Durty Nelly’s

The staff at this pub are outstanding, the best in the city for sure! Live entertainment is great and the food is outstanding! Highly recommend for all occasions!

By far best pub in downtown Halifax! Great service and amazing cocktails! I make sure I always go to Nellys when I am in town!

First veggie burger from Halifax that I tried had in Halifax and it did not disappoint! My boyfriend also had the beef burger — and went back multiple times afterwards for it. Delicious! Also a great spot to go grab a beer and watch a game, there are always interesting people there to talk to.

This is my favorite place in Halifax.
The atmosphere is incredible. The décor was brought over from Ireland. It’s about as authentic as you can get — right down to the folksy «Celtic» music they’re always playing at a comfortable volume. Very easy to have a conversation with someone without having to struggle. Their outdoor patio is also wonderful as they’re equipped it with heating lamps to ensure you don’t get too cold!
The service is excellent. Friendly and knowledgeable staff all around. I’ve never had a bad experience with the employees. I went frequently with my mother before she passed away, and afterward one of the waitress actually bought me a drink. It was something I appreciated very much and honestly won my loyalty. I try to bring all my friends here as often as possible.
The food itself is perfect. My father is one of those ridiculously hard-​to-​please types and even he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. There was one hiccup where the kitchen forgot to actually send the order out with the waitress and so it got cold — when he complained they actually offered to make him anything else on the menu, free of charge.
The drinks are great and come quickly even when it’s busy. My longest wait was maybe 20 minutes for my Lamb Stew, which is by far my favorite thing to order. I’ve tried just about everything on the menu and it’s all fantastic. They even have soft pretzels and burgers if you’re looking for something a little more traditionally Canadian.

Good atmosphere and friendly service. Kind of your run of the mill Irish pub though. If you get the nachos you better like jalapeño…they are loaded with them.

Durty Nelly’s didn’t do it for me — not even close. While the atmosphere and décor was awesome and relaxing, I didn’t like the food very much. It was all pretty average to me, which isn’t a big deal if I was making said food at my own place. When I go out, I want to be somewhat wow’d at the environment, service, and food. After all, if you’re going to be paying around $ 15 before tax for a burger and small amount of fries you could just make at home for way cheaper, it better be better than average. I forget the exact name of the burger I ordered, but it had «smoked cheddar cheese» and bacon on it. The cheese just tasted like normal processed cheese and the bacon was all fat. The fries were hard and small, which reminded me too much of residence cafeteria fries. I wasn’t impressed with the service either. Our waitress seemed somewhat distracted, and not to mention every other waitress and bartender there were on their phones. Talk about crappy service. Honestly, the only thing I liked about Durty Nelly’s was the environment and beer. Rickard’s Red on tap? It’s hard to go wrong. I doubt I will be back though.

For this visit I tried the Banger Burger.
I was happy with this burger. Getting to change it up and try a pork patty, in lieu of beef, was really nice. I have yet to be disappointed with a burger from Durty Nelly’s, and this one was no exception.

I went here on a whim with my boyfriend for the first time, and I am definitely in the middle on this place. I loved the environment it was so fun and lively and the inside of the restaurant is beautiful.
Although it was busy I expected the service to be a little better, the waitress was very nice but she got my whole order wrong. I asked for a rickards red and got a rickards white. I ordered the chicken sandwhich and asked for no tomatoes, and there were tomatoes on it. I also asked for any kind of spicy sauce on the side and there was no sauce on the side. The waitress also did not come back to check on us so I wasn’t able to get any sauce.
The food was also mediocre, the chicken has so much fat on it i had to pick it off and the fries were alright as well. Honestly if the chicken had been all white and shaved of the fat I would have really enjoyed the food. My boyfriend got the fish and chips and seemed pretty satisfied, overall it was alright but hopefully my next visit will be better because I really enjoyed the environment.

We had a such a great time here! It was a Saturday night and there was live music. My little girls were able to stay until 9pm. They danced and people took turns holding them and swinging them. They had a ball and did not want to leave. Everyone was so nice including our pretty waitress. I wish I got her name.
I had the nut burger with curry ketchup and upgraded for the sweet potato fries which was a very good idea!!! Highly recommend them.
I also had a local beer on draft that was delish. Steamboat I believe. The waitress suggested it. Yum
We would definitely come back here if we are ever in Halifax again. It was a reeeeeally fun night!

One of the perks of moving to a new office building in the centre of downtown is that you can visit some spots you haven’t been to in a while and Durty Nelly’s falls into this category.
I had the option of eating outside, but due to the heat and the ongoing construction of the Halifax Convention Centre, I vetoed that idea and decided to eat inside. I do have to say that their patio is one of the best in the city and there were quite a few people sitting outside on this day.
The design of Durty Nelly’s is slightly unusual, but I like it nonetheless. There is a small upper level when you enter the building, you take a few steps down to the main bar area which is quite large and then there is another small upper level towards the back. The washrooms had this old rustic feel to it and they have small TV’s above the urinals which was cool as they were showing a close tennis match at the time, so I didn’t have to miss too much of the action.
I was torn between the butter chicken and the shepherd’s pie but decided to go with the latter and I was glad I did as it was quite good. Although the pie was priced at $ 15.00, it was quite large and very tasty with a good mixture of potatoes, meat, carrots, and peas. I was also happy with the fact that it didn’t seem overly salty as I have had other pies in the past that loaded heavy on the salt.
There was still time for dessert and I went with the server’s recommendation of the table top smores; a combination of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. A tray is brought over to the table with the items arranged separately and a small flame ignited for you to heat these items up and arrange them in whatever way you want them.
My server was quite friendly and knowledgeable and while the prices are not overly cheap, the quality of the food was quite high and I look forward to coming back to Durty Nelly’s at a future date.

Went here for the first time for my birthday. Love the patio, service was good and quick and food was amazing. The portion was huge but was so good. Will be back again and hopefully before the end of patio season

Atmosphere = ¹⁄₁ star. Warm inviting wood décor made the venue a comfortable place to spend some time. The music was some great soft/​classic rock, can’t go wrong with van Morrison. The place is also generally noisy but it’s a pub.
Service (½ stars) The waitress was very polite but not knowledgeable enough of the menu. There was also a significant wait time based on the amount of people in the restaurant. One star was lost here for not having a dessert after we ordered it (tell us you don’t have it before we order it!
Food (½ stars) Outside of the traditional pub food everything else seems to be a let down. For example the Beat salad has about ¼ of a bit sliced as thin as paper, served over a bunch of salad mix with a lump of cheese thrown on top. The clubhouse falls to pieces when you eat it but tastes good.
Main Enjoyment: The atmosphere. But I go to a restaurant mainly for the food.
Main Complaint: The banana split… their homemade ice cream is full of ice crystals (similar to a jumbo freezie) and melts in a madder of seconds. Then there is a large additional amount of liquid cream and whip cream poured on top to make the ice cream melt even faster. The banana was soggy and nasty. It made me sick.

Not great. I had the Smoke Burger with fries. It was $ 14 + tax and tip, and not worth it. The burger was topped with smoked cheddar and «crispy» onions. I couldn’t taste the cheese, and the onions weren’t crispy. The beef patty itself was overcooked and tough. The fries were chewy, not crispy.
Overall, perhaps standard fare for a pub, but it could be much, much better.

I used to be a huge fan of Durty Nelly’s, the service is awesome (especially Kathy, with a ‘K’) the beer is great, atmosphere is good. but they recently changed thier menu… gone is what in my opinion was one of the best burgers in the city, the «Whisky Smokehouse Burger», replaced with a dry, somewhat tasteless (when you scrape the overly sweet «bacon» jam off it) whisky burger. Gone are the hand made, crispy onion rings that garnished it… and the fry portion was cut in half (not necessarily a bad thing, but fries are cheap). Other dishes have gone as well and the replacements are sub par. The prices for the oris4 strew have increased… come on? Very disappointed. The only reason for 3 stars is service, beer and atmosphere. Though, for the love of His Noodliness, enough of The Rankins.

Durty Nelly’s is an extraordinary place with an authentic Irish air. Upon my visit, the pints were poured to perfection. Also, you cannot help but notice the different, albeit subtle themes in each section of the pub. Finally, atop the great music, was the great food. As a committed vegetarian, I enjoyed a real, vegetable burger, not one of those frozen retreads that most restaurants slap onto a menu and then charge $ 10+. At Durty Nelly’s you could see and taste the care that was taken in putting together my menu item. I will definitely be returning in the near future.
Almost forgot — the service — they welcome you «home,» upon entering, and are (despite a busy pub environment) extremely attentive to your needs.

Had a «Dirty O’l Burger» taste was very good, but serving it with fries in the basket on the plate was a bit of a overkill! Very uncomfortable to handle! Whenever you want to cut a burger the basket with fries was in the way! And it kept sliding around on the plate!
Service was good and in time, beer was cold and plenty — very good experience! Will come back for sure!

I’m sorry, Durty Nelly’s, but I think this is the last straw.
I was at the bar with three friends, enjoying a night out for a few drinks. We didn’t want to go to a club, so we thought this would be a good place.
Drinks were great and the food was okay. The service was prompt which was good, but our server never came to ask how our food was. We had to wave her down to get a bit of attention and drink refills. And when it’s busy, I don’t mind if the server isn’t always there, but this was not so great.
What really did it for me was one comment. One thing should be clear: my friends and I are all students, so we don’t get to go out that often, usually because of time and money, which also makes tipping minimal. When we got our bills, my friends felt a bit embarrassed because they knew that they don’t have enough to tip, so I said I would give a little bit more to make up. When our server came back, we paid and I left a tip. When we were done and she was about to leave our table, she looked at my three friends and said very coldly, «Sorry you had such terrible service,» and then left. My friends and myself included felt extremely embarrassed after that and then left.
Sorry, guys, I don’t think it’s me, but I think it’s you.

It was an interesting experience. the décor was cool and it was classy all around. it took an ok amount of time for our orders.
I got a small caesar salad and a glass of Coke/Pepsi…now the caeser and it’s dressing was rather bitter, the leaves had brown bits on it and the croutons were not that good, not crunchy but rather stale and not in a good way. I tried some fries from my friend’s plate and the fries were… meh ok… and had a piece of the 3 types of cheese which was ok.
What really erks me is my bill coming to 8.65 FOR A SMALL CAESER AND A COKE/​PEPSI. Thats a bit huge in my books espically the quality of it… nope, not coming back, paid to try and now good bye

While Durty Nelly’s may not have the history of the Three Amigos of Haligonian pubs (The Old Triangle, The Lower Deck, and Henry House), it’s doing damn well in its own right. Good pints, food and a packed weekend crowd, this place has a little bit of everything.
On one of my recent visits, a group of several friends and I came by for our fifth annual night of fish and chips, beer and hockey (Fee’, Chee’, Bee’ and Hockey, in bastardized Newfie parlance). Naturally, this was our stop for the first three before heading over to the Metro Centre for some hockey. Despite it being a game night, there was still plenty of seating when we arrived around 5. Most of us went with the event’s namesake food for our meal, their two piece fish and chips with coleslaw and tartar sauce.
After a reasonable wait considering how badly we just slammed the fry cooks, our plates of crispy carbs were in hand and I eagerly dug in to get my belly full in preparation for the continued volumes of beer which were to come. The fish was a good size and combined with the pile of fries, made for a hearty, if not healthy, meal. The batter was on the dark side of the spectrum, but other than a few extra crispy edges, it was good. The fish inside was cooked to a pleasant doneness, although it was fairly unremarkable beyond not being bad. The fries were hand-​cut, had a fair bit of crispness to them and a nice potato-​ey flavour to them. The tartar sauce was a bit too tangy for my liking, looking quite dark and likely having too much relish or capers in it. Overall, not a bad meal, just not in the running for best fish and chips in the city.
Our waitress was pretty busy as the supper and pre-​game crowd grew, but she took good care f everyone and kindly took a dreadful chicken flatbread off a friend’s bill.
For the late night, weekend sort of shenanigans, Durty’s is solid spot to come. You’ll find it packed on any of the big nights, so you may not get a table, but there is the lovely serpentine bar that runs nearly the length of the whole place. Not to mention that it is nearly patio season, if winter ever completely loosens its grip on us. You’ll see all sorts of people here on a weekend night — students, young professionals, more *ahem* aged professionals, as well as the requisite sketchy old guy (s) awkwardly hitting on the aforementioned students. It’s a guaranteed event, so if you’re by the dance floor, enjoy the show. The live bands put on a good show with the typical pub songs, and as I mentioned there’s a bit of space for dancing, although I’m more of the type for soaking in the atmosphere and the alcohol.
The owners may have spent way too much money on furnishings all built in Ireland, but they put together a good Irish bar.

Large Irish pub with capacity of 219. Lots of 2, 4, 6 and 8-​seater tables for big groups and small. Standard «wooden» casual décor with a large bar in the middle. Fair amount of natural light coming in. A few steps when you first enter to go down into the main section. So not sure if this place is accessible or not (at least to get to the washrooms, which are actually quite nice for a bar).
First tried the lunch one Wednesday in January and ordered the special which doesn’t seem to be a part of the regular menu. Was some kind of grilled cheese and fries, which I did enjoy enough. Wasn’t blown away by it, but could go for it right now again.
Second visit, lunch on a fall Tuesday. Enjoyed the veggie nut burger (appears to be a home made thick patty with walnuts they say… I am not a walnut fan, but gambled, and couldn’t taste any after all). Burger was a bit dry but came with a cup of spicy mayo so just plopped some of that on there and it was fine. Also some kind of curry mayo dip for the fries? Not bad. And a little cup of coleslaw.
3^rd visit: winter Friday for lunch, I ordered the cup of potato & leek soup ($ 4. chive crème fraiche with a cheese & onion biscuit) — very good. Just right for an appetizer and warming up on a cold day, and very flavourful. The arugula salad ($ 9 soy pumpkin seeds, dried blueberries, Feta cheese & ginger lime dressing) was very good and fresh. My partner had the fish & chips (apple cider slaw & remoulade sauce) and liked it although wished there was a bit more fish. The piece looks large but there was a fair bit of batter and he wasn’t full afterwards. He really enjoyed the coleslaw, but found it was only a tease (a dollop served in a small white dish alongside the tartar sauce, with no division of the two… essentially like a tbsp of each, plopped together). Overall we were happy enough with our meal but our main complaint this visit was the very cold breeze that was blowing in every time a person entered. We had to eat with our jackets on and weren’t directly near the door.
4^th visit at 4pm on a sunny, winter Friday, I would say half the tables were reserved when we arrived, so I grabbed an available two-​seater up near the entrance. By the time we left at 6, the place literally was full and an older couple quickly came to grab our table when we stood up, after apparently waiting half an hour for one. The nachos (cheese, jalapenos, green onion, roasted red pepper, smoked pico de gallo, sour cream & guacamole. $ 14) were fine, but I didn’t realize until just now that my guacamole didn’t come with it. My partner had the Nelly’s Club (smoked chicken, thick cut bacon, lettuce, tomato, mozzarella, honey mustard aioli on a toasted focaccia. $ 15) which he said was very delicious although the bread was actually too fresh because it fell apart while he was eating it. About halfway through he started to eat it with a fork and knife instead. After a few pints of Coors Lite, I would normally be full, but this visit I still had a bit of an appetite and ventured to try the Table Top Smores (alcoholic marshmallow, graham cracker, milk chocolate $ 6). It came with a jar of that «handy wick» gel which you can use for fondue, a small flame to toast the Smores over. There wasn’t really enough chocolate provided but I made it work without bothering to ask for more. Not overall bad, but I wouldn’t order again, as I’ve had this dessert at other places in the past where it’s been much better.
5^th visit: 7pm-​ish for supper on a gorgeous Saturday in July. The place was about half full at best, surprisingly. I guess we were after the dinner rush but too early for the drinking crowd. Brought two out-​of-​towner friends (from Ireland) so they could see a NS interpretation of an Irish pub. lol They liked, and commented on the imported wooden bar, that it does look like «one from home.» I tried the Spinach Dip (smoked tomatoes & roasted artichokes. served with grilled pita $ 12) and liked it. Came in a small dish, hot, runny cheese that I spooned onto the pita pieces. I was done the pita with a LOT of the dip still left, and the waitress offered to bring more pita, but I declined as I was pretty full from what I ate. We shared the Cast Iron Apple Crisp ($ 6) which says on the menu that it comes with strawberry rhubarb ice cream, and I only noticed that just now online. Ours had a scoop of chocolate ice cream, which I liked for a change of pace from the usual vanilla. Tons of granola and not a lot of apple, but was still tasty.
Standard, friendly service each visit.
I know for a fact I will be back here in the future, probably many times, mostly for drinking but not adverse to eating. Not my favorite place for food, but not the worst by far either. No complaints.