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    The Auction House

    3.5 (81 reviews)
    ModeratePubs
    Closed 11:30 am - 1:00 AM (Next day)

    The Auction House Photos

    THE AUCTION HOUSE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Live music
    Classy
    Casual

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    Scotch egg
    Murray W.

    I'm generally hesitant of doing reviews on places I've been at after having a few drinks, but this is a pretty new place and my memory isn't particularly fogged. Also, I took notes on site. Coming by for some food after having Friday drinks with the work crew, I was looking for some sustenance, but not too much since I had a belly full of a few Clancy's. Being that we were just down the street at the Triangle, my girlfriend and I made the jaunt up Prince to come to the recently opened Auction House. To my great shame, I wasn't a complete stranger to the Dome back in my days of undergraduate indiscretion, so it was worth coming to see what they did with the place and find out how many coats of paint it takes to cover up all the built up layers of shame. It was well into the evening when we arrived, so this long bar was dark, although brightened a bit by the contrasts of white and ruby red; good choices that have the aforementioned effect and keep it from being just another hole in the wall pub. The bar does have the mix of levels that the Dome had, but being brighter and classier helps give it a unique character. It isn't busy for a Friday evening, with the lower section being half full at best, although more people did trickle in. The beer list isn't an overwhelming bible of brews, but is a respectable mix of domestics, imports (Sam Adams!) and about a third of the list dedicated to local craft beers. Standards like Propeller and Garrison are represented, along with Rare Bird, Hell Bay and the recently added Uncle Leo's. Being the good ol' Pictou County boy that I am, I went with the Uncle Leo's IPA. Draught beer comes in two different sizes, 11oz ($4 - 5.50) to the very large 21oz pours ($7.25 - 10). Naturally, I chose the 21oz'er. Looking at the menu, I was immediately pulled in by some relatively unique apps - truffle fries, sausage bites, a Scotch egg, deep fried cheese curds and potato croquettes being the most eye catching and diet destroying. The rest of the menu is fleshed out with a selection of burgers, sandwiches, mostly typical pub fare and some cursory salads. I've always been a fan of Scotch eggs, which are a hard boiled egg, covered in a layer of sausage, then breaded and fried, so I had to give the AH's version a go, and added on the truffle fries. My lovely date went with the pulled pork sandwich. My apps came first, and while the plating of the Scotch egg was nice, with some added slices of cheese and pickled red onions, I was a bit disappointed that there was only one egg for the $10 price tag. That said, it was a great little app - a golden brown and crispy shell encased the flavourful and well seasoned meat. The pickled onions made for tangy and slightly sweet contrast with each forkful; it's definitely an under-utilized topping in the industry. On the side was a honey mustard that was probably the best I've ever had. If it's out of a bottle, they chose a damn good bottle, as it avoided the cloying sweetness and funky flavour that I find most honey mustards have, and was instead a well balanced showcase of a good tangy mustard with a just a little sweetness. My fries, while quite pretty with finely grated Grana Padano cheese on top, didn't really register with any of the rich truffle flavour that they should have, although they were quite crispy. I wasn't a huge fan of garlic and Dijon aioli (FYI all aiolis are supposed to be garlic based..) and instead polished of the rest of the honey mustard that came with the Scotch egg. To be fair, by palate may have been a little dulled by the Clancy's and hoppy Uncle Leo's. The pulled pork sandwich was served open faced and was different than most pulled pork tends to be, being braised in a maple beer sauce, it isn't barbecue-y at all, and came with a slightly cinnamon-y apple sauce on the side. It wasn't my favourite pulled pork, but I appreciate that they're trying to do something different. When even the likes of BK and Subway are selling pulled pork these days, you pretty much have to. Service was friendly and attentive throughout our visit, and a small band started playing when we were finishing up. I debated what to do for the rating, as I'm probably not as into the Auction House as I am some other news restaurants or bars that I've rated four stars, but for the great work that they did turning a dingy dungeon of cheap booze and factory of Sunday morning regrets into the enjoyable space that's there now, they deserve the extra fraction of a star to push them over the hump.

    Steak salad!
    Alexa C.

    We went here last night for some apps and drinks and come to find out there was live music ( apparently every Friday!) We expected it to be busy considering the weather is nicer and it was a Friday in Halifax but it was pretty empty for a bar. I ordered the steak salad without cheese and it was sooooo good! I'm not sure what they put on the steak but I will go back just to get this salad. The drinks were pricey but still very good. Also, apparently you can only get wings on wing night and they aren't available any other day of the week which was a bummer for my boyfriend. All in all, I highly recommend this bar!

    Gringo Eggs Benny and the "BFFFFT" (frosted flake crusted French toast). YUM!
    Katie D.

    My husband won a free breakfast for two by sharing a contest posted on the Auction House's Facebook page. We have been to this restaurant many times before for dinner and have always enjoyed their food, so we were looking forward to trying their new brunch menu. It was delicious! I had the Gringo Eggs Benny: perfectly smooth and tasty hollandaise, and the eggs and peameal bacon were served on the most beautiful and fresh biscuit. It also came with a side of lightly deep fried baby potatoes, but our server said I could replace it with any of their other sides if I'd prefer (I didn't, but it's nice to know it was an option). My husband had the "BFFFFT": perfectly cooked French toast with a sweet crispy coating of frosted flakes cereal served with sliced bananas and caramel sauce. As always, the service was excellent - thanks to our server Helen. The manager, Stephen, also came over to congratulate us on winning the contest and to check if we were enjoying our meal. We will be coming back here the next time we are craving a good breakfast out!

    Chowda!
    Evelyn A.

    I strolled in here for a leisurely late lunch yesterday, and I'm sure glad I did. As an east coast transplant living in Toronto, I long for wicked seafood, and the chowder at The Auction House delivered. Chunks of lobster and two whole scallops in a creamy broth. Top notch chowder. I sat inside at one of their window booths, and thoroughly enjoyed watching the people on the patio and the street as I munched away. I'm happy to report that Halifax is still chock full of joyful characters. Happy people, seafood chowder and a blaring Great Big Sea soundtrack. The Auction House delivered everything I needed in an east coast lunch.

    Deep fried cheese curds with chili lime dip
    Sarah H.

    I went here last night with my bestie for a "catch up" date. I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was lovely. Many levels (much like the Old Triangle). Each level had open seating, or private booths - what ever your heart desired. The decor is modern mixed with the antique (my favorite) Most importantly, the food was delicious. My bestie has eaten here three times and is yet to be disappointed. We started with the deep fried cheese curds. They were delicious, deep fried enough that the cheese was warm, but still had its squeaky quality. It was served with a chili lime dip that was yummy as well. I had the steak sandwich. It was open faced, served on focaccia, with lots of steak and caramelized onions. It also had a tarragon aioli which was delicious. The only thing that was lacking was that my fries were a little cold. They seemed hand cut, but were just meh - nothing special. Oh, and I should add that everything was reasonably priced. I would say most meals are between 10-15$ (very reasonable for the city!) The other thing I should mention is the wonderful service. Our waiter was pleasant, offering any advise that we wanted. Had refills served to us before we even realized our drinks were low. Attentive, but not over bearing. A gem! And, a wonderful service is that they offer to call you a cab at the end of the night if you need it. Good job! ( I cannot remember the waiters name, but he had medium length hair that was pulled back into a ponytail) Keep it up Auction House and you'll have a "regular" out of me.

    Dunkle Weiss Bier. Made in house, infused with chai tea. Tastes close to a pumpkin beer
    Kristian U.

    On day one of my recent visit to Halifax I had walked from what felt like one end to the other in the icy rain-snow mix and by the time I came upon The Auction House I just wanted a hot meal, a beer and maybe from friendly bar conversation. Well, I must have a Halifax fairy godfather because my wish was granted on all three fronts from the moment I plunked myself down at the bar. The Auction House is great gastropub slash brew house located on Argyle just near where I was staying at the Delta Halifax. They've got a wide selection of local craft and craft beer and a dynamite cocktail selection for sipping AND they also just so happen to brew their own beer. I had a chance to try a couple of local crafts, and a signature old fashioned before the GM (Nathan), who for the record is just a great dude and hilarious, poured me a pint of his proud new beer creation 'Boozeberry'. A combination of local mead (made from honey), and blueberry's combined in such a way to produce an almost syrupy sweet blueberry infused beer (boasting about 8-9%ABV). After a pint of this beauty I was definitely feeling no pain, so if Nathan offers you a pint proceed with excitement and caution ha ha. After all these beverages, it was safe to say I was feeling warmer and wanted to grab a late lunch bite before the dinner crowds rolled in (very late lunch). I went with the steak sandwich medium rare which was an open faced, cheesy, fork and knife affair and subbed some of their famous seafood chowder for the fries. The sammy was a dandy and I made quick work of that bad boy, savouring every morsel of perfectly cooked steak (seriously it was a thing of beauty). The chowder was a real show stopper in my opinion. I only had a small cup to compliment my steak but it was chock full of seafood with a beautiful light broth. All the while during this food and booze epidemic, I had the best time hanging out at the bar chatting with Nathan and a few other staff members at the bar. They provided some great reccos for my stay in HFX and were honestly just gems! Thanks everyone for the amazing hospitality and I hope this review finds others well and encourages them to visit when they're in town! Eatcrest Out

    Drink?
    Lesley M.

    The Auction House has an interesting gimmick, the actual auction it has during lunch hour. Okay, when I first heard about this I was like, how cool is that? It used to be an auction house or, there used to be auction houses in Halifax. Whatever, and now they're trying to bring back some of that old world charm us humans love so much. Only, when you're having lunch or in my case an interview lunch meeting it can be a bit on the annoying side. Already there are a thousand distractions. My Auction chop salad was really great! It would have been even better if my avocado wasn't hard as a rock, but you know how those avocados can be. It was so large I didn't even finish it. The staff was super friendly and on top of things. UPDATE! I needed to add a star on to my last review because this time, when I was lunching I ordered the seafood chowder. Have you tired it? It's amazing! All summer I've been testing out seafood every chance I get, from every restaurant I go to. I am going to say, Auction House has the best seafood chowder. There. I said it and put it in writing. First off, it has chunks of lobster in it, which already makes it a step above most chowders, and whole scallops. Actual great tasting scallops. I was in love. You should try it.

    Boxing Rock Hunky Dory with a cucumber boat.
    Jocelyn M.

    The Auction House puts on Beer School in partnership with different mirco and craft breweries. They do a pairing that is off menu, made to go with the brews being served. They're held the last Wednesday of the month and generally cost $15 for three pairings. We were lucky to get a spot in last night's Yelp Beer School where the Auction House served a Boxing Rock and then two of their own in house beers that they've just started brewing. The Boxing Rock Hunky Dory was one I'm already a fan of and when paired with a tzatziki chicken in a cucumber boat it goes down even smoother. This food pairing was great with the sharpness of the garlic but cool cucumber and yogurt. The first of the Auction House brews was a winter warmer, made with Chai from World Tea House, also located on Argyle. This one had the surprising taste and aroma of a spiced banana bread. It threw me off for the first few sips but then I found it to smooth out and loved the cinnamon and nutmeg flavours. I didn't eat the food pairing for this but it was a shrimp in a refried bean mash. It smelled great and got lots of "mmmmms" from the table. Our last pairing was their own Boozeberry, a beer with honey and blueberry fermented in the beer. This has a high alcohol content at 10% and a very sweet taste, almost like an icewine. They paired it was a dark chocolate and lime ganache bite that helped bring some bitter and zest to the honey and berry taste. This one smelled amazing but you'd only want one glass with the sweetness and high %. The only thing I'd do differently with this tasting was to make sure each table heard what was being served. We were in the back section of the bar which was great for our size group but it was still loud in the restaurant. I was in the mood to be "schooled" and found it was hard to hear and had to ask as it was being served. If the staff had spoken a bit louder or told each table seperately it would have been better for the students. Staff were excellent throughout the night and we stayed a little later to enjoy the deep fried cheese curds!

    Live music
    Du Preez S.

    The live music was great although very loud. The menu is simple and what I would describe as "classy pub food" and the service was excellent. I had a steak and fruit salad for which they provide a medium rare little steak and then mix the rest of the salad, fruit and dressing in a jar table-side and pour it out onto your place. Very well executed idea. A friend ordered the steak frites but substituted the garlic fries for the truffle fries. I think it was a wise substitution because those fries were super addictive! I can't say much about the beer since I didn't order any, but they appear to have their own litle micro brewery. To top it off the prices were all excellent and good value for money and I would definitely return again.

    BURGER WEEK
    Rae S.

    Anyone I met who went said the auction house won burger week. Unreal burger. Their cocktails are all wonderful, lots of beer cocktails and fresh citrus drinks. The 1675 is the cocktail I've been waiting for forever: gin, porsecco, lemon thyme simple syrup. Can't go wrong. Sit at the bar or in the front, best atmosphere.

    grilled veggie panini with house salad

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    Great location, right downtown. Nice atmosphere with delicious food. No complaints!

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    The Auction House Reviews in Other Languages

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    The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse - Cornbeef Sandandwich & Plowmans lunch.. yummy

    The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse

    3.9(211 reviews)
    0.2 kmDowntown Halifax
    $$

    Great atmosphere. Live music most nights. Food is great comfort food. It makes you feel warm…read moreinside even if the weather outside is cold. We had the curry and chips - which was an amazing pulled chicken on top of fries with a great curry gravy. My wife had the Dublin Pastie - which was a puff pastry stuffed with chicken and a bunch of other yummy stuff. The waiter was very good with suggestions on favourites. He made sure to check in on us, we never felt rushed or ignored despite the many people in the pub. Also would recommend you try a flight of the draft beers - the recommended local breweries flight was great in variety and flavour. Would definitely come again!

    I came here for a casual work meeting with my colleagues on a Sunday afternoon. It was quite…read moreenjoyable. I got the lobster roll with Caesar salad. While the roll itself was small, the lobster salad mix was fresh and tasty. While I generally prefer fresh lobster off the shell with melted butter for my lobster rolls, the one I got from the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse was not bad at all. The Caesar salad, on the other hand, was absolutely phenomenal. I love how every piece of lettuce was well covered in the dressing, served with some of the tastiest croutons I've had. I did not expect that at all. The server was friendly. I also really enjoyed the live music.

    Photos
    The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse
    The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse - Pub Style Curry and Chips

    Pub Style Curry and Chips

    The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse - Outside of pub at night in historic downtown section of Halifax

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    Outside of pub at night in historic downtown section of Halifax

    Charlie's Club

    Charlie's Club

    4.2(9 reviews)
    1.1 kmNorth End
    $

    Charlie's is a pretty chill place to go hang out and have a few beers…read more The crowd can be a little rough around the edges but I guess the university throngs have pretty much pushed the average drinking man out of every other bar in Halifax. Pool tables are a nice addition... I wasn't really sure what the $2 cover was going towards besides upkeep? A grungy/funky spot in the North End that's for sure!

    This is not a tourist bar, unless you are a linoleum architecture tourist, or a $2.75 tequila shot…read moretourist, or a tourist of watching tight knit groups of locals sit around in circular formation. Charlie's is where you go when you want to go to Cheers. (Not the Cheers on Grafton St., the Cheers on TV according to your 6 y/o mind, which is really just the the theme song, fuzzy visuals, and conflating real life people with Cliff and/or Rhea Pearlman.) In short, it's where you go when you come home nostalgic and want to see all your old friends, enthusiastically buy each other drinks like it's a genuine gift, dance to one of those weird new electric blue jukeboxes, shout and pontificate around a pool table, and generally have a back slappin, squeezey hugging, chortling little time. The decor is like any affordable house, only the door has a key code and a woman sits at a table with a guest book when you come in. This does not make you feel cool, but it does make you feel like life is funny. The bartender is so used to over-friendly drunk patrons that nothing can melt him. I imagine that deep in his core is something more kind than anything I have ever known, but it is too precious to be shared. The last time I came here, someone apologized for asking me to dance when I turned him down. Apologized. For my rejecting him. A dark little mineshaft to the salt of the earth this place is, lemme tell ya.

    Photos
    Charlie's Club
    Charlie's Club
    Charlie's Club

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    Jenny's Place Lounge Ltd - Jenny's Breakfast

    Jenny's Place Lounge Ltd

    3.4(26 reviews)
    3.8 kmNorth End
    $

    Went there about a month ago and got wings- very good crunchy I like with sauce on side- wing…read morenight- price cut a fraction of regular cost! Then had a nice cheesecake dessert I shared- good thing as it was rich! Ordered a pop and water with lemon- all very good staff efficient!

    I'd like to say I'm a fan. I really enjoyed my burger and fries! The service was okay. We came in,…read moregrabbed a big comfy booth and waited. Still waiting. A couple came in, sat at the table beside us and someone came over to get their drink order. We still waited. I was getting pretty annoyed at this point and was about to count to 10 and leave when the waitress came over and grabbed our drinks. The other waiter came over and apologized. He said he thought someone had already taken our order. All was good! My white hot restaurant rage slowly drained from my face. I was happy again. The reason it was just Okay was the super loud bros in the back, screaming about their weekend. I mean they were screaming. I felt like these guys might be regulars the way they were so comfortable here. I mean, I don't even scream in my own house. I'm never that comfortable. A lot of other tables were glaring over at them as well. Hello? Do you live here? Are you that confident that everyone in here wants to hear your conversation? Because I will bet my hard earned money they don't. They couldn't have been drunk, it was only 1pm on Sunday. Maybe they were drunk on VLT gambling. Who knows. All I know is, this place was full of regulars, at the bar, at tables, in the VLT room and I was uncomfortable. The Jenny burger was definitely worth all the uncomfortableness though. I added fries and coleslaw for only $3.50! This has to be one of the best pub burgers in the city. Although I'm raving about it, I honestly will probably never go back due to the high likelihood of screaming. I can't comfortably do anything while people are yelling around me. Sorry Jenny's Place. I will give you one more shot though, when I need a big greasy breakfeast!

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    Jenny's Place Lounge Ltd - The inside

    The inside

    Jenny's Place Lounge Ltd
    Jenny's Place Lounge Ltd

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    The Stillwell Freehouse

    The Stillwell Freehouse

    4.0(2 reviews)
    1.6 kmNorth End

    Great cask ales served with the right equipment. Friendly staff. Very nice scotch eggs.read more

    Tried here for lunch on a cloudy Monday in early December. Found street parking quite easily,…read morealthough I imagine at night it may be more difficult. (this is the old Lion & Bright location). Standard but nice atmosphere with green walls, large wooden bar, a few booths in the front, sectioned off tables in the back if you want a bit cozier and darker feel. Friendly staff. Good selection of beers. For food, I tried their 'Requisite Nova Scotia Pub Nachos' - 'freshly fried corn tortilla chips, herbs, salsas, good cheese, veggies' their words - $19. They are definitely pretty and colorful topped with shaved radish, cilantro, some kind of hot saucey drizzle, splash of sour cream, few chunks of perhaps feta? Good portion size where I was full, and appreciate that they are meant to be different than your typical nachos, but didn't blow me away. Nothing wrong with them, just left me craving the more boring standard nachos with tons of stretchy cheese on it, peppers, tomato, etc. My friend had the 'Very British Pie' - roasted chicken potpie $16. It was good, rectangular shaped, burnt a bit on the corners, tad watery inside, simple but satisfying enough. We debated trying dessert but were actually full from the beer and entrees. I'd still go back here anytime and try something else on the menu.

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    The Stillwell Freehouse
    The Stillwell Freehouse
    The Stillwell Freehouse - The Requisite Nova Scotia pub nachos

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    The Requisite Nova Scotia pub nachos

    The Auction House - pubs - Updated May 2026

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