Details
Someone from this business manages this listing.
Learn More
Women-owned
Tripadvisor allows businesses to update and manage their attributes and details, but does not verify the accuracy of this information.
PRICE RANGE
$5.00 – $25.00
CUISINES
Pizza, Seafood, Diner
meals, features
Details
Women-owned
Tripadvisor allows businesses to update and manage their attributes and details, but does not verify the accuracy of this information.
About
We are a small family-run diner specializing in fresh deep-fried seafood, Fish & Chips, tasty diner meals, homemade burgers, sandwiches and amazing pizza. Our fish has won "Best In Canada" by Canadian Living Magazine as well as 'Gold Awards' from The Coast Halifax for Best Seafood, Best Fish and Best Diner and multiple tripadvisor "Certificate of Excellence" awards. Come visit the one and only "JOHN'S LUNCH" and be a part of our family! Like our Facebook page to catch our updates!
PRICE RANGE
$5.00 – $25.00
CUISINES
Pizza, Seafood, Diner
Meals
Lunch, Dinner
FEATURES
Takeout, Outdoor Seating, Parking Available, Free off-street parking, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Digital Payments, Accepts Credit Cards, Non-smoking restaurants, Gift Cards Available
Contribute
4.5
764 reviews
Excellent
459
Very good
184
Average
59
Poor
35
Terrible
27
TheQuietTravellerToo
Little Harbour200 contributions
Feb 2020 • none
We had long heard about John's Lunch, just never got around to going there. At last. Wonderful. Large portions of fish, lightly battered, not overly heavy or greasy and superbly tasty. Fries good, cole slaw fresh and large portions, well prepared not salted (neither were the fries). Just simply great, tasty, fresh food.
Written February 13, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
namabeer
Toronto529 contributions
Aug 2021 • family
Just passed by and had special on for haddock tips. Was not hungry but had to try. Wow so good. Lightly breaded and NOT greasy. All fish and like 1.5 lbs!!!!.(no chips) It was 12.99 so great deal
Will try out clams in future
Written August 29, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Matt Mills
London434 contributions
Jul 2022 • family
Our family visited here during our stay in Halifax, and it was definitely worth the drive to Dartmouth.
Lots of variety to order from; we all tried something different; breaded shrimp, calamari, haddock tips, fries, coleslaw etc.
Everyone loved their meals and portions were good size; we ordered way too much food, but didn’t regret having leftovers! For the 4 of us it cost about $75….but we could’ve definitely ordered less.
Definitely try the fish & chips - enjoy!!
Written July 7, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thompyy
Halifax31 contributions
Oct 2020 • friends
I am from Dartmouth and have had fish and chips pretty much everywhere in town. They double deep fry their fish; once in the morning and then once to order, it sits out for hours on the counter between. The fries are ... not good at all.. tartar sauce comes in packaged containers. I think they owe it to themselves to change it up a bit as the spot is adorable and it used to be pretty good.
For now, I would try anywhere else
Written October 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dianne L
Barrie21 contributions
Oct 2022 • family
After reading the other reviews and I was really excited to try this local restaurant. I wanted good, fresh fish and chips on a quick trip to the East Coast. Unfortunately the take away was very disappointing. I get that it is difficult to serve food piping hot with take out, but not only was the fish and chips room temperature, the chips were undercooked and tasted like raw potatoes. The fish was okay, a nice large block, but overcooked and dry. The final disappointment, both orders arrived with no tartar sauce. Tartar sauce was not listed as an extra on the menu, so why wasn’t it included?
Hoping I just got a bad night, but I won’t bother trying again on future trips, there are too many wonderful restaurants in Halifax/Dartmouth to waste another meal here.
Written October 27, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mattchand
Sussex146 contributions
Jul 2022 • none
On a visit to Halifax, friends informed me that this place had been reviewed as having the best fish and chips in the Maritimes, possibly in all of Canada. I simply had to go and try it - and it was quite good. I had the fish with the chips turned into poutine, and a side of more or less average cole slaw. While this was excellent, I'd still have to give the edge on "best fish and chips I've ever had" to The Caves Restaurant in St. Martin's, NB, which remains undefeated.
I came alone, but had a nice conversation with someone with whom I shared one of the few outside tables. Important note: parking for the restaurant can be (legally!) found in the ferry parking lot: while the sign at the entrance warns non-ferry customers that the lot is for ferry passengers only, there are several spaces marked out for John's customers on the far side of the lot, nearest to the restaurant.
Written July 15, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KarenH
Dartmouth31 contributions
Apr 2022 • none
I have been a fan of Johns Clams for many years and it saddens me to write this review. The last time I got the clams wasn’t in season and they weren’t quite as good as usual, and also with only being able to have take out it just wasn’t the same. But when l saw that Clams were back in season and they had them I thought I would try again, I did see on there Facebook a comment about the clams being undercooked but nonetheless I was anxious to try again . So on April 18th my husband and I made the hour and a half journey to John’s. We ordered 2 orders of Clams and chips $53.48.. Some not all of the Clams were definitely undercooked.. but because of the size of each order it really wasn’t that big of a deal I took them home and put them in oven and they were fine. My biggest complaint is I went back on there Facebook page and noticed the comment about the undercooked clams was gone and a lady asked why her comment was deleted so l asked if it was the one about the clams and she said yes so l told her I had a similar experience yesterday, and said it was very disappointing that they deleted her comment. 5 minutes later that conversation was also deleted. So unless you have good things to say John’s deletes your comments. I will never go back there.
Written April 19, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alejandro B
Ottawa913 contributions
Aug 2022 • family
Came here based on a local's recomendation who raved about this place. Was also inspired to eat here after seeing that it had been voted best fish and chips several times. Weirdly, I didn't find the food to be anything special, as it was comparable to what I can find in countless other places. Maybe I was having an off day, given that many people have positive views of this eatery. However, my experience was that the food was average.
Written August 21, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SandJN
Ottawa125 contributions
May 2022 • couples
We were looking for some fried clams before our flight home and ordered the seafood platter. The fish and scallops were dry. The batter on the fried clams was very salty and had gelled in the bottom of the takeout container. I cannot recommend John’s for the food. As this is takeout only, picnic tables were available. However, they were filthy and they were covered in bird poop making the atmosphere a little rough as well.
Written May 23, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Scotian25
Grand Falls Windsor178 contributions
Feb 2023 • couples
Good fish and chips. Very large pieces of fish. A little disappointed, the tartar sauce wasn’t home made. I will say hard to imagine being hungry enough to eat a three piece fish meal. While very good, the fish was, for my taste, a little heavy on the batter. I have eaten the clams and chips here a few times and they are always great.
Written February 12, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Marlee G
1 contribution
Jun 2023 • business
After 15 years of waiting to go I was deeply disappointed in the food. It was very greasy . The fish inside the batter was good though. I had the Calamari and it was so greasy and fishy tasting not enjoyable at all and the batter fell off it and was in a grease pile in the take out container. I spent $110 in a cab to get there and will never eat there again:((
Written June 16, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bud F
Perth12 contributions
Jul 2021 • none
My husband and I were visiting my Mother in Dartmouth about ten or more years ago, We were told Johns was the place to go , which we did. I recall the fish and chips was so delicious that we ate there several times while visiting, and on subsequent visits.If I ever returned and Johns was in business i would certainly make my way to Johns.
Written April 26, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Carolyn L
Dartmouth50 contributions
Dec 2021 • none
John's Lunch never disappoints! Yummy haddock fillets, great homemade fries, haddock tips...Yumm. No matter what seafood you try here, you have to have the homemade coleslaw, a favorite. Mouth watering, tasty and great portions.
Written January 3, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Scotian25
Grand Falls Windsor178 contributions
Jul 2023 • solo
Ordered clams and fries. Don’t let the appearance stop you, it has been here for a long time and it shows. Two visits this year first visits in over 30 years. Neither meal disappointed. Nice light batter on clams. If you like fried clams, John’s Lunch is well worth your visit.
Written July 3, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Joan
Toronto11 contributions
Aug 2023 • family
Such a disappointment! I’ve been coming to Johns Lunch since I was a kid and now that I don’t live in NS anymore it has always been in my top three things to do while I’m home. Family, the ocean and visit John’s Lunch for clams. I hadn’t been home in a few years and I’m not sure if ownership has changed but the clams were overdone, soggy and they were definitely not fresh- I’m pretty sure they had been frozen. Not the plump, juicy deep fried clams that they used to serve. I won’t be going back and it’s sad because it has been a family tradition for many years.
Written August 25, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
…
Showing results 1-15 of 759
Best cheap eats
See all
Best nearby
We rank these hotels, restaurants, and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Best nearby hotels
See all Best nearby restaurants
See all Is This Your Listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim Your Free Listing