Seafood Stop Restaurant & Fish Market — Restaurant in Point Cross

While camping in Broad Cove campgrounds in Cape Breton National Park we ventured to the western side of the park to hike the beautiful Skyline trail and investigate the Acadian village of Chéticamp.

The Skyline trail boasted spectacular views of the coast from the crest of the highlands. However, we were lost in the clouds... literally! A cloud kept us in the fog for most of the hike. However, we still worked up a great appetite and headed to town for a nice seafood supper.

After driving the town and investigating all our options, we settled on the Seafood Stop Restaurant and Fish Market along the main road through town. While not in the core of the Village, it seemed like one of the better options for good seafood. The exterior was well kept and attractive. The dining room was surrounded by large windows providing a feeling of being in a sunroom with lots of natural light. Sadly, however, it generally overlooks the highway and parking lot and not the beautiful inlet on the back the restaurant. A lost opportunity in my opinion ... anyway...

A salty old "fisherman" complete with rain slickers and a sou'wester greeted us at the door. Yes, he was compliant with new regulations requiring patrons to wear a mask, although this guy wasn't breathing very "moistly" ... actually, he wasn't breathing at all!

Like most restaurants open during the COVID pandemic, there were reduced tables and protocols to follow. However, we were fortunate to arrive early enough to get a spot without reservations (about 5pm). Once we were settled at our table, we removed our masks and were promptly greeted by our friendly server.

Service was quick, well timed and didn't leave us disappointed. While therewere no local craft beer offerings, local wines from the Jost Winery were featured. We shared a full sized Garden Salad as an appetizer which was sufficient to start.

As my main, I ordered a Seafood Platter consisting of battered haddock and clams and sautéed scallops and shrimp. My spouse had the fresh lobster. For what I paid, I was somewhat disappointed both with quantity and preparation. I've had much better seafood platters when in the $30+ range. It was a little overcooked for my liking but good tasting nonetheless.

The lobster, however, was incredible! Being from the Mediterranean coast of Spain, my spouse is a seafood fanatic and aficionado. Her comment was "This is the best bogavante (lobster) I have ever eaten!". While I am not a huge lobster fan, I had to agree. Fresh and cooked to the perfect point. Juicy and not rubbery like when I attempt to cook lobster. The server told us for the size we ordered (pound and and half), 20 minutes in full boiling water was the secret... a little longer for larger lobsters.

There were some tempting deserts on offer but we had no room.

All in all...

Seafood Stop encapsulates the East Coast seafood experience. It's no frills, fresh seafood. While in Cheticamp I had both the lobster and crab dinner, and would happily return.

The service is polite and friendly. Everything is simply designed and clean. You can tell it was / is (I'm honestly not sure) a family business. Because the town is Acadian, every staff I saw could switch from French to English flawlessly.

The portions are fairly large, so come hungry. With both dinners, I had the garden salad with housemade French dressing, and coleslaw, and I was stuffed. Potatoes, fries, and heartier vegetables are available though as sides. Side note: the French dressing is superb.

I had the butter tart for dessert and it was really good. It paired very nicely with tea.

Prices were very reasonable as well! For two people to have two of the most expensive menu items, it was around $100CAD.

My only criticism would be that it seems they aren't accustomed to large volumes of guests. We arrived at 4:30pm thinking we were going to sneak in for an early dinner so we could miss the dinner rush, only to realize that it was a popular time for seniors to eat lol. Approx half the tables were held with reserved signs, some of them for 6pm or later reservations. Those tables could have easily been used to seat waiting guests (there was quite a line) - we were in and out in approximately an hour, and my partner and I had to shell both our dinners, as well as eat them. There was also a table being held for a 4:45 reservation that remained empty until approx. 5:30pm. During long weekends or peak hours (especially during tourist season) it might be beneficial to have reservation grace periods.

They have takeout as well, and a fresh seafood market if you want to take it back to where you're staying and cook...

I was recommended this place by a local and had quite high expectations. Unfortunately some of the food and takeout packaging did not meet expectations and posed an unexpected safety hazard (Beware of sharp fish bones in burger and fish cake!)

Ordered takeout and it was ready relatively quickly. It was oddly placed horizontally in the bag, so I had to carry it all horizontally (a little strange but not a deal breaker). We ordered the seafood chowder, fish burger, and fish cakes. The chowder was very good, no complaints at all. I have never had fish cakes before, I thought they’d be similar to crab cakes but to my disappointment they were primarily potato? That might be on me.

But real the reasons why I give this a max 3 star are because of the following: no cutlery included (how am I supposed to eat chowder and my fish cakes?) no salt or ketchup or anything to go with fries the fries were kinda old, like a few hours old saw from other reviews that there was supposed to be chutney with my fish cakes, didn’t get any in my bag And the biggest concern is that we found sharp fish bones in the burger and fish cake!! This is super dangerous for not only seniors, but also for everyone else! We were not expecting to find bones, specifically sharp long spinal ones in this fish...