2019 8pm and we order refreshing lemonade...with TABASCO!!
K FP
If you're in the area, worth a stop! Casual patio vibes, their mac and cheese is pretty filling! Live music sometimes too, their margarita was very refreshing! Parking does fill up quickly so if you can bike or walk here, might be easier.
Vinson
Was looking forward to the food here while we were in town but was disappointed to find out they were closed without notice or signage despite visiting during their listed business hours. It took a long time to get the attention of the staff who were inside including attempts to knock. The only greeting we received was a gesture from one of the staff that they were closed.
Roger Cusson
Funky little outdoor BBQ with live music every day. Food was great.
1000 FZR
Was really looking forward to eating here, most of the food and drinks were out of stock at 6pm, the food we had was good. The bill was 70 and when we gave over 100 the waitress that had hardly talked to us, other than to say most of the food was out of stock, asked if we wanted our change, when we said yes she asked how much we wanted back. Not the right way to get a tip and in all honesty it comes across rude.
Kathy Scapens
Lovely quirky venue, food great though could’ve been warmer, unfortunately service not good, food arrived before drinks & the most miserable server ever, no smiles,eye contact or friendly chat, definitely spoilt it for us.
B T
Bought the BBQ platter between four people, there was barely enough food on it to actually feed the four of us and for the price it wasn’t worth it. Wouldn’t recommend it.
Eggplant Lover
food was mid. it wasn’t even hot. i was eating cold meat. not tender. the atmosphere was too loud but that’s my opinion.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Scott Cunningham
Popped in to get some potato salad to go to add to a picnic. This was 'medium' for 8 dollars. 1/2 full at best. Not sure we will be back to sample the entrees...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Jeremy G
The food was okay, I had the brisket and my Fiance had the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was nothing special to be frank and the brisket was a bit dry.
Our waitress also seemed to really not want to be there, had a I dont care kinda vibe. However the Aussie gentleman that seated us and helped us with questions was fantastic!
Love the food, live tunes and atmosphere! One of my fav places to visit on our annual trip to Tofino.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Brisket, Brisket Burnt Ends, Mac and Cheeze
Louis Le Sui
We were drawn by the advertisement and idea of a beachside BBQ - which it is. They also had live music ($10 cover) which was a nice surprise. We were on vacation and loved the idea of chilling out to live music on a beach with BBQ.
Alas, everything went downhill fast after being seated. Food never came after sitting in the cold for 75 mins. We followed up numerous time asking where our food was and each time - server said 5 to 10 mins. Time at Roonie's works different from the rest of the world. Be weary.
We left the night unfed, tired, cold, and just overall miserable. Highly recommend not wasting your vacation time here like I did.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Adam F
Not sure why they have so many 5 stars; there is nothing 5 star about this place. Food is ok and service is passable. The live music is a nice touch and cover charge isn’t too much. Biggest disappointment tho has to be the bland meats that are not served hot. It reminds me of food truck or cafeteria meals at a high school, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Again, nothing 5 star worthy here but it makes for an enjoyable outing and you don’t leave hungry with the portion size.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Tim Jerome
Lil’ Ronnie’s Beachside BBQ is quite a place to have food in Tofino. The location of the BBQ is right beside Mackenzie Beach, and a quick two-minute walk from it is Mackenzie Beach.
The restaurant has live music during certain hours of the day, with local artists coming by and singing for a few hours during the dinner time service. It’s very nice to have live local music performing, which makes the restaurant feel like a close community where everyone can laugh and sing. Besides the performance hours, it’s a pretty quiet place, which isn’t bad if you enjoy a peaceful meal.
As for the food, I’ll be very transparent and say it wasn’t terrible, but neither was it amazing. It was in between okay and good. Decided to order the Bonanza, which is $35 per person. It’s a Chef's Choice Assortment of Daily Meats (3) and Sides (3). You don’t know what you’ll get until the food arrives, which is nice as it’s a surprise. I ended up getting the brisket, ribs, and turkey breast. Along with the sides came coleslaw and cowboy beans, and I upgraded on the mac and cheese.
The goods of the food—the brisket was phenomenal, I must say—super tender and melts right into your mouth, with a very strong smoky flavour to accompany it. I adored it. As for the turkey breast, it’s really challenging to always make turkey not dry, but this place made the juiciest turkey breast, which made it delicious to eat and made me want more.
Now for the bad Unfortunately, I wasn’t very satisfied with the meal overall. For the price I paid with a friend, it ended up being $80 with taxes, and I was really disappointed. The ribs for starters were tasty, but there was no meat on them. It was eating a bone with skin on it, and that’s it. I was expecting much more meat on a rib, but I was super disappointed with that. As for all the sides, the least favourite part of the meal. The mac and cheese had no sauce whatsoever. Pretty much, it was overcooked noodles with what looked like an attempt at sauce and what seemed like crushed Doritos. I was not happy with that, especially since I paid extra for it. The slaw itself would’ve been much better if it wasn’t drenched in vinegar. My nostrils were burning from the amount that was in it, and my face wanted to get sucked in from the copious amounts that were drenched in there, leaving sloping coleslaw. As for the cowboy beans, I felt like I was eating cement. It was not very flavorful and was just mushy, unfortunately.
And the last thing I will say about this place is portion sizes. Nothing was on the plate—two slices of brisket, three meatless ribs, three slices of turkey breast—along with little bowls of sides for $80 in total for two people. I was really disappointed since I paid that much at any other BBQ place and they brought out plates of quality food. To me, this felt like a waste of my money, and I ended up having to eat somewhere else.
Overall 2.5/5
With the lack of food there was for the price I paid for and some decent service, which is not really much to talk about since service was okay and just okay, my personal opinion would be to find another place within Tofino to eat unless you get the protein via 1 lb and spend tons of money on it. The only thing that saved this place was the local artist and the brisket and turkey breast being amazing; otherwise, the rest of it was not worth it taste-wise, visually, portion-wise, and for the price you’re paying, you can go to another restaurant and get better food. Overall, it's a real shame, as I’ve heard many good things about Lil’ Ronnie’s BBQ, but it ultimately led to disappointment.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Ribs, Brisket, Potato Salad and Slaw 8 Each, Mac and Cheeze, The Platter
Mackenzie Heil
Feeling super frustrated found out an artist I love was going to be playing here I emailed months out saying we (party of 6) were driving up just for this event and never got a response tried calling with no answer finally got an answer that said you won’t need a reso we can sit 300 people, showed up day of and got turned away. Feeling super bummed.
2019 8pm and we order refreshing lemonade...with TABASCO!!
If you're in the area, worth a stop! Casual patio vibes, their mac and cheese is pretty filling! Live music sometimes too, their margarita was very refreshing! Parking does fill up quickly so if you can bike or walk here, might be easier.
Was looking forward to the food here while we were in town but was disappointed to find out they were closed without notice or signage despite visiting during their listed business hours. It took a long time to get the attention of the staff who were inside including attempts to knock. The only greeting we received was a gesture from one of the staff that they were closed.
Funky little outdoor BBQ with live music every day. Food was great.
Was really looking forward to eating here, most of the food and drinks were out of stock at 6pm, the food we had was good. The bill was 70 and when we gave over 100 the waitress that had hardly talked to us, other than to say most of the food was out of stock, asked if we wanted our change, when we said yes she asked how much we wanted back. Not the right way to get a tip and in all honesty it comes across rude.
Lovely quirky venue, food great though could’ve been warmer, unfortunately service not good, food arrived before drinks & the most miserable server ever, no smiles,eye contact or friendly chat, definitely spoilt it for us.
Bought the BBQ platter between four people, there was barely enough food on it to actually feed the four of us and for the price it wasn’t worth it. Wouldn’t recommend it.
food was mid. it wasn’t even hot. i was eating cold meat. not tender. the atmosphere was too loud but that’s my opinion.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Popped in to get some potato salad to go to add to a picnic. This was 'medium' for 8 dollars. 1/2 full at best. Not sure we will be back to sample the entrees...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
The food was okay, I had the brisket and my Fiance had the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was nothing special to be frank and the brisket was a bit dry.
Our waitress also seemed to really not want to be there, had a I dont care kinda vibe. However the Aussie gentleman that seated us and helped us with questions was fantastic!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 2
Restaurantji Recommends
Love the food, live tunes and atmosphere! One of my fav places to visit on our annual trip to Tofino.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Brisket, Brisket Burnt Ends, Mac and Cheeze
We were drawn by the advertisement and idea of a beachside BBQ - which it is. They also had live music ($10 cover) which was a nice surprise. We were on vacation and loved the idea of chilling out to live music on a beach with BBQ.
Alas, everything went downhill fast after being seated. Food never came after sitting in the cold for 75 mins. We followed up numerous time asking where our food was and each time - server said 5 to 10 mins. Time at Roonie's works different from the rest of the world. Be weary.
We left the night unfed, tired, cold, and just overall miserable. Highly recommend not wasting your vacation time here like I did.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Not sure why they have so many 5 stars; there is nothing 5 star about this place.
Food is ok and service is passable.
The live music is a nice touch and cover charge isn’t too much.
Biggest disappointment tho has to be the bland meats that are not served hot. It reminds me of food truck or cafeteria meals at a high school, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Again, nothing 5 star worthy here but it makes for an enjoyable outing and you don’t leave hungry with the portion size.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Lil’ Ronnie’s Beachside BBQ is quite a place to have food in Tofino. The location of the BBQ is right beside Mackenzie Beach, and a quick two-minute walk from it is Mackenzie Beach.
The restaurant has live music during certain hours of the day, with local artists coming by and singing for a few hours during the dinner time service. It’s very nice to have live local music performing, which makes the restaurant feel like a close community where everyone can laugh and sing. Besides the performance hours, it’s a pretty quiet place, which isn’t bad if you enjoy a peaceful meal.
As for the food, I’ll be very transparent and say it wasn’t terrible, but neither was it amazing. It was in between okay and good. Decided to order the Bonanza, which is $35 per person. It’s a Chef's Choice Assortment of Daily Meats (3) and Sides (3). You don’t know what you’ll get until the food arrives, which is nice as it’s a surprise. I ended up getting the brisket, ribs, and turkey breast. Along with the sides came coleslaw and cowboy beans, and I upgraded on the mac and cheese.
The goods of the food—the brisket was phenomenal, I must say—super tender and melts right into your mouth, with a very strong smoky flavour to accompany it. I adored it. As for the turkey breast, it’s really challenging to always make turkey not dry, but this place made the juiciest turkey breast, which made it delicious to eat and made me want more.
Now for the bad Unfortunately, I wasn’t very satisfied with the meal overall. For the price I paid with a friend, it ended up being $80 with taxes, and I was really disappointed. The ribs for starters were tasty, but there was no meat on them. It was eating a bone with skin on it, and that’s it. I was expecting much more meat on a rib, but I was super disappointed with that. As for all the sides, the least favourite part of the meal. The mac and cheese had no sauce whatsoever. Pretty much, it was overcooked noodles with what looked like an attempt at sauce and what seemed like crushed Doritos. I was not happy with that, especially since I paid extra for it. The slaw itself would’ve been much better if it wasn’t drenched in vinegar. My nostrils were burning from the amount that was in it, and my face wanted to get sucked in from the copious amounts that were drenched in there, leaving sloping coleslaw. As for the cowboy beans, I felt like I was eating cement. It was not very flavorful and was just mushy, unfortunately.
And the last thing I will say about this place is portion sizes. Nothing was on the plate—two slices of brisket, three meatless ribs, three slices of turkey breast—along with little bowls of sides for $80 in total for two people. I was really disappointed since I paid that much at any other BBQ place and they brought out plates of quality food. To me, this felt like a waste of my money, and I ended up having to eat somewhere else.
Overall 2.5/5
With the lack of food there was for the price I paid for and some decent service, which is not really much to talk about since service was okay and just okay, my personal opinion would be to find another place within Tofino to eat unless you get the protein via 1 lb and spend tons of money on it. The only thing that saved this place was the local artist and the brisket and turkey breast being amazing; otherwise, the rest of it was not worth it taste-wise, visually, portion-wise, and for the price you’re paying, you can go to another restaurant and get better food. Overall, it's a real shame, as I’ve heard many good things about Lil’ Ronnie’s BBQ, but it ultimately led to disappointment.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Ribs, Brisket, Potato Salad and Slaw 8 Each, Mac and Cheeze, The Platter
Feeling super frustrated found out an artist I love was going to be playing here I emailed months out saying we (party of 6) were driving up just for this event and never got a response tried calling with no answer finally got an answer that said you won’t need a reso we can sit 300 people, showed up day of and got turned away. Feeling super bummed.
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