Pearl Morissette Winery — Attraction in Nunavut

After much anticipation and hearing so much about this restaurant, my husband and I had our first dining experience at Pearl Morrisette last night. We dined with two other couples. My husband and I are both vegetarian and were told that the chef would do an amazing job to accommodate our dietary needs. This was not the case. Out of the nine course meal we were offered protein options only once. The meat eaters in our group were given a protein in every course. I am accustomed to going to many high end restaurants offering multi course farm to table cuisine and they have ALWAYS been able to creatively provide us with protein options. I asked to speak to the manager last night and he was not very receptive to our dietary needs. His response was that the restaurant is on a summer menu and only offering items that are locally sourced. I didn’t realize that vegetarian protein options can’t be offered on a “summer menu”. The meat eaters in our group were offered fish and scallops from the East Coast, since when is Nova Scotia local ??? If his understanding of local is Canadian, we’ve got Canadian companies that supply TOFU, Beans, lentils etc. The manager proceeded to get defensive and asked me what I would like to be offered…. SERIOUSLY??? I cook and meal plan at home… I didn’t think I’d need to meal plan at a high end restaurant. If Pearl Morrisette claims to be a high end restaurant offering creative dishes they are lacking of insight into a high demand of healthy balanced vegetarian cuisine that adheres to the Canadian Food Guide. Finally after much discussion, the manager asked the chef to see what he could do as an EXTRA course. This is not what we wanted, but he insisted and we were presented with a sunny side up egg in a tart shell, ridiculous. To top it off we were sitting in a tent facing the parking lot, could barely hear the servers and the ambience was a TWO STAR. They could have had candles on the table to make the setting a little nicer. So after my experience last night, I would never go back and would never recommend this restaurant to any vegetarian. Our $500 meal was...

After trying to get reservations for months, our party of 4 were excited to experience the restaurant. We chose to do the wine pairing with the 10 course meal. The entire experience was totally overblown and over rated. Out of the ten courses I would say we truly enjoyed half of them. The bread from their bakery was probably the best item for the evening. That’s was really special! Although our server seemed very knowledgeable we felt she was extremely condescending throughout the entire evening. We were there to have fun and it seemed to be frowned upon and even irritating to her when she popped by our table and we talking and laughing when she wanted to check in. The wine parings were quite uneventful for the cost of 115 per person and not adequately explained as to their relevance to each dish. Each plate was literally a bite and although I didn’t expect Olive Garden portions I certainly expected to leave satisfied and full. We popped over to the Jordan Tavern for Pizza afterwards because we were all still hungry. We paid over $ 1400 for the 4 of us and we won’t be back. We have definitely checked this off the bucket list. If you are looking for a better level of service, food quality and presentation, I would strongly suggest you experience Langdon...

The setting, a rustic building surrounded by vineyards, is beautiful. The interior is gorgeous and the wine pairings were exceptional. I have to say, I was quite disappointed by the food. Everything was just okay--except for the bread, which was a work of art. (However, should the best food on your tasting menu really be the bread?) The other courses--greens in some vinegar sauce, a spoonful of beans, a lacklustre piece of fish--were all just...acceptable. Nothing tasted bad, I just wasn't impressed. With the possible exception of a Shiro plum tartlet flavoured with spruce--a surprising and interesting flavour.

Overall, the portion sizes were very small. "What is this? A tasting menu for ants?" I exclaimed to my partner in the voice of Derek Zoolander. If it weren't for a second helping of that magical bread, we would have had to hit up the nearest McDonalds for some nugs to soak up all our booze from the evening. This experience isn't on the same level as some of Canada's best tasting menus at more established restaurants such as Alo, but has the potential...