The Bitter End

Definitely worth a visit for happy hour appetizers and martinis. Pick from a house favourites list of martinis to get a bargain on 2 ounce drinks, and all kitchen small plates are $ 7 or under which is totally worth it. I love the prosciutto and pineapple nachos. Most recently I tried the mango coconut dip, which is served cold with lots of nacho chips. It was good, but better for sharing since it’s quite sweet and actually a large portion. Be careful with the drinks, it’s super easy to down several in a row as they’re sweet and tasty, and easy on the wallet during the right hours. There’s also a discount on all wine during happy hour, I think it was 30% off which is great if martinis aren’t really your thing! All in all this is a great place to meet a group or a friend and find lots of space early in the evening. It gets much busier later at night and quite crowded, so pick your preferred time and enjoy. Very decent service!

Not a huge fan. There was an incredibly pretentious vibe here (a lot of men in suit jackets and people drinking fancy mixed drinks — you know the type). The décor in here is a bit obnoxious too. My biggest complaint about this place was the length of time it took to be served. Listen, I know it was a busy night and all, but management should have the staff available to serve your clientele. It’s not fair to understaff and overwork your servers. It leaves your customers bitter, undeservingly, to the bartenders. Moreover, my beer tasted warm and like it was from the end of the keg.
It was clean in there at least. It was also nice that we were able to find seating for our large group, despite it being a fairly busy evening.
I won’t be going back here and wouldn’t recommend it.

The bar is good but the bouncer! Oh my God! He is a racist jerk! He wouldn’t let you in if you are not Canadian.

I’ve been to the Bitter End a couple times. It’s okay, I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, or race back anytime soon. It’s a nice place for a drink with your lady friends if you want to go out somewhere, but not really my kind of hang out place. The inside is pretty ‘night club’ but the patio is nice and the bar staff were pleasant, friendly and great drink makers. I don’t have any complaints, it was just meh for me.

Drank here a few times over the years, but never ordered anything to eat, until a recent visit on a gorgeous August Friday after work. The reason we even opted to stop here on this day was that their sidewalk sign caught my attention. Happy hour had such good prices that we couldn’t resist! And now with Argyle Street closed off to vehicle traffic, and painted in an argyle theme on the street itself, it was just a great spot to sit for an hour or two. The patio had maybe eight tables (two-​seaters and four-​seaters), and wasn’t full while we were there, which is surprising. Inside is a sleek, more modern, but basic feel with a large bar, darker lighting.
Drinks: My partner and I tried several martinis for the happy hour price (4pm — 8pm EVERY night!!) of $ 6.52. The following we enjoyed a lot: PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE (Vanilla Vodka, Amaretto, Pineapple Juice) was very tasty and unique, where I noticed the cinnamon flavor the most/​sprinkled on top. PURPLE FIZZ (Absolute Acia, Blue Curaçao, Grape Sour Puss, Lime & Cranberry Juice) was good and simple. ELECTRIC CITRUS (Vanilla Vodka, Absolute Raspberry Vodka, Cassis, Fresh Lemon/​Lime & Simple Syrup) was good and tasty. RIVIERA (Vodka, Crème de Banana, Malibu Rum, Pineapple Juice) was good and tropical. BLUE FREEZE (Blueberry Vodka, Crème De Banana, Blue Curaçao, Lime Juice) was good and baisc. LYCHEE (Vodka, SoHo Lychee Liquor, Cranberry & Pineapple Juice) had a very strong lychee taste, so only if you like that would you like these. ROCKET
(Absolute Raspberry, Blue Curaçao, Cream de Banana, Lemon Juice) was my partner’s favorite. Some martinis come with your standard cherry in the glass, but a few of mine came with a gummy worm for fun. I like that.
Food: I ordered the AVOCADO & HERB DIP (9. Fresh avocado, vegetables and herbs blended to create a smooth yet chunky, rich and zesty dip. Served with Tortilla chips.). It was good and satisfying, but not the best I’ve ever had. Nothing memorable, nothing wrong with it. My partner really enjoyed the BBQ CHEDDAR BEEF SLIDERS (10. Two 3 oz burgers with melted double smoked cheddar. Topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle and finished with BBQ sauce.) These are considered small plates and are that, but that’s what we enjoy when going out primarily for drinks, something to nibble on without being full and getting tired too fast.
I look forward to going back here again anytime to try some other of the martinis or cocktails, and snacks.

The Bitter End WAS a fun place for my group to come and drink martinis, laugh and have fun. We are a group of couples in our early 50’s who enjoy good times. We are a bit crazy but we never hurt anything or anyone. And then, after a fun filled Pride Day, we were kicked out by management; we were puzzled and confused which then led to some anger.
My group has come here semi-​regularly and we have dropped $ 600 – 800 in one sitting. We always tip our favourite waitresses extremely well, and have developed a great rapport with them too.
Which made things even more puzzling to us. Yes, we were getting loud, and even with only a few other patrons present, we accommodated management by moving outside to the patio. Apparently that didn’t work for them either. We were basically kicked out of a bar for laughing — that is a first for me. An Australian and an English patron were so disgusted that they left this bar as well and joined us across the street at the Argyle bar. The Argyle was happy to accept us and our money.
There was no tip for our waitress here today at the Bitter End. We calculated that she lost out on an easy $ 100. I walked up to the manager and informed him of his mistake and that he screwed his waitress out a tip.
Ironically, my group’s relationship with this bar has come to a «bitter end»

It is what it is. It is a cheap bar that is meant to look and feel classy. Where as I get a dome/​argyle type feel from it. The food is all very small and not super great, but edible only for the happy hour prices. Which is really the best part of this place, everyday happy hour 4 – 8. Fantastic day drinking. Cocktails run on the sweet side. Big selection. Again, worth the happy hour prices but no more. It is a fun place for early evening cheap cocktail drinking– but that’s it.
The place is dark and dingy and cold. At the beginning they were playing welcoming and neutral music, but as we sat, it switched to a dance club like atmosphere– although no patrons really looked like that’s what they were therefore.
Overall, happy hour – yes, full price, no.

Let me start with this: flat beer.
I was with four friends and we ordered 2 beer each which all came at the same time and was 100% flat. We felt bad and didn’t want to complain since it would be a huge waste of beer and they allowed us to order of the happy hour menu when there was less than 10 minutes left.
We ordered food as well which took a veryyyyy long time to come, which sucked because we mainly went there for food because we were so hungry. The staff actually brought us over a tray of shots as an apology, which was nice but we had wished they asked us first since we probably would have opted for a drink instead of straight alcohol. But we gladly accepted.
The food was pretty good — i had the fried chicken which was actually tasty and very cheap.
I would try this place again, but I just can’t get past the flat beer. I can’t understand how the server didn’t notice there was absolutely no foam.

A friend and I tried to go in for a few drinks and were denied entry by the bouncer who said my friend was too drunk to get in. Thing is she was not intoxicated at all and he could clearly tell after talking to her but would not have a rational conversation with us. So I will never go to the bitter end after this episode and I will tell all my friends not to give them business.

Ok, so I came here with friends last weekend and just loved it. We had excellent drinks (particularly the candy apple), and it was during happy hour so it was half priced (this happens every day). The food is also quite good, a friend ordered the herb and avocado dip and I ordered the goat cheese with red pepper jelly. The avocado herb dip was the better of the two, i thought the red pepper jelly was too sweet.
So that was the first time I went here. Loving the prices/​drinks, I decided to come back again a few days later, again for happy hour. Again me and a friend had a few drinks and were enjoying ourselves. When I got one of my martinis, there was somehow a hair in it. A mid-​length very light hair. I have dark brown hair and so did my friend. I waved the server down, I wanted another drink. Her response pissed me off enough that I’m bumping this down to 2.5 stars. She first said «oh, it must be yours. There wouldn’t be hair where the drinks are… Are you sure you didn’t just put it there?» She then admitted it kind of looked like her hair, no apology, no offer to bring me a new drink or waive the price of that one. When she brought my bill over, she still charged me for the drink, so I didn’t tip her a cent. It looks like from a lot of reviewers service is the reason the Bitter End’s reviews aren’t as great as they could be.
If by chance management reads this, please look into how the servers deal with customers. I was shocked to see poor reviews here, but now I definitely get it.

Before I start, I should point out that I visited this establishment with my folks in the early afternoon on a weekend, which is probably not the best time to go since we were the only people there. Also we thought it was a restaurant, but it turned out to be more of a «club» which also serves a small selection of tapas-​like dishes, but concentrates more on the alcohol menu.
Since we were the only people there, I can only comment on certain aspects of the places vibe and atmosphere.
I think it would be a great venue for a romantic evening with someone, since the booths are quite intimate and the lighting dim. The bar is also quite nicely designed, although I think it would all look better had we not been there while the sun was still up.
The small plates and cocktails were imaginative and tasty, although there were some dubious looking selections in the menu.
I’m not entirely sure I would go back, though I’d probably want to try it one more time when theres other people there, and when it’s night so that the ambience is better.

I went to this place with my boyfriend to grab a quick bite to eat and a drink. We were going to go to another pub on Argyle, but we saw this one had $ 4 apps with drink purchase on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we couldn’t say no.
The atmosphere was dark with tons of dim mood light. Loads of art on the walls, which we later found out was all local. There was only one other couple in the place when we arrived at 8pm on a Tuesday night. Very quiet.
The menu offered some great drinks. I was in the mood for a beer, but ended up getting a cocktail, since they had won so many awards for them. I ordered a Candy Apple, Casey ordered a Key Lime Pie. The prices seemed somewhat expensive, but they were the specialty. For our apps, we ordered the pineapple nachos and the goat cheese with red pepper jelly, at four bucks a piece.
The food was great. The goat cheese is a must. Deep fried pita bread sticks are so good. And a hardy helping of goat cheese to spread on them. I’m sure I ate most of this. The nachos, on the other hand, weren’t as exotic as I hoped. They basically just tasted like regular good nachos, nothing really to complain about though, just a bit more damp due to the pineapple juice.
The overall price for both of us came about $ 25, which was great. I was expecting much more to be honest.
My only complaint is with the service. The waitress was almost rude… blatantly trying to up-​sell to the most expensive drinks, seeming to pressure us to order another drink, and she seemed annoyed that she had to serve us at all. The majority of the time she was on the other side of the bar with her friends and ignoring us, which was fine since I didn’t really wanted to talk to her much.
Lastly, the bathrooms. Classy is that they had actual towels to dry your hands, rolled up in a basket. But then again, there was chairs stored in the toilet stall…
This place would have been great if it wasn’t for the service. And I agree with everyone else. Prices are a bit high (unless you go on Tuesday for the drink and an app) and not a great selection. Food was tastey, though. Service was bad.

I have a caesar problem. I’m sure many of you realize this by now. So I really didn’t consider any of the other drinks on the menu at Bitter End. I popped by here to dive into their caesar which has racked up quite a few Coast awards in previous years.
It certainly didn’t disappoint. The rim was perfection and they thoroughly impressed me with TWO spicy beans. Generally I have to ask for the caesar to be spicy as most don’t come with the level of heat I want. Even though I asked them to make mine spicy, it still could’ve packed more heat. Next time I just ask for a reallllly realllllllly reallllllllly spicy caesar.
I don’t really come here often as I’m generally a pub-​kind-​of-​girl but wouldn’t mind stopping by the neat atmosphere for an occasional, well (hopefully) mixed bevvy. It’s dark, shiny and stormy as far as décor is concerned which makes it a neat little spot on Argyle. I haven’t tried any of their food here yet. I did notice it was priced a wee bit high. Hope they’re frying their frites in ancient truffle oil.

We were the ONLY PEOPLE IN THE BAR and our waitress looked SO irritated she had to wait on us. Seriously? Why did you choose this job?
Ordered the apple martini, it was delicious but paid $ 12 for it.…won’t be doing that again.
I probably won’t go back.

I love a good Martini bar. Dirty, Appletini, Cosmopolitan (à la SJP), I just love to indulge in a delicious martini at the bar. Knowing my fondness for the drink, a friend of mine was surprised when I told her that I had not yet been to Bitter End to savor the flavor of gin & vermouth. She recommended I go check it out.
The place is located along the Argyle area, nestled between the Loose Cannon & the Pita Pit. It doesn’t look particularly appealing from the street, but the interior of the bar is a nice surprise. The interior has a very intimate feel to it and the tables are adorned with candles.
The drink menu is particularly expansive although I barely recognized many of the cocktail names. I decided to mix it up and try a couple of different martini variations to get my evening started right. I’ve got a Secretini (VK, Raspberry Liqueur w/​Cranberry) was my first selection along with a Calamari appetizer. My drink, although decent was very sweet, a tad too sweet for my taste. I also sampled the envy & lychee flavored ‘tinis which were okay, but again very, very sweet. The calamari was very good as well.
Service was alright here, IMO. Nothing special, but pleasant. The servers are all thin and attractive young women by pure coincidence.
For a $ 10 martini, I expect to be impressed, especially when the said drink is from a bar that boasts the best martini in HRM.
I’ll return for Martini Monday drink & appy specials but I didn’t find that Bitter End lived up to the hype. Solid 3 stars from this Unilocaler, folks.

This place has a couple things going for it. Good drink selection, my favourite being the sour apple martini, but I’m starting to think I like it more for the gummy worm at the bottom than the quality of drink… I can only have one as I may go into shock from high sugar intake. I also like the décor and location.
The worst thing about the place is the service. It’s slow and just about every server I have had there is some young pretty face with a short skirt who could really care less about my order or happiness.
The second worse thing is the food. Don’t bother. Poor selection and not great tastng. You’re better off going for dinner elsewhere and maybe popping in for a quick drink here after.

Fine. I concede: The Bitter End has long sunk below the five-​star rating it once deserved in my books.
Once upon a time, this was a gorgeous, classy space where you could order one of the best cocktails in the city. Unfortunately over the years, the rest of the city has grown up and the Bitter End has stayed exactly the same.
Today, their martinis (that are actually sugary cocktails in martini glasses) fail to compete with some of the craft cocktails available elsewhere, the service often borders on apathetic, and the food never quite recovered from the menu reduction that happened several years ago. I could get over one or two of these things, but not all three at once.
It’s not all bad though. Sometimes you’ll get a nice server, you’ll almost *always* get an attractive one, I dig the soundtrack and DJs that they bring in, and they do boast prime patio real estate in the summers.

I have mixed feelings about the Bitter End. It used to be one of my favorite places to go, back when I was 19 and a half years old and just realizing that I WAY prefer this kind of atmosphere to that of a place like, say, The Dome. (Shudder.) And I do still really like the atmosphere here.
The menu is where I run into trouble. Drinks are hit and miss — at $ 7.50, champagne cocktails are a tasty option that don’t hurt your wallet too much. (Though still a little.) But the «martini» style drinks? Overpriced, sugary and all named ridiculous things that made me too embarrassed to order them. Just because I don’t want a Scotch on the rocks, does that mean I have to reduce myself to uttering the words «I’ll have a ‘Pink Pussy’»? It shouldn’t! And that’s an actual drink, you guys!
I used to really like the Mediterranean nachos, but the last few times I ordered them they were dry and didn’t have enough cheese. I’ve also run into problems with the fact that the Bitter End shares a kitchen with the neighbouring pub the Loose Cannon. The Bitter End can be dead, but the food order you placed can take a really long time because the Loose Cannon is busy. Not ideal.
I went back and forth on whether to give this place 2 or 3 stars — it’s probably a 2.5, but with other places available for cocktails like Onyx or The Middle Spoon, the Bitter End is no longer somewhere I particularly enjoy going.

Really, I did, I did try to love it. sadly, my experience fell very short. As we entered– we immediately noticed the lovely walls and décor and the just as beautiful servers, but as soon as we sat down things went South.
I was in a playful mood, and when I prompted the server to surprise me with a popular Martini she replied, «Can’t you see I’m busy?». Continuing on, this is a martini bar and the music was on overdrive. In a bar this isn’t an issue, but I believe a martini bar should have a casual elegance not a. cheap sticky floor feel.
After about two drinks, and the table next to us removing their shirts we quickly paid our tab and scurried away.
This experience left me confused. I believe the intention of this establishment was to bring a sort of Sex & The City vibe, but instead of Carrie and the girls you’re left with greased back salesmen or rebellious students!

I love the Biiter End. It’s a classy place in a great location, good food, and a great atmosphere. The servers have always been friendly and the male bartenders, fun and flirty.
My new favorite part about the Bitter End is $ 4 appy’s on Tues and Wed. The portions remain the same and you can get a gigantic meal for less than $ 10.
Check it out.