Mountain Woman

Fish and chips were awesome — as good as I’ve had them. Also hear their burgers are great. But the ambience and location beats all. Located next to a scenic highway that runs along Howe Sound, the view is stunning. The restaurant itself is actually an old bus transformed into a kitchen. The owner (I presume she is the «Mountain Woman») is super friendly. There is some indoor seating and plenty of outdoor seating. Just a really pleasant stop on your way to Whistler or Vancouver.

They’re cooking up burgers and fries, fish, prawns and tasty stuff in the back of an old blue bus, and there are always a few dogs just roaming around. It is certainly a unique experience… not so many of these chip stands left anywhere, really. Britannia Beach has much to offer in the way of roadside attractions!
We stop every time we drive the sea to sky.
There’s a trail off the parking lot that takes you down to the water, great place for the dogs to cool off.

This is kind of a ritual for me every time I head up the Sea to Sky. I love their burgers. Cheap and tasty road stop.
Do it.

Hmmm – I’m so torn between a three and a four on this one. To front load it, for those who are doing a quick search for eateries in the area: the burgers were good; they lost a star because guy taking the orders was surly and not particularly pleasant. It was the service that brought down the experience, not the food – and presumably it would be different people serving on different days, so you should definitely give it a try.
More detail:
The food was good – I had the fish burger, which consisted of a piece of fish (of the same sort that is served in their fish and chips) in a bun with some lettuce, cheese and tartar sauce. It was standard in that sense – but the fish and batter were delicious and had a very light flavour, and overall it was a tasty sandwich! My husband and I also split a poutine which was tasty in a fairly standard way (it’s the same kind of gravy they use on the Wendy’s Poutine, which isn’t my favourite flavour – the restaurants that serve Québécois food generally use a different gravy that has a more pleasant flavour. But then, I don’t think it’s fair to compare a cute, roadside stall with a specialty Québécois restaurant as regards poutine).
My husband had the Mountain burger, and I tried a bite: the burger itself tasted freshly made and the dressings were good – tomato, lettuce, cheese and so on. Also worth noting: the cheese seemed to have been hand sliced from a block of actual cheese, rather than the usual pre-​sliced stuff that is used for burgers – a nice touch, I thought.
The view is also remarkable (see photo) – the day was gorgeous, and so sitting on the patio presented a million-​dollar vista of mountains and water. I can’t think of a place I’d rather be eating, and I was so glad they had such a nice patio, so we could enjoy the perfect day!
The thing that pulled it down was the service. While the «mountain woman» of the name, who I assume was the person doing the food prep, seemed very nice, and smiled when we made eye contact, the guy who was actually taking the orders was unpleasant: no smile cracked, rather surly and minimalist and borderline impatient in providing answers when we asked for details (e.g. «What’s the difference between the mountain burger and the deluxe?” – apparently the former has a bigger patty, btw), careless in ringing in the order (he forgot to add in our poutine – which we only discovered when it didn’t show up with our order, so we had to order that separately, and wait, while the rest of the food was already out and ready to eat). I wasn’t there for it, but my husband seemed to feel the guy wasn’t very gracious about his oversight (cause yeah, no-one’s perfect, but then he wasn’t even nice about forgetting. Also worth noting that it wasn’t super busy at the time, so the fact that he got our order wrong, as well as his subsequent surliness couldn’t even be put down to being frazzled).
In general, I get that maybe his being the guy who takes orders at a roadside burger place might not be his life’s ambition, but if I’m to assume he’s being paid to do the job, then surely he could summon up enough courtesy to be professional and friendly with some of the many strangers passing through?
Given the other reviews, it seems this surly service is atypical – the service at other times is evidently better – so maybe that was different staff, or this guy was having an off day. Regardless, the bottom line is that the burgers are tasty and fresh – and the view is sufficiently stunning that I’d still recommend giving this place a try, of a sunny afternoon, should you be passing through Britannia Beach around mealtime!

I usually hit this place coming back from a day of skiing at Whistler. The burgers are pretty tasty, and the poutine is some of the best I’ve had (in BC, that is: p)
Everything is made to order, so sit and chat for a bit, or go next door to the liquor store to prepare for the rest of the night ;)

Mountain Woman is built on the back of a bus in Britannia Beach next to the museum of mining. they make mean milkshakes, fish and chips and delicious burgers. Everything is made to order and the staff are wonderful. they have a great sunny patio looking out on to Howe Sound. This is a perfect place to stop on the way home from Whistler or Squamish.