had our drinks, and he went back in. Then the table waiting to be served was informed that if they ordered food inside, they had to stay inside. So nobody could order food for me for when our table was ready. When asked when that would roughly be, they were told "a long time. " As if they asked a completely unreasonable question.

I wasn't looking for special treatment or seating ahead of the rest of the guests, just a little bit of understanding and empathy for why I needed to be out waiting in the garden. It wasn't near the rest of the outdoor dining, nobody was reserving it, all I wanted was to wait outside and wear my mask as I am allowed to do in this province.

I had heard Nanaimo was terrible for covid compliance, but experiencing this first hand was quite the punch in the gut. My mother and I left, and though we have always loved the establishment in the past, we will likely never step foot inside again for how we were treated. A little kindness goes a long way.

Plenty of people when we left were entering wearing masks, and it took everything inside me to not warn them of the treatment they should expect from The Crow and Gate.

Was very underwhelmed. We were expecting an outstanding experience based on previous reviews. Drove up from Metchosin specifically to go to this pub. We ordered chowder and the meat and mushroom pie. The chowder was cold, we sent it back and when it returned, it was now a little more that luke warm. The meat pie was warm at best and the meat tasted like it came from a can. Overall, very disappointed and will not return.

Pretty sweet place. Food was good. Scotch egg was real good. No fries!? Ugh fine. Patio was lovely. Will go back for sure. Also just watched a guy put his sprinkler on the lawn while it was running. Not sure if he figured he would stay dry during the process. We all know how that went.

Took my Mum here for her birthday brunch. It couldn't have been better. Our server, Caroline, was fantastic, recommending choices, making sure mum was comfy, and joined in singing happy 87th birthday for mum.
The setting is spectacular.a country pub with spectacular gardens and a delicious menu.
We had the Reuben sandwich with oyster chowder and the shrimp sandwich with lemon roasted potatoes and salad. Super fresh and flavorful.
They don't take reservations, so arrive early, put your name on the list, take a drive in the country, return when they call you, enjoy a lovely country meal.
Solid 5 Star choice. This place is the real deal.

So DELICIOUS, and now with table service!

Most recently, we were there on Father's Day, which just so happened to be my 53rd birthday as well this year. They don't always coincide.

Because of the momentous occasion, and also I've no doubt, the libations and yummy food, the place was at capacity! My Aunt and I, and our friends had a 45 minute wait. We took ourselves off for a walk down to the entrance where I had an impromptu photo session with "Honey" their Golden Doodle and the family.
I MUST remember to get people to remove their hats.cause with the strong sun overhead, it cast deep shadows on faces. Bad news if you want a decent photo. Good thing dogs don't wear hats! She was a perfect subject!
You can find pics of her (and other stuff) on my Instagram here:
@positiveimpressionphotography

After our walk and photo session, we returned to chit chat, and only had to wait about another 15 minutes before they called us to say our table was ready.

I KNEW before I went there what I wanted.so I ordered the Pan-Fried Oysters, Caesar Salad with a bowl of Smoky Corn Chowder. Talk about HEAVEN. Yumm and Yummer!
My Aunt had the same, but with Smoked Salmon Chowder.
Brian & Jack had Burgers and Corn Chowder, Sue had the Ploughman's Plate.and a stacked Shrimp Sandwich to share with Jack.
Me and my Aunt both had Lime Mojitos, the guys had lagers, and Sue had Merridale Cider.
Everyone was THRILLED with their meals, and it would have been PERFECT if I hadn't knocked my Mojito all over my lap! Damnit!
My Aunt and I shared a slice of the the Chocolate Bailey's Cheesecake and Brian had a piece of the Pecan Pie.could it get ANY better? Only if I hadn't dumped my drink, and that's on me, no pun intended! LOL

**the red hue in the food pics is because of the sun through the umbrella!

This place always delivers the best quality food and service! It's worth the wait and you will not be disapointed.

Shawna was the most friendly face to be greeted with and made us feel like best friends from the moment that we walked in!

Our server, KaraLee was extremely friendly and delivered everything that we wanted and more! She definitely went above and beyond to make our night special, hope to see them again soon.:)

Thank you for making our sister night so much more special!

Wonderful farm restaurant in the style of an old English pub. Staff is friendly. Very busy and no reservations. Excellent garden tables!

I was there today for long long overdo family time. We have all been very diligent with covid. Meaning we have not seen much of our family during g these difficult 5imes because we love them. Paetnofnour family we went to the Crow & Gate pub was absolutely delicious service was awesome. They make a mean Caesar let me tell you. People if you are on the island THIS IS A MUST GO TO PLACE. Dining was inside and out beautiful property not long of a wait. Worth it. Been quite awhile since I have gone to a restaurant. Wonderful time with family and grest place to go for some really good food. Definitely going back since we have a place at Zuiderzee right down the road. Come and dine in a fine Pub on Vancouver Island located in Cedar.

The food was both excellent and well-priced. The location is lovely, with a sunny outdoor patio and old-timey interior. Staff were lovely, it's easy to see why it's so busy!

I gave the Crow and Gate 4 stars last time I ate there, but on this last visit the menu was not so varied. It was a shame one item I loved was the ploughmans lunch or so I call it. I think they call it farmers plate used to have the most beautiful ham with scotch egg, porkpie, cheese and salad. No ham replaced by roast beef (not special) no porkpie and a small piece of cheese not so many choices for dessert either. Not sure why it's changed but it was a little disappointing so this visit I give 3 stars

Very typical British pub with a good selection of beer on tap, the amazing service staff helped us with getting some great beer selections.

Great place, the food is outstanding. The salmon chowder is to die for. The outside area is breathtaking and a great place to sit even when its raining.

I love bringing out-of-towners here. The grounds are so gorgeous, it's hard to give up a picnic table for waiting patrons. Food is always good and plenty of it.

Decent beer list, gorgeous patio if you can get a spot. Food menu is greatly lacking vegetarian and vegan options

Lovely outdoor seating. Good food and efficient service. Even the clientele was friendly. Especially loved the flowers and the feeling of a high end British pub.

The birds outside will eat from your hand. It has a great atmosphere and most of the staff is very pleasant, the food was great too. The only real negative is that they didn't have any girly drinks, it would have be nice for my lady friend to have been able to enjoy a drink more to her style, she doesn't like beer, other than that it was great.

Food was delicious, but it took almost 2 hrs to arrive to our table. We asked about 4 times and got told each time "they're working on it now". They were not. When it did finally arrive, it was very tasty. The pub itself is a very cool English pub building. Clean.

Fabulous garden and flowers. Food was great.crab cakes with salad, a bun, (no butter) potato salad and crab cake sauce but boy was the service slow. I thought they had forgotten us!

Closest thing to an English pub in North America. Heart food, great atmosphere, pleasant staff and all in a beautiful setting.

Great atmosphere and a great feeling pub, staff is great and food is very good, no fried foods ie French fries, so be aware.

Always busy. But never takes to long to get a seat. Look for the secret spot. Just remember to leave something in return

Food was fresh and the outdoor garden area makes a great dining spot. The oysters are caught locally and are extremely tender! This restaurant was recommended to us by a local. She advised us that it is always busy and that we would need to be patient. Even though they were having a busy evening, our meals arrived in about 10 to 15 minutes and the staff was extremely friendly

I just cant wait to go back to this charming and beautiful old country style pub. All I had was a pint of guiness and my lady friend had a half pint. The pub is finished in dark wood and it looks very authentic and european as if it had been there 500 years. The gardens are absolutely beautiful. Akin to Milner gardens. I was blown away. I hear the food is good and I cant wait to go back and find out. Very impressed with my first visit and I cant wait to return.

Service and ambience great. Had the clam chowder because they were out of steak and kidney pie. The ham (yes, ham) in the clam chowder made it very salty and impossible to taste any clams. Won't order it again.

Friendly staff, cool building, yummy food. They were out of Steak and Kidney pie but the stall and mushroom was great. Very British pub feel in a beautiful surrounding. Nice to get out of the town. Barkeep was adorable.

Beautiful area. Friendly staff. Food was good. Only complaint for a British style pub was the lack of French fries (chips).

Absolutely phenomenal place. It's a hidden gem away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Do expect to wait a bit for your food, but this is the type of place that you go to when you want to relax and you have nowhere to be. They make everything in house, which is evidenced by a scrumptious beef dip. Best one I've ever had. Recommending this place for sure!

Who doesn't like to travel back in time/to another place to relax and unwind? This pub is just a year older than I am, but you would swear you were in England at one of the local pubs that's been open over a hundred years. The inside is dark and full of wood, eclectic art and collectibles, and the specials are always hand written in chalk on a couple of boards by the bar where you order drinks and food.
The staff are always friendly and the food is all made in house. Classic dishes like Steak & Kidney pie served with fresh salad greens, ploughman's plates, and their famous pan fried oysters are just some of the savory finds at the counter. A combo of local craft and classics like Guinness fill their taps.
In the winter you can sit by one of their fireplaces burning real wood. In the warmer months you can take it outside and sit at a table in their lovely patio garden.
They have beautiful grounds which are worth a visit by themselves!
The Crow & Gate is a bit off the beaten path, but it is definitely worth the drive.
(I completely forgot to take a picture!)

Great atmosphere. Beautiful place to enjoy an drink and a meal on a sunny afternoon. Very friendly staff, overall the service is top notch. I highly recommend this pub.