It is pre-season, so we were seated right away. The waitress immediately took our order, which was a lobster roll with salad, lobster club with fries, wine and beer. Both sandwiches were great - I preferred the club, hubby preferred the roll. We both agree the salad, fries, and presentation were all great. We have had 3 lobster rolls in 2 days locally, and all were good in their own way, and a little different. The service was excellent, the restaurant had a nice atmosphere, and we would definitely eat here again. read more

We needed a no hassle place with good food and good service. This hit the spot! Enjoyed our relaxing dinner with prompt and courteous service and well prepared food. read more

Our dining experience was excellent. I had the boiled lobster with poutine and my husband had the lobster roll. Drinks were good. Service was good. Atmosphere was very nice and relaxing. Prices were reasonable. Overall I'd say a 10/10. read more

Bell Buoy - Oatmeal stout - Canadian (New) Near Me - Baddeck, Nova Scotia

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Wonderful food and excellent service and great value for money. We were only in the area for two days and had supper here both nights. Lovely view from the windows. Would highly recommend. read more

Delicious food! Some of the best I've had. Chicken Parm was delicious, with perfect heat in the sauce. Fish tacos were perfection. The maple spinach salad was OUTSTANDING! It's a must order. The lobster mushroom app was delicious--enough to be an entree even though it is labeled as an app. As for the service, yes, things are slow. But it should be known that the servers are also the bartenders. That means each table that orders drinks they are making themselves. Honestly, if they added a bartender to their staff, this place would befive stars. A tip: arrive early before 6pm to avoid a longer wait time. Especially on weekends. read more

We arrived without a reservation on a very busy Saturday night. They got us in to eat after a short wait. We had the baked and Cajun haddock with maple spinach salads. Everything was excellent. The service was good and they came to check on us frequently. The setting was nice and the background music was low and appropriately easy to listen - no loud, jarring music that you can't talk over! We enjoyed the experience. read more

Family owned restaurant. Engaging and genuine staff. Whole lobster and beet salad were fresh and delicious. Very relaxed atmosphere. Outdoor seating spacious. Competitive pricing. Great value. read more

This is a restaurant located in Baddeck where we chose to stop off at on our way from Cape Breton to Halifax and we were floored by how good the food was. The staff and service was excellent and every one was friendly. We got a view out to the water which was fun for people watching. We got some calamari which was delicious and then we opted to get the shoreline casserole and fish and chips which were so good (two of us shared all the above). The shoreline casserole was by far the best dish we have had in a while for seafood. Would definitely recommend- either as a stop on your drive, or if you were to spend some time in Baddeck which is a super cute town! read more

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Young man working there was so rude!! We didn't get in because we were waiting for a table and he was just too rude so we left. Asked if there was a list for people waiting for tables and he said, "There is a list , but I can't put you on it because you'd go ahead of people.‍ not sure why the logic behind that is. But when I looked confused he got really nasty. "Said something like, " You want on a list? I'll put you on the list but you're not getting a table. There were two of us and one group of six also waiting. We waited while 8 tables on the patio cleared out and still didn't get seated. They definitely need a better system for seating people...any system would be good..It just seemed so disorganized. I would have happily waited but for the young man's rudeness. read more

OK, not great. Mushroom caps filled with lobster ended up being a thick gravy with mushroom slices and a bit of lobster. Thecrabcakes were cold and had to be redone. Once properly done they tasted good but had too much breading. The lobster roll was definitely not overflowing with lobster, considering the price. The fish tacos were nice, but the place is too expensive for what they offer. One order of crabcakes, fish tacos, the "lobster filled mushroom caps" and the lobster roll with a couple of beers from the tap were $140 Can before tip. Service was good. ambiance was good. Great view of the marina though. read more

I'm a tourist from the states so I guess take this with a grain of salt. But If you ever come to this town, avoid eating here. I ordered the deep fried shrimp with a side of fries. The fried shrimp was nothing to write home about. Not great, not bad, just ok. The fries and unseasoned, not even salt. They give you itty bitty cups for sauces where you have to bother to get more. I got maybe ten very tiny shrimp. This is not worth 22$ sorry. Husband ordered a captains plate or whatever for 32$ they give you a good size fish but the scallops and shrimp are soooo tiny and is a very small portion on the plate. read more

Food was rather expensive for what you got. Portions were small and the food was just ok. Service was slow with our server, however I did notice other servers were a bit more attentive to their patrons. I ordered the chicken Alfredo and ended up being refunded some money cause the chicken was rubbery, but dry at the same time. My husband had the lobster sandwich and he said the chowder it came with was just ok. Not a lot of flavour, nor was it very creamy. And the sandwich was fairly small. We ordered a grilled cheese sandwich for our toddler and that was $10. With our refund I still ended up paying over $50. I wouldn't recommend this place. read more

Stopped in for dinner. Nice views, get to pick your table, unless reserved. Server was inexperienced, but nice, friendly and did a nice job. Mussels app was good. Dinner special was Cod, not so good. Mushy and oily. My wife had the Arrabbiata. She liked it, good flavor and fair amount of shellfish. Blueberry Pie for desert. Considering that the Cod dish was a special, I was expecting something fresh. Would have rated higher if the Cod was fresh and prepared better. read more

The restaurant was not busy when we came in. Only about 8-10 in the dining room near the window and others outside. Service was slow. My husband ordered onion soup which was good, and 3 tiny crab cakes which he said had no crab in them. They were $13. His soup was $9. I ordered shrimp for $22. They were cooked nicely, but not many of them and the sauces were in small containers. The baked potato was not cooked all the way and they offered no butter. The serving of bread was ridiculously small. I took a picture if it, it was so rediculous. The picture won't do it justice. Our bill came to $60 with tip, we had no drinks and my husband and I felt taken advantage of. The servings are very small. read more

Bell Buoy - Tiny pieces of bread with meal. - Canadian (New) Near Me - Baddeck, Nova Scotia

We were in the area and it was time for lunch. This place was perfect. Our waitress, Tammy, was very friendly. They have a lunch menu and everyone in my family really enjoyed their meal. We got to sit inside by the window and look out on the lovely view. I got a dish I had never heard of based on Tammy's recommendation, Lobster Caps. They were amazing. Mushrooms, filled with lobster and cheese. I mean how can you go wrong. Tammy even told me how to make them at home. The dish also came with a choice of salad. My husband got the lobster sandwich with a cup of the Bluenose chowder. We got an education on the Bluenose from Tammy. My father got the Haddock with a French Onion Soup. Food was perfect. The entire experience was very pleasant. If back in the area would stop back by. read more

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Wow! 5-stars - I ordered Coquille St. Jaques and it was the best I've ever had! Complemented nicely with fresh vegetables, perfectly cooked, and a baked potato. The atmosphere was great, with Live music by Cyril MacPhee and we had a nice view of Bras d'Or and the Kidston Island lighthouse. Wine list was nice, full of local Nova Scotia favorites. Service was fantastic, as well. I tried the chowder also, which was outstanding. we are here on vacation and if we come back would definitely eat again here and try more of the delicious sounding items on the menu. read more

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We waited for more than an hour to get a table, only to find out that the dinner menu was being switched early to a very limited pub food menu. We left without dining there. read more

This place is a gem. Best mussels I've ever had. I ate here twice during my stay on Cape Breton Island. The lobster sandwich is delicious, on the tastiest bread! Also have the chowder, which is full of fish! The service was great and everyone was so friendly read more

Bell Buoy - Canadian (New) Near Me - Baddeck, Nova Scotia

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My husband and I are both vegans living in the Baddeck community, and when we told the staff at this family-owned restaurant, they went very far out of their way to accomodate us. The restaurant is only open seasonally, which is a shame, but at least during the summer we can be assured of a quality meal that meets our needs, and that's really important to us (we dine out a lot). read more

Serves was horrible, very slow, I feel being ignored. We came in smiles to the servers, but they are very cold. When our table need more water, we put the glasses where can be easily seen, the servers passed by us several times, while other tables get served very quickly, those who came later than us was server very quickly. We couldn't help but we feel being discriminated, because we are Asian? Female? Young? And the food finally arrived, was terrible for how much it costed. The veggie burger was dry, the pasta was very runnie. Overall I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone or go back to this place again. read more

This place will forever be "our spot", but not for the food. I proposed to my now wife on the dock, just outside of the Bell Buoy, where we had a wonderful lunch afterward. This place has one of the better locations in Baddeck, but I may be a tad biased... To be completely honest, my then fiancé's food was not anything special. However mine was very good, and they realized by our smiles that something magical had just happened, and brought us blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream on the house. I had stuffed lobster mushrooms, and she had a burger (I know, I found a good one, she gobbled down a burger just hours after I popped the question! she knew I wasn't going anywhere now... lol). Her tea came in a neat mason jar, which I'm sure would have probably BEEN the most exciting thing for her all day, but you know the story. We are no doubt biased for the Bell Buoy, but it's worth checking out for sure while in Baddeck. read more

We had an enjoyable dinner of good seafood/comfort food on the outside deck. The fried calamari was light and crisp. The crab cakes were a little light on crab but were tasty. The captains choice dinner was generous enough for my hubby and I to share. The fried scallops were yummy, as were the lobster and haddock. The fried shrimp on that platter was meh. They had an interesting side dish of mashed turnips and carrots that was quite good! My son had the pasta with red sauce which was so-so, but his dessert of homemade vanilla ice cream was the hut of the night! They also have a good selection of beer and wine. The service was friendly and prompt. This was a great place for a family casual dinner! read more

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Very very disappointed - went there on a Sat evening to take in the live Entertainment. Place was half empty, Staff barely acknowledged us and when they did, the hostess stated, barely looking up, "we will have to see if we can get you a seat". We departed and spent our money at the Freight Shed. Shit shit service. I laugh when business's say they are hurting due to Covid. I say, fuck you! You deserve the cards you are dealt. Never coming back read more

This place was very cute - ate on the patio out front, so I didn't have an ocean view, but those are available inside. The menu here attempts to be healthier in a meaningful way - offering chemical free fish, gluten free and nut free menus, etc. I had lobster stuffed mushroom caps which were divine, then the lobster sandwich and chowder bowl. The lobster sandwich didn't have the same delicious lobster flavour as the caps, but It was great nonetheless and not too heavy-feeling. The chowder was not my favourite, as it was more fish chowder than shellfish/seafood chowder. However, it had a thinner broth, which I enjoyed. The staff was friendly and took good care of us. read more

Went with a big group so got to sample a lot. Chowder: more fish soup than real chowder, but that might just be a regional thing (I hail from boston, land of the chowder) and it remained tasty Lobster stuffed mushroom caps: probably the best thing we got, lobsters with cheesy creamy sauce that paired well with the mushroom caps, I'd definitely get this again. Lobster sandwich: meh. As previously mentioned, it's a mayo sandwich with a bit of lobster on white bread, not the best Crab cakes: fine, nothing amazing sort of wish it tasted more crab-ful but oh well I guess Now here's why it's got 4 stars, dessert. Homemade ice cream, great sundaes, nice blueberry pie that has honest to god blueberries in it, and the best strawberry rhubarb crumble. Their desserts absolutely save them. If I were you, I'd come here for after dinner dessert/coffee more than dinner, but the great dessert makes up for an otherwise okay meal. read more

Well, I had a big group of ten people. We showed up and asked if there was room for us, the hostess acted like she would rather not be there and said she didn't know (not the way a hostess should) then after a while put us at a few different tables. While we waited for a waitress we were very cold (so were most other people in the room, not even joking lots had jackets on, it was colder in there than outside and it was raining) the air conditioning was right above our table so we asked the hostess if she could turn it down please, so she fiddled with it a bit (making it worse) and repeated that she couldn't turn it off then just walked away without saying sorry or anything. Even though the sign said not to we turned off the a c. It was an hour and a half from the time we ordered to when we got our food. Most of the food tasted ok, but not all hot. It was also small portions for a high price! Some of the food was a bit undercooked and bland, but not too bad. Oh and the server forgot to give on of my friends her water (even after she asked again politely) and her side of fries then told us she'd take it off the bill as if she was doing us some big favour. The bill also took forever to be delivered and they assumed random people were couples and billed them together. Hopefully not everyone had this experience. read more

The service was very slow, the wait was long, the meals small for the price was expensive. Don't recommend eating here.

Stopped in for. Beer and ordered the calamari. Very good. Light breading. Tasty sauce. Other diners seemed to enjoy their entrees too. We sat on their front deck. Relaxing and fun read more

We really liked this restaurant. The salads were very fresh, and the house made dressings-delicious. The seafood pasta alfredo was the perfect size serving because it was so rich and filling. They don't skimp on the cheese either. My husband has the seafood casserole and he described it as "splendid" and "tasty". Both my parents had the seafood chowder and remarked on how much seafood was in the chowder, and how well seasoned it was. We would definitely eat here again if we come back this way read more

One other person commented that they were from the States so that we should take their review with a grain of salt, but I'm Canadian and will fully support his/her opinion. This place takes advantage of the fact that this is a small town and that tourists don't have many other options, as well as the fact that most tourists to this town are not the age that they would be reading these online reviews. But, to summarize, this place serves small portions, with very slow service, at about double the price that one could reasonably expect. I had the lobster sandwich, which was literally store-bought sliced bread with a small amount of lobster meat and mayonnaise mixed in. They were gracious enough to include a 250 mL (1 cup) portion of lobster chowder. What would expect to pay for that, maybe up to $16? It was $25. My wife had fettuccini chicken alfredo. She said that she had never had chicken that literally had the consistency of rubber, until our supper there. She didn't eat half the pieces of chicken because it was like eating gristle. She got about a small bowl portion for the high price of $16. Our daughter had a grilled cheese and some fries, that same ones that other restaurants serve for $5. Price here? $10. Did I mention that it was burnt? How about the service? When we went, the restaurant was about a third full. I would say it took us about 90 minutes from walking in to walking out. The longest wait was waiting for the server to finally bring us a bill. The server wasn't overly friendly, but he wasn't rude either. Mind you, we did complain, so he may not have liked us much. So, if you go, you've been warned. Definitely not worth it and absolutely overpriced. Service is mediocre. read more

Great Resturant in Baddeck without the fuss. No reservation needed like pretty much every other Resturant in town. Food is fresh and homemade. Would return. read more

We've been to the Bell Buoy a few times. I think we won't be back and that's mostly because the prices are grossly inflated for what you get. Not to say the food isn't good; it's fine. Perhaps too many things are deep fried, but that's a personal thing. I'd rather have my seafood pan fried or grilled. The wine list is OK; you'll find something you like in the short list. It's worth giving the Bell Buoy a try, particularly if you get a harbour-side seat, but be prepared for high prices. read more

Way way way overpriced for what is basically diner fare. The menu has slightly fancy names that would otherwise be found in any mom and pop diner. The food was OK, no complaints there. But complaint # 1 was no posted menu by the door. and #2 complaint was that the prices were almost exactly double what they should have been. This no menu thing seems to be something of a Baddeck thing. I wandered from one end to the other and out of 8 restaurants 1 had a menu by the door. I got that creepy PEI feeling where these places exist to exploit the tourist and their employees. My party wouldn't entertain the Yellow Cello across the street so I can't comment on that place; It looked interesting though. Service was odd, decor was slightly musty, view was of the next building over. read more

Nice location on the deck. Caesar salad tasted good but the portion was very small and over priced.

The setting was nice, convenient location for sure. However the prices are out of line with quality. Chalk it up as a touristy spot and priced accordingly. read more

I'd rate this place as average - nothing special.....the chowder was "ok" and the fish entrees were also average. The blueberry pie I do have to admit, was pretty tasty as it was made with wild blueberries (think they're in season now) and was served warm, which was a nice treat. Good location and we had a nice view of the harbor but doubt we'd return.... read more

Setting was ok with the view of some water and the back side of a building. The service was slow. We (My mother and I) felt like we were seated then forgot about. Her halibut was luke warm, but the spinach salad was quite tasty. I had the lobster sandwich with a side of seafood chowder (more like fish stew, thin liquid with big chunks of fish.) Lobster sandwich had a lot to be desired, so I'm glad the fish stew was decent. However, the waitress did apologize for our wait and didn't charge us for our Smugglers Cove (alcoholic coffee drink, big and delicious) or our Strawberry Rubarb crisp (also delicious, but the homemade ice cream that came with it was not so good). read more

We had dinner here on a recent trip. The meal was very good. We had haddock and finished with dessert which was homemade ice cream and homemade caramel sauce. It was delicious. Our server was very very friendly and even offered some sightseeing advice to us. She was very attentive of our needs. We enjoyed our meal here. read more

Food was moderately decent but OMG this is incredibly overpriced for incredible small portions. $20 for a pasta dish that is something you'd see on a kids menu and $9.50 for a dinner salad that was smaller then most side salads. read more

We just had lunch here. When ordering the lobster sandwich, I was asked if I wanted the chowder, for which they charge an extra $5. I declined and asked for a side Caesar salad, thinking it was like subbing for fries, which, it turns out, was not even part of a very sad plate. As mentioned by another customer on this site, the sandwich was mostly bread, with very little lobster dressed in a sweet mayo, kind of like miracle whip. What little was there tasted fine. No complaints about that aspect of the experience. The salad was served in a 2 inch ceramic container that was quite small and did not seem to be on par with a cup of chowder that was supposed to be filled with seafood. (After this experience, I've no doubt that the chowder is probably meager as well). On the way out, I said something to the owner (manager?), who defiantly said that they weighed 5 oz. for every sandwich. My foot! As a home chef, I can say with experience that at most the sandwich had 2 ounces. Perhaps their scale is broken! Plus, he wasn't very nice about it, even though he said he was sorry. But, let's face it, one knows when an apology is genuine and when it is not. No complaints about the service, which was efficient, and the view of the water is nice. Baddeck is a very small place with not a lot of choices. But do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. read more