Chives Canadian Bistro

All the food that our group of 4 enjoyed was prepared very thoughfully and expertly prepared.
I would hightly recommend this restaurant. I will say though that if you are looking for seafood, as we were, it only has a few seafood options. But all the food is is locally sourced and they take great pride in their creative expression of all the meals.

Never been let down on any of our visits to Chives. The service is great and the food is even better. Best of all you get to see and taste the best produce of NS transformed to mouthwatering dishes by the Chives team

We chose Chives for our 38th anniversary dinner while vacationing in Halifax. Because of the special occasion, we asked for the private dining in the vault. We were welcomed warmly and advised that the vault was ours for the evening. The service was excellent, very balanced between privacy and service. I had the Beef Wellington and my husband had their seared peach salad and lamb pot roast. A suggested wine, only available at this restaurant, perfectly complimented the dinners. The Beef Wellington was different from others I have had, but delicious, none the less. My husband loved his salad and entree. A homemade honey vanilla ice cream finished the meal perfectly along with a glass of ice wine. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening, perfect for our celebration. My only small complaint was that there is not much ventilation in a bank vault, so it got a little too warm by the end of our experience.

We had a pleasant meal and the chef tried to accommodate my dietary needs. However, our table was not great...squished in a corner upstairs with a portable heater. We'd like to see more gluten free, dairy and egg free choices.
We will be back sometime soon.
LeRoy & Marilyn Riggs

The food makes the experience outstanding! My wife and I are big time foodies and we are always happy when we leave Chives!

My favorite restaurant in Halifax!!!

Using "Where to eat in Halifax" as a guide my wife and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary with dinner at Chives. The food was fresh and very flavourful. Top notch cocktails and the server was very attentive and knowledgable about the menu. We will be back and have spread the word about this downtown gem

Dinner was fresh food prepared really well. Their gluten free options are very good, as was the service. Our foursome had a table in their upstairs level, so the noise level was much quieter than the lower level. We all enjoyed the food and atmosphere.

Chives is our go to when we have visitors or special occasions. The food and service are always wonderful!

Next time I am back in Halifax, I will certainly make a point of going back to chives. While we were here, we also went to their other, more casual, restaurant "two doors down"...also fantastic.

As tribute to the end of the summer, myself and two friends decided to try Chives Bistro. We found the food to be lovely, but found our waiter to be terrible. He didn't say a word to us, ask us how our food was, or explain the specials of the day. We found ourselves to be attentive and were wondering why he chose to not be courteous to us. Between the 3 of us, we spent over $150 and wish our customer service was just a little bit better.

Our group of 6 had a reservation on a Saturday night and each one of us were extremely impressed by our dinners! Everything was delicious. This is a must-try spot in Halifax!! Ambiance was great - would be nice for a quiet dinner for 2!
My only complaint was the sort-of mediocre service. My husband and I chose Chives for dinner after our small wedding ceremony with just us and our parents. I was sure to include this information when I made my reservation a few days before so I thought they may do something a little bit special for us - even just a 'congratulations' from our server? When I worked in restaurants we always made sure to make the night extra special for people celebrating a special occasion. Didn't expect fireworks or anything, just a little more enthusiasm from our server! Overall, everything was great and I would 100% go back!

We've been going to chives for our anniversary over the last 6 years. We reserve the vault and it makes our evening so romantic. The food is always amazing. Every time we dine, the menu is different. Highly recommend this restaurant!

We (a party of 6) ate at Chives on the 5 August 2015 to celebrate an academic milestone and to treat out of town guests. The food was great and the theme of fresh, seasonal and local came through loud and clear with local mushrooms and local fish taking center stage. The star this evening though was our server who was attentive without being obtrusive , always appearing just as one was completing a thought about what would be nice (like a refill of the glass). An interesting selection of beers and wines complete the menu and the relaxed atmosphere which encourages lingering (and of course ordering desert and coffees) made us think we were back in Europe again. A refreshing change from so many Halifax establishments who seem to try and shovel food at you to get you out the door quickly. The price is moderate but the service and both the quality and the presentation of the food is top notch, we will definitely be back and look forward to bringing other out of town guests.

Had an absolutely wonderful experience. Staff went above and beyond and even made an off menu drink at my request that completed our very special meal. A must-visit for sure!

This restaurant is excellent. Fresh local sourced ingredients.

Our evening at Chives was truly enjoyable. The food was innovative and prepared with local ingredients. The beef Wellington was incredible, so savory. Service was exceptional and informative. Will definitely be going back.

I had heard a great deal about Chives and how good it is so I was really looking forward to trying it out. The food is good - no question - and locally-sourced. But for me it was lacking that extra "delicious" factor that makes a dining experience special. There was no "wow" factor. And my impression was influenced by the slow service. We waited an inordinate amount of time for anyone to even notice us and once we put in our order - which included a main appetizer to be shared by the table as we were all hungry and wanted something quickly to take the edge off - we had a 40-45 minute wait for the appetizer to arrive. Nothing was offered to tied us over and one got the feeling they just hoped we would order more wine for the main course, (which was also slow to arrive). The restaurant wasn't busy, so the slow pace was a mystery. Disappointing.

We requested and received private seating in the "vault" of the restaurant, and were treated to warm, personal customer service from beginning to end. We enjoyed the emphasis on the quality of the dishes, which were primarily sourced locally in Nova Scotia. The restaurant is conveniently located downtown, a short walk from the hotels.

First time at Chives for my birthday dinner. Something for everyone on the menu and the food was delcicious and fresh. Would highly recommend this place to anyone especially for a romantic date.

My wife and I are from Ottawa and wanted to meet up for a nice dinner when I met up with her in Halifax after 2.5 weeks away from each other. The servers were nothing short of spectacular. They helped make the perfect food choice and our drinks were perfect (highly recommend the different gin cocktails. The bittered gin was my favourite).

My wife and i shared the bacon wrapped chicken plate and the Digby scallops plate. I found the gnocchi with the scallops to be overly salty, but i don't eat much salty food to begin; with so that might have something to do with it.

Or servers were happy to accommodate us, and even recommended a place to go after they were closed.

I will return and I highly recommend going.

Chives is a huge favourite of my wife and I. For this visit we brought my brother and his family, including two boys under 12. Typically this is the place where Heather and I enjoy an intimate evening together so we knew that we would be seeing Chives in a different light. It did not disappoint. Maggie (our server) surpassed the impeccable service that we've become accustomed to. She elevated the boys, treating them as honoured guests and, in doing so, they were delighted to enjoy something so different from their usual fare.

We all had appetizers. I think just about everything on the menu was explored. The highlight for this course proved to be the oysters with the smear of sweet potato chipotle that one of the boys ordered. Heather stayed with her ever-favourite onion tart and was happy to do so. I must say though, those oysters were a hit. The salty brine was perfectly offsite by the sweet and hot dab on the end of the shell. Whoever came up with that really deserves an "attaboy"!

The mains were fantastic, as always. One of the boys had the burger and the other had the seafood pasta. Both of them wolfed down their dish with huge delight. I had the scallops. They were truly good. I must say though that I was sorry to see that the scallops had been discontinued in the apps because they were always a favourite of mine and they didn't seem to measure up as a main. Heather had the vegetarian curry and was really thrilled with the dish. I think she'll be trying it again when we go back.

Desert was wonderful. The boys had ice cream while I had the chocolate cake with peanut butter ice cream. The cake was hot and gooey, the ice cream a perfect match and there was a salty caramel drizzle that tied the two together perfectly. When paired with the Pomme D'Or ice wine it was simply extraordinary.

Outstanding food, coupled with impeccable service made for a night to be remembered. Thanks again to the folks at Chives for hitting it outta the park.

Highly recommend trying this place. Best to make a reservation as it fills up quickly. Menu is seasonal and locally sourced. For an extra romantic night out ask for the table for 2 in the vault!

Visiting Halifax from the UK we chose Chives from various review sites and were not disappointed. Service was excellent - menus already on our table when we arrived, waitress knew her wines and the food very well, and we were delighted by the brown paper bag of buttermilk biscuits with molasses and butter which arrived before the food. As Brits we had always wondered about N American “biscuits” – and now we know they are what we call scones! Food very good, would definitely go again. A little noisy for our tastes, so Stories scores very slightly higher.

We had the best time ever ! Our server was amazing and the food was exceptional, loved the pork

We chose Chives for our wedding anniversary dinner and had an excellent experience. Most of the staff wished us a happy anniversary and even provided a complimentary glass of champagne for each of us. Service was pleasant and present but not intrusive and our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu even describing the ingredients in each dish. As a former bank branch, the restaurant is not spectacular but the food and service more than make up for it.
Thank you to the staff for a wonderful, memorable anniversary dinner.

This was my first visit to Chives and it will likely be my last. Although the service was excellent and the food good it fell short of other comparable restaurants downtown. The food at Chives did not provide the wow factor that I have experienced at other restaurants in downtown Halifax that are in the same price range as Chives. If you are looking for an outstanding meal I recommend looking elsewhere.

We really enjoyed the meal and service for our final night in Halifax. The "blackened" cod special was fantastic and the fried potato cake was really good. The cheese board was the star, however, from the cheese to the pairings. Loved the local wines on the list, too. The only slight negative was that we prefer our pork a little closer to medium than well done, which would have set the mushroom dusted pork loin from good to fantastic. Would definitely recommend this.

The menu was enticing and all the dishes we ordered were delicious. Our entrees were a bit salty, but overall we had a wonderful experience and would go back just for the pampering!

Great service by our waiter Nick, crab cakes , Tuna tartare and oysters were wonderful , pork and beef Wellington were amazing. Nice cocktails and wine highly recommended!

Dined for 2.. 3 course and a cocktails. Cocktails menu was okay, food menu would appeal to anyone.

Waiters/ess very attentive and friendly.

Would recommend to anyone!

I have eaten at Chives many times and it is one of my favourite restaurants in Halifax. However, on Saturday the food was not up to the usual high standard. The Beef Wellington was dry and the plate looked as if it had been kept warm as the sauce was dry around the edge. Also the blueberry sorbet was underwhelming. It had little flavour and the texture was not pleasant. On the positive side, the appetiser, crispy zucchini flowers, was very enjoyable as was my date's cheese board. Also, the service was as excellent as I have come to expect from Chives.

my first time dining at Chives and I will be back again! From enjoying a great glass of Nova Scotia to my entree of cod, it was truly magnificent!! The service was excellent! The attentiveness was there without being intrusive. Thank you Chives for making a newbie welcomed!!

We have been to Chives several times and it is always our first choice for family celebrations, and to take out of town guests to for dinner. No matter what is chosen from the menu, it comes promptly, is beautifully presented and is delicious. The servers are always courteous and attentive. It feels like a special meal every time. I like too that as much as possible quality local produce is used.

Good menu, great selection and the drink list was both creative and fun!

From start to finish our dinner was absolutely delicious. Our server was informed, attentive and extremely helpful. We will definitely be returning to Chives during our next visit to Halifax.

Amazing food and atmosphere. The service was also excellent. This place served some of the best food I have eaten, and I have frequented many fine dining restaurants. Prices were also good.

Upscale but not stuffy or snobby with very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Imaginative menu, fresh and locally sourced. Interesting cocktails and local wines too (pretty pretty pretty good). As close to perfect as we have experienced in Halifax. Bravo!!

Chives is a fantastic restaurant and offers and all around great experience. I have yet to leave disappointed, the staff offer great service and aim to please. Highly recommend this restaurant

We'll, what can I say me and my partner are regulars here for special occasions, and admittedly just a good any other night, the food is always delicious though I confess the cocktails from the bar this time we're just terrible we sent back the first round and came back with two equally bad. Hopefully just an off night but- when your buying a 11/13 dollar drink it should be good, well stick with wine next time. Else wise good as always!