Jack Astor's Bar & Grill Dartmouth — Restaurant in Dartmouth

3 stars because we have had good and even great experiences at this location before, but this past visit was really unenjoyable :( The food was fantastic, surprisingly considering it wasn't hot anymore, we assume it was left under the heat lamp for way too long.. But from the minute we walked in, it felt very uncomfortable and very much like we were intruding.

My wife and I have worked in the industry for many many years, so we understand if someone walks in 15-20 mins prior to close time that it is annoying, but we arrived almost an hour before closing time and it was the absolute end of the world to our server who had several other tables even after we left. Had it not been for the lengthy wait for our food we would've been long gone before it closed.

The server comes to our table and says "Just so you know, last call is at 10:45", no greeting whatsoever and when we said "That's okay" they sped off annoyed before we could even finish our sentence with "we already know what we want".

Anyway, I understand people have bad days and maybe that's all it was, but when someone else brought over our food and was so pleasantly nice, it absolutely pissed me off that Jack's allows someone with this type of attitude to serve at all. And on a Friday night at that! I hope that individual was just having an off night or just extremely eager to go party on a Friday, because the next time we walk into this location and see that person working, we're gone!

I wish I had never worked in the industry before, because the 15% tip I left was meant to represent a poor tip based on the service received, I just wish I had it in me to leave nothing but I'm aware of the high tip-out servers pay for each table and don't find it fair for anyone (good or bad at their job) to pay to serve someone! For anyone who doesn't know of the tip-out system, that's right, you leave your server $0 and it just cost them money to serve...

Most poorly organized Jacks in Canada. Go to Bayers lake if you have the time.

My wife and I were apart for 10 days, and had a babysitter for the first time in 8 months…. We used to eat at Jacks Bayers lake at least once every two weeks! We just wanted a date night with some snack foods and drinks.

Ordered 3 different apps only to be told after each one they were out, THEN she listed the other items. No nachos cause they don’t have chips…..buy some??? There is a Walmart next door and I know Jacks has used plenty of substitute chips when I worked there. It’s One of their most popular apps and we would do everything not to 86 it.

It felt every time we ordered our back up plan, that was out too. She was clearly looking to serve mains to increase her average ticket and potential tip on a Monday, OR despite having Tablets at hand she did not know her 86 list. An integral part of service that tells everyone out front what the kitchen can and cannot make based on ingredients available or any other issues like a broken piece of equipment.

The manager on duty, Nick I believe, was pretty invisible. He clearly had a hard time with the table next to us as he didn’t service from the back to help with glassware, table touches anything until this table got up to leave at which point he came to apologize and promise “that will never happen again”….kind of wish I knew what happened now.

No one made an effort to suggest anything that was available, no one checked on how our tacos were until after I ate mine, my wife couldn’t finish it because the wrap had gone super soggy, and the chicken inside was very underwhelming.

Wasted date night if we didn’t finish our bottle of wine and go to a local pub...

I’m reaching out to share some feedback about a recent visit my husband and I made to your restaurant on August 6th. Unfortunately, our experience was quite disappointing, and I feel it’s important to bring it to your attention.

We ordered Caesars to start, and both drinks were extremely off — mine had about 1/3 of a cup of Worcestershire sauce, and my husband’s had at least 1/4 cup. It was overpowering and undrinkable, which set a poor tone for the rest of the meal.

When our food arrived, it was cold — fries, a burger, and a chicken wrap. These are basic items that should have been hot and fresh, so that was a letdown as well.

But what really stood out was the service. Throughout the meal, the servers made repeated comments about extras and pricing in a way that felt like they were questioning whether we could afford the meal. It was uncomfortable and completely uncalled for.

Finally, after we had paid, one of the staff loudly asked, “Did she tip us?” — right over the area where we had just finished eating. It was unprofessional, and frankly, quite disrespectful.

We don’t expect perfection, but we do expect to be treated with basic courtesy and to receive a quality meal for the money we spend. This visit fell far below that standard.

I hope you take this feedback seriously, as we were genuinely looking forward to a nice lunch and instead left feeling disappointed and disrespected.

At the end I looked up and this is what I ate over!...