The Baratie - Reversing Falls Restaurant at Stonehammer UNESCO Global Geopark — Restaurant in Saint John

While visiting my hometown of Saint John recently, I was quite excited to try this restaurant, as it had been closed for awhile a few years back and an old friend of mine played a part in helping to get it reopened, since it’s in such an iconic location.

I went with my sister and brother-in-law, and we were all looking forward to trying out the place, even though we’d heard mixed reviews about it from people we know. We soon discovered why.

On the plus side, it’s great that they have unblocked all the windows, as the amazing view of the city is a definite selling point for this place. That made an instant impression on us and we were all happy to see that.

Sadly, that was the end of our good impressions, as the service in this place is abysmal. When we were seated, we were handed menus, but then the waitstaff disappeared—and I don’t mean disappeared from our section, but were literally nowhere to be seen for at least 10-12 minutes. The “golden rule of hospitality,” which is to get a drink into the hands of guests immediately after they are seated, was clearly never taught to these people.

Eventually, our server turned up, took our drinks orders and then tried to leave—but seeing what had already happened with the bad service, we told her that we wanted to order then. And so we did and got our drinks soon afterwards, but again, we hardly saw one of the three waitstaff after that, even though the restaurant was not so busy. Getting the first drink was hard; getting a refill was nearly impossible.

When the food came, we were generally pleased. We all agreed that it was decent but not great. I had the maple chicken burger and my brother-in-law had the BBQ beef tips, and we both agreed that our meals were above average but nothing special. Happiest was my sister, who had the chicken Caesar wrap and found it very good, and as a self-proclaimed “coleslaw expert,” she said that slaw was some of the best she’d had in a long time.

Then the horrible service kicked in. We all wanted drink refills and picked out some desserts we thought that we might like—but again, not one of the three servers could be seen anywhere in the restaurant, and for a long time, either. When we finally did see one of them, we decided to give up on dessert and just go home.

So, that’s the Reversing Falls Restaurant in a nutshell: above-average food, spectacular views, absolutely atrocious service. And given that final point, it’s a certainty that we will...

The service was hit and miss.. most times being miss. One of our servers, Megan was awesome and we felt she redeemed the restaurant a little bit. The food was.... wow. Not in a good way. Firstly, the all you can eat is a farce. We would get our food, and then have to wait around 5-10 minutes for the next round to come. We first got the beef slices, the 2 people with me enjoyed theirs somewhat. However myself, I ended up getting nothing but fatty grissle. The chicken wings tasted like Costco wings. They weren't cooked fully as one would like them (they were still wet and soggy). The chicken pieces were dry and almost tasted like mechanically separated chicken. It definitely wasn't chicken breast. The beef kabobs were okay, but not something I'd ask for again. We eventually asked for something specific (the beef slices as they were the best option) in which the waiter (not Megan) said that we could have 4 slices and to divide it between us. What happened to all you can eat?? When we finally were supposed to get our beef slices, he gave them to the people behind us (who were there after us). When we asked about the veggies and when they'd be coming, we got a very blunt response - they will be coming when they come. When we got them, they were definitely frozen veggies... nothing but mush. We did NOT get the pita and hummus.

We decided we wanted the hot buns with butter again as they were decent..... What we got was a joke. Buns that were actually stale. When we told our waitress she just said sorry and didn't think to fix the mistake.

The owner saw one of us grab a napkin from the empty table behind us (it seems like the owners are super CHEAP) and say "I saw that".. It was funny, but you'd think he would or someone else would come by with more napkins. The kicker, it costed $15 if we wanted to go on the "skywalk" aka a balcony.

We were starving at the end of our meal. Nothing but a disappointment. I've been visiting NB for the last little while, and this is by far the worst place I've ever eaten as both in Ontario and New Brunswick.

I genuinely believe that most of these reviews are family and friends or people who liked the view. The person in the back cooking definitely never went to culinary school. For the price of this place, you'd think you would be getting a lot better food quality...

An example of a great location with unfortunately lacklustre service, food and cocktails. Inexperienced and unprofessional staff. There was a line-up for tables with no one to receive us for several minutes until a man walked up from behind us and asked the group in front of us whether they needed a table. I had seen this guy chatting with a colleague in the gift shop behind us. He could clearly see people waiting for a table, yet kept us all waiting for minutes while he was chatting.

After we were seated and had barely a chance to look at the menus and drinks available, the man asked whether we were ready to order. We said we needed more time. No water was served.

We ordered margaritas, but the waitress wasn't sure they were available. She checked with the bartender and came back to our table to say they were available, so we confirmed our order. The margaritas, when they arrived, were clearly made with lime juice cordial and an unidentified alcohol with no hint of tequila. Not a drop of fresh lime juice. They were garnished with slices of lemon, not lime. Clearly, the bartender had no idea how to make margaritas.

My wife had ordered fish and chips. While the chips were OK, the fish looked and tasted like it was microwaved from a frozen breaded haddock fillet. The breading was soggy. The haddock did not taste fresh.

I had ordered a beef tenderloin steak, which came without a steak knife. I had to request a steak knife from the server. The steak tasted like it had been soaked in brine and pan-fried, not grilled. It was a bit leathery.

It was shocking to find that in Saint John, where many restaurants serve excellent fish and chips and steaks, there is this one that is so clueless about the most popular dishes. We were most disappointed and do not recommend this restaurant—an example of amateurs capitalising on a great view of the Reversing Falls. Tourists may fall for it, but I doubt that locals would come back for another meal.

We should have read the reviews before choosing this restaurant. We noted later that many others have had disappointing experiences...