The Black Spruce Restaurant — Restaurant in Newfoundland and Labrador

Perfect!

This final evening in Gros Morne, when picking a restaurant for dinner we opted to find a place with a view. The vista from our table at this beautifully appointed restaurant was outstanding! A bald eagle even soared gracefully across our view of the mountains and the bay on this perfect evening. It took our breath away.

We had had such a poor experience at another restaurant in Rocky Harbour (see Java Jack review) that we were a bit reluctant to spend any money on another restaurant in the area.

At The Black Spruce though we were greeted warmly and taken to our well spaced and generous, reserved table of 4. We felt special immediately. The host and the service staff were extremely professional and knowledgable regarding the menu and the food offerings while still maintaining that characteristic Newfoundland charm.

We were immediately served. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate one of our final meals in this beautiful province. We toasted and drank in the surroundings, the beautiful restaurant with soaring ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and the original, local art on the walls.

The food, one of the best meals we have had anywhere, the presentation hot, simple, elegant and perfectly seasoned: Potato and leak soup - light but creamy scrumptiousness, beet salad - beautiful to look at and the citrus and labneh dressing with burnt almond delicious. chowder - chock full of seafood and taste! Appetizers were the perfect size to keep us wanting more and looking forward to the mains. And the mains did not disappoint. The days special, strip loin steaks came out perfectly cooked - rare and medium rare on top of potato puree (yummy mashed) and fresh asparagus hot but still with a crunch, the woody stem ends peeled (such perfect detail!). The risotto was equally perfect with perfectly cooked scallops and crab, and my Beef Paupiettes was unique with the rich mushroom ragout, wild rice (which too was perfectly prepared) and also the perfect asparagus.

We ate every speck of our meals and were sated but since we were celebrating and our experience up to this point had been exceptional, we ordered desserts and coffee. The desserts too were scrumptious and obviously prepared with care but I'd like to make a "shout out" to the cashew caramel tart.

We were astounded! I know that I said this previously but if you have read this review this far, I just have to say once again; the food and service at the Black Spruce were some of the best we have had anywhere, ever! I come from a 30 year career in hospitality and fine dining and have travelled across Canada. The Chef and kitchen crew on the evening we visited were Artists! This small, unassuming, simple dining room has made the most of their location and surroundings. The service staff were professional but warm, thoughtful and caring.

My family and I applaud your commitment to fine food and genuine hospitality. The only improvement we could add was (tongue in cheek) if you could have had a whale breaching in the bay while we dined. Thank you for a...

Just had a terrible experience at this establishment. I called twice asking for a table by the window with a nice water view for our family of 3 on our last day at Newfoundland. To our utter disappointment, the restaurant pictures online turned out to be highly misleading. 2/3 of all tables have no water view, and in fact the whole room to the left is looking right at the hotel parking lot! When I asked for a nicer table, the hostess was ironic with me "but you asked for a table by the window so you're given one!" (the table was by the window but right over parking lot). The view into the bay was at a 100 degrees angle behind the parking so you can't see water unless the table is slightly closer to the window. When I asked to kindly move the table closer to the window, the hostess agreed and moved it slightly. Just as our family was getting seated, a second lady (who introduced herself as Teresa) ran to the table, and very rudely moved our table away from the window into the wall. There was literally no space left for my elderly mother to sit. When I tried to explain that the original table position was at least giving us enough leg room, she became very agitated, talked over me and repeated "at my restaurant the tables are standing the way they are!". It was useless to explain the original position, how it was moved and why. She was just rude, and didn't let me say a word, although I asked her to step aside away from the rest of the dining room as to not bother other clients. I felt humiliated at this pretty expensive place. We left and ate at Rocky Harbor. I also suspect we were moved to the wall because of our foreign accent.

The "manager" also had very oily hair, didn't wear specialty attire, had tattoos all over her hands and neck and looked like a pub person with no training. Another worker later told me she was an "acting manager" that night as the regular manager had an appointment. In reality Teresa is a waitress.

I would recommend avoiding this place by all means: they are rude and entitled, zero customer service experience and the menu is too overpriced for the service and view you get. There are places with actual nicer views around (the Blue Ocean Dining Room, for example where we ate couple...

We were able to get a same day reservation for 8pm at the Black Spruce. As self proclaimed foodies, we were excited to try this restaurant with excellent reviews. We started the meal with fresh bread and the molasses butter - the butter is creamy and unique and the bread was fresh. We shared and ordered oysters, the mackerel app special and an order of the seafood chowder. Oysters were awesome ! Beautifully presented, and the chef’s own ‘clear’ hot sauce had the perfect level of spice. The mackerel appetizer was underwhelming and I found the toast that accompanied it to be burnt. Others have raved about the chowder, but I felt it was lacking flavour and wasn’t a fan of the varying texture of harder vegetables mixed with the softer seafood. This could totally just be my personal taste/ preference as the majority of the reviews say this is one of the best chowders they have ever had. For entrees we shared the cod and beef dish. Both were wonderful. I would say some of the best cooked cod we had in Newfoundland. We finished with cheesecake for dessert. Sadly the top was burnt in my opinion. Overall, great view, wonderful service and some definite gems on the menu. I would go again, when back...