We went here for the Seafood Chowder and IT WAS INCREDIBLE! We have had chowder all over Maine and the Maritime in the past two months and this is ABSOLUTELY one of the BEST!!! SO FULL of seafood - not fillers like potatoes - scallops...in every bite! I LOVED that this chowder is not "thickened" which in my opinion cheapens the chowder!More
This is a great little Gem. We ordered the seafood basket and were not disappointed. We asked for a recommendation from the server and she suggested seafood chowder or the seafood basket. Again, the basket was great. friendly service. lots of parking & great food....Well worth a visitMore
My husband and I stopped in for dinner and probably had the best seafood chowder ever!!! The service was great!
Must of been a bad day. Chowder was too liquidy for my taste. I prefer a thick broth. Would not recommend!!!
We drove from Texas to Rimouski, Quebec and took ferry to Labrador and ferry to Newfoundland and then ferry to Cape Breton to drive to Halifax ... and our whole route from Sydney, NS to Halifax was based on going to Charlene's Bayside Cafe...again. We...went and stopped here by chance four years ago and the food was superb. My husband wanted the chowder again. The problem was...we had VERY HIGH EXPECTATIONS and we so hoped it would be so great again. And it was! These people are SERIOUS about food!!! We got there at 10 am and I asked my husband, "Chowder? For Breakfast?" and he said, "Oh! YEAH! If they have chowder - I AM getting chowder!" Believe it or now, they serve "East Coast Breakfast" and it includes chowder! They are famous for their chowder! All their other food is super also. We had a side order of breakfast fries that were great. How do you make breakfast fries special? I have no idea what they did but the fries were great. This is just a great restaurant. It doesn't look 5 star on the outside but Michelin needs to visit this place and give it a STAR!!!!!!More
Went to Charlene's for lunch -- LONG, LONG wait for food. Chowder was truly outstanding, packed with scallops, fish, shrimp and more, but the burgers and fish and chips and milkshakes that the kids ordered were truly inedible. Our worst meal in NS. If in...the area, get the chowder for takeout only. Also all food served in styrofoam containers with plastic cutlery.More
I only have a limited expertise as to what makes an excellent chowder but what I do know what I do not like - overwhelmingly potato or creamed potato or too much cream without mentioning the choice of seafood.The seafood should be a mix for...balance and not dominated by a particular seafood This seafood chowder is all fish and shellfish incl lobster prawn and scallop the most expensive ingredients.It is more of a light sauce than a heavy creamed sauce. Yes it was the perfect seafood chowder and will be my gold standard or point of reference where I will evaluate any future seafood chowdersMore
My husband and I ate here a couple of times while we were staying in the area. The host at our cottage suggested it for great seafood chowder. He was right! It was absolutely filled to the brim with scallops, prawns, lobster and fish ..... . no potato! It was served with biscuits made on premises. It was definitely the best I tasted during our visit to the Maritimes. The service was a little quirky, but they were friendly and we appreciated all the staff.More
We order 2 large seafood chowder,way too much,.took home more than 1/2 of it ate for lunch the next day .very good reheated.
by all means if you are camping please go to whycocomagh provincial park and enjoy beautiful scenery and near by resturants.
We had the seafood chowder and special of the day- meatloaf. The soup has won awards and it was good. Big pieces of lobster & fish. The meatloaf was excellent. The dishwasher was broken so everything was served on disposable dishes. She does a lot...if takeout here but also has about 8 tables.More
This stop was recommended to us by the lady at the visitors centre. We ordered a bowl of the seafood chowder and it did not disappoint. It’s a little pricey BUT it is loaded with seafood that we felt it was good value. It was...the best my wife and I have ever had. Totally worth it. Definitely recommend stopping for the chowder.More
So my husband and i stopped into Charlene’s for a cup of chowder. We were not hungry enough for a bowl. To our surprise our chowder was literally served in the smallest teacup…if it wasn’t so disappointing i would be laughing but it literally took...2 mouthfuls and it was gone. We are from Cape Breton so we rolled with it but I have to say if that is your cup of chowder I would suggest at least put in small bowl..not a small teacup…on the counter were 2 small bowls..one said small and other said large..that is not what we received….at 11.00 this was gouging in my view….i would hate to see a tourist receive their cuppa chowder this way….it tasted very good but 2 mouthfuls was not sufficient…More
First, Charlene's has delicious food. We stopped in here again the other day and confirmed once again that they serve the best seafood chowder in the world. It is not cheap but we feel it is worth the price. However, the service is a little...gruff and it isn't the most pleasant environment. We know this and go back anyway because the food is so good but wish they would make a few changes. For instance, we were given menus that had no prices. When I asked about this, I was told that that's the way the menus came and the server (who I guessed was the boss) wasn't going to stay up all night writing in the prices. So, we had absolutely no idea what anything cost when we ordered. Again, it didn't matter to us personally because we were there for chowder but this is super strange. So, I would recommend trying their food but you wouldn't miss out on much if you ordered your food to go.More
Aug 6 2022, stopped at 11:58am. 2 other couples came with us, ate, paid and left before we got served. The lady serving us went for lunch at one of the tables then came back to serve us, two seafood chowder, one cold one hot....It took exactly 1 hour and 25 minutes (we were told they have a small kitchen) They ran out of biscuits, offered us buns instead which we declined. So, two 8 ounce styrophnme bowl of cod soups with a little bite of lobster tail on top to decorate, $38.70 cdn. We also were told that we were offered water and we refused (actually, said no thank you) so, we shouldn't complain! A bit mean, although (both of us, being in the hospitality business) we were jovial and thankful not to frighten their clients. This was my first ever experience of NS chowder, so disappointed :( This is horrible, hot hours and 25 minutes wait, swapping flies, expansive, tiring drive to get there, people not happy to see us and even if I had paid $100 for those 2 bowls, they would have not been nicer.More
