My wife and I went for dinner for the first time to try something new and had a very underwhelming experience. I had the slow roast veal which was a very small portion (I left hungry) and the meat was very tough and chewy.,how that happens with slow roast veal, who knows. My wife had asked for the chefs choice for her main course and had a very bland seafood pasta, it was essentially butter noodles with about 10 cloves of garlic just sliced down the middle. We had ordered an oyster appetizer so they threw some out of shell oysters on the pasta, which just felt very lazy. The owner asked if he could buy us dessert or a drink, I explained we are sober and we do not eat sugar so I guess he felt he did his part and charged us full price. Service was mid at best, lots of other good local places in the downtown area
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Derek Froese
Delicious food. Quality ingredients. Good service. Very Tasty. I'd love to go back.Vegetarian options: I'm not vegan but they had a bunch of vegan stuff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
JD Weigel
I recently dined at Melange restaurant, and the experience was great. The ambiance was cozy, the service friendly, and the food was a culinary delight. Kudos to Chef Phil.The menu offer a selection for all, including vegetarians/vegans like myself. I had the eggplant rogan josh curry bowl and the dish was thoughtfully crafted, bursting with flavor. I highly recommend this place for a unique & memorable dining experience!Vegetarian options: GF, Veg & Vegan options available.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
LittleVegan_
Melange Restaurant was such a delight, my partner and I decided to come here for date night. I ordered the eggplant rice bowl with a bowl of edamame. The eggplant was amazing, I've never had such a unique preparation of an eggplant and chickpea in a sauce combined on top of white rice. It has so much flavour, I highly recommend it.
Updated from previous review on 2024-03-08
E L
If in Nanaimo, just give this place a shot. You simply will not be disappointed! We got the chef’s surprise appetizer and the Seared Tuna. Amazing!! Delicate and sophisticated! Then we had the duck flatbread and the clams. Everything was delicious. We had a bottle of wine, pino noir of Okanagan that was a perfect pair. All suggestions came from the wonderful server, Seaira. She made the experience a memorable one for sure. She is such a character, an incredible storyteller, with experience in the hospitality industry. As it turns out we actually visited a few years back another restaurant where she worked as a manager, in Toronto/Junction. Now how funny is that!! Thanks Seaira for making a rainy/snowy day a very enjoyable one!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Squid, Seared Ahi Tuna, Clams
Cory Schreyer
Great service. Good food. Good drinks.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Warm Olives, Salad
Jane White
They squeezed us in on a busy Saturday night. Excellent food. Service was friendly and prompt. Well be back soon.
Fun food, creative presentation, attentive service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Stephanie Cornish
Very nice ambiance and excellent service here! Out waitress was attentive. I tried the whiskey sour (delicious) and variety of oysters, they have an amazing assortment of hot sauces ranging from mild to hot, something for everyone.I had the brisket soup for a main and my bf had the shrimp pasta. Everything was cooked perfectly and the manager even comped us a port for dessert. We loved our dinner here and will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nadiya P
Pricey. Food tastes good but not good enough for the price. I will say this, if you go there have their cocktails. We ordered a few, and they were all delicious. Pricey but because they were delicious we were okay with it. Smoked duck as appy was 9/10.
Absolutely incredible. Portuguese clam cataplana was delicious, char siu pork sliders too! Would absolutely return!
david peck
Awesome owner and such a great vibe for Nanaimo. Would highly recommend to
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jerry Grootveld
During the January cold snap, the restaurant was comfortably heated. However, it would have been nice if the washrooms were heated as well. The atmosphere in the restaurant was pleasant, and it seemed to be well staffed.I ordered the Portugese Clam Pataplana, which was very salty, I could not fully taste the actual flavors of the dish and wine pairing. The sauce also appeared to contain a lot of tomato paste.My first choice of meal was the Pacific Octopus Escabeche. However, when I placed my meal order, I was told this was not available. It would have been nice to have been informed of this when the menus were distributed.My wife ordered the Braised Veal Osso Buco. Like my clam dish, this dish did not look appealing. It tasted very bland. The beets were cold inside. She did not finish the meal, and it was taken off the bill.The restaurant comped us with a desert. However, it did not make our overall meal experience any better.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
Arielle
I dined here with my family tonight and overall the experience was meh. I have worked many years in fine dining myself and this evening was disappointing.First off, the managers demeanour towards the guests was very blasé. He greeted us at the door and we didn't feel welcomed whatsoever, just ushered to our table.Our server, Tracy was super friendly and welcoming, but by the end you could tell she was done with us, which is fair, but it wasn't appreciated that it showed. We did not have a good experience and the staff didn't help make it much better, we could feel the judgment of staff gossip as we left.We just wanted to go out and have a wonderful dinner as a family, celebrating a special occasion, not to have to complain about anything and just relax together.One of the members of our group had their mind set on having the octopus and we were not told on arrival that the octopus was unavailable, but were rather informed as the table was all ordering together.Overall, the presentation of the food was very dull. Nothing looked appetizing when it came to the table, and then you taste it and the flavours were not there. Several of the dishes were over salted, and the clams were not served with bread (as shown in another review). The risotto with the duck was cold, the veggies with the veal were cold. The veal was also served several minutes later than the other meals. The duck was served with a slathering of sweet BBQ sauce (maybe to offset the over curing) and the risoto was mushy and tasted like nothing. The veal was extremely tomato-y. The tuna torro was tough, but the flavour of the sauce was great.We felt quite awkward about complaining for our mains, as we had already complained about the wine and a miscommunication about the meal. We definitely should have spoken up sooner about the issues with our meals. We were also celebrating a 65th birthday, and wanted to try to keep the mood up. So we take responsibility for not speaking up and giving them the opportunity to correct it sooner, and given that several of the plates weren't being enjoyed, our faith in ordering other items was low.We were comped desserts and a meal that wasn't finished, which is very nice, but also standard for issues like this. We also had a discount given on top, which was appreciated.The ambiance of the restaurant was nice, but the bench seating should have cushions.The bathrooms are absolutely freezing cold as well and there was only cold water to wash your hands.Also, I recommend reading some of the review responses from the owner/chef. They are quite unprofessional and unwilling to receive negative feedback.
My wife and I went for dinner for the first time to try something new and had a very underwhelming experience. I had the slow roast veal which was a very small portion (I left hungry) and the meat was very tough and chewy.,how that happens with slow roast veal, who knows. My wife had asked for the chefs choice for her main course and had a very bland seafood pasta, it was essentially butter noodles with about 10 cloves of garlic just sliced down the middle. We had ordered an oyster appetizer so they threw some out of shell oysters on the pasta, which just felt very lazy. The owner asked if he could buy us dessert or a drink, I explained we are sober and we do not eat sugar so I guess he felt he did his part and charged us full price. Service was mid at best, lots of other good local places in the downtown area
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Delicious food. Quality ingredients. Good service. Very Tasty. I'd love to go back.Vegetarian options: I'm not vegan but they had a bunch of vegan stuff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I recently dined at Melange restaurant, and the experience was great. The ambiance was cozy, the service friendly, and the food was a culinary delight. Kudos to Chef Phil.The menu offer a selection for all, including vegetarians/vegans like myself. I had the eggplant rogan josh curry bowl and the dish was thoughtfully crafted, bursting with flavor. I highly recommend this place for a unique & memorable dining experience!Vegetarian options: GF, Veg & Vegan options available.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Melange Restaurant was such a delight, my partner and I decided to come here for date night. I ordered the eggplant rice bowl with a bowl of edamame. The eggplant was amazing, I've never had such a unique preparation of an eggplant and chickpea in a sauce combined on top of white rice. It has so much flavour, I highly recommend it. Updated from previous review on 2024-03-08
If in Nanaimo, just give this place a shot. You simply will not be disappointed! We got the chef’s surprise appetizer and the Seared Tuna. Amazing!! Delicate and sophisticated! Then we had the duck flatbread and the clams. Everything was delicious. We had a bottle of wine, pino noir of Okanagan that was a perfect pair. All suggestions came from the wonderful server, Seaira. She made the experience a memorable one for sure. She is such a character, an incredible storyteller, with experience in the hospitality industry. As it turns out we actually visited a few years back another restaurant where she worked as a manager, in Toronto/Junction. Now how funny is that!! Thanks Seaira for making a rainy/snowy day a very enjoyable one!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Squid, Seared Ahi Tuna, Clams
Great service. Good food. Good drinks.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Warm Olives, Salad
They squeezed us in on a busy Saturday night. Excellent food. Service was friendly and prompt. Well be back soon.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steak Dinner, Seafood Platter, Charcuterie Board
Fun food, creative presentation, attentive service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very nice ambiance and excellent service here! Out waitress was attentive. I tried the whiskey sour (delicious) and variety of oysters, they have an amazing assortment of hot sauces ranging from mild to hot, something for everyone.I had the brisket soup for a main and my bf had the shrimp pasta. Everything was cooked perfectly and the manager even comped us a port for dessert. We loved our dinner here and will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Pricey. Food tastes good but not good enough for the price. I will say this, if you go there have their cocktails. We ordered a few, and they were all delicious. Pricey but because they were delicious we were okay with it. Smoked duck as appy was 9/10.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Great food and great service every time we dine at melange. Also some of the best cocktails in town (A proper Negroni and Manhattan)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Squid, Mobys Duck Wings, Seared Tuna, Fries
Absolutely incredible. Portuguese clam cataplana was delicious, char siu pork sliders too! Would absolutely return!
Awesome owner and such a great vibe for Nanaimo. Would highly recommend to
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
During the January cold snap, the restaurant was comfortably heated. However, it would have been nice if the washrooms were heated as well. The atmosphere in the restaurant was pleasant, and it seemed to be well staffed.I ordered the Portugese Clam Pataplana, which was very salty, I could not fully taste the actual flavors of the dish and wine pairing. The sauce also appeared to contain a lot of tomato paste.My first choice of meal was the Pacific Octopus Escabeche. However, when I placed my meal order, I was told this was not available. It would have been nice to have been informed of this when the menus were distributed.My wife ordered the Braised Veal Osso Buco. Like my clam dish, this dish did not look appealing. It tasted very bland. The beets were cold inside. She did not finish the meal, and it was taken off the bill.The restaurant comped us with a desert. However, it did not make our overall meal experience any better.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
I dined here with my family tonight and overall the experience was meh. I have worked many years in fine dining myself and this evening was disappointing.First off, the managers demeanour towards the guests was very blasé. He greeted us at the door and we didn't feel welcomed whatsoever, just ushered to our table.Our server, Tracy was super friendly and welcoming, but by the end you could tell she was done with us, which is fair, but it wasn't appreciated that it showed. We did not have a good experience and the staff didn't help make it much better, we could feel the judgment of staff gossip as we left.We just wanted to go out and have a wonderful dinner as a family, celebrating a special occasion, not to have to complain about anything and just relax together.One of the members of our group had their mind set on having the octopus and we were not told on arrival that the octopus was unavailable, but were rather informed as the table was all ordering together.Overall, the presentation of the food was very dull. Nothing looked appetizing when it came to the table, and then you taste it and the flavours were not there. Several of the dishes were over salted, and the clams were not served with bread (as shown in another review). The risotto with the duck was cold, the veggies with the veal were cold. The veal was also served several minutes later than the other meals. The duck was served with a slathering of sweet BBQ sauce (maybe to offset the over curing) and the risoto was mushy and tasted like nothing. The veal was extremely tomato-y. The tuna torro was tough, but the flavour of the sauce was great.We felt quite awkward about complaining for our mains, as we had already complained about the wine and a miscommunication about the meal. We definitely should have spoken up sooner about the issues with our meals. We were also celebrating a 65th birthday, and wanted to try to keep the mood up. So we take responsibility for not speaking up and giving them the opportunity to correct it sooner, and given that several of the plates weren't being enjoyed, our faith in ordering other items was low.We were comped desserts and a meal that wasn't finished, which is very nice, but also standard for issues like this. We also had a discount given on top, which was appreciated.The ambiance of the restaurant was nice, but the bench seating should have cushions.The bathrooms are absolutely freezing cold as well and there was only cold water to wash your hands.Also, I recommend reading some of the review responses from the owner/chef. They are quite unprofessional and unwilling to receive negative feedback.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4