Restaurant: Ardmore Tea Room
Address: 6499 Quinpool Road, Halifax
Date: April 11, 2010
Fish: Haddock
Cost: $9.99

The Ardmore Tea Room is a culinary landmark in the city of Halifax. Located on Quinpool Road, for years it has been a favorite haunt of students and seniors alike. Three of the reviewers have eaten at the Ardmore a number of times (although never ordering the fish and chips), while for one it was a brand new experience.

The Ardmore has a lot of great things going for it, from the vintage feel to its famous breakfasts… but their fish and chips is a great big fail. In fact, much to our surprise, the Ardmore’s fish and chips ended up being the worst score we have given out so far.

Fish and Chips Score: 54

FCP Review Crew

Rachel’s Thoughts
Tasted the batter only first. It tasted like fried donuts my grandmom used to make!!??!! I know!? It was way too crispy and very dark. The fish was not great – not much taste.

The fries were pretty good – not home cut but lots of flavor. The tarter sauce came in packages but was not Kraft, and there was no coleslaw – which is really important to me (I know, I know… Skippy disagrees with me on this, but I believe coleslaw should accompany a fish and chips meal).

In summary I would not order it again from this location. The restaurant is cute and very old school – which I did like.

BTW… you know it’s not good when you see your order coming from across the room and everybody says “Uh oh, I hope that’s not ours!”

Fish
Batter
Fries
Grease
Portion/Value
Condiments

Rachel’s Final Score: 57

Poochie’s Thoughts
First off… don’t be confused by the restaurant’s name. When I heard of the Ardmore Tea Room I pictured a bunch of old ladies dressed in purple and lace, sitting around tiny tables sharing cups of tea and crumpets…served of course on Royal Albert Silver Birch china.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a great little restaurant (a diner, really) with lots of charm… but please, for the love of everything sacred, DON’T order the fish and chips!

I might as well get the worst part out of the way first… the batter. Oh my, the horror of it all! My eyes pretty well popped out of my head when the plate was set in front of me and I viewed the deep fried fish. 80% of one piece was so overcooked it was dark, dark, brown, with chunks of overcooked batter crumbling off it. To make matters worse, the other 20% went from a light tan in color to almost white, and was doughy/pasty in texture. It was pretty obvious the piece of fish sat in the fryer in a way that part of it remained in the air for the entire cooking process.

I was shocked. How could that piece of fish escape the attention of both the cook and the server???

The fish itself was actually half decent, once you got past the burnt flavor of the batter. It was nice, white and flaky. It’s just too bad it came packaged in a batter disaster.

The fries, however, were quite good. There were lots of them and tasty, tasty, tasty. I’m pretty sure they weren’t home cut, but they were thick, cooked perfectly, and the perfect amount of seasoning on them. They were, however, a dark brown in color, which I attribute to the fact that the fryer oil hasn’t been changed since the Paul Martin government.

In terms of condiments, they presented us with packets of Old Style brand tarter sauce. It was not good at all. If you’ve decided to go the packaged route instead of home-made for tarter sauce, at least use a decent brand like Kraft. Plus, we asked, but no coleslaw is included with the meal (even though they obviously have it, because a lady at the table next to us had a little cup of it with her roast turkey meal… which looked fabulous BTW).

However, the server was very friendly, and the lifesaver candies were a nice touch for the after dinner mint… now if only they can get the flavor of burnt batter out of my mouth.

There is no doubt this has been my worst experience reviewing fish and chips, which greatly surprised me. I like the Ardmore Tea Room and expected an above average meal. I feel bad giving it such a poor review… but please, keep this in mind… it is a GREAT restaurant if you’re ordering the breakfasts (share the HUGE pancakes and a lumberjack special with your significant other), or burger and homefries… just don’t order the fish and chips.

Fish
Batter
Fries
Grease
Portion/Value
Condiments

Poochie’s Final Score: 54

Minnie’s Thoughts
Lots of french fries, but it seemed a bit skimpy on the fish. One piece was average in size while the other was perhaps 1/3 the size. I found everything a touch bit greasy.

There was not a whole lot of flavor to the fish and the batter was waaaaay overcooked. When we saw the food from across the room we were not impressed… and when it was laid in front of us our first impressions were validated.

I did not like the tarter sauce and there was no coleslaw.

The lifesaver candies were nice, but my final words of advice to the Ardmore Tea Room… CHANGE YOUR GREASE!

Fish
Batter
Fries
Grease
Portion/Value
Condiments

Minnie’s Final Score: 54

Skippy’s Thoughts
I’m sorry to start this review with a negative comment, but come on – you’d put cleaner 10W30 motor oil in your car than the grease found in this meal. When the grease needs to be changed, you gotta change it – no exceptions. You never know when someone is going to be taste testing your deep fried food. Oh, wait – of course you do – every time you serve it! Remember: change is good.

And the batter… I had to give it a 2, but that’s only because I haven’t seen a 1 yet. Thank goodness it was there to protect the fish, which was average tasting.

Decent sized portion for the price… but how much of the above do you want to consume, really?

The fries were not bad. Home cut… potato-y… too bad they were cooked in that grease. But here’s a good testament to their fries: they tasted great even when cold. You can’t say that about too many places.

It’s unfortunate the wait-staff doesn’t factor into the points – our server was great – a lot of fun to interact with. Keep up the good work. And the after dinner ‘mint’? Lifesavers – miscellaneous flavors – nice touch.

Overall… very disappointing. If you’re looking for good fish and chips, save your money – or go eat at the IWK Health Centre.

Fish
Batter
Fries
Grease
Portion/Value
Condiments

Skippy’s Final Score: 50