Gabrieau's Bistro — Restaurant in Antigonish

From my experience I would not call this restaurant “fine dining”. I am fortunate to have had robust culinary experiences throughout the world: and this experience was a major disappointment.

Service: waitress seated us at the bar as there was no tables available. Bread was served cold with butter for one person with two people seated. It was also severed considerably late for what is considered normal. No one asked any questions like “how are you?”. Just here are your seats.

Food: presentation was nice but the food lacked flavour. The crab cakes tasted like boxed food. The halibut had something next to it that tasted like a beef gravy. The potatoes had hard chunks in them. Whatever was placed on top of the halibut was gross, I took as much off as I possibly could. Not a seasonal menu with fresh ingredients from what I could see. This is pretty typical for a real fine dining experience, but was missing here.

Drinks: my husband ordered an old fashioned. Because we were seated at the bar we could see what they were doing. There was no dedicated bartender. The waitress looked up the recipe, tossed the ingredients together and didn’t even both to stir them.

I ordered a drink with egg whites in the description, but you would never know because it wasn’t shaken properly. There were no white peaks. They obviously were never trained on how to make a proper drink. My local pub has superior drinks in comparison.

If this is the experience that everyone receives the people rating this restaurant must not actually know what real fine dining is. I’ve had better meals from pubs at half the price. I’ve also had amazing meals at fine dining restaurants that had a proper menu, service and quality for the title and price.

Bottom line: presentation was nice and everything else was lacking in flavour, quality and service. We will...

TLDR; Unwelcoming server, food was OK at best but undercut by upscale expectations.

Server was not pleasant at all. No training in hospitality or politeness it seems. It could just be the way he is but when going out to what markets itself as an upscale bistro, we expect the server to make us feel welcome... ya know?

He didn't really help us decide which espresso martini was sweeter but it may have been a miscommunication. We tried to change the drink to the OTHER espresso martini before it was finished but he pushed back saying part of it was already mixed. Kinda sucks, I feel like most places would just remake the drink. We ended up ordering the other version just so my partner could have the one that's actually sweeter. (12 bucks each)

Food was OK. Honestly, if the bistro wasn't trying to seem upscale, we would have been more than happy with the food. I got the crispy chicken sandwich and the chicken breading was a bit dark but it was tasty enough for the price ($21). The fries were actually good despite the small size of them lol. Partner got chicken and mushroom penne... chicken was reminiscent of Subway chicken. Again, wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't touted as upscale. Sauce was decent, penne slightly overcooked. ($25)

If they were branded as a small town mom and pop business casual bistro, I think it'd feel a lot better receiving that service and food. We ordered the affordable items but others were definitely more pricey. If the quality wad the same, I wouldn't have been happy to pay those...

This was exceptionally good. Words do not capture the visual and taste experience. First: fresh local oysters (Black Point I think) could not have been fresher, plumper or more full of flavour. Served with lemon and a homemade spicy red sauce - fantastic! Then: seafood chowder- with a puff pastry on top? Extraordinary! Rich, light, crispy dome covering a hearty chowder, properly seasoned, lightly peppered with chunky salt, what a treat for eyes and taste buds. Next: crab cakes - impossibly well prepared: dark brown on the outside but where’s the oil? They could not have drained the crabs cakes on a paper towel otherwise they would have been cold instead of piping hot - a mystery. Then you bust thru that dark brown crust and inside, a rich crabby interior (there must be some filling, maybe panko or egg, but you can’t tell, all I tasted was endless crab). And a sauce. And a side salad. Finally fresh mussels served with a crazy rich sauce so delicate and delicious I can’t describe it properly- butter and cream of course, but tarragon? Sage? Doesn’t really matter. If you want to enjoy food, really good food, this is the place. PS - another good sign is to listen - music remains in the background where it belongs while people’s conversation and laughter creates the ambience. The service was quietly discrete and well informed; the place is cozy yet accommodating of different group sizes. Never mind the price- if you want to treat yourself, your friends or your family, I’ll...