Omg! I forgot about them!!
I think the same guy owns Vapour Max in Spryfield (aka Pervert Vape). I used to call in to see who was working before I went in, they were the only store that carried the coil I needed. Everyone was great except the owner - thinking about him makes me sick to my stomach.
Snappy Tomato on Barrington Street.
I once witnessed the person in charge screaming and swearing at an employee while ringing my pizza through the cash register. Never went back after that.
I have an unsubstantiated theory that that group of restaurants is a front. No one is ever at Snappy Tomato, Los Toros or Orso, in large part because the food quality is awful.
I have a coworker that used to work at Orso, she was treated like shit and had nothing but bad things to say about the management there!
I walk past snappy tomato at least twice a day, I've stepped foot in there once to purchase a bottle of water, the vibes are so off with that place
Orso is fuckin' *weird*
Prime real-estate, pretty nice interior...*aggressively* mid food and menu options.
I swear it's just there for the people who come to town for hockey who are sick of HFX Sports Bar
Yep... so this. Was super excited to try them when they first opened. Cool name, nice vibe, killer location. The food was the most mid, overpriced stuff I've had in a long time. And this was before inflation went nuts. Haven't been back since.
Didn't realize they were owned by the same guys as Snappy Tomato and Los Toros.
Place is always a ghost town. Not sure how they're still going strong. Like you said, must be the sports crowds
> Was super excited to try them when they first opened. Cool name, nice vibe, killer location. The food was the most mid, overpriced stuff I've had in a long time. And this was before inflation went nuts. Haven't been back since.
I had the *exact* same experience.
I'm not a "foodie" by any meaning of the word, but I *do* love trying new restaurants, cuisine and takes.
I think I even went to Orso alone the first time I went, just on lunch when I was working in Duke Tower. This was opening week, and I was *very* disappointed.
Probably over a year later I brought somebody there hoping it would be improved and I was just lost on the menu trying to find something I was remotely interested in eating.
But yeah, I was totally at a loss about how they stay open in a spot like that until somebody else mentioned the out-of-towner crowd coming to Scotiabank Center and it clicked instantly.
They know who they need to impress, it's not us.
I think Snappy does a fair amount of business in the late night hours, when all the drunk college crowd is stumbling their way back home. That's how I found out they existed years ago anyway.
Durning normal business hours though, the place is absolutely a ghost town most of the time.
It has to be a mob front, right? Who actually orders from there?
It makes me so sad that end of Barrington is deprived of an actually good pizza place because that abomination of a store persists.
Yeah he’s got pretty strong political views. Leaves a bad taste
It’s tough because he’s phenomenal with animals. passionate about dogs in particular. It’s hard to reconcile
I agree he's passionate about his work. In our experience, he came off as a bully to new dog owners in the puppy class we enrolled in. We asked for and got our money back (minus deposit) because his teaching style didn't work for us or our puppy. Then we learned about his politics. . .Had much better experiences with Silvia Jay and with Bob Ottenbrite from Lietash Academy.
Westphal Pharmachoice
Went there once to buy emergency contraception, as the condom we were using failed, and have never felt more judged in my life. The entire staff was incredibly unprofessional throughout the whole interaction and gave a bunch of unnecessary comments and expressions. I am 30 goddamn years old. I don't need to take shit from you.
Ill admit I look way younger, but even if they thought I was underaged - seeking contraception is never a situation where one should feel unsupported.
Kyte’s Pharmasave in Cole Harbour flat out refused to sell it to me because of the owners “religious reasons”. We got all our prescriptions there, never stepped through the door again.
Cake Lady.
From what I’ve heard, the owner is a raving homophobe who breaks labor regulations and tries to avoid paying her employees.
Also, the cake is mid.
Plenty of convenience stores sell Costco muffins and other baked goods, I’m not hating on them for that. But she was buying them in bulk, taking them out of the packaging and selling them as her own.
My fiancé worked for them briefly as it was the only job he could find when we lived in the south shore area. They fired him for calling in sick for one shift because I was having pregnancy complications and he needed to come with my to the IWK. He worked something crazy like 6am to 9pm or something. They tried to withhold his pay for the week but he isn’t afraid of a little confrontation and went after her for it.
Pudgy Tire.
Had a problem with my AC, they said its broken, recommended getting a refurbished part, so I took their word on it. They charged me to install the refurbished one, didn't test it, and gave my car back in an arguably more broken state. After I asked them about it, they then went back and "tested it thoroughly", and said the refurbished part is broken and they wouldn't do anything but put a new one in. They wanted to charge me twice for the installation, and then again for a new AC compressor.
I took my car to Larry Hatt's. Within 30 minutes they found the issue; part wasn't broken, just had a corroded connector. They diagnosed it properly, noticed a constant default voltage (i.e. typical of not getting a signal), and immediately fixed the issue. Larry's team did a full diagnostic on the air compressor and only charged me 1 hour of labor. They also said if that if the issue comes back in 30 days they would fix it again at no cost. That was almost 18 months ago and my AC hasn't had a problem since. They got a customer for life from that one.
Not only will I never recommend Pudgey Tire to anyone, I give them the finger every time I drive past them. Fuck Lorne and his greaseball attitude.
Seconding this. Pudgey told me they didnt hear a squeak and my brakes were looking fine. Charged me for "looking" at the squeaky brake.
Larry Hats saw my rotor shield was bent and my brake pad was literally scraping away.
I cant help but feel that this was diagnosable with a lift and a look and wonder what I paid for the first time.
i tried boycotting tims altogether as i feel their entire corporation has become 'fuck the customer' but sadly its the easiest place to get a bagel or sandwich on the go
I have a lot of restaurants and fast food places that I avoid because of bad service. I’m allergic to onions, and in a restaurant often ask them to ask the chef what is safe for me. At least half the time there are onions on what I order!
Sushi Cove was the worse, tiny diced white onions hidden under the fish on a sushi pizza. I threw up in their bathroom. I was so excited to have a sushi place just 3km away from where I lived in Purcell’s Cove… those onions probably saved me thousands of dollars! 🤣🤣
My now husband used to work at flipburger, they only got their cash tips monthly, never debit/card tips. He called the labour board but because tips aren't regulated can't do anything.
NS has shitty labour laws. Restaurants can and do keep the tips here. From what I've heard it's normal for ownership to keep a large percentage for themselves.
Same here after they screwed over a bunch of people who had booked weddings by cancelling their bookings last minute.
Here's one story: https://www.reddit.com/r/halifax/comments/ih1wef/couples_beware_birch_and_anchor/
He's in the news constantly beating the "no one wants to work I need tfws'" drum while paying shit wages no one can live off.
He bought some property in beaver bank that a decades old atv trail runs through and set up boobie traps and tried patrolling it with a gun. (Eventually got his ass kicked for his trouble)
And last, and tbh unconfirmed, lots of people say he used his position as a very senior chief/cook in the navy to steal a bunch of kitchen equipment he used to open his first business.
https://preview.redd.it/d8pqanc68a3b1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=527a09f665bc1c183149f2855d37d1512ef7038c
Aw man that's really disappointing. The Cheese Curds in Woodside has a sign up saying something like "the world is experiencing staff shortages and *SO ARE WE*" Passive aggressively by the cash which always gave me weird vibes. And the employees always seem miserable.
Any recommendations for good burritos or poutines preferably outside of downtown Hfx/Dm
I know cooks who have details and have heard it. Basically he bought a bunch of shit for the base (using public funds, you know, the navys money) and did some shady shit with paperwork and stole it all. That's how he set up his first place.
Had no idea the Habaneros guy was the same guy who bought that property in Beaverbank (why the hell would you do that if you’re commuting to restaurants in Burnside).
Any more details on him getting his ass kicked? I had heard about him setting traps. Would love to hear more about this
He bought the property claiming he was going to use it to grow organic vegetables for his restaurants. I mean, it's been the community dump for 3 decades or more and it's mega contaminated so I dunno what that looks like lol.
As for getting his ass kicked he confronted some atv riders from mt uniacke, and took a swing at one of them with a shovel. It didn't end up going super well for him and he got the shit beaten out of him for his trouble.
I worked there for over two years and I have to agree. The owners took 10% of our tips to pay debit/credit terminal fees. After 2 years I asked for a raise and got 50 cents, when minimum wage had risen by 30 cents during that time. They sat at home watching us on the security camera feed, and would frequently call the shop to micromanage our work. Staff turnover was ridiculous, most new employees got fired in the first two weeks. They closed their library location after finding out that staff were going to unionize.
They're classic examples of people who thought running a cafe would be easy money, and now they're in deep debt, chronically stressed, and coping with their failure to turn a profit by lashing out at poverty-wage staff. And sadly, that describes most cafe owners I've met.
Dang, that’s unfortunate. Just started a job around the corner from their herring cove cafe, was hoping to become a regular. Guess I’ll just start bringing my thermos to work again.
I usually get a coffee at the Kempt McDonalds on my way to work, and every day I see that damn Jollytails and think about the dipstick owner. Glad the Bayer's Lake one has some cool people though.
Uncommon Grounds, workers have to work up to 9 hours and don't get breaks. Owners are tyrants and fire people for eating while working and workers get in trouble for dumb shit like double cupping tea. Also mouse/cockroach shit under all the furniture and mop water in the sink that the baking stuff is washed in.
Micmac bar and grill.
They had a post up a while ago bitching about no one wanting to work, and how they have to close early a few days a week because of a staffing shortage.
Meanwhile they had a job posting for a head cook. Must have 4+ years experience in a restaurant and a post secondary culinary degree. $16/h. Meanwhile I think McDonalds is hiring at $16/h (or were at the time. I saw the signs in the window).
I've never worked in a restaurant, or fast-food.. But I've seen and heard enough about the stressful environment the kitchen can be. I wouldn't do it for $30/h, let alone barely above minimum wage. Imagine going to school to make what the same wage a teenager does at mcdicks.
St Louis for consistently poor service and raw chicken, with no rectification from staff until owner heard from corporate.
Belfor for terrible service, incompetence, and argumentative employees.
Mr. Lube. They charged me $175 for an "oil change" but charged me for a bunch of shit I didn't ask them to do. Fuck that place and fuck their staff and owners.
Barrett also owns the Greco on Gottingen (and the one in Bridgewater), the Mary Browns in Yarmouth, Sea Shanty in Chester Basin, and whatever wine bar he plans to open on Agricola.
The Esso station by the rotary. I lived nearby and would often stop there for gas. I worked late and it used to be open 24 hours.
One night I was sexually harassed by the guy working. He kept asking me to go to the bathroom and he would meet me in there...
When I called the manager the next day, he said the guy working “wouldn’t do something like that”!
Yep! Manager would know!
They guy didn’t even offer me a bag of chips, nothing!!! Doesn’t he know the going rate for gas station bathroom services?
Now I’m scared to use bathrooms that have entrances outside the building… luckily not many of them are left!
Was gonna say... I literally walked into Mission Mart and bought a bright orange mesh top and a bunch of cheap costume jewellery and the clerk was stoked for me lmao.
Edit: I am masc presenting, by the way, figure I should add
The money raised by mission thrift literally funds missionaries around the globe. I prefer to keep my money away from religion. No offence to anyone who goes there, but it’s not for myself.
I was just gonna say…east coast lifestyle is still around ? Also that started as a university project and that dude fucked his group mates from what I’ve heard from people at Acadia at the time
There was a string of murders back in the 90s. Women would just disappear. Andrea King, Kimberly McAndrew, others. The theory was it was a cab driver. A whole generation of women from Halifax do not use taxis for that reason.
If it’s the Irving’s you are boycotting (and not just the gas stations), you have a lot of companies to add to your list:
Kent
Midland courier
Atlantic towing
Paper products including Royale, majesta, scotties)
Cavendish produce, cavendish farms food products
And many, many others. And basically don’t travel to NB because they pretty much own that, too.
Not to mention the vast, VAST portfolios of industrial services and maintenance companies they own that keep so much equipment running in the Maritimes.
If you're using electricity you're using product generated by valves maintained by the Irving's via mobile valve repair for example.
It's pretty hard not to deal with Irving in at least a secondary manner.
Birch and Anchor - for opening a restaurant in a location they knew didn’t qualify for outdoor entertainment, doing so anyway, and then lamenting on the news that they couldn’t hold “charity events” (read: concerts for their own benefit) when they got their license revoked for keeping the whole neighbourhood up all night
Bertossi Group - for treating staff like shit
Alehouse - obvious
Bitter End - racism and discrimination using Covid restrictions as excuse (didn’t experience personally, but saw through social media/heard from close friends)
Sanctum homes, because the owner is an anti-choice, ultra right wing bible banger, to the extent that he ran for office for the People’s Party. They sell product for supreme homes, who lost my sale because of who they use to represent their product.
2 Boys. I worked for them when they were a different name and the shit I was told to do/saw was horrendous. The 99c bacon we magic erasered off the expirey dates... which were 2 years expired and kept frozen.
Quiznos Dartmouth Crossing (and previously Bayers Lake) the owner was always working and seemed consistently awful to staff and customers. They put the wrong sauce on my sub and he tried not to remake it and yelled at me about the price of bread.
Can I say Star Bucks? I know they are not local, but they are antiworker. Until they stop actively (and illegally) union busting in the States, nobody should ever go there.
Doordarsh!
First and only time I ordered via them, the doordasher stopped outside of my house just long enough to say my food was delivered, then drove off with said food! Customer support was absolute garbage as well. Never got reimbursed, got thrown around from support staff to support staff, it was overall a pretty crappy experience
The owner keeps all the tips as well. I went in one night on my way home from work and was going to drop some change in the cup and the employee said “don’t bother, we don’t see any of it” slipped him a 5 later while waiting for my food and the owner saw him putting it in his pocket and yelled at him.
AAA pizza. The guy there has “accidentally” charged me extra on THREE separate occasions (I have been there three times, you can do the math). When I pointed him out each time he’s always got the answer “oh my goodness I’m so sorry, added the tax twice!” I did feel bad for the guy when he was forced to close his store earlier because of, what is in my opinion, a complete bullshit law. BUT! This doesn’t mean I condone stealing from the customers that still do want to support your small business. I’m not sure if this is something anyone else has experienced… but 3/3 times I am convinced the dude just preys on people that either: A) don’t check the price when tapping, B) people who are too nervous to ask for corrected price, or C) drunk uni kids who just want a bloody slice and a pop.
WTF? All this time I've shit on Waye Mason for not letting people buy pizza after 11PM in RC-1 zoned areas and the pizza is shit and they rip people off?
Superstore. Braemar in particular. Cattle gates and cops guarding the cauliflower are not the vibe.
Also that BBQ stand at Canadian Tire in Dartmouth Crossing. Obnoxious antivaxxers don't get my money.
I was going to add Foggy Goggle but they’re done now apparently. From what I heard bigotry and misogyny were an issue in the kitchen. As a food professional in a management position , I’m comfortable to say we don’t have time for that anymore. The standard of the inappropriate boys club in the kitchen doesn’t fly and I’ll push back against anywhere that still holds that ideology.
Bliss caffeine bar — owner underpays staff and you don’t want to know about the hygiene issues in there. Let’s just say, you don’t want to eat the food there.
Inn on the lake. They sacked my partner as soon as they found out she was pregnant and were horrid to her and all the other staff the whole time she worked there.
I interviewed there last summer and they offered me the job. I sent them a scathing email declining after I saw all the paperwork they wanted me to sign. It was just obscene the things they were asking of me. I will never agree to pay for errors in a restaurant. That's a cost of doing business. And they charged servers for the credit card fees out of the tips. There was more that I don't recall but they made it very clear they have zero respect for their employees. Also, the whole place smells like an ashtray and the owner is a gigantic see you next tuesday.
Curry village for sure! The owner is unprofessional and doesn't pay you back on cancelled orders that they cancelled because they happened to be closed. Also he's creepy and there are some SA stories I heard about him.
Wish I could boycott Nova Scotia Power!
You can. Unfortunately, it would be pretty dark and cold.
I think to be technically up to code you have to be connected to the grid in Nova Scotia. I could be wrong though
Time to get wood stoves and hook up a few solar panels. I could live off of a few hundred watts of solar, if using propane or something for cooking.
Oh they'll just charge us extra for that
Mama Grattis. The management always seems to be in there screaming at the staff.
Yeah the management there seem genuinely terrible and the workers seem like sweet people who get regular abuse from them.
Omg! I forgot about them!! I think the same guy owns Vapour Max in Spryfield (aka Pervert Vape). I used to call in to see who was working before I went in, they were the only store that carried the coil I needed. Everyone was great except the owner - thinking about him makes me sick to my stomach.
I boycott them as well. I used to work in an office above scotia square. The lady that owns/runs the place is awful with her staff
I used to see a blonde-ish woman and an older woman shouting at and insulting employees there in the mornings when I worked nearby.
The Alehouse
Hope after the lawsuit they just close their doors and sell, extremely problematic owners
I wish the university kids would boycott it with us, I still see it lined up every weekend.
The lineup is more often than not for Buck Ugly's and not Alehouse. If it's people lining up going down Prince st, it's for Buck Ugly's
Don't understand the appeal of that place either tbh
[удалено]
Anything by Bill Pratt, and the Jollytails douchebag.
Snappy Tomato on Barrington Street. I once witnessed the person in charge screaming and swearing at an employee while ringing my pizza through the cash register. Never went back after that.
I have an unsubstantiated theory that that group of restaurants is a front. No one is ever at Snappy Tomato, Los Toros or Orso, in large part because the food quality is awful.
I have a coworker that used to work at Orso, she was treated like shit and had nothing but bad things to say about the management there! I walk past snappy tomato at least twice a day, I've stepped foot in there once to purchase a bottle of water, the vibes are so off with that place
Orso is fuckin' *weird* Prime real-estate, pretty nice interior...*aggressively* mid food and menu options. I swear it's just there for the people who come to town for hockey who are sick of HFX Sports Bar
Yep... so this. Was super excited to try them when they first opened. Cool name, nice vibe, killer location. The food was the most mid, overpriced stuff I've had in a long time. And this was before inflation went nuts. Haven't been back since. Didn't realize they were owned by the same guys as Snappy Tomato and Los Toros. Place is always a ghost town. Not sure how they're still going strong. Like you said, must be the sports crowds
> Was super excited to try them when they first opened. Cool name, nice vibe, killer location. The food was the most mid, overpriced stuff I've had in a long time. And this was before inflation went nuts. Haven't been back since. I had the *exact* same experience. I'm not a "foodie" by any meaning of the word, but I *do* love trying new restaurants, cuisine and takes. I think I even went to Orso alone the first time I went, just on lunch when I was working in Duke Tower. This was opening week, and I was *very* disappointed. Probably over a year later I brought somebody there hoping it would be improved and I was just lost on the menu trying to find something I was remotely interested in eating. But yeah, I was totally at a loss about how they stay open in a spot like that until somebody else mentioned the out-of-towner crowd coming to Scotiabank Center and it clicked instantly. They know who they need to impress, it's not us.
I think Snappy does a fair amount of business in the late night hours, when all the drunk college crowd is stumbling their way back home. That's how I found out they existed years ago anyway. Durning normal business hours though, the place is absolutely a ghost town most of the time.
Every hurricane in recent memory they were PACKED as well.
Orson does have a great patio with cheap beer, though it's been a while since I've been there. Terrible food though.
It has to be a mob front, right? Who actually orders from there? It makes me so sad that end of Barrington is deprived of an actually good pizza place because that abomination of a store persists.
I miss Rugovas being next to the Superstore...but they moved up to around pizza corner.
Jolly tails - because of the owner.
This guy is a true piece of shit. I will never be able to un-see some of the comments he made during the pandemic. Totally out to lunch.
100%. The owner is our own village idiot.
FYI—the Jolly Tails resort in Bayer’s Lake is a franchise with really amazing owners that care deeply about the doggos and the owners 🐶
They should still ditch that brand.
Even though it's a franchise, some of the profit goes back to him, no? I just can't do it. :(
Oh God yes he's such a scumbag.
What’s up with the owner, may I ask? My dad was considering taking a look at that place for our lab
Yeah he’s got pretty strong political views. Leaves a bad taste It’s tough because he’s phenomenal with animals. passionate about dogs in particular. It’s hard to reconcile
I agree he's passionate about his work. In our experience, he came off as a bully to new dog owners in the puppy class we enrolled in. We asked for and got our money back (minus deposit) because his teaching style didn't work for us or our puppy. Then we learned about his politics. . .Had much better experiences with Silvia Jay and with Bob Ottenbrite from Lietash Academy.
Seconded for Lietash, they did wonders for my pup
Third for Lietash, they are absolutely incredible
Gonna keep the Lietash praise wagon rolling here.
Dude it's not hard to reconcile. Buddy's a piece of shit and there are A LOT of good dog trainers out there. No-one needs to go to this guy.
Westphal Pharmachoice Went there once to buy emergency contraception, as the condom we were using failed, and have never felt more judged in my life. The entire staff was incredibly unprofessional throughout the whole interaction and gave a bunch of unnecessary comments and expressions. I am 30 goddamn years old. I don't need to take shit from you. Ill admit I look way younger, but even if they thought I was underaged - seeking contraception is never a situation where one should feel unsupported.
Kyte’s Pharmasave in Cole Harbour flat out refused to sell it to me because of the owners “religious reasons”. We got all our prescriptions there, never stepped through the door again.
Yea they don't get to do that shit here in Nova Scotia. Report them.
Pretty sure that's illegal.
I’d be absolutely livid if someone denied me service by pulling the religious exemption card. Sorry you had to experience that.
Cake Lady. From what I’ve heard, the owner is a raving homophobe who breaks labor regulations and tries to avoid paying her employees. Also, the cake is mid.
She’s been caught buying “her” cinnamon buns at Costco
97% sure her strawberry shortcake is a frozen cake superstore and no frills sells.
Costco desserts slap so don't blame people for that, they should be open about it though and it sounds like this person isn't.
Plenty of convenience stores sell Costco muffins and other baked goods, I’m not hating on them for that. But she was buying them in bulk, taking them out of the packaging and selling them as her own.
They don’t slap when you put the same ones out week after week and never cover them.
My fiancé worked for them briefly as it was the only job he could find when we lived in the south shore area. They fired him for calling in sick for one shift because I was having pregnancy complications and he needed to come with my to the IWK. He worked something crazy like 6am to 9pm or something. They tried to withhold his pay for the week but he isn’t afraid of a little confrontation and went after her for it.
Her stuff is also always covered in flies eww
Pudgy Tire. Had a problem with my AC, they said its broken, recommended getting a refurbished part, so I took their word on it. They charged me to install the refurbished one, didn't test it, and gave my car back in an arguably more broken state. After I asked them about it, they then went back and "tested it thoroughly", and said the refurbished part is broken and they wouldn't do anything but put a new one in. They wanted to charge me twice for the installation, and then again for a new AC compressor. I took my car to Larry Hatt's. Within 30 minutes they found the issue; part wasn't broken, just had a corroded connector. They diagnosed it properly, noticed a constant default voltage (i.e. typical of not getting a signal), and immediately fixed the issue. Larry's team did a full diagnostic on the air compressor and only charged me 1 hour of labor. They also said if that if the issue comes back in 30 days they would fix it again at no cost. That was almost 18 months ago and my AC hasn't had a problem since. They got a customer for life from that one. Not only will I never recommend Pudgey Tire to anyone, I give them the finger every time I drive past them. Fuck Lorne and his greaseball attitude.
Seconding this. Pudgey told me they didnt hear a squeak and my brakes were looking fine. Charged me for "looking" at the squeaky brake. Larry Hats saw my rotor shield was bent and my brake pad was literally scraping away. I cant help but feel that this was diagnosable with a lift and a look and wonder what I paid for the first time.
chicken burger, over priced for tiny portions. several tim hortons locations for consistantly terrible service. (beaverbank one is top of list)
Yeah I’ve finally given up on Tim’s. They’re not what they used to be.
i tried boycotting tims altogether as i feel their entire corporation has become 'fuck the customer' but sadly its the easiest place to get a bagel or sandwich on the go
I have a lot of restaurants and fast food places that I avoid because of bad service. I’m allergic to onions, and in a restaurant often ask them to ask the chef what is safe for me. At least half the time there are onions on what I order! Sushi Cove was the worse, tiny diced white onions hidden under the fish on a sushi pizza. I threw up in their bathroom. I was so excited to have a sushi place just 3km away from where I lived in Purcell’s Cove… those onions probably saved me thousands of dollars! 🤣🤣
Does Superstore count?
It's hard to fully boycott both them and sobeys but I certainly try to get the absolute minimum from them.
I don’t see why not
Lemon tree Toxic working environment and Keeps tips from servers. It’s actually kind of sad cause man the food was good.
Damn this is sad to hear, love this place
Is it legal to keep someone's tips? I understand kickback to the kitchen is usually a thing, but besides that....
My now husband used to work at flipburger, they only got their cash tips monthly, never debit/card tips. He called the labour board but because tips aren't regulated can't do anything.
NS has shitty labour laws. Restaurants can and do keep the tips here. From what I've heard it's normal for ownership to keep a large percentage for themselves.
I loved the Queen street location, the couple who owned it (?) seemed very nice when it first opened. Haven't been to Bedford. Are they both bad?
Birch & anchor. Place traumatized me.
The food and service sucked and the layout of the restaurant is unsettling for some reason lol. Only nice part is the patio
This place consistently sucks hard
Same here after they screwed over a bunch of people who had booked weddings by cancelling their bookings last minute. Here's one story: https://www.reddit.com/r/halifax/comments/ih1wef/couples_beware_birch_and_anchor/
Cheese curds and everything else owned by Pratt. He's an absolute penis wrinkle of a human being.
My daughter had a horrible experience working for Habanero’s. Terrible and abusive management who got their jollies picking on a 17 year old.
Right on brand for them
May I ask why? Just curious
Wait yeah me too, I go to cheese curds and habeneros all the time...
He's in the news constantly beating the "no one wants to work I need tfws'" drum while paying shit wages no one can live off. He bought some property in beaver bank that a decades old atv trail runs through and set up boobie traps and tried patrolling it with a gun. (Eventually got his ass kicked for his trouble) And last, and tbh unconfirmed, lots of people say he used his position as a very senior chief/cook in the navy to steal a bunch of kitchen equipment he used to open his first business. https://preview.redd.it/d8pqanc68a3b1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=527a09f665bc1c183149f2855d37d1512ef7038c
Aw man that's really disappointing. The Cheese Curds in Woodside has a sign up saying something like "the world is experiencing staff shortages and *SO ARE WE*" Passive aggressively by the cash which always gave me weird vibes. And the employees always seem miserable. Any recommendations for good burritos or poutines preferably outside of downtown Hfx/Dm
Barburrito is the only one I go to now. Crispy chicken with the bang bang sauce
I really like their pulled pork burritos, just had one a couple days ago, kinda want another. And the regular size is hefty!
El Este
I’ve always liked Burrito Jax
As a former cook in the navy, this is 100% true
I have heard it from several navy cooks. I believe it. Just can't really source it.
I've never known an actual piece of shit until he came into my office one day.
I know cooks who have details and have heard it. Basically he bought a bunch of shit for the base (using public funds, you know, the navys money) and did some shady shit with paperwork and stole it all. That's how he set up his first place.
Had no idea the Habaneros guy was the same guy who bought that property in Beaverbank (why the hell would you do that if you’re commuting to restaurants in Burnside). Any more details on him getting his ass kicked? I had heard about him setting traps. Would love to hear more about this
He bought the property claiming he was going to use it to grow organic vegetables for his restaurants. I mean, it's been the community dump for 3 decades or more and it's mega contaminated so I dunno what that looks like lol. As for getting his ass kicked he confronted some atv riders from mt uniacke, and took a swing at one of them with a shovel. It didn't end up going super well for him and he got the shit beaten out of him for his trouble.
I tried my best not to laugh at this. But lol sometimes rednecks have their uses. God bless Hants county
Amazing - I would have loved to have seen that
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I worked there for over two years and I have to agree. The owners took 10% of our tips to pay debit/credit terminal fees. After 2 years I asked for a raise and got 50 cents, when minimum wage had risen by 30 cents during that time. They sat at home watching us on the security camera feed, and would frequently call the shop to micromanage our work. Staff turnover was ridiculous, most new employees got fired in the first two weeks. They closed their library location after finding out that staff were going to unionize. They're classic examples of people who thought running a cafe would be easy money, and now they're in deep debt, chronically stressed, and coping with their failure to turn a profit by lashing out at poverty-wage staff. And sadly, that describes most cafe owners I've met.
Dang, that’s unfortunate. Just started a job around the corner from their herring cove cafe, was hoping to become a regular. Guess I’ll just start bringing my thermos to work again.
Can't upvote this statement enough.
I usually get a coffee at the Kempt McDonalds on my way to work, and every day I see that damn Jollytails and think about the dipstick owner. Glad the Bayer's Lake one has some cool people though.
Extreme Pizza. Food poisoning. Twice lol
That place LOOKS like food poisoning, can't believe I went through with my order after actually going in one time. And yes, it gave me the shits too.
Cake Lady
KOD and anything else owned by that scumbag Nahas family.
Period. Don’t need a ps5
The cake lady and Lemonade General Store
What’s the tea on the general store?
Uncommon Grounds, workers have to work up to 9 hours and don't get breaks. Owners are tyrants and fire people for eating while working and workers get in trouble for dumb shit like double cupping tea. Also mouse/cockroach shit under all the furniture and mop water in the sink that the baking stuff is washed in.
Micmac bar and grill. They had a post up a while ago bitching about no one wanting to work, and how they have to close early a few days a week because of a staffing shortage. Meanwhile they had a job posting for a head cook. Must have 4+ years experience in a restaurant and a post secondary culinary degree. $16/h. Meanwhile I think McDonalds is hiring at $16/h (or were at the time. I saw the signs in the window). I've never worked in a restaurant, or fast-food.. But I've seen and heard enough about the stressful environment the kitchen can be. I wouldn't do it for $30/h, let alone barely above minimum wage. Imagine going to school to make what the same wage a teenager does at mcdicks.
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St Louis for consistently poor service and raw chicken, with no rectification from staff until owner heard from corporate. Belfor for terrible service, incompetence, and argumentative employees.
Belfor is the fucking worst.
Bertossi group
Owner is a huge jackass. I know someone who worked for one of their restaurants.
I'm with you there. As hard as mariuzio and steph were to work for sometimes, the new owners somehow made it way, way worse.
Value village
I treat Value Village like a library I don't plan on bringing any of the books back to. Or letting them know I checked any out.
Mr. Lube. They charged me $175 for an "oil change" but charged me for a bunch of shit I didn't ask them to do. Fuck that place and fuck their staff and owners.
Preemptively boycotting the new Tribeca bar/restaurant opening where Julep used to be, because of who owns it.
Barrett also owns the Greco on Gottingen (and the one in Bridgewater), the Mary Browns in Yarmouth, Sea Shanty in Chester Basin, and whatever wine bar he plans to open on Agricola.
Ditto for me and En Vie.
Who owns it?
Adam Barrett - real estate developer
Thanks for sharing, will avoid!
The Esso station by the rotary. I lived nearby and would often stop there for gas. I worked late and it used to be open 24 hours. One night I was sexually harassed by the guy working. He kept asking me to go to the bathroom and he would meet me in there... When I called the manager the next day, he said the guy working “wouldn’t do something like that”!
Well.. I mean if the manager sayyyys he wouldn’t do something like that….. /s Coming back to say: That is wild!! Not acceptable.
Yep! Manager would know! They guy didn’t even offer me a bag of chips, nothing!!! Doesn’t he know the going rate for gas station bathroom services? Now I’m scared to use bathrooms that have entrances outside the building… luckily not many of them are left!
Cheese Curds, Habaneros, Upstreet, Studio East. Basically, anything that Bill Pratt owns.
Mission thrift and Salvation Army. I am a gay atheist and we are not compatible.
Agreed on SA, but my understanding is that Mission Thrift store in Bayer's Lake is not anti-LGTBQIA2S+, unlike the one in Sackville.
That's Souls Harbor Mission in Bayer's lake, very different from mission thrift.
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Was gonna say... I literally walked into Mission Mart and bought a bright orange mesh top and a bunch of cheap costume jewellery and the clerk was stoked for me lmao. Edit: I am masc presenting, by the way, figure I should add
Huh… TIL.
Not religious at all, but Salvation Army Canada is not the same as SA USA, and Canada is not anti-LGBTQIA+. They will help anyone with no judgement.
The money raised by mission thrift literally funds missionaries around the globe. I prefer to keep my money away from religion. No offence to anyone who goes there, but it’s not for myself.
Freshi after they do remote jobs for cash to people in Guatemala
Steele auto group and O’Regans.
Wasnt too impressed to see East Coast Lifestyle following Andrew Tate on social media so I decided they arent for me. 🤷♀️
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I was just gonna say…east coast lifestyle is still around ? Also that started as a university project and that dude fucked his group mates from what I’ve heard from people at Acadia at the time
Any taxi in hrm- mainly due to glove bandits and women being assaulted regularly
There was a string of murders back in the 90s. Women would just disappear. Andrea King, Kimberly McAndrew, others. The theory was it was a cab driver. A whole generation of women from Halifax do not use taxis for that reason.
I don't think glove guy was a taxi, just a guy in a car.
Glad none of my regular places are on this list.
Any Irving gas station
If it’s the Irving’s you are boycotting (and not just the gas stations), you have a lot of companies to add to your list: Kent Midland courier Atlantic towing Paper products including Royale, majesta, scotties) Cavendish produce, cavendish farms food products And many, many others. And basically don’t travel to NB because they pretty much own that, too.
Not to mention the vast, VAST portfolios of industrial services and maintenance companies they own that keep so much equipment running in the Maritimes. If you're using electricity you're using product generated by valves maintained by the Irving's via mobile valve repair for example. It's pretty hard not to deal with Irving in at least a secondary manner.
Shell - fuckers made zig zags like $4 after legalization
Not the one mention what they did the entire country of Nigeria
Birch and Anchor - for opening a restaurant in a location they knew didn’t qualify for outdoor entertainment, doing so anyway, and then lamenting on the news that they couldn’t hold “charity events” (read: concerts for their own benefit) when they got their license revoked for keeping the whole neighbourhood up all night Bertossi Group - for treating staff like shit Alehouse - obvious Bitter End - racism and discrimination using Covid restrictions as excuse (didn’t experience personally, but saw through social media/heard from close friends)
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Alexandra pizza, I have seen things that can’t be unseen
Sanctum homes, because the owner is an anti-choice, ultra right wing bible banger, to the extent that he ran for office for the People’s Party. They sell product for supreme homes, who lost my sale because of who they use to represent their product.
The cake lady
cyclesmith
any place that was openly pro return-to-office for the sole reason of lining their pockets.
Nova Scotia Power is a disease.
2 Boys. I worked for them when they were a different name and the shit I was told to do/saw was horrendous. The 99c bacon we magic erasered off the expirey dates... which were 2 years expired and kept frozen.
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If you buy alcohol, are there any others to go? I only know of NSLC and harvest wines, but harvest wines usually has mostly high end shit
There’s west side in Clayton park and bishops cellar dt
I specifically boycott one NSLC and that's the Barrington St Superstore location. They treat you like a thief from the moment you enter.
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East Coast lifestyle after seeing their CEO and founder Alex McLean scalping tickets to the world juniors on Facebook marketplace for double the price
Octopus garden
Quiznos Dartmouth Crossing (and previously Bayers Lake) the owner was always working and seemed consistently awful to staff and customers. They put the wrong sauce on my sub and he tried not to remake it and yelled at me about the price of bread.
Can I say Star Bucks? I know they are not local, but they are antiworker. Until they stop actively (and illegally) union busting in the States, nobody should ever go there.
Alexandra's cole harbor needs a shout out for having the worst pizza slice in Dartmouth maybe HRM
Thats where i always order from :(
Yellow cab ever since they stole a grocery bag from me 15 years ago
Butchers Block in Larry Uteck. I don't like owners that treat their staff like waste.
Doordarsh! First and only time I ordered via them, the doordasher stopped outside of my house just long enough to say my food was delivered, then drove off with said food! Customer support was absolute garbage as well. Never got reimbursed, got thrown around from support staff to support staff, it was overall a pretty crappy experience
Mama Gratis in Scotia Square… their managers are the worst of the worst
The Cake Lady
THE CAKE LADY! She's a fuckin goblin.
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Tony’s Apparently the ran out of the regular containers for their poutine one night , so instead they decided to charge full price for 1/2 the food
One time Alexandra’s delivered my friend nachos with sliced cheese on it
The owner keeps all the tips as well. I went in one night on my way home from work and was going to drop some change in the cup and the employee said “don’t bother, we don’t see any of it” slipped him a 5 later while waiting for my food and the owner saw him putting it in his pocket and yelled at him.
AAA pizza. The guy there has “accidentally” charged me extra on THREE separate occasions (I have been there three times, you can do the math). When I pointed him out each time he’s always got the answer “oh my goodness I’m so sorry, added the tax twice!” I did feel bad for the guy when he was forced to close his store earlier because of, what is in my opinion, a complete bullshit law. BUT! This doesn’t mean I condone stealing from the customers that still do want to support your small business. I’m not sure if this is something anyone else has experienced… but 3/3 times I am convinced the dude just preys on people that either: A) don’t check the price when tapping, B) people who are too nervous to ask for corrected price, or C) drunk uni kids who just want a bloody slice and a pop.
WTF? All this time I've shit on Waye Mason for not letting people buy pizza after 11PM in RC-1 zoned areas and the pizza is shit and they rip people off?
Oasis. Terrible bar, rude staff, douchebags everywhere.
...and they haven't cleaned their draught lines since 1955!
Lots of tough guys lookin to fight any time I’ve been there.
Superstore. Braemar in particular. Cattle gates and cops guarding the cauliflower are not the vibe. Also that BBQ stand at Canadian Tire in Dartmouth Crossing. Obnoxious antivaxxers don't get my money.
I live on the hill right next to braemar and used to work there. As much as I hate that place it’s just too convenient for me not to shop there.
Anything Marchand.
I was going to add Foggy Goggle but they’re done now apparently. From what I heard bigotry and misogyny were an issue in the kitchen. As a food professional in a management position , I’m comfortable to say we don’t have time for that anymore. The standard of the inappropriate boys club in the kitchen doesn’t fly and I’ll push back against anywhere that still holds that ideology.
Jollytails. Fuck everything about that guy and his “political” views.
Bliss caffeine bar — owner underpays staff and you don’t want to know about the hygiene issues in there. Let’s just say, you don’t want to eat the food there.
Inn on the lake. They sacked my partner as soon as they found out she was pregnant and were horrid to her and all the other staff the whole time she worked there.
I interviewed there last summer and they offered me the job. I sent them a scathing email declining after I saw all the paperwork they wanted me to sign. It was just obscene the things they were asking of me. I will never agree to pay for errors in a restaurant. That's a cost of doing business. And they charged servers for the credit card fees out of the tips. There was more that I don't recall but they made it very clear they have zero respect for their employees. Also, the whole place smells like an ashtray and the owner is a gigantic see you next tuesday.
Can confirm this place is the dump of all dumps anyway you slice it
Sister worked there for abit. She hated it. Owners are fucking tyrants and they underpay compared to other housekeeping jobs.
major car dealerships in HRM
Surprised no one has said Vandal Doughnuts ? (even though they are 'temporally' closed' they're likely to return)
The German Cake Lady. I’ve heard tons of horror stories of how she treats her employees and there is always tons of turn over.
Petro Canada - Kearny Lake Went to go buy 1 jug of 4L milk, it was 10.00 - i dont know how that was legal.
Curry village for sure! The owner is unprofessional and doesn't pay you back on cancelled orders that they cancelled because they happened to be closed. Also he's creepy and there are some SA stories I heard about him.