Beacon Drive In Restaurant in Victoria

All foreignerson shift all the time, did not understand me ( even speaking slowly ). Shame

Food was cold but not as cold as the service. Would not go back.

Old style diner. Breakfast was a couple eggs coffee hash browns and or toast and sausage or bacon.

Sadly, our experience was quite poor tonight. There was no staff apparent for sometime, except for a cleaner who eventually went to find a server for the outdoor desk, while 5 or 6 people milled about waiting for someone to take their orders. But the worst was the soft serve ice cream. It has been great in the past, but tonight was not up to standards. It was flavorless, gritty and the chocolate dip was waxy and also tasteless. Not up to your previous standards! Hoping for a positive change, Sincerely Sharon Milligan

Not what it used to be that s for sure. The front counter can be hit and miss along with the icecream sizing. Can t just rely on nostalgia unfortunately

You can never go wron5 at BHD, love biking here for an afternoon snack with the kids :)

Once iconic Beacon Drive In isnt what it once was. Errors in order, poor quality food after repeated visits.

Great little fast food joint. Fries are nice a crispy, burger was a little basic but tasted pretty good. Can t complain as the price was good. Parking: Very small parking lot but haven t had a problem finding a spot

Ive been many times before, this place is an institution, but is showing its age these days. Vegetarian options: minimal options Parking: The lot is small, with about 10 spaces. There is nearby street parking or plenty of room in Beacon Hill Park with a short walk. Kid-friendliness: Very kid friendly Wheelchair accessibility: Challenging to dine inside, but outdoor seating is accessible. Designated washroom has a lip and cannot be accessed in a wheelchair.

looong time customer ..50 plus years never again ..food is subpar they must have tossed out the old recipes ..hamburger buns were dry ..meat was dry ...will not be returning we had tried on a few different times to see if it was a one off ..but no this is not the same .the place looks dirty ..parking lot is dirty ,windows at the ordering and pick up area is dirty ..

Nostalgic nice place if you like processed food

Pretty nice i enjoyed it definitely going to go there again.

Very quaint. Good food

Good poutine. Window clerk seemed like she wanted to be somewhere else though!!

Must Try Restaurant

Cute, authentic, and hospitable. It will be a regular stop whenever we go to Victoria.

A great place that has been around a very long time with nice sheltered seating outside. Fries and gravy, always delicious with friendly staff and quick service. The huge flowering hanging baskets are gorgeous even in October!

Great milk shakes and fries. Chicken burger was battered and not grilled. Service was very good and location is great! Food

Great place to get a soft serve ice cream!

Love this spot. Staff are great. Fabulous ice cream. Highly recommend. Can be very busy during summer.

Veggie burger was good! We added the BBQ sauce and mushroom on top, which really made it stand out.

The poutine is great, so is the chocolate dip ice cream! Looks a like it hasnt changed since it first opened in the 50s. Food

Great ice cream.

Was told they had great burgers nope.

Great experience for a summer icecream cone or some fast food. Outdoor seating as well as walk up window for service and a very retro vibe. It reminds me of my childhood.

The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting. The food is average and fhe staff seemed to want to just get through the endless line. Very popular spot but I am unsure of sanitation based on the condition of the grounds and the washrooms. It was truly disgusting.

Nice coffee stop along Dallas Rd.

I take my kids here regularly for the experience, but Im disappointed in their approach for allergies. We have a gluten allergy in the family, and ask for the equivalent of a small cone in a cup due to the allergy. Staff have consistently insisted that this is an impossible request and if its in a cup, they must charge for a sundae at nearly $2 more. Pretty tacky.

Both sick after ice cream and milkshake.

The icecream is good. Hamburgers, breakfast, hotdogs and even the milkshakes are 5 thumbs DOWN.

Taste like homemade burgers. I loved it

Just had coffee

Good milkshakes, burgers and fries!

A very busy drive-in style restaurant. It has a small inside seating area but large patio. Ice-cream is their specialty but many other delicious items. Parking: This is close to Beacon Hill Park so more parking is available there, then walk to the drive-in.

The only dog friendly tables allow smoking.

very middling experience. feels like it used to be a classic but things have done changed. prices are low but i still didnt get value.

My go-to place for soft-serve ice cream :)

I really just come here for the ice cream. Best soft serve in the city. Staff are friendly as well.

Horrible experience here. Weve loved this place for years. Unfortunately went today and was berated by a drunk shirtless man who staff not only tolerated but waited on while he hurled abuse at us. His issue? My elderly, severely immunocompromised family member was wearing a mask. Staff never intervened or even checked to see if we were ok. Wont be back.

Great affordable food and icecream

Was there at 9pm on Friday night for ice cream with my Nephew and Great Nieces. My Nephew doesnt do sugar and wanted a cup of coffee. Was told they didnt have any. I work in the restaurant industry we dont have coffee one hour before you close is not a great answer. The better answer is we dont have any made right now but we will make you some is the correct answer

Vegetarian options: Didnt notice any vegetarian options Food

I came here to get some Ice Cream. It was pretty good. The area was kind of confusing though. Staff were ok. Parking: Limited parking spots.

This is another must-go destination. Old style soft ice cream that is second to none! Great street style food. You won t be disappointed!! Fine in or take out. They even have a walk up takeout window!

My family is located just a couple blocks away from this place! Whenever I m in town we go and the ice cream is always very good, however the service the last few times has been honestly quite lacking. Rude, dismissive, orders done incorrectly. Really unfortunate because it s such a good location and though I understand Tourist Season must be frustrating, there s no reason to treat people so unprofessionally.

This place has changed . Love that you keep reasonable menu prices so I put 3 stars. My onion rings were great ! But the hotdog was sooooo salty and the soft serve has changed. It s now that fake really slow to melt fluffy whipped oil based soft serve , or tastes like it anyways. They do handle the long lines quickly. Very mid experience after not visiting for a couple years

Excellent place to eat, very very good service high recommended

Favorite soft ice cream in town

Ice cream is like frozen butter.yum.

Wow Beacon Drive In has taken a massive nose dive. The food quality is really bad. Very stingy, not really very good tasting and the lettuce in my burger was beginning to rot. Definitely not worth the money or the lack of care in food preparation. Its looking pretty dirty too like they never deep clean the location. I really cant justify spending my money here anymore. Sad how Victoria institutions are starting to degrade. Ive been coming here since I was born. Dont bother saying anything about the quality to the staff- theyll remind you that youre nothing special and just an annoyance. Everybody here gets the same is what I was told. Not exactly sure what that means but if I was to guess it means that everybody that comes to Beacon Drive In gets low quality garbage both in food and treatment. Another one bites the dust Im afraid.

Great service, great food, and great price!

Used to come here a lot back in the day when I used to live here. Here for a visit and thought Id stop by for nostalgia. Ordered a large ice cream cone. What i got was what looked to be a small cone leaning heavily to one side. At least make it look presentable when you charge close to 6 dollars for a cone you can get a mcdonalds. Definitely not the Beacon I remember.

This is a local old School burger place with great seating loads of options and the prices are not crazy

Loved bringing my kids here. Nice experience . So mini

Classic venue to get some ice cream then a walk in the park

Best ice cream in town

Calgary has Peters, Victoria has Beacon Drive In. Best soft icecream

Great chocolate dipped ice cream cones. Also awesome onion rings.

I would have given 5 stars as this was our family s favourite soft ice cream in Victoria. However, in our recent experience, it was sadly and alarming that the service has gone poorly especially with attitude of cashiers and servers including their knowledge on allergens and safety approach to people with food allergies. Asked the cashier if they had allergens most especially peanut before we could place our order, the server made face to my family that they thought that allergies were not real. The girl server said that no they did not have peanuts. We checked their menu and did not have peanuts on the menu. As my family peeked in the window, we saw one server prepping the ice cream- and we were curious if the ones on top of the counter were crunched granola bars - the guy server said no- they are Oh Henry - this was so alarming!!! They did not disclose originally that they had peanuts and the other lady server said oh which one is peanut then my family had to explain the contamination and yet they were pushing for us to receive the ice cream after seeing that the whole Container of crushed Oh Henry was everywhere on the counter with other flavourings. They were saying that the caramel did not have peanuts however with their handling and contaminated counter with OH Henry, they were still insisting on us to take the ice cream.The other disappointing behaviour- the servers showed us was when they made a mistake taking an order instead of vanilla with chocolate dip- they gave us chocolate swirl and the server was forcing us to take the chocolate swirl as well as they would dip the chocolate swirl with chocolate dip but no guarantee that the chocolate dip would stick with the chocolate swirl. We did not accept this ice cream, and they were angry at us. I tried to explain that was not we ordered. Again they gave us behaviors that they were not accommodating. These experiences were so alarming -number one for safety of people with allergies and poor service for not serving the right order of the customer and insisting what they had on their hands. When did the service of Beacon Hill Drive in ice cream become poor? this is so sad!!! We ve been going to this restaurant for more than 30years and this was never an issue. To the owner - please educate the servers regarding allergens for safety and right attitude when serving customers. This is serious ! This is really bad and not acceptable customer service! The business will lose customers if the owner will not look into these type of issues seriously

So tasty!

We had milkshakes today. We all had different flavors and we all agreed they were all terrible. No distinctive flavour to any of them and VERY overpriced. Too bad we used to enjoy going to the Beacon drive in. We will be going elsewhere from now on.

Great ice cream

Note when rating for food, this is their only. I havent dine in since pre-pandemic times in which their platters were so-so at that time. The ice cream was generous but was awkwardly made as it was it was in a very weird lean; I was quite nervous eating the whole thing as quickly as I could fearing that it will collapse in my friends car at any moment. No resulting mess but not a peaceful savor to avert a potential accident. I have to admit the frontline staff was very unorganized. One guy took my friends order then left to make the ice cream. The woman who took over thought my friend havent ordered yet and said buddy had to repeat 4 times that her order was already paid while I need to be served, which at that point I had to repeat my order slowly twice before she understood it. I was so annoyed that I gave zero tip (normally for takeout, I would at least round tip up to next dollar). Yeah, my friend came here to enjoy nostalgia and to eat at Clover Point chitchat about girl stuff, watch flying and passing orcas. Any nostalgia with this joint aint happening at this visit. They need to train their new staff better because theyre definitely not carrying the joints past reputation. Parking: Parking lot is almost always full. My buddy lucked out on a left side parallel parking spot on the lot but on busier days you have to resort to street parking (cant recall the time limit on it) Kid-friendliness: Its a kid friendly joint. I have taken my daughters here when they used to be elementary school aged. Ample indoor seating and disposal set up is so easy my kids when they were toddlers know how to put their trays away and sort their trash.

Its been way too long since I stopped in here for a cone (and a baby one for the pups) - but it was as good as its ever been. The line was a bit too long for me to feel ok with leaving the pups in the truck when i first arrived, so i drove around the block and theyd cleared out the line already. Deliciously creamy, fair price, generous size. Its not summer until youve had a Beacon Hill Ice Cream.

Beautiful restaurant located by Beacon Hill Park. AMAZING softserve that is a favourite for miles around! staff members are kind and efficient; the scenery is also to die for. Kid-friendliness: amazing for children; has booster seats!

I love this place! I always get the root beer milkshake!

Im so sad to say that this was truly the worst burger Ive ever had. Something was wrong with the patty... Filler of some kind, perhaps? The texture was vaguely damp, as though it had been steamed. Im super easygoing about burgers--what could go wrong, right?--but neither my mother nor I could eat more than one or two bites. The onion rings were fine, as was the ice cream, and the location cant be beat. The servers were warm and friendly. I just wish the burgers had been edible.

Place where you can get your basics, burgers, slushies, floats etc.

We regularly visit here on weekend summer days for the soft original cone for many years. Seems they are now using a different product which is very noticeably less flavorful and not rich like it usually is. Please go back to the original mix, what we had today was not worth coming for again .

Not sure why this place has such a high rating, saw good reviews and a cool name like it was an old school drive in? Neat. Well it was not good, staff was friendly enough, fries and onion rings were decent, hot and crunchy but burgers were atrocious lukewarm grey microwave burger patties, no char whatsoever no texture no flavour like eating a bread burger. Saw a lot of people having the soft serve but the menu said $4.30 for a small cone? Pass.

The best burgers Ive ever eaten and I loved the place

I have been going here since I was a child, took my children and just went with my grandson to get ice cream. Person taking the ice cream order got imy order wrong then was rude to me about his mistake. Obvious language barrier. Keep that up and your score will go down more. Such a shame.

Popular place for icecream.

Every time we visit family in Victoria we make sure to drop by for their ice cream. Always good ice cream. The fries are good but the burgers are not great. Not bad, but not great. Food

We enjoyed our ice cream cones immensely, and would return for that. The service was not the friendliest as the cashier was not seeming to be having a good day.

Im not sure what happened to this place. Maybe the owners changed but it hasnt been good for a while. The ice cream tastes fake / synthetic if thats a thing. And the food doesnt taste good, its cheap looking too. To be honest theres not really anything to like anymore. I miss how it used to be.

Weve only ever had the soft serve ice cream here so this review is only for that. Great location to grab an ice cream for a walk along the water or in Beacon Hill Park. Good prices, fast service, and a generously piled high cone with tasty, creamy, soft serve ice cream in a few different flavors.

I have been going to the Beacon Hill drive in for soft serve ice cream for years. This last two summers I have noted marked changes in both customer service and inconsistency with the size of the cone itself. I always order the chocolate swirl medium size cone. Sometimes it is a normal regular medium serving other times it is small. Last two times the chocolate swirl has been non existent. I guess business is too good that they don t need to make any improvements as when I mentioned anything, the servers at the window looked clueless or simply do not care. My days going are over as why would I spend my money on something where service or the customer is not valued.

My girlfriends burger was served on a moldy bun. Turned off our appetites to the entire meal. Alse ordered a cherry slushie and then they gave me a cherry milkshake and said here is your cherry slushie. Theres a big difference between those two things, not to mention the words arent even similar.

Their milkshake is delicious!

Classic place for well priced fast (yet local) food in Victoria. Their soft ice cream is undoubtedly the best in the city.

I Liv here

Go for the ice cream, not the food. Beacon Hill Drive In is great on those warm summer evenings when you re craving ice cream and have the patience to wait in the long lines and for the young staff to seem like they care about good service. I had food for the first time (after years of coming here for dessert) and the burger was sadly disappointing a thin frozen patty- nothing to write home about. I would rather pay double the price and get a decent burger at Burger Crush, Big Wheel Burger, or Bin 4.

Standard burgers/hotdogs, nothing special but nothing bad. Ice cream sizes are inconsistently made. Milkshakes were lacking in flavour from what was chosen.

Great food. Worth the wait. Parking: Limited parking and not much in the area. Food : 5/5 |

Great place to grab a quick lunch or ice cream while visiting Beacon Hill Park

Just came to the diner hoping that the fish and chips would be better than the last visit. Unfortunately it was actually worse. The fish was so full of grease, when I put my fork in it , grease seeped out. The chips were under the fish which also were soaked in grease. The bottom of the box was soaked in grease through bottom of the box. I could not eat my dinner. Through it in the garbage.

yum ice cream

Stopped here for a coffee and it was excellent.

A Victoria Staple. Best soft Ice-cream ever. Ice cream, not ice milk.

Great soft serve ice cream. Perfect place to stop if youre visiting Beacon hill park.

Great ice cream, great location. The food is not great however. Ive been 3 times in the last month, the beer burger patties are truly horrendous. The taste and texture resembled soggy thin cardboard that has been microwaved. The french fries are good. The pop drinks have to much ice. My friend ordered the chicken fingers with fries, and received 3 small chicken fingers and a copious amount of fries. The high star ratings must reflect the good ice cream and atmosphere, because the food is certainly not good.

Good old fashion diner food. Price was fair. Parking: Limited stalls Food : 4/5 |

Pretty good place to stop for an ice cream. Staff werent very friendly but its all good.

Long time fast food means brown lettuce on a Deluxe burger? That means mostly filler. Should have had the prawn burger as recommended. Plastic bags for malt vinegar doesnt make for dining enjoyment and not able to source oysters for the iconic oyster burger is bizarre considering the oysters are produced so close but guess too much trouble to batter, bread and keep fresh. I can relate from a fast food perspective but not common sence. Great milkshake and putine was Steller in a fast food way. Im done here.

The very best and mean it soft serve ice cream in yhe world

Fun to grab an ice cream if youre walking in the area. Food is not good enough to go out of your way for.

Love the service & tidiness

Cheap and absolutely class! The owner also seemed very nice.

Was really busy as usual. Staff was very helpful

My husband and I stayed in Victoria for one night and our waiter at the restaurant we ate at highly recommend this place for ice cream. The next time we were in Victoria we decided to give it a try and oh my god, the soft serve is like nothing Ive ever had before. So incredibly creamy. It was so rich but I couldnt stop eating it. Must try.

outside of Peters Drive In in Calgary amd Red Deer, my fave milkshake place. Not as insanely huge a variety but enough that I change it up once kn a while. Dont be afraid of the lineup. It moves quickly. Staff are super efficient but chill and also friendly.

My 97-year-old moms favorite place to go for ice cream. So much wisdom in her years!

UPDATE: History was that as a kid it was Always fun to take your food to beacon look out on a sunny day...NOW it is NOT good ...I was back in town after 10 yrs away, happy to share a childhood memory with my husband and I am sad to say, the cheese burgers were Aweful. Both of us dont know if it was even hamburger meat!! His chocolate shake in his words might have just been chocolate milk. I dont know what happened and what new owner is doing, honestly your food, Sad to say, is a waste of money.

A Victoria gem. Great food, affordable prices, friendly staf sums this place up. The portions are generous considering the prices as well! Also love the vintage vibes of this place!

The best ice cream

Still one the cheapest places to eat. Basic but good food.

Perfection.

An absolute staple on the island, you must visit Beacon In if youre in Victoria!

Went for icecream and have different flavors No different at regular ice cream from machine and way overpriced. No more ice cream from this place for us. Food

This place is an institution and the new owners are lovely

The food was ok and the prices are on the lower end. Me and my friend both ordered hash browns and mine was significantly less than hers (for the same price). The place is cute but nothing too special

Would be 5 stars if they brought back their beer battered fries

Great everything. Milkshake was hard to suck.

Feels like the 50s. Love that vibe

Being from out of town, I always hit this place up. Growing up in Victoria, this is one of the best soft serve places in the city. Real cream....mmmm.. :)

The best soft ice cream nice and creamy flavor burgers and fries are awesome

A good traditional burger

Over priced mediocre food capitalizing on location.

It would have been nice if the owner was not chatting with his family at a table and serving the customers. Not the friendliest guy. But their French fries are good, if they serve you.

Lovely burger joint. Dog friendly outdoor seating.

What happened to this place??? I took my daughter here this afternoon; its been about 2 years since I was here last. Used to be an awesome restaurant. Good food, good prices. I paid $30 for a kids meal (hamburger), a deluxe burger meal for myself, and a sundae. The patty was so thin that I felt like I was just eating bread. I got about 7 fries and my daughter got 5. The drinks were 90% ice. The sundae was 3 soft serve loops, way smaller than a cone, with a dribble of topping. The sundae alone was $6.50! I got one packet of ketchup and when I went up to ask for a few more they gave me attitude. I left hungry. Never used to be like this, what an embarrassment. Look at food pictures from old reviews - thats what I remember. Maybe its new management or something? Either way theyre total cheapskates. This brutal combination of high prices and low quality means that my family and I will never be coming back. Many, many, better options elsewhere.

I needed to eat but never brought enough snacks with me for playing pickleball at Beacon Hill Park that day. I was still starving mad and messing up during games. Luckily Beacon Drive In restaurant was still open & just across the street. Boy that was the best chicken burger that I ever had!!

Chicken burger had just a small bit of mayo ask if I could get a little for burger and they change. 70 for after I asked for extra mayo

Good food, great staff but had to leave half way through the meal because of very loud, unruly children. A few tables complained but nothing was done about it.

Love the Soft serve icecream the best in Vic

Had an excellent chocolate milk shake.

Nice cozy place serving great soft serve ice creams.

Love it

Excellent food, fun atmosphere, friendly staff. It was super busy, and it always is so the can account for the speed

Classic greasy spoon dine in. Burgers, fries, ice cream. Friendly staff, and prices you wont find anywhere else in town. Go for a walk in Beacon Hill then pop by for a bite!

Its a cool little building and overall good feeling, but the atmosphere is ruined by constantly calling out numbers that are ready. They should get the sign for numbers

Excellent place to eat Good service excellent food recommend it for any day of the week

I usually stop here for a milkshake on the way to the dog park. Lovely staff, delicious milkshakes and a really cool open concession concept. I did order a burger once and it was also yummy. I will continue coming here as part of my routine. Parking: Not a lot of spots during peak hours but I usually find one when I visit.

Great place to bring the family & kids. The petting zoo is so wonderful.

Awesome place to visit and enjoy food

No doubt the creamiest and softest ice cream I ve had in Victoria.

Good food , great specials and everything is fairly priced.

Awesome diner with amazing food!

Top tier ice cream joint

I love Beacon Drive In as it is an old style business. You can eat in or take out. They have parking and it s right beside Beacon Hill Park. Their soft ice-cream is the best! You can tell by the taste that they don t short change on their ingredients. Check it out when you re in Victoria!! I was just there today and their soft ice cream is still the best! For very reasonably priced run of the mill burgers and hot dogs, this is the place to go. Its hard to find a cheese burger anywhere for 6.90? The ice cream, sundaes and milkshakes where flying out of there, as people were basking in the lovely 17C weather today.

We loved this quaint little Cafe. Friendly service and excellent value! Kid-friendliness: Very kid friendly options! Food : 5/5 |

The best soft serve ice cream in town. I hear their burgers are good too.

There were a lot of people waiting in line, but they were friendly and the ice cream was delicious. But the milkshake was too sweet.

Really good value for your money. Burger was really tasty and the ice cream was delicious

After a visit to the Park. Its our treat time at the Beacon Drive in

A Victoria institution, nothing better than the monthy special and soft cone.

Alsways fun to hit an old time drivein, staff are excellent, food is nothing to write home about but always a good experience