Embers Nanaimo

“We stumbled upon Embers while looking for a place to stop for a drink before dinner and what a gem we found! We came for happy hour and had the whole place to ourselves and felt like royalty from the moment we stepped in to the moment we left (and by the time we left, the place was full!). Ronald took care of us and was so hospitable and knowledgable when it came to both the food and wine selection. He even recommended a hidden gems to visit in Nanaimo. The charcuterie blew us away, both in quality and quantity. The menu is very much centred around building charcuterie boards based on the number of people dining. I would recommend sticking to that recommendation because the charcuterie we ended up ordering could have easily fed 6-8 people lol. There are options for meat lovers, vegetarians, vegans and all of the above. I can't recommend this place enough, we can't wait to come back one day!”

“An absolute gem in Nanaimo!! Had a wonderful experience last night at Embers! We didn’t have a reso but showed up just after 7pm and were seated within 30mins! We chose to customize our board and Ronald was exceptional at helping us choose and checking we had enough bread/crackers and this delectable house made dessert trio to finish off our evening! The bottle of wine and mock-tail complemented everything perfectly. The speakeasy ambiance is warm and cozy. Perfect date night!”

“Great charcuterie concept and amazing customer service. Staf who helped us was very upbeat and they are trained to talk about what is on your board so you can ask them all sorts of questions. Atmosphere is generally mellow with a bit of ominousity (they keep dark lighting) so be prepped for that.”

“Cute little place. Dark and moody. It was a pretty chilly as there was a cold draft right at our table. Got the charcuterie for 2. Super disappointed with food, huge amount of crackers but not enough meats or cheeses for said crackers. 6 small pieces of cheese, 6 of meat. The added extra $ for hummus was flavourless, and the service….. well there hardly wasn’t any. Our waiter didn’t even check in to see if we would like another drink. We did however order the dessert board after and it was delicious and well worth the price.”

“I’d rate our night here as a 3.5 with potential for so much higher in different circumstances. My partner and I were excited for a date night here during our two days in Nanaimo… tried to go Thursday night, were turned away because it was full, so we made reservations for Friday - fair enough! Upon arriving the staff realized they accidentally gave our table away, so they set us up in a side-room corner. It was pretty cramped and didn’t have the ambience of the rest of the place - would have made a huge difference if there was some candles and decorations or something to make it feel less like a dark industrial corner. Right behind us was a large group of extremely loud people. We could hardly have our own conversations over all the noise and the loud music playing too - it honestly took away all the romance of our date night. 😅 That being said, the cocktails were good, and we were impressed with the build-your-own charcuterie board with lots of good vegetarian and vegan options! The staff did forget a couple things we ordered on the board, but I think they were overwhelmed accommodating the large group behind us. 😅 Overall I loved the idea of the place and would have loved to enjoy a romantic night there, but we found ourselves wishing we could just take everything to our hotel room and enjoy it in a more comfortable and peaceful setting, haha. Hope to maybe try again someday in different circumstances”