Pedro's North Rustico — Restaurant in North Rustico

From: GS (local resident)

Interesting evening….

We have supported this restaurant past two years and many times on slow winter evenings with less 5 people in during dinner period.

Always tipped very generously and ordered plentiful.

It never once came up there was a hard close time for kitchen. There is good review from people in Calgary that dropped in at 7.45 one evening a few months ago and happily seated at a table.

Our group reservation was for 7.30 and we we running late. Called from car at exactly 7.27 and said we were going be 10 min late and not thinking anything of it. Owners wife said the kitchen is closing at 7.45 and I get that but did not think would be big deal and they would recognize us when there as we have been good customers (we thought)

We arrived and I parked car exactly 7.46 out front door and was first come inside. Owner greeted me and said “oh it was you that had reservation” recognizing me as we have frequented often. He said sorry it’s too hot and we are closed kitchen ….his wife was there and made a sarcastic tone comment “I told them that”

I was very taken back and respectfully extended my hand to shake his which he did and I said simply that I did not expect that timing was so tight for kitchen

That’s all I said and left

Those are the facts

You be the judge on this. Should owner have welcomed us in as supporters of restaurant? Was 10-15 min a big deal when you operate a business in food service? Is 7.45 really too late for a meal even if hot? It was still hot at 7.35.

I think we all learned from this experience.

The restaurant has generally good food and good value with ok service by owner spouse. It’s a forced friendly is best way put it.

Treat it like a diner going forward for early bird dining customers and you won’t be disappointed.

I didn’t realize that it is irritating for owners to stay past 9pm so understand that before going. We have attended as a twosome and many other times as group four with wine and desserts and big bills with very generous tips. I see from a previous owners reply this was very irritating for them and doing us a service. We were not aware of this.

It’s a simple restaurant where owners want to be home by 9.

I respect that and wish them well.

Just not good fit for us or for others that want bit flexibility other than early bird dining.

Follow up response:

The owners response below is telling.

Inaccurate about time arrived 7.55 is not true and disingenuous. I am disappointed he is actually lying with his response.

I gave an accurate and true review and rather than accept it, own his role in it and apologize for our experience as most professional owners of restaurants would do, Pedro shows his anger by lying and saying he’s happy customer is leaving.

Small response from a small owner of...

We flew into Charlottetown from Calgary and by the time we had checked-into our accommodation and explored the area a little bit, it was around 7:30pm and we were hungry, looking for a place to eat that wasn’t closing soon in the North Rustico area… it seemed that all places closed at 8pm, but then we stumbled upon Pedro’s Island Eatery. We walked in at 7:45pm (they close at 8), asking if they could still squeeze us in, and the owner was so sweet and kind and said they could absolutely get us in. This cute little dinner spot is a family-run business with the chef being the owner’s husband. When we asked the owner what’s the best thing to order, she said, “you won’t regret anything you order. My husband can cook!” and she was so right. We ordered the seafood linguine and the shrimp Diavola and both were incredible! The sauces were to-die for and the fresh seafood was cooked just right. The blue mussels were particularly the highlight. They also served us complimentary bruschetta as an appetizer. We’re only here for a short trip, but we’ve already decided we must come back to try the seafood chowder! 11/10, we...

Small unassuming restaurant that we drove by, but ended up returning to after recommendations from our B&B host. We went on Tuesday at 5pm off season with reservations (highly recommended, as 5 different groups came by and were told to come back after 1h or turned away).

We ordered scallop and shrimp diavolo, which had a nice kick- the pasta was in a creamy rose sauce and the scallops and shrimp were in a fresh marinara sauce. We also ordered the large seared scallops, and substituted the veggie risotto with sautéed veggies and potato, as I requested a dairy free dish. It was fresh and well seasoned. Unfortunately, they don’t have gluten free pasta/noodles available, but they do have gf bread, and a handful of other gf friendly dishes.

We ordered tiramisu, which is a non traditional version (ie cake instead of lady fingers), but the texture and flavour were great. They didn’t have any dairy free dessert options, but had blueberry parfait, which was gluten free.

Pedro, the owner/chef came by to check in on us, which we appreciated. The service was otherwise very efficient- we were in and out...