The Red Shoe — Restaurant in Mabou

Don't waste your time. My friend and I traveled 80 miles across Nova Scotia and back to try to experience live music at the Red Shoe Pub. I had been 10 years earlier, and had a good experience with my mom at the time, so was eager to show my friend, a musician visiting from Scotland, what the Cape Breton music scene had to offer. In addition, we had not eaten most of the day in anticipation of having a great meal there. We tried to make a reservation by phone; they would not allow that. We arrived to find a small crowd of people waiting to get in. We joined them, and asked what the process was and were told that we needed to put our name in. I went into the establishment, spoke with one of the servers, and asked if she could direct me to the host or hostess. She told me she WAS the hostess, and I asked to put our name in. She told me that she was going to go get the list and she would come outside and once she determined who was here that was on the list, she would add our name. This never happened. She came out and cleared the list, allowing all the people on the list into the establishment, then she turned around and walked in and closed the door. We stood outide waiting, assuming that once everyone was seated she would come back out and either let us in or at least put us on the waiting list. This also never happened. We waited several minutes longer, then called the establishment and told the woman who answered that we were still standing outside on the sidewalk and were waiting to be put on the list to come in. She told us that they were full. We had just watched four people leave the place, and we had already gone around the side of the building, and could clearly see several empty tables of 4. There were only 2 of us. We asked again if she was sure they were full and if she had checked to see if there were any empty tables and she simply said "We are full". We were left standing outside on the sidewalk, being half eaten alive by mosquitoes, speaking to a gentleman who appeared to be rather disgruntled and slightly inebriated. This person indicated that they do this often, and they treat travelers In a different manner than they treat locals. We witnessed this first-hand in that a lovely local woman that the gentleman knew came along, and when she heard about our experience, she tried to go to bat for us with the wait staff, who were not interested in helping. As we watched all this unfold, another local chap came along and went right in and sat down, with no issue whatsoever. Needless to say, this has soured both of us on the Cape Breton music scene as a whole, and the Red Shoe Pub in particular. Their treatment of tourists, the life-blood for this region, is pretty appalling. Definitely will not be...

Busy busy money making spot. Being in the road going through small places all the time, it is rare you will come upon a place like the Red Shoe Pub. Normally small independent eateries, diners and pubs in small places are sparsely visited by and never fully occupied at all times of the day. This is not the fact regarding Red Shoe Pub. Thus place is heaving and full to the brim at most times of the day. Why? Well they do have a good kitchen and great food and offers live music at night, but I guess the secret to this success and a massive stream of people at the tables is because of its famous owners. In fact, I must admit this was also why I knew about it and wanted to check it out as I visited the area. We came on a a Saturday after noon and wanted to enjoy some dinner if possible. At 4 PM we were able to get a table and the restaurant was not quite full yet. The waitress was friendly but the attitude she knew people would come anyway was somewhat apparent. The menu is not too big and the food is an upscale variation of pub food. My wife chose the salmon and I had bill to settle. The meat loaf. A week earlier I’d fallen for someone’s “secret” recipe for a meatloaf in a pub in a no name town and the result was gross. I needed to regain faith in the art of meatloaf. I was not disappointed when it came. Highly recommendable and so was the salmon. With two full strikes it was on to desserts. 4 choices on the menu so with two people you can try 50 Percent of them. Great. We had the Red Shoe take on a banana split and the gingerbread cake. Yummy. And people still came through the door and replaced people who finished and left. It was a constant coming and going and at around 6 the restaurant was filled and with people starting to line up outside. Ok, it was a Saturday and in the holiday season but what a turnover they must have everyday? However, the food was worth it and it was a...

I decided to visit The Red Shoe after hearing so many great things about it — friends had spoken highly of the atmosphere and the food, so I was genuinely looking forward to the experience. Unfortunately, it fell far short of expectations.

From the moment we arrived, the service was underwhelming. After being seated, no one brought us menus, and we had to get up and ask for them ourselves. Not a huge deal, but definitely not a great start.

We ordered dinner, and while the food was okay, it wasn’t anything special. Given the reputation of the place, I expected something more flavorful or unique. It all felt very average.

At the end of the meal, we decided to try their famous warm gingerbread dessert and ordered a beer as well. Sadly, the beer never arrived — they completely forgot about it. The dessert took a surprisingly long time to come out, and when it finally did, it was cold. Not just lukewarm — actually cold. The most frustrating part was that by then, the restaurant was almost empty, so there was no reason for such delays or neglect.

The only redeeming part of the evening was the live music — a small band was playing, and they were genuinely talented. Their performance added a warm touch to an otherwise disappointing night.

Overall, The Red Shoe left a lot to be desired. Between the poor service, average food, forgotten drinks, and cold dessert, I can’t say I’d...