The Press Gang Restaurant and Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Halifax

Came here for The Drill, I read the positive reviews, and was kind of let down. Had the espresso (was not caramel baileys 😒) and honey cocktail (sweet. yummy but weak in alcohol). Started with a lobster bisque with a scallop ball (tasted like a fishball you’d eat at an Asian hotpot) was pretty good but wasn’t blown away, it was a small portion of bisque but had lots of lobster claw meat that tasted fresh. Scallop ball was a fabulous, bouncy, tender texture but didn’t have a strong scallop taste. 4/5 Next came beef tartare and candied tuna (basically tuna jerky). Beef had a nice chew but was underseasoned on its own. Tuna jerky was fun to eat. Underneath the beef and tuna was a really yummy chimichurri. The sauces were yummy but there wasn’t enough of it, it was paired with really nice fresh crunchy slices of bread. 5/5 Had a sorbet as a palate cleanser (waitress said it’s raspberry but it tasted like hawthorn candy), was pretty good! 5/5 The main and dessert was where I was let down. Overcooked salmon and a couple of shrimps (cooked in white wine-yummy!) with “pan fried gnocchi”. The gnocchi was basically oily, deep fried mashed potato bites… tasted like I went to a fast food place. Salmon was overcooked so that was meh. 2/5 The dessert was not great. Chocolate peanut butter pie was overly sweet and tasted too basic- like a kids intro-to-desserts recipe. It was paired with a berry … some French name that tasted like a wet, overly sweet, thick, soggy failed pancake (I don’t like pancakes on a good day). My boyfriend who likes pancakes and doesn’t mind soggy foods 😂 didn’t like it either. Paired with a coffee, I could only eat one piece of the peanut butter pie. I love desserts and that wasn’t worth the calories. 0/5

Overall I think I was expecting something more special. It’s WAY overpriced for what you get. Atleast you don’t leave feeling hungry (there was lots of bread)

I recommend going to Bicycle Thief, Gio or Oxalis for a much better fine dining experience that’s...

Beware! This restaurant has a history of deleting bad reviews! My family and I dined here three months ago, and we paid 180 dollars for three rotten lobsters. Do not go if you want fresh lobsters. I made a complaint directly on trip advisor and my review was deleted. Do not go if you want a nice experience

If you think the press gang is your place to go for dinner tonight, think twice. My previous review was deleted by the press gang in fear of me telling the truth about the quality of the food, however, since I was notified that my review has been deleted, I have reported this restaurant to Restaurant and Food Inspection Services of Canada, Nova Scotia Food Safety Department, and the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia. You deserve to know what is happening with this restaurant and the food they serve.

It was back in May when my father, mother and I went for a happy dinner and we ordered a dozen oyster and three lobsters. The oysters were fine, they weren't fresh, but they are okay. My father and I had moldy and mushy lobsters that smells like chlorine and other chemicals, and it is very apparent these lobsters were dead from the tank. The reason being, my mother got a very fresh lobster and the contrast was clear.

My family did not talked about our food to each other until the day afterwards, when my dad and I couldn't stop complaining about the lobster we ate at the restaurant and my mother was confused. Since she got a perfectly good lobster, and she took a part of it home to us. After we ate my mum's lobster left over, we realized what a stark contrast this fresh lobster is compared to the mushy lobster we ate last night with strong chemical smells.

If you care about your body or your health, please do not go to this restaurant! And just be aware other reviewer's reviews might have also been deleted for the same reason as mine.

Wish you all...

My wife and I dined at The Press Gang on Sunday August 31st, and it was the worst food we have ever been served at a “nice” restaurant in Halifax.

We opened with cocktails from their summer special menu. It was the calibre of something you would get a Boston pizza. So sugary my wife couldn’t even drink it.

The charcuterie board was expensive and unimpressive. The chicken liver pate had such a strong aftertaste that we couldn’t stomach it.

For mains we ordered a lobster and a seafood pasta. I’ve lived in Nova Scotia my entire life and this is the worse seafood I’ve ever ordered at a restaurant. The boiled lobster tasted salty and fishy, but we choked it down . The seafood pasta looked like watery spaghetti from a can, and the seafood in it also tasted fishy and salty. It was so bad we had to send it back.

Over the course of the meal we ordered two bottles of the Livon, a great Italian wine. The Press Gang charged us $78/bottle while other higher quality restaurants in the city, such as Amano, only charge $60.

At the end of the meal our bill came to $385 with tip for two overpriced bottles of wine, old fishy seafood we couldn’t stomach, Boston pizza quality cocktails, and an overpriced, underwhelming charcuterie board with a chicken liver pate that made us gag.

I can’t overemphasize how much of a disappointed experience this was. We have small kids, so we don’t get out much and I’ve been wanting to eat at the Press Gang for over a decade. Instead of finally getting to dine at the high calibre restaurant I was expecting, it instead feels like I fell into a tourist trap and got “shaken down” for almost $400

Needless to say we won’t ever be returning to The Press Gang, and I recommend that you...