Chowder House — Restaurant in Neils Harbour

My Nova Scotian family had fond memories of this place from previous Cabot Trail visits and were excited to get our hands on some crispy fish and chips and flavourful white wine mussel boil.

But the weight was unbearably long. At 3:30pm, there was only one other table (inside or out). They already had their food so we figured we’d get our quick-to-cook orders in no time. But we waited just over an hour and a half!

The mussels arrived first and they no longer seemed to be cooked in a delicious herbed, garlic white wine sauce. They came boiled in plain water with a few pieces of chopped onion on top. A ramekin of butter for dipping came with it.

Then 3 orders of fish and chips. They arrived breaded (not beer battered as expected for the Maritime’s!) , they were a spongey texture filled with grease, with no decipherable difference between the texture of the fries, the breading or the fish, and tasted just like grocery-store frozen-section seafood. We all ate in disappointed silence and none of us were able to continue after several bites. I had a terrible stomach ache for the next two days following that meal and I am unsurprised.

It’s a shame. This place sits on an incredible oceanfront property on top of a cliff beside a lighthouse. Neil’s Harbour is picturesque, but this run down eatery with poor service and terrible food needs an overhaul and quite a bit more effort to reach its potential. And I sincerely hope it does! With some changes, and a bit of ambience (try some music maybe? Dining in silence in a painted rough lumber building addition with no decor was pretty charmless) this place could become a real...

8/13/2024 Lunch at the Chowder House in Neil’s Harbor This is a very busy small restaurant specializing in seafood. You order and pay at the counter and they bring the lunch to your table if you are sitting inside. Outdoor seating at picnic tables is available. You may have to wait a while both in line to order and to get an inside table. As usual when I can, I get the crab legs. . These were good, but the potato salad served with it was absolutely bland. They specialize in their seafood chowder, which is told to be the best in Cape Breton. I think it’s a matter of taste. Our two guests loved the chowder, but my husband said it was just OK. Rate 3 out of 5. 8/15/2024 - Dinner at the Chowder House We returned on the last day of our stay at Ingonish for supper and as our two guests wanted a lobster dinner. We are all from Maine and are very particular about our lobsters. The lobsters was flash frozen, not fresh and cooked live as we do in Maine. One of our guests couldn’t eat it as it was covered with too many lobster roe (which should have been cleaned off) and the other guest, who had been looking forward to a lobster dinner, admitted it wasn’t the best. The restaurant has a very nice view of the harbor with both indoor and outdoor seating. You may have to wait for an indoor seat....

The first time I had been to Chowder House was in 2014 and it was also the first time I ever had clam chowder. I was blown away by the richness of the soup and I have always rated the establishment as the best chowder I had (and I have had lots of chowder since 2014 on the east and west coast of the USA and Canada). I would always recommend the place to my friends if I heard they planned on going to Cape Breton. However, my view of the establishment has significantly changed when we visited in June 2017. The seafood chowder consisted of a very liquid broth and leftover seafood pieces. Chowder is always creamy, so it was evident they added water at the end of the day to get the volume to sell us two bowls. The pieces of seafood were bland and clearly old as the texture was off and spongy. In summary, I am giving Chowder House a 1 star as I am disappointed that they stooped down to watering down the soup just to make a sale. Also, the quality of food is underwhelming, almost bordering on infuriating, as I had paid $11.50 per bowl for old meat and tasteless broth. I will no longer visit this establishment and encourage others to avoid it. The only positive aspect to making the detour to Chowder House are the views of...