Olde Dublin Pub — Restaurant in Charlottetown

I want to start with the most simplistic review, and if you feel the need, read on:

This place is a MUST VISIT for anyone visiting Charlottetown.

This pub is found on a side street off Queen, which is a busy street and loaded with restaurants. If you are not looking, This place is easy to miss - and you do not want that!

When you arrive, the first thing to be aware of is that it is not wheelchair friendly. You are going up several flights of stairs to the very top. There, you enter a dark restaurant with dated decor, but it fits the vibe perfectly. In the evening there is live music and if you are lucky you will visit when it's folk style music which gives the place an Irish feel. The music tends to be a bit loud, so if you are looking for quiet and cozy, move on.

The service here is fantastic. They can be a bit slow, but are so friendly and outgoing, and they make that little extra effort to make you feel welcome that you don't mind.

And the food...

OMG. This is not typical mediocre pub fair. The chef clearly takes pride in the food he sends out.

Of the dishes we tried, the worst was still pretty good. That was the beef dip. The only complaint was the beef was not seasoned- at all!

However, move to other dishes like the steak pot pie. Loaded with steak and flavour this is a treat that would take you back to grandma's hone style stew, but in a cust.

The butter chicken was absolutely fantastic and is a must try. It is not your traditional Indian butterchicken. This one had its own style and flair. Definitely worth a try, just don't expect it to match butter chicken from you favorite Indian restaurant.

The Sheppards pie was one of the most flavour filled ones I have had anywhere and with reluctance, I will admit, I can not make one any better at home.

The seafood bake!! Right here should be the signature dish. This seafood bake or seafood casserole was loaded with a shocking amount of seafood. Shrimp, scallops, salmon, white fish - perhaps haddock and what ever else they jammed in there. This will not disappoint, give it a try.

I must also mention the fries. They are hot and crispy. The fries with my hot dip sandwich came with a seasoning that was amazing. I ordered fries again and they had no seasoning. If you get fries here, ask for them to be seasoned. You will not regret it, and you will not be asking for ketchup!

That's my review. I can not stress how much I enjoy this restaurant. In my opinion, it is the best place I have eaten in PEI.

From the entertainment, to the service and back to the kitchen, they are deserve...

It was highly-rated and praised, so we made our choice comfortably - thinking we would have quality food that’s affordable.

Alas, the oysters served were extremely dirty and badly presented. The oysters were laid on top of one another, causing the oysters below to be contaminated with the shell remnants of the oysters above them. Mignonette was promised alongside the lemons and cocktail sauce, but unfortunately none was served. Many of the oysters weren’t even properly removed from their base (the adductor muscle). The oysters had SO much debris inside it was VERY obvious that they didn’t even bother purging them (soaking them for 10 mins in ice cold water so they can spit out the dirt from within). It was a filthy and grainy experience that truly took away from our love for oysters.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL!

The chowder. Oh my god. We ordered the chowder right after the oysters, and I was in complete shock at the state that it arrived in. I’ll insert a video below. The CONSISTENCY was HORRID. It was far from creamy. I am very, very rarely offended, and I felt personally insulted that the chef actually looked at these bowls and thought this was good enough to send out. Where are the standards?! It was bland, the seafood inside were severely overcooked, and it was the consistency of broth. After voicing our dislike for the chowders, they still charged us for them even though we didn’t even have a second bite! I’m absolutely mind blown. 🤯

We tipped the servers and didn’t take away from anyone’s hard work, but we didn’t feel equally appreciated as customers.

It was our first ever meal arriving in PEI, and what a disappointing experience it was. We stormed out, bellies hungry and our pockets significantly emptier, searching for another place to have dinner for the night after our long...

My partner and I decided to go to this pub tonight as a way to celebrate my first trip to PEI. When we arrived at the restaurant at 6:30 and we were told it was full. We asked if we could wait for a table and they told us they were full for the night. This seemed odd, especially considering they closed at 2am. So we awkwardly went down the stairs and waited in the foyer. When we were there we watched as the hostess proceeded to let larger groups get tables. We even watched an older woman ask for a table of two and she was taken to a table.

We decided we would call them from the street and attempt to make a reservation. When we asked if we could the person on the phone told us they weren't taking reservations and we could come in at 8pm for a table. We asked if there was potential to be turned away at the door because it had just happened to us and they said it was a possibility. I'm struggling to understand how they could try to sell us on walk-in service when they had just told they were full for the night.

Frustrated we asked the person on the phone if the people who had been seated ahead of us had reservations and we were told "most of them did." This rubbed me the wrong way as it only confirmed they were selective with who they were serving and I'm not quite sure what it was about us that gave them pause.

We managed to find another restaurant who were equally, if not more, busy who just asked us to politely wait for a table when one became available. This took about twenty minutes and we had a great meal.

Olde Dublin Pub has a ton of great reviews which influenced our opinion to go there but, unfortunately, I can't comment on the food as they made it clear they did not want...