Trellis Cafe — Restaurant in Hubbards

Well, after several years of many great experiences at the Trellis, I have to deduct a star or two after our last visit. I've always assumed that pretty much everyone in Nova Scotia (especially restaurants that serve seafood) know that you don't eat mussels that don't open fully when cooked... but I guess that isn't the case. So, we were a party of two couples. We ordered mussels as one of our appetizers. When they were served, about half of the mussels weren't open (closed tight). No biggie... we ate the ones that were open, which were good, but naturally (or so it seemed to us) we didn't eat the closed ones. I even opened one of them, but as usual with mussels that don't open when cooked, it smelled bad. (but I always have the urge to check) Our waitress (who was lovely) came to our table to see how everything was. We point out that we couldn't eat half of our mussels because they weren't open (again assuming they knew what we meant by couldn't eat them). The waitress takes them away, saying she'll need to speak with her manager. After a little while, another waitress returns with our half plate of mussels and says, "so the chef managed to pry open your mussels for you. Here you go..." . We all said, no, you don't eat mussels that don't open when cooked. She said, "no, they all had a little opening where you can pry them open". ..and we said no thank you. She says, "so you don't want them?", and again we expressed, no, your not supposed to eat mussels that don't open on their own... ... anyway, she didn't understand I guess, nor did the "chef". We were having a nice evening, so we didn't press it or want to make anymore fuss and said we didn't want them. Then about 5 minutes later we overheard the second waitress tell the table next to us, that had just seated, that there were no mussels (coincidentally it seemed). ...Anyway, it's a long story, but it's hard to believe that when you are spending over a couple hundred dollars for a dinner out that the restaurant would go to the lengths they did over a half a plate of mussels (which they charged full price for). Why bother asking how everything is if they're going to insist that everything is ok, and basically you're wrong? When you eat bad mussels, aside from the fact that they don't taste very good, they very often make people sick. Restaurants serving closed mussels, should be a no-no (if it isn't already). The chef prying open closed mussels and giving them back for you to eat should be a no-no. The rest of the food was good as usual, but I don't think we'll be hurrying back to the Trellis right away ... especially if we have a craving for mussels.

In response to the reply; I guess I should have taken a picture, because the mussels were closed shut, and the one that I managed to pry open didn't smell very good. It happens, but I guess we were mistaken, because apparently it doesn't happen at the Trellis. It's too bad it had to go down this road over some mussels because we really...

7 of us arrived there about an hour after the lunch time where few less than dozen people were there. We ordered 6 dishes and we felt like the waiter didn't get the right order (because usually they should be writing it down but he didn't); so we checked, and of course quantity of the orders were wrong. We were relieved that we just have fixed potential problem but then after more than 20 minutes, he came and said "I'm sorry but we don't have our home-cut fries anymore. Would you like salads instead?" so we expected a huge plate of salad that would actually fulfill as much as it would have fulfilled with fries. After another 20 minutes of waiting and asking for food, they finally came and we were so disappointed; salads were really small that they would have been appetizers instead, and to be honest food were not that great. We were really hungry so we finished all of them (they weren't that much of food anyways) and they all came to more than $80. When it came to payment (mastercard), he told us that the first page will be the tip but my mom skipped, because she really disliked her burger since it was so cold, so the waiter told her "You skipped the tip." I don't mind waiters/ waitresses getting or not getting their tips but I felt like he thought he deserves tips from us and seems like he was taking it granted. After we paid and got the receipt, turned away, I could hear two waiters talking about us. There were two couples got there later than us yet they finished their food even before our food showed up. And those waiters didn't even fill-up our cups though our water were running low. It was such a beautiful day and this cafe is located in a way that it gets a huge advantage of warm sunlight but I don't recommend you to go there if you are looking for...

Well I have visited this location multiple times to attempt to get back to the lovely spot I had so enjoyed a couple years ago where I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious their chowder is/was. Sadly in each attempt since I have been disappointed. No more so then my last visit. On June 17th in an attempt to take my Dad out for a lovely brunch on the Saturday before Father’s Day, I made a reservation for brunch at 12:30pm at the Trellis. When we got their we were greeted by a lovely server who sat us and gave us menus. I had noticed that the menu was not for brunch. Our actual server came to our table and to say she was less than welcoming would be an understatement. No eye contact, no smiling. I asked about brunch only to be told they stop brunch at 11am! I was shocked because their website didn’t say the hours and brunch is typically the breakfast/ lunch we all know and love. Stopping brunch at 11 was ridiculous. I had my heart set on eggs and the only thing on the lunch menu was an omelette so I asked if I could have that and add a small salad to it and my server, again no eye contact or hint of friendliness said “ no sorry the chef doesn’t like to do that.” WTH??!! Ok fine I settled for the salad because it seemed yummy. $14 for just a salad and it didn’t even fill the bowl it came in. My Dad had a salad and half sandwich and he found the sandwich dry because the break was so big there was more bread then filling. Chicken sandwich btw. The server never asked us how our meal was during our stay either, perhaps because she could sense my utter disappointment in the visit, who knows. I can say that we won’t be coming back again, especially with so many great spots to visit...