When you're a New Glasgow native who only comes home a few times a year, you have to do what you can to squeeze in as much of the down home eats that the area has to offer, which is of course the pizza and donairs. One of these measures may include adding a fourth meal to your day and getting a late night donair while completely sober.
If the dictionary had phrases in it and one of them was "restaurants that don't give a damn about the atmosphere because they know people love their food", Acropole's picture would be next to that. If there was room. Dingy carpets and generic fast food joint tables and chairs, and a general sense of shame fill the room, although to be fair anything nicer than this would be wasted on the late night crew that must make up a significant portion of their business.
Typically when I'm home I grab a slice and a small donair sauce for the road, but this time I added on a small donair to it. I called ahead for a pick up order so I wouldn't have to sit on anything there and the order was ready to go when I arrived.
Now the term "small" is certainly a relative one in this case, as this donair was heartier than any sub that you're gonna get from the likes of Subway.. Jam packed with meat, tomatoes, onions and Ac's thick donair sauce, it was quite apparent that I would be having my slice of pizza for breakfast (this is a perfectly acceptable practice in Pictou County). The meat was a little on the dark side, but I did order a midnight donair on a Wednesday night, so this was likely on the outside of the spit for a while. Nonetheless, it wasn't dry at all, and the generous amount of sauce helped as well. The meat had a nice zing to it and earthy seasoning for a great donair flavour. The sauce is probably my favourite of any place in the province - thick, with a light garlic flavour and not too sweet, it puts the translucent syrup in Halifax to shame. All of this was wrapped in a soft pita which did what it could to contain the hot mess, but we all know that no pita known to man can withstand the onslaught of a donair. Luckily the foil wrapper kept things relatively in order, but a donair is always going to be a multiple napkin affair. Chopped tomatoes and onions did their thing, adding their complimentary flavours to the donair and keeping the sandwich from being 100% meat and carbs. You know, so it's only 98% now.
While the less than pleasant decor and clientele at Acropole haven't changed since I was younger, more importantly its great food hasn't either.
PS. I had a great breakfast the next day. read more