Main Street Restaurant — Restaurant in Ingonish Beach

EDIT BELOW The manager was plain rude when she asked us to leave (the same way you would kick out two people fighting in a bar) because we disagreed to pay $7 for two cups of drip coffee after they served me food containing the allergen I had very explicitly informed the waitress of and, by the same token, risked me eating a piece of bread that could pose a risk to my life. Might I add that nobody apologized for their negligence regarding life-threatening conditions we ALL share responsibility into! If you can’t accommodate allergies, please tell us before preparing a meal that will either (1) cause an anaphylactic shock and/or (2) end up in the waste bin and still ask us to pay for it.

EDIT: In light of the response the owner gave to this review, I wanted to clarify a few things. We never called anyone names, especially not stupid or r*d (we are adults, and we act like it). I personally do take name calling very seriously, especially when it comes to the latter, since it does not lead to any helpful results for either party, and since it is indeed bullying, which I of course will never condone. Only thing we said (not shouted) was that you guys should be ashamed of the way you treat allergens in your restaurant and that you wanted to charge us for the plate, not that you would know since you (the owner) were not even present or take part in the conversation. The only other negative thing we said was that we asked if she was serious when she asked us to pay. We are indeed sorry that she felt intimidated and embarrassed; it was never the intent. Also, I do wish your restaurant can flourish and proudly support the local economy of Cape Breton, but I believe some adjustments are needed in order for you guys to represent the great hospitality us Canadians are known for.

This leads me to my suggestions for you: (1) Take your responsibility towards allergies seriously. This can easily be accomplished with the help of standardized procedures up to the standard of cautiousness. Most restaurants we tried in Nova Scotia do it perfectly and I do believe that you guys have what it takes. (2) As the owner, you should be willing to go talk to customers whether they are problematic of whether the situation is. This is your responsibility, not your 15 year old employees'. It would have spared both you and I a lot of hassle and it would have made your service (which would otherwise have been impeccable) all the better. (3) Please stop lying about what we said. It is very unprofessional and very dismissive. I am guessing you are doing it for good press, but it is quite hurtful. Now, if the server told you that we said these things to her, we are sorry that she thinks we did, but I assure you that the last time I said r*d was in primary school.

I have no intention of hurting your business or bring down your review score (which I won't since you have a few hundreds). Only thing I am trying to accomplish is tell other people with allergies how you handled ours. As for myself, I would have loved to know this information prior to entering your business. I think we could all gain from better handling of allergies. Remember: it is not a choice I made and it can very quickly a life or death situation without proper caution.

I wish you, your business and your employees the best. I simply expect more from restaurants...

First Waited at the door 20 + minutes to be seated they saw, they smiled, despite the please wait to be seated sign no one came to see me. I thought maybe they were busy but there were only 2 tables actively seated inside, 3 out, (there were more visible available staff than current tables) when they saw me checking this out, they then approached me. I Let them know there would be 11 of us total, after another 15 minute wait while they talked amongst themselves they finally agreed they would take us but not let us sit together at the many available tables we could have out together, so we sat scattered among several tables, with separate bills which would have been fine - but then they still charged us an auto 18% gratuity for a group over 8 (just FYI- because no one tells you prior to seating)!!!! Prior to the bill arriving we had actually all agreed we would tip 10%, as all servers ourselves in the group, we would normally never tip so little but we have honestly NEVER had worse service, asked about refills on drinks when ordering, not sure why because we didn’t see our server again until bill time, aside from dipping our food (which she forgot half of until I could finally wave her down near the end of our meal wondering where it was.) we are locals, and I’m not sure if this is how they treat all their customers just assuming they are just tourists and not having to worry about return service in the long run but we will never be back, and we will be sharing our experience with...

My wife and I stopped in for dinner based on it being on our way to our hotel and a recommendation in one of our guidebooks. My thoughts: -The seafood chowder was quite tasty, but it was extremely salty. It came with a nice crunch roll to dip into it as well. -The mac and cheese had big chunks of lobster in it, and not sure if this is normal, but in the US Mac and Cheese is usually gooey and sticky. Mine was swimming in melted cheese like a soup. -My wife ordered a seafood salad which was good, but it probably had triple the amount of dressing it needed poured onto it (despite it being ordered on the side). -The decor is nice and the patio is quite nice as well. Generally speaking it looks like a classy place and it is really well kept. -The service was quite sluggish (despite 3 waiters and maybe 7 or 8 tables) and we ended up having to come inside from the patio to finally get a check. -I ordered a martini and asked for it straight up, instead of asking what straight up meant the bartender made my martini 'neat' meaning it was never shaken with ice and it had the vermouth in it I didn't want in it. Don't order a drink that isn't a standard drink on the menu :). -Obviously when you sit on a patio there's the risk of bugs, mosquitoes in particular. If you sit outside be sure to bring bugspray for your own sake!

I definitely wouldn't say 'stay away', but I personally...