We dined at Estia about a month ago with great satisfaction. We invited our out of town guests for an afternoon meal. We had another great time, fantastic food, great service (Andrew or Adam???), and yet again, exceptionally impressed with the homey feel to the restaurant.
Best value for the money along the lines of Greek offerings in the city with a very welcoming atmosphere.
Rarely do I see servers who actually appear as though they are enjoying themselves as much as at this restaurant. My wife and I are admittedly horrific cooks which forces us to dine out with regularity. The food is excellent, the atmosphere is light and welcoming, and as mentioned, fantastic service all around which is appreciated and rare these days.
wanna share your story of the service industry, I was handed a piece of paper by a fellow server the other night, he said he started a blog called tipthis-crackerjack.blogspot.com, I haven`t contributed to it yet, and he said I`ll need to register a google account for free to do so, but could be fun to have a local Halifax server bitch site.
I`ll have time this weekend to hopefully add my "bitches" and I am sure after Mother`s Day, there will be many servers with war stories too.
I really want this place to make it, we have gone now on 3 occasions and each time they seem to just miss the mark. First visit was a month after they opened, food quality was spotty and overpriced for the product we received. We went back in November, were told there is an entire new kitchen staff by our young waitress, food quality was much better, the service, not so great, at one point we watched our server clearly texting someone as we were hoping to get a refill on our wines.
Went last night ( March 3rd), big party in the fire area and another table 5-6 people, and about 3/4 other tables, only one server??? My wife and I waited at the door for about 3-4 minutes for someone to seat us, the waiter who was working acknowledged us immediately, but he was obviously working alone and his large group kept him from seating us, then out of nowhere a staff member came out of the bar area looking annoyed she had to seat us while there was a server in the Dining Room.
Food quality still very good, the server, who clearly is experienced, was all alone on a busy night which, not working in the business, has to be an oddity in such a large restaurant, was clearly sorry for the lack of attention he was able to pay us.
Unfortunately, for my wife and I, it`s 3 strikes and we move on. Porter`s seems to be that restaurant that almost gets it but falls short, early in the week or not, no excuse for any restaurant to be understaffed. Really too bad, we may stop in for a beer again, but we won`t put down our hard earned money in the Dining Room.
The new place is called Porter`s, NOT the same owners as Boomerangs we were told by our waitress as we popped in there not knowing it had even re-opened. No real change as far as the structure of the place but far brighter than I remember Boomerangs, much more fairly priced. Our waitress was extremely friendly, admitted to this being her first serving job, but when she wasn`t sure of our questions, she was quick to find out the accurate answers which is a good sign.
We went there after it being opened only 2 weeks, they were still ironing out the kinks yet seemed really organized for a new place. Just had our small Christmas gathering there last week and it was a really encouraging sign to see the staff and food have worked hard at improving some of the minor details that were lacking when they first opened. The menu has lots for everyone (not sure if there is a children`s menu though?). Really nice atmosphere, our server this time was far more experienced than our first visit and was awsome, informed us about the "local" flavor in the Restaurant from the owner`s being from Dartmouth to the pictures on the wall etc...
Nice experience, very fairly priced, good food and the best part was a staff that actually seemed to enjoy themselves when working.........rare.
Cindymunchkin, despite the expectations many have of the 5 Fish, it is not some Fine Dining restaurant. It is in a beautiful heritage building, it is lovely inside, but it is not Fine Dining, any time a patron has to get up to serve themselves immediately takes me out of the Fine Dining experience. It is overpriced, mediocre at best as any local will tell you. This place is a tourist haven for those who don`t know better IMO.
I went to Porter`s a week after they opened, as I think may be typical in the restaurant business which I know nothing about, it was clear there were kinks to iron out. It looks really nice inside, much brighter than Boomerangs, the prices were very fair, the wine list is somewhat standard but really, this is not fine dining and it offers the generic choices you would expect of a casual dining restaurant. Very friendly staff, knowledgeable waiter (at least we had one??don`t know what the rest are like).
I agree with Buffy, it would be nice if bread was served (I`ll get to that in a minute) with the mussels.
Went there 2 nights ago, the place was nice and busy, the service was still very good, the food..........much better, I don`t know if they changed staff or what, the first time we had a good meal, this time we had an excellent one. The bread, or lack thereof, will be part of a regular rotation at the restaurant soon. They will be baking fresh bread on hand. I had issues with the coffee cups/water glasses (need to be cleaner) and the sideplates, all seem like holdovers from the Boomerang days and needs to change. But overall, this still new restaurant is doing what my Wife and I had hoped, keep improving with time. I am sure the issues of cups/glasses/plates will happen over time, but truly, were there for the food, and the food was really good, so much so, we booked our office Christmas party for December.
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Best value for the money along the lines of Greek offerings in the city with a very welcoming atmosphere.
I`ll have time this weekend to hopefully add my "bitches" and I am sure after Mother`s Day, there will be many servers with war stories too.
Went last night ( March 3rd), big party in the fire area and another table 5-6 people, and about 3/4 other tables, only one server??? My wife and I waited at the door for about 3-4 minutes for someone to seat us, the waiter who was working acknowledged us immediately, but he was obviously working alone and his large group kept him from seating us, then out of nowhere a staff member came out of the bar area looking annoyed she had to seat us while there was a server in the Dining Room.
Food quality still very good, the server, who clearly is experienced, was all alone on a busy night which, not working in the business, has to be an oddity in such a large restaurant, was clearly sorry for the lack of attention he was able to pay us.
Unfortunately, for my wife and I, it`s 3 strikes and we move on. Porter`s seems to be that restaurant that almost gets it but falls short, early in the week or not, no excuse for any restaurant to be understaffed. Really too bad, we may stop in for a beer again, but we won`t put down our hard earned money in the Dining Room.
We went there after it being opened only 2 weeks, they were still ironing out the kinks yet seemed really organized for a new place. Just had our small Christmas gathering there last week and it was a really encouraging sign to see the staff and food have worked hard at improving some of the minor details that were lacking when they first opened. The menu has lots for everyone (not sure if there is a children`s menu though?). Really nice atmosphere, our server this time was far more experienced than our first visit and was awsome, informed us about the "local" flavor in the Restaurant from the owner`s being from Dartmouth to the pictures on the wall etc...
Nice experience, very fairly priced, good food and the best part was a staff that actually seemed to enjoy themselves when working.........rare.
Sean and Nancy
I agree with Buffy, it would be nice if bread was served (I`ll get to that in a minute) with the mussels.
Went there 2 nights ago, the place was nice and busy, the service was still very good, the food..........much better, I don`t know if they changed staff or what, the first time we had a good meal, this time we had an excellent one. The bread, or lack thereof, will be part of a regular rotation at the restaurant soon. They will be baking fresh bread on hand. I had issues with the coffee cups/water glasses (need to be cleaner) and the sideplates, all seem like holdovers from the Boomerang days and needs to change. But overall, this still new restaurant is doing what my Wife and I had hoped, keep improving with time. I am sure the issues of cups/glasses/plates will happen over time, but truly, were there for the food, and the food was really good, so much so, we booked our office Christmas party for December.
Good Luck Porter`s