Glen Lyon Inn, Port Hardy (Canada) by Bureaucrat

Port Hardy is a little town on the top end of Vancouver Island.  Apart from being a fishing town, Port Hardy is a popular stopover for many people doing the Inner Circle cruises and eco-tourism holidays in that part of the world (grizzly bears, whales, you name it).

It isn’t the most charming of little seaside towns and there wasn’t that much of a choice when it came to dining options.  Dinner on our first night was at our hotel, the Glen Lyon Inn.  I’m trying to be neutral as possible, as I do realise that many of these restaurants in the town are just small businesses trying to eke out a life in between the periodic influx of tourists, but most restaurants here are a bit tired, run down and could do with a spruce up. 

I was a bit sceptical about how tasty the ‘home cooked’ meals here would be but you gotta eat when you gotta eat.  There was a special for chicken wings with your choice of sauce.  We got eight or so of them to share - scrawny wings, deep fried well and coated with a sickly, gloopy sweet sauce (by memory the wings were 50c each).

We also shared a bowl of seafood chowder.  This was better but still a bit gloopy.

I got the vegetable stir fry with rice.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t nice.  The good points were that there were lots of fresh vegetables and liked the sesame seeds and spring onion garnishes.  The not so good points were that it was obvious it was cooked with a packet mix of sauce and the rice, which is hidden underneath all the veg, tasted like it had also come from a packet.  I picked out all the bigger chunks of veg and ate them.

The Lawyer ordered the Thai chicken stir fry w rice.  It looked similar to my dish.  While I didn't try the dish, the Lawyer said that the sauce was kinda watery and it wasn't very tasty.

Verdict: we wouldn't return.

  

Overall

The food is good enough for a once off meal and will get you through the night.

The overwhelming ponginess of the estuary/seaside doesn’t help improve the ambience - although this isn't their fault as the smell is everywhere when you walk outside (especially at low tide).  I know the whole point of us being out there was to experience nature, but I was worried throughout our dinner that the many spiders that were crawling around the exterior of the window would make a meal out of me.