Category: Vancouver Island Pubs

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Times

One thing I love about living in the Comox Valley (Vancouver Island) is the abundance of locally grown food close to home. Whether it be from your home garden or the plethora of local farms. Local businesses pride themselves on using fresh ingredients which are locally sourced. In this day of endless fast food restaurants and pre-packaged meals, I believe that is a pretty big deal. One local business that does this perfectly is Locals Restaurant.  In fact, they pride themselves for serving “Food from the Heart of the Island”. Now that sounds pretty good to me.

This little gem of a restaurant has been high on my list of places to try since moving to the Comox Valley. I’ve been trying to get my husband there for awhile now, but it wasn’t until we recently had friends visiting from out of town, that we finally made it. It was the perfect excuse. Not that an excuse or occasion is required, we should all treat ourselves once in awhile. It also gave us ladies a reason to get dressed up for a lovely evening out. The restaurant has an atmosphere of casual elegance and what better way to spend a summer evening than with “Good Friends and Good Food”.

This restaurant has a delightful drinks menu and the evening started out with a drink to celebrate long time friendship. I started the evening with one of their house cocktails, a Black Raspberry Mojito. Perfectly refreshing on a hot summer evening.  True to nature, my husband stuck to a pint of beer from a local brewery, of which there are many.  Our friends stirred things up and went all James Bond with the perfect martini – “shaken, not stirred”. They also have a fabulous selection of British Columbia wines, as well as Old World and New World, to pair with dinner. I think you will find one that meets your sipping pleasure.

Dinner choices were many. The Charcuterie Board and the Artisan Cheese Board make for great starters. Dining on the West Coast, you can never go wrong with a seafood choice for dinner. Seafood not your thing, there are a great selection of entries from the Farms and Fields.  Don’t forget, this restaurant prides itself on locally sourced, so you are getting the best of the best, and quality is tops. We stuck to the West Coast seafood, and it was a definite hit.  My Island Girl roots were showing. Two in our group ordered the Locals Seafood Trio and the other two had the West Coast Seafood Pasta. Both dishes were a definite hit. I truly don’t think you would go wrong with anything on their menu, it’s just a matter of preference.

To end the night, we couldn’t pass up dessert to finish the celebration. There are many sinfully decadent choices such as the Chocolate Truffle Cake or the Crème Brule Trio, but I was most impressed with the Locals Pie of the Day. It was an individual short crust rhubarb pie with a scoop of lavender vanilla ice cream. The crust was delightfully light tasting, not at all heavy, and the hint of lavender in the ice cream finished it off perfectly. I’m still dreaming of this pie today.

I am so happy that I can finally cross this restaurant off my Bucket List and add it to my Must Do Again list. It didn’t disappoint and the beautiful, elegant atmosphere made for a lovely dining experience with local flavour. We all had nothing but great things to say about it and would highly recommend for a special evening out, or whatever occasion suits your fancy.

A little history on the Building

Locals Restaurant is in the newly remodeled Comox Valley Heritage building which is known to local residents as The Old House. Much care was taken to preserve as much of the original building as possible and to blend the new with the old.  The Old House is valued as an eclectic example of Arts and Crafts architecture in Courtenay during the city’s first post-war expansion. It was constructed in 1938 as a residence for the Kirk family, and the house features locally produced wood construction with masonry detailing.

1760 Riverside Lane, Courtenay (Vancouver Island), BC