Rum Runner Inn

Vibe Restaurant Review — September 4, 2015: Rum Runner Restaurant ⁴⁄₅ Stars
Now under new management and with a new menu featuring sushi prepared by a Japanese Sushi Chef and Indian Cuisine by Tim, a very personable Owner/​Chef, James and I were eager to get our sushi and Indian food cravings satiated in Lunenburg. We will let you in on a secret — we have been known to drive to Halifax to eat Indian, Japanese and Thai since old foodie habits are hard to break.
In order to review these two very different cuisines, we elected to have sushi as our appetizer and Indian dishes for our mains, which we have to say is a first and a bit unusual.
Sushi was well prepared and presented, fresh and tasty. Nigiri was a bit pricey given the thickness of the fish, but the Alaska Roll was definitely good value. We have tried 6 of 20 of the most highly rated Japanese restaurants in Halifax and rate the sushi at the Rum Runner on par with the best we have tried so far, so we are thrilled that we can eat good sushi close to home. We will definitely want to try more of their roll selections, in addition to their Miso Soup and Soba Noodle dish.
Our Indian entrees were preceded with papparadum, a crispy lentil cracker with chutney on the side, which was a nice touch. Indian plates, Masala Fish and Masala Chicken, were beautifully prepared and presented. Proteins and vegetables were cooked to perfection. Masala sauce was creamy and nicely spiced based on our personal heat preferences: medium for me and hot for James. Rice and naan were good, but not prepared as we are accustomed to. Prices of plates were good value.
Since it is our first dining experience at this newly launched restaurant, we look forward to going back to try other dishes, including local fare, including fish and seafood. We enjoyed the service that was friendly and efficient, as well as sitting on the patio overlooking the Lunenburg Harbour on this beautiful evening.
Lunenburg Vibe

Great hotel, nice little touches and hospitality. Food in the restaurant was delicious and I recommend the curry. The owner was great, very accommodating. Rent a blanket from the bar to sit outside on chilly nights. Highly recommended.

Tolles Fischrestaurant im wunderschönen Örtchen Luenenburg direkt an der waterfront. Service war zwar etwas langsam, aber wir waren auch mit einer 17 Köpfchen Gruppe dort und das Restaurant war komplett voll. Die Fish & Chips waren dafür aber absolut frisch und super lecker. Wer die einheimische Spezialität hier probiert wird nicht enttäuscht. Sie bieten auch Hummer an, leider hatte er nicht genug für unsere Gruppe so dass wir diesen nicht probieren konnten. Aber wenn ich noch mal nach Novia Scotcha komme werde ich wieder kommen.

Returned to the Rum Runner Inn for dinner. Once again our expectations were exceeded. I had the lobster Thermidor and it was absolutely amazing. Others tried the Oysters. Again delicious. In the interim I had tried mussels at other restaurants and the ones served at this restaurant were, by far, the best. The fish and chips were not only gluten free but also delicious. Everyone agreed this place rocks.

I really was not impressed with my experience at the Rum Runner restaurant. I specifically went because I had heard that it is under new management and now serves curries and sushi, which are fairly lacking in this part of the world.
I was disappointed to see only 2 curries on the menu, chicken masala and fish masala, neither of which looked appealing.
So I opted for sushi. They did have a nice selection of rolls, and I decided on a bowl of miso soup, a smoked salmon roll, and 2 pieces of inari. When I ordered this with the server she had no idea what inari is and kept asking me what kind, until I had to point it out on the menu. She went away with my order only to return a few minutes later to inform me that their sushi chef was on break and wouldn’t be back for half an hour. I was on my lunch break and only had an hour, so I said I would wait, as long as he would be back in the half hour. She brought me the miso soup, which was terrible. It was so salty I could barely eat it and it tasted like it had been made with chicken stock. I have eaten a lot of miso soup and made my own and there is no reason it should have been so salty, as the miso itself is salty, plus the proper stock used is called a dashi, made from seaweed and mushrooms, which is also salty. The sushi chef finally returned and made my roll, which was lackluster at best. None of the ingredients were cold, they were all room temperature, which really is not food safe at all. Especially the fact that the smoked salmon was also at room temperature. I was hungry and at this point didn’t have time to go elsewhere for food, so I ate it. I don’t know what happened to the inari, but I never got it (it also wasn’t on the bill), and I wasn’t too upset after the disappointing salmon roll.
On top of all of this, the prices were way too high; $ 9.00 for the roll (which was only 6 pieces), $ 7.00 for 2 pieces of inari, and $ 4.00 for the miso soup.
I will not be eating there again. =(

Great hotel right on the water. The view is out of this world.
The rooms are very comfortable and well decorated.
The only reason this rating is not a 5 is the lack of parking. By the hotel is covered with parking meters from 10 to 5.
I really enjoyed my stay.

Apparently opened a month ago with a new chef, and that seems a great move. Aix of great local staples like fish and chips, lobster and burgers, but with a twist… sushi and Indian dishes. I had the butter chicken and it was amazing. My wife had the fish curry which was also amazing. We’ll definitely be back.

This was the slowest service I have ever experienced. It was not very busy but we were told multiple times they were under staffed and they apologized that the server was run off his feet. There were maybe 10 tables full. There were a few staff just standing around being personable while the poor young waiter ran from table to table doing his best while the others watched. The menu is quite limited– they only serve wine and beer, no cocktails, and half the menu is sushi (which seems like a weird choice for this type of restaurant, it did look good though). When the food came after an hour of waiting, it was good but not amazing. Not worth the wait, not worth the service. A few things were forgotten, such as tartar sauce, water and cutlery. The only reason it gets 2 stars is because the food did actually taste good once it came. A family meal in a less than busy restaurant shouldn’t take more than two hours. Oh, and they only have one high chair for the entire place.

Great place to stay, super comfy bed, good Internet, great view, no complaints from me what so ever!

We had a less than wonderful experience at this restaurant. With the room perhaps 20% occupied, four of us had enough waiting time to go through two and a half large bottles of sparkling water before the food arrived — approximately a 50 minute wait. When it did, the beef ordered medium arrived dry and well done, th e seafood medley consisted of a tiny piece of fish, two scallops, a handful of beautifully plated mussels and the most inedible lobster tail I have ever had, rubbery and resilient. There were a sprinkling of tiny shrimp in a lackluster broth, and the plate overwhelmed by three chunks of bread, growing soggy in the liquid. Three of us waited ten minutes until the fourth member of our party was served. Her fresh salmon, when it arrived was sliced approximately ½″ thick and again, overcooked. Nothing was offered between our ordering and the arrival of food — not a crust, not an olive — nothing. We had to go to the bar to ask for our third bottle of fizzy water, even though four front of house staff members were chatting in that area, oblivious to the needs of our table. When we asked if the long wait for service was usual we were answered «Well, the food is all prepared to order you know». Pity, because some pre prep would have ensured more interesting saucing, and shorter actual cooking time for the seafood. For such a limited choice menu, there is no excuse for sloppy cooking. The vegetables, where they appeared, were obviously prime quality and treated with respect. It was the other elements which were suffering.
It was a tension filled meal and we were left with the impression that the staff were more interested in each other than the customers. Certainly that’s where most of the personal interaction occurred.

On vacation in Nova Scotia. Wandered into Lunenburg on the way to Digby from Halifax because we heard it was quaint. It is amazing. The little town is adorable. The people are wonderful and with the waterfront, the ancient buildings and the art galleries, there is not a cuter town in all the maritimes or New England. Looking for internet we wandered into the Rum Runner for lunch. WOW! The food, the service, the view, the ambiance are all perfect.
We had the scallop appetizer, which are the best we have ever had. We have had them in some of the most expensive and fancy restaurants in the world and paid more per scallop than we did for the entire order and they do not compare. These were unparralled.
We each ordered the lobster roll and having eaten my weight in lobster rolls up and down the New England coast, this one is at the top. It has the amazing fresh bread and it is so clearly high quality. In a Boston restaurant it would cost three times as much.
Dessert was fantastic, but you don’t come here for cheesecake or chocolate cake (it is great), but you are coming for the best seafood imaginable and they damn near give it away.
Only wish we lived close enough to be regulars.