The Celtic Hearth — Restaurant in St. John's

Review of The Celtic Hearth — Home of the Invisible Salt Beef

So picture this: It’s late Monday night in downtown St. John’s. I’ve got a solid buzz, Nova Scotia pride, and one mission—get some filthy, salty, starchy Newfy goodness into my face before gravity wins. I wander into The Celtic Hearth like a man on a quest and think, “Big Dirty Jiggs? Sounds like exactly the kind of culinary sin I need in my life.”

I order takeout. The staff? Lovely. The server? A true saint among men. The kitchen? Oh boy… we’ll get there.

Food arrives in about 15 minutes—solid. I crack it open and decide to shovel a few mouthfuls in before leaving because my stomach is ready to riot. But something feels… off. Like I’m being catfished by my own dinner. I’m missing the salt beef. And the peas pudding. And a couple other key characters from the Big Dirty Jiggs extended universe.

I flag down my sweet, apologetic server and politely say, “Hey, where’s the good stuff?” He takes it back to the kitchen. Comes back looking like someone just told him Santa isn’t real.

“The chef says,” he whispers, “he cut the salt beef so small you can’t see it. Also, it's too expensive to include on the menu.”

Let me say that again for those in the back: The salt beef is allegedly invisible.

The audacity is breathtaking. I didn’t realize I had accidentally ordered the Quantum Dirty Jiggs—where ingredients exist in a theoretical state between reality and a budget cut.

Honestly, it’s hilarious. I felt like I was on a hidden camera show. You ever order a burger and get everything but the patty, and when you ask where the meat is, the chef says, “Oh, it’s there—you just can’t see it”? Yeah. That’s the level of culinary gaslighting I witnessed.

The best part? The chef sends out a few slivers of salt beef—like rationed beef shavings in wartime—and says that’s a double portion. DOUBLE. I nearly wept.

But hey—bless my server. That man deserves a raise, a hug, and a salt beef sandwich with visible ingredients.

Overall: Come for the late-night chaos, stay for the mystical disappearing meat and emotional resilience training. Would I return? Honestly… probably. Just to see what else exists only on a quantum level. Maybe next time I’ll order the “Lobster” and see if it’s just vaporized shellfish...

So here's the thing, OK. We've lost a lot of restaurants in this town in the last year, and at this point it can be tough to find a burger that isn't fast food. The Works is gone (it was OK) and reLiSH is merely mediocre and rather overpriced for what's offered. Lots of places have burgers on the menu, but when my partner and I were trying to choose a restaurant to dine at tonight, we had already given up the burger idea (even though that's what we were really craving), and decided to go with an old faithful spot that has a solid menu, good beer and a nice low-key atmosphere. I'm talking about the Celtic Hearth of course. We go to the Celtic Hearth for a bit of traditional Newfoundland food and beer, well prepared, fairly priced, a good solid place. However, tonight we decided to try their burgers. After all we had been craving a burger and even though it wasn't the typical fare we'd normally go for at this Newfoundland-traditional leaning location-- well a burger is a burger and that's what we wanted.

Let me tell you, good people of the internet. I am not exaggerating when I say I had the BEST burger I have EVER had in my LIFE tonight. Now, I'm no burger expert so maybe there is a burger in the world that beats the one I just had. But let me put it this way, I normally can't be arsed to even check a box 1 through 5 on a 'how'd we do card' presented to me (with a pen!) at a table ON SITE. Yet here I am writing a review RIGHT AFTER DINING because i'm just so desperate to let you people know how awesome my burger was.

So anyway. I highly recommend the Celtic Hearth... but I especially SUPER RECOMMEND the Celtic Hearth's Strawberry and Brie burger (I know it sounds odd BUT TRUST ME ON THIS ONE HOLY CRAP) and my partner SUPER HIGHLY recommends the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger. The thing about these burgers is, the burger patty is actually totally amazing. Like I said before, I'm no burger expert, but if a total burger RUBE can taste a burger patty and say "this is actually notably amazing" it is probably SUPER notably amazing.

Don't just take my word for it though. You gotta get in there and try one of them Burgers.

Also just order a plate of fish and chips because that is always solid...

My family and I usually love this restaurant. We are frequent customers... for me when i come home... and on a regular basis for my family. The food is great.. especially the brunch! The customer service is usually spectacular as well. A real Newfoundland environment. Normally I would give it 5 stars! Except this week when I wanted to treat my Dad to his favorite brunch and called to purchase a gift card online. The new manager Melissa all but accused me of trying to scam the company and asked me to e-mail her my detailed request and provide some kind of identity confirmation. If not for how much my Dad loves this place I would have been done right then. However, I decided to ask that the request go to the GM who of course approved the request to be a customer. Melissa e-mailed a day or so later to say that she would call me to arrange payment and then days passed, even after I sent another e-mail, and had advised that I was looking to send off my Dad's gift of gift cards to some of his favorite places. I had to e-mail the main e-mail address online and Melissa finally responded... I assume as the request of her superior as he was CCd. I was told I could call back to be served. I called back today and Melissa was out so I was transferred to the lovely woman in finance (I can't recall the name) and she was pleasant and helpful and was able to take care of my request immediately, which was appreciated. So for people who care about customer service, this is a consideration. Managers need to think about how they treat their customers... especially a family of repeat customers. So I will put that out there... but in the end I was able to treat my Dad to his favorite meal where hopefully he will receive the usual impeccable service and...