The Bicycle Thief

Great place and awesome atmosphere. It is a bit tough at peak times to get in but definitely worth the wait.

A little on the pricey side. The food was decent and the view is amazing. Service was good too.

Excellent. There really isn’t a better word to describe it. The service, the wine, the menu, the desserts, the specialty cocktails, the drinks, everything, excellent. I’ve gone here twice in my life and have concluded it is my favorite nice restaurant in Halifax. It is PRICEY (we spent about $ 210 on two people with entrees and drinks), but so unbelievably worth it. Right on the waterfront the view is gorgeous. I’ve only ever been here for dinner and only ever on a special occasion (I’m not MADE of money) but any person who is looking to celebrate an engagement, birthday, anniversary I advise you make a reservation here. Wear your fancy clothes!

Went here once as my girlfriends graduation dinner, and boy am I glad I wasn’t paying. Pricey, small portions, very noisy atmosphere. Pretentious bar tender the day I went possessing smugness and attitude out of every pore, I recognized him as some sort of former hip hop band MC. Ribs were undercooked and tough, fish was overdone.
Best memory is of the view, but we didn’t have the option of a seat near a window.
I’d save my money and go somewhere else if I was you.

Bicycle Thief is really a delightful restaurant. I’ve heard about it for some time and was recently fortunate to bring some business guests here. Sure it’s a loud place when it’s packed. It also is one of the few nice upscale restaurants on the Halifax waterfront. Surprising
That there aren’t more places waterfront as the view really is amazing! I’ll cut right to the chase. Yellowtail Tuna was my appetizer and the salmon for dinner was my selection for the evening. The Yellowtail tuna tartare was nice I just found a bit more overpowered with Sesame oil. Personally when I find Prepared as such it masks the natural fresh flavour away. Texture was small morsels and serving was quite adequate just I was expecting a bit more. The salmon was cooked to perfection which I prefer just a bit after medium rare. Overall a solid evening and I’d concur one of Halifax’s top restaurants. Service was very attentive.

Great for lunch. Too noisy for an intimate dinner.

Fantastic restaurant with great food, service and atmosphere. I love it every time I go.

Managed to grab as last minute lunch reservation on December 22^nd for a supplier lunch wrap up to 2015. After stepping in past the festive bicycle tree we were warming greeted and seated. I had peeked at the menu prior to arriving and knew at once that the gnocchi would be mine. The Bicycle Thief did not disappoint. I enjoyed every last bite of the hand made gnocchi and wished I’d had room for dessert. The service was friendly and prompt, even with a full lunchtime crowd. Great first experience here to give a full 5 stars to each of the wonderful restaurants under the Bertossi Group’s umbrella. I was lucky enough to get a gift card for them for Christmas which I’ll be using in February for my Birthday dinner. The only tough choice will be which of these stars to visit.

If you want a place that welcomes you and makes you feel like you’re truly welcome, this is it.
On a Tuesday night it was packed. Super friendly service from Laura at the bar that felt genuine. She served a great vodka martini with extra olives and a good local draft.
We ordered the calamari, porcini, Panko crusted scallops, and the Italian greens and butternut squash salad. The scallops were divine and the butternut squash salad was amazing. So many flavours in one amazing bowl. The parmigiano frico crumbs were an amazing complement. They could sell that by the pound and I would sprinkle it on everything.
Coconut cream pie came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. Rich creamy filling with a delicious coconut crust.
If you’re in Halifax you must try this place. Seriously, just do it!

Outstanding meal, all four of us enjoyed the food, wine and service. Friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Very busy — make reservations!

This place is so very popular and it does live up to expectations for the most part. During my short visit in Halifax I went twice and its decent and certainly top niche in Halifax. My friend friendly remind me lower my standard for dining out… The location is prime and I bet on a sunny day in the summer it would be such a blast to sit on the patio with a glass of wine and good food =wonderful times. The menu has substantial amount of choice with a couple of daily specials and I had a hard time to choose, everything looks great.
Had theHome-​grown Mussels sautéed with tomato, garlic, Basil pesto, White wine, Toasted croutons. This is the reason why I came back. Robust flavor! The mussels are plump and juicy with the home made focaccia deep in the rich broth it’s heavenly. Fresh tomato makes a big difference it brings out the sweetness and thicken the broth sauce like. On my second visit the mussels shrink to bean size I suppose it’s a touch over cook and the broth is thin. My understanding is we visited at busiest time they have a full house, cooks are not as attentive. But I do understand it’s hard to keep the consistency when it’s scrambled. For salad we had thePanzanella salad, nothing very special but it’s very filling I would like some more dressing to it. The beets and pear salad is more interesting. It’s sweet and refreshing with creamy gorgonzola and avocado sauce, salty sweet contrast.
We had daily pasta special which is super bland and boring. Throw on a few pieces of grilled shrimps. Tossed with garlic and chilli olive oil, I really think he forgot to season it. And the scallop pecan pesto linguini was even worse. It’s lacking of well execution flavor wise doesn’t come together, when you expect it somewhat taste like seafood it taste nothing but nuts, beside it’s so dry drenched in pesto, pecan sauce… They brought our pasta before salad so chances are our pasta sit on the counter for a little bit… I don’t want to make my friend feel uncomfortable so I didn’t complain. But a restaurant of fine dining quality shall know better!
Server are knowledgable but they are trying very hard to up sale like keep asking if we need more wine and desserts which makes me a bit unease.

@OurBicycleThief in #Halifax #NovaScotia is the pearl of the Halifax Harbor foodie scene. The food will absolutely make your toes curl and leave you yearning for more. The lobster bacon corn chowder is something that will bring tears to your eyes twice: once because it’s so good and secondly when it’s gone and there is no more left! Insider tip it’s 100% completely acceptable to lick the bowl in Halifax… no one will judge you if you do but they may if you don’t! The black point NS oysters on a half shell are sensational. The Halibut is some of the best I have had is a great dish down to the butter sugar sauce. Oh yeah and at the end they have their own pastry chef. Insider tip number two wear stretchy pants or Spanx! Again no one will judge you but you don’t want to miss out on dessert. If it’s nice out they extensive outdoor seating with views of the Halifax harbor.
#travel #foodie

Amazing food, service & view.
We had the yellow fin tuna tar tar, the halibut and the lamb. All of the dishes were cooked perfectly especially my halibut, which was absolutely fantastic. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for delicious upscale food for a great price.

Recommended to me by a Halifaxian friend, we made sure to include Bicycle Thief on our itinerary as my friend said it was tops.
Silly me had thought it wouldn’t be too difficult to nab a spot on a random Wednesday night, but boy, was I wrong. We called at noon for a reservation and all slots were booked up til 9:15pm! We took it.
Am glad we did it too, because it ended up being our favourite sit-​down restaurant on our trek through Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
The ambiance is dark and city-​chic. Yes, yes, I know Halifax is a city in the first place — but hey, I had pretty much literally wandered in from the woods so the difference between country and city was even more apparent at that moment.
The service was impeccable. I have no idea how they timed everything so perfectly, to give us the perfect intermissions between plates as if they had been watching us eat from a secret hiding spot. Maybe they were hidden in the large sculpture by the (faux) candle-​lit window, of a large hand smoking a long cigar? See, told ya it’s city-​chic.
I digress. Onto the foooood.
Had the tuna tartare which was served with Asian flavours like sesame seeds, ginger, and aioli. Though not my favourite as I felt it was a little bland, it may also have been for the fact that I had also just been served some oysters with mignonette and a tomato-​jalapeño sauce that tasted deliciously of making out with the very briney sea. (I jest! I’m not some weird pervert, just regular type of weird, OK?). The hubs had a charcuterie plate, of which he really enjoyed the mortadella.
For the main, I chose the seared beef served rare on the inside. Usually, it’s served with sea salted fries (which looked delicious, based on my neighbour’s plate) but I wasn’t feeling the fried goods at the moment. The server was really nice and said it was no problem to sub the fries with my choice of garlic & marscarpone mashed potatoes. Yum.
Good portion enough to be really filling, and fair prices for the quality and portions.
The only thing I regret about my visit here was being to shy to ask if they sold the staff shirts with a bicycle thief silhouette printed on the back. I guess only my precious memories of our meal will have to hold me until next time!

We ate here on our first night in Halifax.
When we first approached the restaurant and inquired the wait time was estimated at 2−½ hours. Obviously a popular restaurant.
We returned about an hour later and they had an open table. (Not sure what happened to the incredibly long wait.)
We were both hungry but also tired and we kept it very simple — just entrées.
My entrée was (I believe) considered to be one of the house specialties — a seafood risotto.
Arborio rice, San Marzano tomatoes, seafood (shrimp, scallops, lobster, clams) and a brown butter drizzle.
My thoughts:
The restaurant was interesting (nicely decorated) but too dark. It was difficult to see your food.
The restaurant was a bit too loud. OK, it was about 9 pm on a Friday night, but the table next to us ordered round after round after round of drinks and got pretty loud.
The food itself was good but not great. I’ve had risotto many times. (with seafood, with asparagus, with mushrooms) I’ve even made it several times. The seafood tasted fresh but the flavor was … I dunno … A little «weak». No one offered any Parmesan or black pepper.
Instead of bread & butter they gave us focaccia and roasted red pepper hummus. A very small portion of each. I would have preferred freshly baked, crusty Italian bread with a flavored olive oil to dip it in.
The risotto was $ 30. My girlfriend’s ravioli was around $ 20. With drinks (Diet Coke and Iced Tea) and tax the meal was almost $ 60. A bit too much to be disappointed.
Maybe it was just an off night. (For us and for them.) Don’t know.
But unfortunately I have to go with 3 stars.

When I’ve gone here for dinner a few times around 5pm, the place usually isn’t at all busy that early, maybe ¼ full. Generally by 6, the entranceway is busy with people waiting, especially on weekends. So reservations definitely would be required if you want a guaranteed table! The good thing about coming here in the summer months is the patio and obviously that increases the seating capacity by a lot. Overall, the atmosphere is very nice, with random contemporary décor such as old books, odd lamps, etc. with lots of natural lighting during the day, quite dark at night, different sized formal tables, and I would guess a capacity of at least 100. There’s a nice outdoor bar to sit at even in the winter though, as it has the tall portable heaters. Friendly, efficient staff each time.
The food: free white bread with thickly sliced with a roasted red pepper hummus (?) is pretty good. Yummy puff pastry crostata appetizer (local goat cheese, arugula, brown sugar roasted shallots, sundriedb tomato pesto, fresh chives 11.). Very tasty red ravioli (and stuffed with ricotta, mascarpone, spinach, fresh herbs, light cream sauce 18) but a very small portion for dinner sized, so if you are hungry, you will definitely need an appetizer with it. The charred Italian artichoke & creamy spinach dip, gratinéed with grana padano, roasted garlic crostini $ 11 is very good, with unlimited crostini, and more filling than it looks. The dip was quite hot and I had to eat it slowly to prevent burning my mouth. The penne 4-​formaggi, with gorgonzola, mascarpone, grana padano, pecorino toscano, cream, topped with Sicilian pistachios & breadcrumbs 18, is very good and a much more filling portion size than the ravioli, if you happen to be a vegetarian pasta-​aholic like myself. I couldn’t actually finish the penne, and I can eat a ton. My partner enjoyed the tagliata, peppercorn crusted beef tenderloin, sliced, served rare, E.V. olive oil & aged balsamic drizzle, whole mushroom & vidalia onion sauté, Sea salted hand cut frites 31, but wasn’t full afterwards. The tenderloin is sliced, the fries are served in a metallic basket, the vegetables are crisp and delicious (I stole some of his). Daily special mushroom risotto one time was very good (don’t remember the list of ingredients listed on the chalk board), not too filling but a decent enough portion size for lunch. This salad: ‘lovely Italian greens, roasted butternut squash, sweet red peppers & asparagus, fig vinaigrette, parmigiano Frìco crumbs, warm hazelnut crusted goat cheese’. 12) is quite good, with the warm squash and lots of cheese, but incredibly filling. I had it as an appetizer and could barely start my entrée. The handmade lasagna (layered with Wild mushrooms, montasio, mascarpone, baked with truffle infused béchamel. 18) was very nice, but I couldn’t enjoy it properly from being so full from that salad. A friend with us finished it for me. lol For dessert, their Our peanut butter gelato sundae (hot fudge sauce, crumbled peanut brittle, fresh whipped cream. 10) was exactly how it sounds in the old-​fashioned glass sundae dish. And although I didn’t taste them, the carrot cake and cheesecake that friends ordered, were quite large slices and they said were excellent.
Extensive wine menu, however on my 2^nd visit, I misread the list and thought I was ordering a 5 oz glass of Dr Loosen reisling for $ 8. Turns out I was ordering the $ 13 glass all along, so the bill was a bit more than we expected after a few of those. The $ 8 price I had seen was for a 3 oz. I have never heard of a 3 oz glass… EVER. So that sucked. The A&P cocktail was excellent and my Golden Glow sangria was good and refreshing. My partner is hooked on their negronis.
I’d come back here any time that someone recommended it, but not as likely on my own since there are very few vegetarian options. The good thing about this place is that it is trendy and you will probably get good service and overall enjoy yourself.

Super bon restaurent, fruit de mer excellent et belle carte des vins.
Le vin est un peut cher.

We had a meat platter as an appetizer and then the tower of power. Spectacular mix of meats and pure seafood heaven on the tower. It is a cold seafood platter, so if you need your garlic butter you will be a tiny bit disappointed. That is until you taste the melt in your mouth scallops. The waiter was personable and lovely. I would highly recommend this place. If you don’t make a reservation you will be sitting outside but the cozy blankets they provide are plenty to keep you warm even on a chilly September evening.