Victoria and Port Alberni

Ursula's closed several years ago. See my other posts for more current recommendations. You won't get the same kind of fine dining in Port Alberni as at the Wick but there are quite a few places to get a hearty, tasty meal for a reasonable price.

artichoke25 in B.C. (including Vancouver)

Suggestions for Port Alberni, BC?

Glad you got to see some wildlife, anyway. It's only another hour and a half from PA to Tofino so it makes sense to drive straight through if you can. But if you come in the summer you might find there are quite a few neat things to do and see in Port Alberni, e.g. steam train, McLean Mill, petroglyphs, water bombers, museum - there's a new native art gallery on HWY 4 west of PA - it's called Ahtsik Gallery - beautiful stuff.

artichoke25 in B.C. (including Vancouver)

Suggestions for Port Alberni, BC?

FYI the Granville-island style wharf is called Harbour Quai.

Ditto on Little Bavaria if you like German.

The place with the awning might be the Swale Rock Cafe, which has great food.

There's a Japanese restaurant at the eastern entrance, in the Timberlodge which is on your left after you come down the hill from HWY 4. Sushi lovers rave about it. For fish and chips, Turtle Island Fish and Chips is my favorite but it's a little hole in the wall at Harbour Quai and is not open around Thanksgiving.

Bare Bones Fish and Chips is outstanding - esp with the breadcrumb coating and wasabi aoili sauce. Just keep to the right as you come off HWY 4, past Timberlodge, and you'll be on JOhnston Road. Bare Bones is in a former church building on the left as you get into the commercial section. Pescadore's at the corner of Johnston River Roads (you pass it on the way to Tofino - it's where Johnston Road deadends at the river and you have to turn right) is supposed to be good, but I've never been there. If you turn left at that corner and go a block, you'll see the Clam Bucket which has a lot of seafood stuff - their fish and chips isn't as good as Bare Bones but they do make an excellent halibut dinner. For a nice family restaurant and varied menu of burgers, pasta, pizza, salads, etc., Solda's is good. If you turn right at the bottom of Johnston going towards Tofino, keep going over a little bridge, turn right at the Petro Canada station onto Beaver Creek Road - it's a little ways down on the left in the HOward Johnson hotel. Unlike many other restaurants in town, Solda's has been there forever (thought it has moved a couple of times) and has a strong local following. Tasty, decent food. If you like authentic Chinese, the Beijing Grand on Third Avenue (turn left on Gertrude off Johnston Road and just keep going until you go up a hill - it's in a little house on the right next to Fat Salmon Backpackers) is excellent and vies with any other good Chinese restaurant I've ever been to anywhere, including San Francisco.
That should give you a few choices. Hope it's not too late. I just stumbled on this site now.

artichoke25 in B.C. (including Vancouver)

Recs Need for Northern Vancouver Island - Port McNeill, Alert Bay, etc

I spent a couple of days in Alert Bay this summer. Unless you really need to chill out and read for a long time, two days is ample for seeing Alert Bay. Great museum there. Pass N. Thyme is the only place we ate while there. There only seemed to be a couple of restaurants there and this is the only one anyone we talked to would recommend. It has very nice food, varied menu.

In Port Hardy, I stayed at a motel there after a very soggy muddy hike to Cape Scott. There was a restaurant, lounge and pub in the motel - I don't remember the name of the place but there can't be too many motels or hotels of that size in that town - it's right off the highway, across from a gas station. The food there was quite decent, too.

artichoke25 in B.C. (including Vancouver)

Ice Cream in Port Alberni?

There's a great ice cream stand at the Tseshaht Market, which is at a gas station on Highway 4 going west towards Tofino. It's not actually in Port Alberni, but on the Tseshaht Reserve, which is about a five-minute drive west of Port Alberni. It's a pretty long way from HWY 19, though, which runs up the east side of Vancouver Island. I don't know if I'd make the trip just for an ice cream cone.

Another place you might be thinking of is the ice cream stand at the gas station in Whiskey Creek, which is about a half hour's drive east of Port Alberni. They too have great ice cream. It's also closer to Highway 19. To get there, take Hwy 4 A through Coombs (great ice cream at the Coombs Country Market there, too, by the way), turn left at the Junction with Hwy 4 and keep driving about 10 minutes until you see the gas station on the left. Or from Qualicum Beach, take that main drag, which I think is called Memorial, from Hwy 19 and follow it under the freeway, past the Hwy 4 junction, and just keep going until you see it on the left before you start heading up the hill towards Cathedral Grove. It's probably about a 15 minute drive from Qualicum Beach.

artichoke25 in B.C. (including Vancouver)