The Discovery Room is Vancouver Island University’s full-service learning restaurant connecting students with our community patrons. Learning by doing, Hospitality Management and Culinary Students together serve up a contemporary dining experience. By experiencing the Discovery Room, your support fuels our student’ growth and education.
Become a partner in our students' learning! Join us to dine, Sign-up for email updates or follow-us on Instagram.
Lunch and Dinner Service - Spring 2025
Lunch Service
Lunch service is offered most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (with the exception of statutory and academic holidays and special events) from mid-September to mid-June with reservations for parties of up to 6 people from 11:30 am to 12:15 pm.
Bookings open 2 weeks in advance to the day and time with a 15-minute delay. For example, if it's currently 11:45 am on a Wednesday then you may book up to 11:30 am for the Wednesday two weeks ahead.
Here are our Spring 2025 lunch service dates.
January: 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 29, 30, 31
February: 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28
March: 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 26, 27, 28
April: 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 30
May: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30
June: 4, 5, 6
Trying to add yourself to the waitlist? Here's how + FAQ. If you aren't presented with the a wait list option, please reach out to us by email to be added manually.
Dinner Service
Dinner service is offered on several Thursday and Friday evenings from early October to April with reservations for parties of up to 6 people from 5 to 6 pm.
Bookings open 2 weeks in advance to the day and time with a 15-minute delay. For example, if it's currently 5:30 pm on a Thursday, then you may book up to 5:15 pm for the Thursday two weeks ahead.
Here are our Spring 2025 dinner service dates:
January: 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31
February: 7, 20*, 21*, 27*, 28*
April: 3, 4, 17,
* The menu will be plant based for these services
Trying to add yourself to the waitlist? Here's how + FAQ. If you aren't presented with the a wait list option, please reach out to us by email to be added manually.
Menus
Our menus change weekly and are typically refreshed here every Monday for the coming week's service. Because we work with fresh ingredients in this learning environment it is not uncommon for the menu to change from what is posted.
If you have special dietary requirements, including the need for a vegetarian meal, please let us know ahead of time.
Parking and Access
The Discovery Room can be hard to find! We recommend parking in Lot F which is accessed via entrance 5C off of Fifth Street (pay parking machines accept cash or credit cards). Enter building 300 through the Welcome Centre for level access.
Parking can be at a premium, especially during the lunch period, so consider allowing a little extra time to find a parking space.
Menus change weekly. We are happy to accommodate special dietary needs but we do need to know about them ahead of time.
Lunch
A la carte menu with appetizers from $8 and entrees from $15. Dessert is included. There are typically 4 to 5 choices of entrée including a fish, pasta, poultry, and meat.
Dinner
3-course menu from $27 depending on your selections. There are typically 4 to 5 choices of entrée including a fish, pasta, poultry, and meat.
We accept Visa, Mastercard, Debit and cash (cash is our least preferred method of payment). We cannot accept AMEX or VIU PCards.
Gratuities are not expected but are very much appreciated. Gratuities are put towards extra-curricular educational enhancement opportunities for the Hospitality and Culinary students.
We offer a modest selection of wines, bottled beer and spirits. During the dinner service you can anticipate that the students will present a mixed drink feature as part of their learning experience.
Our wines-by-the-bottle are priced at $10 above cost. You are also welcome to bring your own bottle of commercially produced wine for $10/750ml corkage. Please pass your wine to the host when you arrive. Bringing wine with a cork is a great opportunity for students to practice with their corkscrews!
Beverage Menu (as we carry a small inventory it is likely that offerings may be different when you dine)
Sensory Dinner (April 11, 2025)
The Sensory Dinner is an event that used to be exclusively offered to our culinary students as an experiential palate expanding part of their curriculum. Changes in our cohort sizes means that sometimes we can extend an invitation for you to join us.
The dinner includes 8-creative and expertly prepared courses at your own table in the Discovery Room (20 - 24 guests in total) for $89 plus tax.
Here are the event and menu details from the most recent Sensory Dinner: April 12, 2024 Sensory Dinner Information
Plant-Based Tasting Menu (February 13 & 14, 2025)
A 10-course 100% plant based experience served by our Hospitality students and prepared by the graduating Culinary Diploma students for 20-24 guests in the Discovery Room.
Gastronomic Dinner (March 20 & 21, 2025)
A 9-course wine paired experiential meal served by our Hospitality students and prepared by the graduating Culinary Diploma students to culminate their education at VIU.
This is an up close and personal educationally focused event for 20-24 guests in the Discovery Room for a collectively focused experience that includes facilitated conversation on dish composition and wine pairings with one of our Chef Instructors or a guest sommelier.
More information from the most recent gastronomic dinner: 2025 Gastronomic Dinner Details and Menu
We are on Instagram
Subscribe to our mail list
Get email updates and stay up to date on the VIU Discovery Room.
Location
Building 300, at the side of the cafeteria.
VIU Nanaimo Campus Map
Contact Us
Email us at Discovery.Room@viu.ca (email is checked daily). Phoning 250.740.6338 is also an option (phone messages are returned on Wednesday, to Friday).