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Eat, Drink & Be Merry, For Tomorrow We Converge
RESTAURANTS | RECREATION
Recommended Restaurants and Watering Holes in Charlottetown
Olde Dublin Pub
131 Sydney St. (5 mins. from Delta), Tel: 892-6992 (Reservations recommended for groups)In Casablanca, everyone went to Rick’s: in Charlottetown, everyone goes to the Olde Dublin (or winds up there somehow). By day, the OD tends to be peaceful, with patrons quietly sampling a nice selection of import and domestic draught and cheap-n-cheerful pub fare. After dark, however, it is transformed into a boisterous ale-hall, with huge, smoky crowds slurring Irish drinking songs along with the band (which is almost invariably comprised of burly men in sweaters). You might feel silly paying a $5-$10 cover to hear a medley of Irish Rovers’ tunes, but, as they say at the beach, “it’s lovely once you’re in.” Entrées $5-$12
The Merchantman Pub & Restaurant
Corner of Queen & Water St. (next to Delta), Tel: 892-9150 (Reservations welcomed - Semi-private group room available)
One of Charlottetown’s favourite watering holes and eateries, serving tasty and varied food for a range of budgets (the restaurant menu has lofty aspirations - and higher prices to match - but the less-expensive pub menu also features a fair selection of better-than-average dishes) and a good selection of domestic and import draught in a cheerfully cosy atmosphere. Indeed, “the Merch,” can be a little too cosy by times, and reservations are usually advisable for evening dining: even on its busiest evenings, however, this pub - which does not feature live entertainment - provides a less raucous drinking/dining experience than the Olde Dublin. Pub entrées: $6-$14/ Restaurant entrées: $15-$22
The Water Street Pub& Restaurant
73 Water St. (across from Delta), Tel: 892-5577 (Reservations welcomed)
Only a stone’s throw from the Merchantman, the WS is a new-comer to the Charlottetown pub scene, and has yet to develop the warmth and atmosphere that come with a strong local following: it is, nevertheless, a pleasant-enough spot for a quiet bite and/or a drink. Like the Merchantman, the WS features a somewhat-pricey and reasonably-varied restaurant menu supported by a straightforward, inexpensive pub menu (the Merchantman’s food is generally superior), and also includes some fine import beers in its draught selection. Pub entrées: $6-$14/ Restaurant entrées: $15-$22
Peake’s Quay
1A Great George St (behind Delta); Tel: 368-1330 (Reservations welcomed)
Most of the menu at PQ is unspectacular and over-priced, but it’s sunny, harbour-view patio and breezy, open-plan dining area make it a pleasant spot for a drink (a small selection of domestic “craft” beers is available) and some finger-food in fine weather. Best avoided most evenings, as there are often bad live bands and overly-raucous crowds.
Brennans/Fish Bones
132/136 Richmond St. (5 mins. from Delta), Tel: 892-2222/628-6569 (Reservations welcomed)
This neighbouring pair of pub-n-eateries are generally pedestrian in their cuisine, but are well worth a visit in fine weather, as their adjoining patios are located in the historic Victoria Row block, a pleasant area of fountains, trees, and graceful old buildings, closed to traffic in the summer. The food, while unspectacular, is reasonably tasty, with a decent selection of less-expensive dishes on offer: for the suds connaisseur, Brennan’s also has PEI’s very own Murphy’s beer on tap. Live bands sometimes play open-air shows on Victoria Row in fine weather, and Brennan’s often has good live jazz or blues/rock acts on weekends. Entrées: $7-$22
Cedar’s Restaurant/Baba’s Lounge
81 University Avenue (15 mins. from Delta); Tel: 892-7377 (Reservations welcomed @ Cedar’s)
A Charlottetown institution, Cedar’s serves excellent Lebanese food at very reasonable prices (its “Canadian” food isn’t bad, either, but to not have Lebanese at Cedar’s would rather miss the point) in a pleasant, intimate atmosphere. For these reasons, it’s a popular spot, and reservations are advisable for evening dining. Upstairs is Baba’s Lounge, a crawl-space cunningly disguised as a bar: although not for the claustrophobic, Baba’s is a snug, cheerful spot for a drink, and for the hip and hip-at-heart it often has good rock/alternative acts (yes, they fit bands in there) playing on weekends. Entrées: $5-$13
Piece A Cake Restaurant
119 Grafton St. (10 mins. from Delta); Tel: 894-4585 (Reservations welcomed)
Fine, reasonably-priced food and a casually tasteful atmosphere make this one of Charlottetown’s better restaurants, although the ambience sometimes outshines the cuisine slightly, at least until the desserts arrive: nothing outshines them. Reservations recommended, especially for evening dining. Lunch entrées: $8-$10/Supper entrées: $12-$20
Sirenella Ristorante
83 Water St. (Across from Delta); Tel: 628-2271
(Reservations welcomed - Group Room available)
Sirenella’s claim of, “authentic Italian cuisine,” probably wouldn’t fly in a town with more Italians, but it’s a pretty fair restaurant all the same, serving decent food in quiet, intimate surroundings at (mostly) reasonable prices. Entrées: $10-$22
Dundee Arms Inn
200 Pownal St. (15 mins. from Delta); Tel: 892-2496 (Reservations recommended)
Expensive, but such a nice, nice place for a quiet meal and a drink. The award-winning Griffon Dining Room is particularly pricey (but very nice), while the adjoining pub (also nice) offers more economical fare: the desserts (extremely nice) are said to be life-alteringly good. Did we mention it was nice?
Mea Culpa (Working Off that Eat, Drink, & Merriment ...):
Recreation in Charlottetown
Guests at the Delta have access to its excellent fitness centre, which includes a pool and an outdoor (!) balcony hot tub, (on a further exhibitionist note, if you’re working out at night on the treadmills, you should know that those of us gorging and guzzling in the Merchantman across the street can seeeee you). The Best Western Charlottetown also has a very good fitness centre and pool on-site. APLA 2001 attendees staying on the UPEI campus can use the University’s Canada Games Field House facilities, which include a full gym, running track, raquetball courts, etc. (but, alas, no pool ...): a $5-per-use fee applies.
Those seeking gentler exercise might enjoy one of several walks around Charlottetown: if you have an hour or so to kill and the sun is shining, you could do far worse than to follow the shore- line (more or less) along Water, Haviland, and West Streets, passing some of Charlottetown’s most gracious old homes as you go, after which you will turn left onto Kent Street and see before you the lovely sweep of the Victoria Park Roadway, which is skirted on the water side by a wide boardwalk. Everyone in Charlottetown who isn’t in the Olde Dublin Pub will, during fine weather, be found on the boardwalk, eating ice-cream from the Kiwanis Dairy Bar (this small blue shed, located roughly halfway along the boardwalk, accounts for about 75% of provincial GDP in summer months): please join them in smiling at the children, the dogs, the trees, the gracious white pile of Government House, the sea-gulls, the light-house, the roller-bladers falling over ... in no time it will be as if the Internet was never invented, and you will feel much, much better.
If you would like to see more of “olde Charlottetown,” (and it is well worth seeing), historic walking tours guided by the Confederation Players (long-suffering, good-humoured, and very knowledgeable students role-playing as the Fathers - and Mothers - of Confederation) are advisable: unlike a lot of cities which have well-delineated scruffy, boring areas and pretty, interesting areas, in Charlottetown the beautiful and the damned ugly are cheerfully lumped together, so expert guidance may well yield a more satisfying experience than self-directed wandering. [Departure location and times will be posted later].
Considering that Charlottetown is the capital of an Island whose reputation has been forever tainted by greasy Anne-of-Green-Gables huckstering, Charlottetown’s tourist-oriented areas are surprisingly tasteful and restrained. The Peake’s Quay shopping area, located behind the Delta at the foot of Great George Street, is twee but pleasant, and the adjoining Confederation Landing Park is a nice spot for a stroll, featuring a kinda interesting interpretive display on the 1864 Charlottetown Drinking Contest... er, Conference and an accompanying piece of modern Canadian sculpture that actually doesn’t suck.
The Peake’s/Confederation Landing area lies at the foot of Great George St., one of the most historic and (in spots) prettiest streets in the country. As you walk up, you will see the gracious old Customs House, the inspired Gothic insanity of Saint Dunstan’s Basilica, a nicely-preserved row of ... um, row houses, while ever before you are the elegant facade and grounds of Province House: in case you have begun to suffer from history-Mcnugget withdrawal in your 10 minute walk from Confederation Landing, Province House and its environs are positively stiff with brochures and plaques and guides explaining things you should probably know about Confederation already but don’t. For those who prefer a more rigorous approach to history, the Provincial Archives and Records Office may be found on the top floor of the lovely
Coles Building, which stands next to Province House (after looking at the Coles Building, architecture buffs will also want to look past it, for on its far side will be found St. Paul’s Anglican Church, a W.C. Harris masterpiece and - in this writer’s humble opinion - one of the prettiest churches anywhere).
The antique grace of the Province House-Coles Building-St.Paul’s block is soothing at first, but will inevitably induce that ignorance-of-history guilt which is every Canadian’s proud birthright: fleeing past Province House, you will run headlong into a revolting white concrete bunker, erected by Josef Stalin during his brief tenure as Island Premier to house the Ministry of Love. Ha ha. Just kidding, of course. The Confederation Centre of the Arts is a proud national celebration of Confederation and Canadian culture (and bad architecture ...). Aptly described by Will Ferguson as, “one of the great unprosecuted crimes of urban planning,” the “Confed Centre’s” hideous exterior is particularly unfortunate in that it gives no clue to the wonderful array of cultural delights found inside: an art gallery, a public library, and lots of theatre (only some of which is devoted to the adorable creations of L.M. Montgomery).
Speaking of things Montgomery, you will find behind the Confederation Centre an elegant block of gracious old buildings known as Victoria Row, at the corner of which stands the Anne of Green Gables Shop, jammed to the rafters with all the A(aaaaa)GG momentos you could wish. It is routinely besieged in the summer months by rioting Islanders who have had all of the spunky little moppet they can stand, but these affairs are quickly dispersed by red-braided riot police firing canisters of potpourri. Otherwise, Victoria Row is a pleasant and peaceful oasis, closed to vehicles and lined with trees, musicians, an excellent coffee shop and two good pub-n-eateries (and no, the mains didn’t burst, the water’s meant to be shooting up through the grates to create a foutainy kind of effect: beware of wet children on roller blades). Past the pubs, you will also find the one must-visit gift shop in town, the PEI Craft Council’s outlet store: prices can be a little steep, but the quality of the merchandise is generally excellent and you can be confident that your purchase is supporting the work of PEI’s talented and struggling artisans.
Many bad things have been said - and not just by this writer - about Charlottetown’s urban planning (or lack thereof) but, if you feel you must boost consumer confidence and stave off the recession by doing a little more shopping, you should head one block north up Queen Street and support one of the downtown’s saving glories, the Confederation Court Mall. Imagine a viable downtown shopping centre, tastefully tucked away behind existing architecture: well, somebody in Charlottetown did, and the Confederation Court Mall is the result. Indeed, the mall is so discreetly hidden away you might easily miss it: look for the brightly-canopied entryway off Queen Street, just past the Cows store (where you may wish to pause to pick up some cute-funny Cows clothing/merchandise and a $4 ice-cream cone: what the hell, all the other non-Islanders are doing it). Having done your consumer duty in the air-conditioned comfort of mall, you should nip out the far side, and head one block over and one block up University Avenue to visit the Reading Well book store: previous visitors to Charlottetown may remember its lovely former location in the afore-mentioned historic row-houses on Great George St. - the new location is not quite so lovely, but very fine all the same and we all have to support these too-proud-to-die local book stores, don’t we?
That done, feel free to doodle back to the waterfront by whatever route most appeals: if you came up via Great George, you might, for variety, want to head one block over on Kent St. to Queen Street. At this intersection stands historic City Hall, a fine example of the they-don’t-build-‘em like-that-anymore school of municipal architecture: after a quick admiring goggle, turn your steps south down Queen Street: after passing through several blocks which, although not beautiful, have a good deal of character and a certain charm (and a few nice shops, including one of the only organic grocery stores in town, assuming you still have any money left), you will find yourself back at the Delta. But first, why not reward yourself after your exertions with a soothing beverage at the Merchantman Pub?
RESTAURANTS | RECREATION
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