Thistledown Restaurant, Pub & Patio

Wanted to sample some Nova Scotia beers and experience Baddeck pub food. They had one NS beer on tap and $8.00! Limited menu so ordered wings and calamari. Wings were good but calamari was 6 small deep field balls for $12. There was more lettuce on the plate than calamari. And there were more waitresses and waiters standing around chatting than working. A large place like that, you'd think the would have lots to do. Should have gone to the local pizza place instead which was highly rated.Don't waste your time there.

We arrived at the upstairs dining room to be seated. A young man named Lane offered to seat us but was interrupted by the hostess and rudely told to go on his way in no uncertain times right in front of us. He apologized to us and disappeared back into the kitchen. The hostess did not address us. 10-15 minutes later another server approached the hostess to inform her of our wait time. She too was rudely sent on her way. Finally, once we were both angry and about to walk out Lane returned with menus and asked if we would mind eating downstairs in the Pub, but ordering from the upstairs menu. We agreed and proceeded to have a good meal served by Emma in the Thistledown downstairs. So I would sum things up as good food, some fantastic employees and some or at least one terrible employee. Everyone has bad days but the way she treated us and the other servers was awful.

We visited this restaurant based on a recommendation from a fellow traveler we met. I would describe the basement pub more as a bar. However, we had to request menus and waited for several minutes without anyone coming to take our drink order. As a result, we decided to leave.

The menu is small, but the food is very good. The service is excellent, especially Courtney. The prices are comparable to other pubs. Give it a try.

I dined at the pub and was disappointed with the food. The chowder was lukewarm and had a crust over it from sitting out for too long. The lobster flatbread had no flavor and the lobster was cold. The onion rings were clearly not homemade, as they seemed to come from a bag. The menu had very limited options. It's a shame, as if Inverary improved their food quality, they could attract more guests to stay on-site instead of going to other restaurants in Baddeck that offer higher quality food at similar or cheaper prices.