Water Polo Restaurant — Restaurant in Halifax

Don't get me wrong. The Bertossi Group has a solid group of good restaurants. Outstanding though? Meh. After recommendations from friends in the hospitality industry, we went with our hopes up. Everybody was very hospitable and kind, seating happened quickly (mind you, with a reservation). The restaurant is gigantic in size (by Halifax standards), and yet packed on a Friday night. If there is one problem with all of the Bertossi restaurants it is the noise level. The Water Polo is no exception. Great food and fine dining in other parts of the world are usually characterized by a certain understatement as well as a quiet atmosphere. You want to come and relax, have a nice meal, a bottle of wine, and chat with you friends. Instead it feels like sitting at Grand Central with everyone shouting to get heard which leads, you guessed it, to even more noise. Noise is less of an issue on the patio which is definitely a good option in warm weather. Another pet peeve of mine is when you ask for a classic cocktail and the server tells you that they have "their take of" whatever drink you asked for. There is no such thing as "their take of". There are classic cocktails and there are fads. If I ask for a classic, I obviously don't want a fad. To their credit, they have an extensive wine list with open wines as well as one of my favorite aperitifs, a white Port. Regarding our meals. Out of four dishes, two were over-salted. The lobster bisque was more of an American lobster cream than a French bisque. While it wasn't oversalted, it sure was spicy. Again, if I order a bisque, in most parts of the world, I get a crustacean soup that is very close to what the Larousse gastronomique defines as a bisque. Hot spices have no place in it (and usually imply it is needed to mask a lesser quality of ingredients). The wedge of lobster salad was underwhelming as well. Nothing wrong with the wedge of lettuce, and the fresh peas (they were in fact delicious!). The dressing was ok (again, nothing to write home about), but the lobster was a bit of a scam (at least when you are from Nova Scotia). A smallish cold piece of half a tail. Granted, I have had worse lobster (actually at another Bertossi restaurant, where it was simply chewy in the pasta), but also a lot better ones. If it says "butter poached", I would expect it to be warm.

Our server was very friendly, and definitely hard working. However, wait times were a bit long (again, it was a busy night). Also, lots of staff were busy running around often with nothing in their hands, or an iPad at best. This adds to the Grand Central feeling, and seems like staff is not (yet?) properly organized.

We decided to go to Creme for dessert, just a couple of doors down, which never fails to impress.

We will give it another try some other time, but only in good weather on the patio. Definitely not indoors as long as nothing is done to the noise level. We measured a 102 dB. For comparison: 84 dB for a prolonged period of time (30 minutes or more) is considered hazardous as it can cause permanent...

Was in Halifax for 5 days and had an overall wonderful experience dining at various restaurants — except for Water Polo, which stands out as the sole disappointing and frustrating experience during our trip. If I could give 0 stars, I would.

When I made the reservation for this restaurant, I explicitly noted that it was for a birthday celebration. Unfortunately, this detail appeared to hold no significance. Upon arriving exactly at our reserved time, we were promptly seated and were told that our server would come by soon to take our orders. However, 20 mins passed with no sign of a server. In the meantime, the restaurant was extremely noisy — more chaotic and overwhelming than any bar or restaurant I’ve experienced before.

Adding to the frustration, numerous servers and bussers walked by our table repeatedly, visibly busy, but none even acknowledged us. Attempts to signal for assistance were met with deliberate avoidance — some staff members looked away or appeared to ignore my raised hand. It was baffling to see 1 particular server paying exceptional attention to the group in one of the "private" rooms which was next to our table. She delivered wine and other dishes a few times, but remained utterly indifferent when walking past our table multiple times. We seemed invisible to her, presumably because we weren’t part of her assigned section?

After waiting for 25 mins and still not being approached or even offered water, I flagged down a passing server and asked for clarification on who our server was. He told me he'd go find our assigned server but, disappointingly, another 5+ frustrating mins passed without anyone coming to our table. At this point, our total wait time exceeded 30 mins without any basic service — no water, no acknowledgment, no orders taken.

The lack of service left us questioning whether we’d been judged unfairly due to race, attire, or some other arbitrary factor. Regardless, we were undervalued, ignored, and unwelcome — a deeply upsetting experience, especially on what should have been a joyful occasion. Unwilling to endure further neglect, we left the restaurant. Unsurprisingly, no staff seemed to care as we got up and walked out the door.

What should have been a celebratory birthday dinner turned into a ruined evening, forcing us to scramble to find an alternative restaurant nearby. Thankfully, our eventual choice turned out to be a blessing in disguise — at the newly chosen venue, we received accommodating kindness and attentive service that restored the positive expectations we had for dining in Halifax.

All that said, I strongly advice against Water Polo and will never return. I cannot recommend it under any circumstances — it’s a complete waste of time. This experience was so off-putting that I would hesitate to try any of the other restaurants operated by the same group. Halifax undoubtedly offers exceptional dining options, but Water Polo is...

Overall 3/5 We had high hopes and were disappointed.

But considering they are still in the early stages, I’m hoping for some improvement. We were also there two weeks ago idk they might’ve already improved.

Decor 4.5/5 definitely have a fair amount of distance between tables comparing to most restaurants at the waterfront. I would say the dinner lighting could be slightly brighter.

Service 5/5 our server was excellent! They also seemed very well staffed. The service didn’t slack even when the restaurant got full.

Drinks 5/5 unique, well blended and tasty.

Food 2/5 I could be expecting too much considering the location. But as a regular of the Black Sheep, the Highwayman and Edna. I feel like there are other better alternatives around town when it comes to food.

The meal started with Japanese milk bread, lobster oil and balsamic vinegar. It was amazing especially in contrast to what followed. (You can buy the lobster oil at Pane e Circo)

Appetizers - One thing they all had in common? Lack of flavour We ordered three appetizers: the scallops, the regular beef tartare and the tuna carpaccio. The scallops were fresh, maybe the intention was to appreciate its natural flavour? The tartare was completely dominated by the potatoes, couldn’t taste the beef. The beef on its own was boring and lack of flavour. The tuna carpaccio - maybe the intention was to appreciated its texture.

Entrées - seems like this station is where the salt went We ordered the scallops and the market fish. The scallops were pretty good, although the sauce definitely could use a bit less salt. We all felt it was too salty after a couple of bites and stopped putting it on the scallops. The fish - the skin still had scales on it. The flavour was a revelation! It had depth but again, became too salty after a few bites in.

Desserts - saved the day We ordered the tiramisu, the cheesecake and the pot de crème. The tiramisu saved the day! It was unique and delicious. One thing we all felt puzzled about was that, each of the components was outstanding on its own, but when combined it became kind of plain. The cheesecake - too much lavender syrup, tasted like dish soap, sent it back to the kitchen. Pot de crème - I love a good London fog.

Towards the end of our meal seemed every other table ordered mussels. I’m not certain if it’s because of how they were prepared. But they were stinky, I think I can tell when shellfish has gone bad. We basically rushed out of the restaurant afterwards.

Again, I understand most people probably come here for business dinners where the quality of the food probably isn’t important. But even within the confines of waterfront restaurants, there are better alternatives...