Shaw’s Landing

Fish and Chips were excellent, great portion size and couldn’t be fresher. Delicious! We ate at the outdoor picnic table, with a beautiful view of the harbour. Dog-​friendly as well.

Good lobster taste like lobster. I had lobster good fries. Good tasting water. I had had some fish. The lobster was red

Walked in expecting a appitizing meal only to find a reduced menu from that online. Per staff restaurant purchased year ago and web site not up to date. Settled for fish and chips which was okay. Also, supposed to be closed at 1800 starting September 1^st.

I’m pretty sure they catch the fish shortly after you order it! Yes it’s that fresh and that good. The fish is a healthy portion, and only lightly breaded, so as not to mask the great taste.
Not only were the fish and chips excellent, but the service was friendly, and the prices were very reasonable.

The place is charming, and the lobsters were full! Lobster lovers will understand what I mean.
The staff is very friendly; couldn’t ask for a better spot for lunch on a sunny day.

Food was just OK. Portions very small and way overpriced. Most expensive meal during our 2 weeks travels in Nova Scotia. Service was decent.

Great food with an awesome harbor view. New owners are very friendly, made us feel like we were friends. Food was great and reasonably priced. They let us launch our kayak from their dock and we had a great paddle. Super hospitality…

From living in Nova Scotia, I’ve had my fair share of seafood. The staff here was not very attentive, no music on, one piece of fish lasted three bites, and the serving sizes were terribly small in general for the price, nothing was impressive. I was very disappointed and left hungry. I would keep driving and stop somewhere else, I won’t be back.

Having spent a long weekend in Halifax, Shaw’s Landing will definitely be memorable for the great seafood we had a chance to enjoy here. In particular, the fish and chips were simply outstanding.
We arrived here after visiting Peggy’s Cove and were seated on the outdoor patio. We had a fairly sizable group, so we split ourselves among 2 tables.
The girlfriend and I started with the oyster appetizer (6 oysters) and almost immediately upon finishing, decided it was a must that we order 6 more. For our main, we actually ordered and shared the seafood platter, consisting of fried haddock, clam strips, breaded scallops and shrimp with fries. The fish was simply delicious.
Pairing all of this delicious seafood with a cold glass of Keiths made for a great afternoon meal.

Today was a beautiful sunny day and the four of us had a tour scheduled, the four being Alan, me and Rick and Martha, the couple we met on our South America cruise. When they found out we were going on this one they signed up and by happenstance are right next door. We drove around the city and then out to Peggy’s Cove. The scenery was lovely and we had a fine time. Peggy’s Cove was crawling w/​tourists, but it’s probably worse now, later in the day. Our guide was experienced and knowledgeable and was able to recommend the less crowded bathrooms and other valuable bits of information, including Shaw’s Landing for lobster rolls.
Shaw’s is a small, family owned place. We all ordered lobster rolls, which came w/​either salad or fries. Each couple ordered one of each side so we could split. Martha and I ordered iced tea and the guys had water. The lobster rolls were good, all meat and no filler. They were served on hot dog rolls rather than traditional pull-​apart lobster rolls. The fries were terrific, hand cut and well cooked. The salad was fresh, although the house vinaigrette was astringent, even for me. The coleslaw was excellent, finely chopped and tasty. I would have liked more. The view of the bay was lovely and sunny. Service was homey and friendly, probably one of the owners. We were pleased.

We had the fish’n’chips and were very impressed. The fish was fresh and not at all greasy. The service was good and the view was amazing.

My husband and I ate dinner here while staying near Peggy’s Cove last week.
We enjoyed our dinner! I ate as much seafood as I could on this trip and our visit to Shaw’s was no exception. I went for the fried clam strips. Very tasty. I barely touched my fries and demolished the clams. So good. Husband got fish and chips and scarfed those down, too.
For dessert we shared the Coconut Chocolate Pie with a scoop of ice cream. It was served warm and the chocolate section on the bottom was more like cake. Cakepie. Loved it.
The restaurant has this terrible country music station playing and after we finished dinner, my husband said «did you notice that we forgot about the music while we ate? For a moment, it disappeared…» So true.
Ambiance is what you might expect from a roadside seafood joint. Tacky decorations, bad music. There’s a bunch of crap you can buy up front near the register. Again, touristy.
The staff was very friendly and the service was great. When we were heading outside to sit down for dinner, one of the waiters advised us to head indoors since the mosquitoes would be coming out soon and we «came to dinner to eat– not be eaten!» Well played, my friend.

On the way to Peggy’s Cove you’ll notice that there 1. isn’t very much around other than houses and 2. The one restaurant that kinda stands out just before West Dover. This is Shaw’s Landing.
The first time I went here I was actually backpacking in Halifax and just eating around everywhere. Since this place had the «Best Fish & Chips» I had to try it out.
The final verdict? This place has the best fish & chips I’ve ever had. Better than anywhere in Halifax, better than London England; just the best! Why is the fish & chips so good here? It’s because of the batter. In my opinion, batter either makes or breaks your fish & chips. You’ll either have a giant panzerotti kind of batter which makes you feel like it should come with tomato sauce or you’ll have it too crunchy where it makes you feel like it was encrusted with doritos.
The batter that they use at Shaw’s Landing is delightful. Light and fluffy texture, and just the right amount of coating (not really over battered). The fish was fresh, but then again, it’s Halifax… Where are you not going to have fresh fish?
I have often boasted about the fish & chips in this place and a lot of people were skeptics before I brought them here. Now that they’ve tried it, they know exactly what i’m talking about now.
To be honest I haven’t really tried anything else on the menu. I have the same thing every single time I come back. But the reason why I come back is good enough to order again and again.
At half an hour out of halifax, it’s a little bit of a mission… but it’s worth every bite.

Shaw’s Landing is situated, conveniently, in a tourist area with woefully few dining options. They have a lovely outdoor deck with a fabulous view and a laughable begging seagull or two.
We had the seafood chowder and the broiled haddock. Both were served up quickly. Both were passable at best, with small portions for the price, but the service was great!
We too experienced the $ 10 mini bowl of chowder and the flattened haddock with frozen chopped veggies that Dan C. has mentioned. A bit sad really. They could do so much better, seeing as they have a captive audience there on Route 333.
Nice enough place to ingest a quick meal and take some pretty photos.

Prices are right up there, service is pretty good but after touring the Maritimes and tasting seafood and clam chowders the past three weeks, this was the most expensive and in the bottom two. The large bowl was $ 14 and the waitress apologized for the small size whe n I asked her if this was the large size. Very gluey texture, fish was mushy and not good. I was starving so i ate half the bowl. Fried fish was quite good and lobster good. The staff very friendly but not willing to do anything. We will not return

You know when you impulsively and randomly stop by a roadside restaurant, and it turns out to be one of the most amazing dining experiences you’ve had? Well… this didn’t happen at Shaw’s Landing. After seeing a few signs advertising «the best fish and chips –Debbie S», and «superb seafood chowder — Jack L» on the highway to/​from Peggy’s Cove, my husband and I curiously stopped by to see what the hype was about. It turns out it was false advertising, or maybe self-​advertising and the food quality was terrible. A restaurant like this should not survive in Nova Scotia, where every other restaurant serves the freshest-​caught seafood from the Atlantic.
We entered and sat down to ponder the menu and settled on two relatively expensive –but hopefully delicious– choices: small lobster chowder appetizer ($ 10) and a pan-​fried haddock filet with fries, a side of veggies, and coleslaw ($ 15). Nearly ten minutes later, there was no sign of the waitress/​owner returning to take our orders. She finally arrived and said cheerily, «Oops, I’d forgotten about you. Sorry!» This, despite the fact that we were the only customers present since two tables had left in the interim. This happened again a few minutes after ordering, with her returning chirping, «Oops, I forgot to ask you what you wanted to drink. Sorry!» Yep, we were still the only customers in the restaurant.
The food arrived 15 minutes later, and it looked sad and pathetic. The waitress had mistakenly given us a very small and wrinkly baked potato instead of fries, and «veggies» was approximately 2 tablespoons-​worth of frozen mixed vegetables in a ramekin (seriously??). The «lobster chowder» was a tomato-​based soup that was ladled out into a small bowl into which they mixed three small lobster pieces (yes, I did count each precious morsel). The worst part was that the haddock was clearly not fresh but FROZEN as evidenced by its tough and chewy texture. When we reiterated our order for fries, the waitress apologetically took the potato back, although I wondered to myself what she was going to do with the rejected baked potato.
With only an appetizer and an entrée, we walked out having spent $ 32 for terrible food and bad –but friendly– service. Sorry David B, it looks like the restaurant has gone far downhill in the two years since you last reviewed. As mentioned, there is much better seafood to be had almost anywhere else in the province. Best to keep driving past…

Don’t get me wrong, I *LOVE* mom and pop joints where you can find some of the best home cooked meals on the planets and enjoy great conversations with the locals. So, yes, I admit… i can be a sucker sometime for the road side diners. Somehow I convinced my wife to go here… on a whim no less. After seeing such acclaimed adverts as «Superb Seafood Chowder» and «Best Fish & Chips»…I was hooked. All I can say after this awful food experience is «Caveat Emptor».
The ambience was fine… the «landing» is more of a nice clean shack set off the road with a good size gravel parking lot. You can enjoy a spectacular view of the bay leading out into the ocean. There were already 2 more couples eating when we arrived — so it wasn’t exactly «hopping» this early in the season (May 22). Service-​wise, it was mostly fine. The server was a bit absent minded, but apologetic. She did mess up our orders but replaced it fairly rapidly.
My main gripe was the food and the amount of money we had to pay for this mediocre food. We had just spent 2 lovely days in Halifax enjoying the restos to be had there and were both surprised at the quality of seafood for the price we were paying. So… expecting something at least on par, we didn’t balk when we came across the limited menu with a $ 15 price tag on pan fried haddock with 2 sides or a $ 10 small cup of lobster chowder. Boy, were we wrong! First, the haddock was a thin sliver of fish pounded flat to where there was literally only skin and bones. The 2 sides? The cup of veggies was a 2 ounce cup of frozen peas and carrots, and the fries were literally the highlight of the meal. Her lobster chowder was more filler than anything else — full of rice and corn starch with 3 tiny pieces of lobster for $ 10??? Come on folks! I could make better ‘soup’ without the «lobster» from a 25 cent packet of instant soup!
Overall, I’m really saddened to write this review… b/​c we’ve had better food just in the last 2 days stopping off at points along Cape Breton for less money and better ambience. It’s hard to tell if this place has gone down hill since the last review in 2008… but for now, I think Haligonians and visitors should just bypass this place in favor of the 20 minute drive into town for much better fare to be had.

Welcome to my first Unilocal Canada review. And to all of my Canadian friends I say «Eh»? to you.
Shaw’s is a typical Canadian looking, wooden house right on the edge of an inlet off the Atlantic Ocean. You can eat while enjoying the panoramic view of the surrounding waters and islands at the same time. Shaw’s has a dock for canoers and kayakers so sportsmen can paddle in and sit down on the patio for a relaxing meal.
The owner of Shaw’s smokes his own fish using his on brine recipe of maple syrup, whiskey and other ingredients which he refused to reveal, finished over a long day or two over hardwood smoke. Now, because I was there three years ago I forget if they had a sample platter or I was just being the ugly American glut and demanded a sample platter made up. I had smoked salmon, smoked trout and smoked mackerel along with eggs, bacon and coffee. The smoked fish is the superstar here. It’s the best you’ll ever taste. Better even than any smoked salmon you can find in NYC. The rest of the food was good as well.
I can’t imagine Shaw’s has gone down in quality unless of course a Yank bought it and decided to put his own spin on things. Shaw’s is one of the few (and I mean sparse) restaurants in the Peggy Cove/​West Dover area, which not only has a great atmosphere but great food as well.