The Freight Shed: Waterside Bistro & Market

The Freight Shed This is not a happy review... food was good but we were treated abysmally by the manager. I did a Google review. October 17, 2024, five of us "ate" here. The smoked meat sandwiches the Grace and Dan had were delicious. I know because they said so and shared with me. Michelle said her Black Bean burger and roasted vegetables were delicious also. Kevin and I ordered chowder. He enjoyed his very much. Mine tasted fine but there was very little fish in it, especially in comparison to Kevin's. His appeared to be scooped from the bottom of the pot and had a a lovely amount and assortment of seafood. I explained the issue to another waiter and asked him to take it back. I assumed it would be broke back with apologies. OMG ... I was very wrong. The same bowl and chowder was returned and set before me by this waiter(not ours) saying there was nothing wrong with it. I said that was not acceptable. He said they wouldnt change it. I was flabbergasted. I told him to take it back. When our sweet waitress very sheepishly brought the bill, she explained they only took $9 off.($18 a bowl) I said I wanted to speak to the manager. That was my mistake. She came to our table with the bowl of chowder. It now had plenty of seafood! She scooped up spoonfuls and and told me there wasn't a thing wrong with it. I told her firmly that I was not paying for it. She accused me of yelling (nobody else at our table heard yelling). She accused me of "torturing the poor waitress". She then said, "You people"... are causing a fuss over nothing! Our waitress was lovely and apologetic and I told her it was not her fault. I asked if we didn't pay the $9, would she have to. She said no. We paid our bill less the $9 and left. The five of us all agreed that we'd NEVER had a similar experience.

I traveled from the Mississippi Gulf Coat to enjoy the food here. I visited here two years ago and wanted to return for their excellent food and service that goes beyond the expected! The Reverend Dr Victor R Chatham

We went to the waterside location and no server came to welcome us, take drink orders or anything for well over 10 minutes despite a rather empty restaurant and staff walking right past the table several times. We left and went to their sister location across from the baddeck marine sign. Our service from Bernice was exceptional. She was funny, attentive, had a great memory. She just made the entire experience for us. Atmosphere was nice & food was really good. Wonton nachos and the pistachio ice cream were the highlight for us, aside from Bernice!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Waited 2 hours for an uncooked hamburger.The waitress was nice it wasn't her fault the kitchen was not able to keep up.So many tables just left they wouldn't wait any longer.

Terrible. Just terrible. I’ve never found myself in a situation that I felt I had to post a negative review for a restaurant before now. Server took our order - scallops for appetizers and two entrees. Came back 15 minutes later saying there was computer problem can we give him order again. Told him again and as he walked away he turned around and came back to ask again. 40 minutes later - no food and other tables who ordered after us were eating - including scallops. 15 minutes later our server came to ask if we’d had our appetizer. Nope - but shouldn’t you know that. Then later still were told they were given to someone else and ours will be out soon. After another 10 mins we had had enough - it takes a few minutes to cook scallops - I told him to bring me the check for the drinks we had and we were leaving. I don’t expect free drinks or food in this situation but at least an apology or acceptance of a problem - but nothing. My wife (who would never complain in a restaurant) asked to speak to the manager - she came over 10 mins later and we wanted to give her feedback on our experience. She clearly didn’t give a damn. If the manager doesn’t care why would you expect the staff to. To make it worse as we left the manager was clearly complaining about what we said to another member of staff. Complete incompetence in the service industry. A manager with that attitude simply shouldn’t be in that job. I’ve worked in restaurants in the past and am always very aware of the issues that can arise and make a point not to complain for small things. This isn’t about a long wait or screw up it’s about the total lack of consideration for the customer. It’s basically - we’re a waterfront restaurant in a tourist town so we don’t give a f. Just appalled about how badly they reacted to our comments. Would definitely not recommended this place based purely on service and this experience.

We arrived at 8:00, the time posted on google and their site as “open” in the hope of breakfast after getting off the ferry from Nfld. At 8:15 we gave up and looked elsewhere. On a cross street nearby we found a second Freight Shed. It turns out that there are two. The dockside one we went to opens at 11:00.

We sat down at the second to a menu that had no breakfast options for our vegan daughter so we left, again.

I’m sure the food is great but there need to be improvements in communicating the two locations and opening times, and some vegan meal options would be lovely

No waitress come and introduce after we were seated 40 mins , I have to go to front to ask for the waitress. Finally a waitress came in and take all our orders, 30mins still no water serve in our table. I have to go to the front to ask for water again. Finally the waitress came with water with bad attitude, I think her name is sherry , she said because she needs to boil some water , asked us to wait because the food will be long wait as well, and said because there is short stuff .. etc . No apology at all, just the attitude face. Not even asked if we are cold and offer blankets, until I saw other table waitress offer and asked for it .the food is ok, not as good as 5 years ago when we were there. The whole dinner took 3 hours with basically no waitress swerving. 1.5 hours are the waiting time for food after taking order . 1 hour is the waiting time for the water after seated .

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 1

Beautiful spot right on the dock of the marina in Baddeck N.S.. We sat on the covered patio. Food and service were great.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Crab Cakes

We walked out of their 2nd location without being served. We waited 15 mins for the hostess to even speak to us while we waited to be seated, she walked by us several times without acknowledgement. Then we waited another 10 mins after finally being sested and not 1 staff came to our table. We walked out at that point. 25 mins and nothing, imagine how long the food would have taken. Very disappointed

Service: 1

Great food. I was really pleased to enjoy a healthy, tasty vegetarian bowl of food. (This has been difficult to find on our travels in Canada)
Unfortunately, it took around 45 minutes for our food to be served which we felt was quite a while and we were quite cold by the time we left. We chose to sit inside as we hadn't been organised enough to bring jackets but all the windows and doors were open and it was a very windy evening. It was also incredibly dark inside! We used our phone torches to have a look at our dishes when they arrived as we couldn't see what we had clearly. One of the waitresses kindly brought us a battery-powered candle but I felt it was unnecessary for everyone to essentially be sitting in the dark.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 5

Service: 4

Terrible food. $35 for 2 small crab cakes and a salad is ridiculous. They even got my order wrong and i had to send it back

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 2

Horrible experience. Showed up and was told it was a 45 minute wait which we had no issue with. We check in with them after 45 minutes and was told it would be another hour now. They were asking everyone to do takeout instead. Don't waste your time here.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Popular spot - we stopped for lunch and the patio was nearly full. Slow service because of that, but that was not the waitresses fault. We ordered the seafood chowder bowl and the glazed honey Dijon salmon. Both meals were delicious! We had our dog on the dog friendly patio, they provided us with a dog water bowl. Would go back!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 3

beauty

Great service with a restaurant along the harbour. Food is very good, with portions big enough to share

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 5