Dear Friend Bar — Restaurant in Dartmouth

Dear Friend, why don't you like me?

My date and I walked into Dear Friend at 6:30 on the last Sunday in December. The restaurant was at least half full, and there was not a single server or staff member on the floor or behind the bar. This felt really bizarre. Who was serving these people?

After two minutes, a server emerged. The couple who showed up just after us were sat at a table that seats four. Meanwhile, my date and I were sat at a table right beside the drafty door that felt like the end of an ironing board.

My date doesn't drink alcohol, and the menu says to "ask about non-alcoholic cocktails." So we did, and the server said they could "make us anything." How should one respond to that question? Why not just put a non-alcoholic cocktail on the menu or write somewhere, "Don't ask."

As for food, we decided on the "Let us cook for you" option. Six courses for $50! I would have been shocked by that low price at the end of 2014 let alone 2024.

The price felt incredibly generous when the first course was a bowl of tuna tartare and a half dozen oysters. The tartare was bland, though. Topped with minced radish and red apples that had little flavour, the dish would have been better off with a sour green apple or something with acidity. The wasabi cream was fine, but there wasn't enough of it. Chebooktook oysters are meant to be sweet for east coast oysters, but they were salty and pungent to the point where they felt like they were on the edge of being off. And this was nearly the highlight of the meal.

The strange second course was a bowl of twenty-five tough, salty green olives. Who wants to eat over a dozen olives on their own? This wasn't a course, it was a fraction of a dish.

The third course was maybe the best of the night, a falafel about the size and shape of a cigarette with cashew cream and nice acidity. Small but tasty.

The fourth course was another strange one, roast carrots in a cashew cream sauce. This was a perfectly fine dish. But like the olives, why would I eat this dish on its own? It would be nice served alongside fish, beef, chicken, etc., but is it a dish or just a side?

The fifth course was a small bite of "chicken and waffles." This is where I truly lost confidence in the chef and restaurant. This was the most chefy and ridiculous take on chicken and waffles. Instead of deep fried chicken, you get liver parfait. Instead of maple, there was some sort of cranberry compote. The waffle was dense and super spongey. An Eggo would have been preferred. Please take this dish off of the menu.

Surely they aren't going to move onto a dessert course next, I thought, without some actual main dish with substantial protein. No, first we got to try four gnocchis each with a fleck of mushroom on top.

So basically, other than some tartare, three oysters, and a spread of liver parfait, the menu was basically all vegetarian. That's how one gets six courses for $50. You're mostly getting vegetables and small bites and a few oysters going off.

But oh great, there was a seventh dessert course, too. The espresso martini tiramisu was truly embarrasing, the worse dessert I've had at any restaurant ever. They drowned a light and airy chocolate sponge cake in espresso martini, so that there were pools of liquid turning the cake grainy and gross. There's a reason tiramisu soaks a very specific type of ladyfinger in a coffee -- you can't just soak any cake or baked good in liquid. Who came up with this dish? Why?

Why, yes. Why did I spend all this time writing this review? The server didn't seem to care much about the issues I had with the meal, for one, and I thought management might. But this restaurant does not seem to care about your enjoyment. They care about their chefy creation, ego without substance.

If you're going to try this restaurant, just order off the normal menu and definitely steer clear of the oysters. I could imagine composing a decent enough meal of 5-6 proper dishes for $120-140. Instead, my date and I threw away $100 on this strange tasting menu.

Dear Friend is clearly no...

I was disappointed with my experience at Dear Friend on Sunday evening. From the moment we were seated, our server, Emily, seemed irritated with us. We brushed it off at first, but it became more noticeable when the bartender brought our drinks. She commented to him, in an unpleasant tone, “They all switched seats.” In reality, only my partner and I had swapped places so I could sit next to my friend, only because we were sharing food. She continued to be slow, short, and unpleasant to us for the rest of our time there. We ordered a dozen oysters, which were listed on the menu as $3.50 each or $32 for a dozen. Beneath that, it stated that the happy hour price was $1.50 per oyster. We knew it wasn’t happy hour and had no expectation of that pricing, we simply wanted to share a dozen at the listed $32 price, intending to split the cost. When it came time to pay, instead of providing itemized bills, she brought the payment machine straight to the table, which I thought was odd at first but I now realize it was most definitely on purpose. The totals didn’t seem to add up, so my friend asked for a detailed receipt. That’s when we realized we’d been charged for 6 oysters each at $3.50, rather than a dozen for $32 split between us. When we brought this to her attention, she claimed the $32 dozen price was only for happy hour, which is not what the menu said. My friend pointed that out, and she responded in a dismissive and demeaningly tone “Well, I didn’t print the menu,” showing no accountability or understanding. Even if that had been the happy hour price (which it wasn’t), it still wouldn’t make sense, 12 oysters at $1.50 each would be $18, not $32. I double checked the online menu afterward, and it confirmed what we saw in person: $32 per dozen, with no mention of that being exclusive to happy hour. Most of our group (four out of five) work in the service industry, so we understand mistakes happen, so we’re usually very patient and empathetic. But the lack of basic courtesy and the unwillingness to resolve a simple pricing issue made the whole experience frustrating. I would love to change my mind about it here as the overall vibe was nice and we enjoyed our food and drinks but I can’t see myself, or any of our party, returning after this experience. It’s disappointing to spend good money on food and drinks and receive service that doesn’t even meet a basic standard of professionalism or...

Their front door looks like any regular door but it’s not… it’s a portal to another place. As soon as you step through you are no longer in Dartmouth, you are in a major world city at one of its finest restaurants. From the interior you could be anywhere, a hidden gem in New York, a well loved local farm to table in Toronto, the buzzing atmosphere of a small Izakaya in Tokyo. If this is the future of dining in Dartmouth then yes please!! More of this please. After watching a movie and glancing at options for dinner as depressing as Jack Astors or Moxies and many places closing by 9pm… stumbling into this place and asking the friendly bartender if the kitchen was still serving and finding out it was totally transformed our night!

We shared three dishes (the three at the bottom of the menu) potatoes with truffle, the zucchini tart and the ricotta stuffed pasta. All three were nuanced culinary delights clearly made by chefs who care deeply about the food they make and take pride in what they serve. I had the golden sky (or was it sun?) cocktail which had a similar level of care and delicacy from the bartending staff.

This is the kind of restaurant you wish for when you go out to spend your hard earned money. This is the kind of place you look forward to returning to because you are excited to see what the chefs and bartenders create next.

The people who attended to us were all very lovely including the woman from the kitchen who told us about the dish they were delivering to our table.

The only downside I can think of is now eating anywhere else in the Dartmouth Halifax region will pale by comparison. This is the best place I have had dinner at in Nova Scotia and is right up there with the best places I have eaten in Toronto, New York and Tokyo.

Congrats to everyone at Dear Friend Bar for creating an amazing dining experience. And thank you for a lovely evening!

I hope other restaurants in the area are encouraged to follow your lead in making Dartmouth a culinary...