Off Broadway Restaurant
125 Sydney Street
Charlottetown, PEI
C1A 1G5
(902) 566-4620
After a few hours of exploring Old Charlottetown on foot, the sun was starting to fall out of the sky and we happened to find ourselves at Off Broadway Restaurant (which matched one of the places I had scribbled down from my quick search earlier that morning). With no reservations, we were still able to get a table in the back of the restaurant. Exposed brick and dark woods made for a romantic space.
The featured Table d’Hote, and accompanying wine flight ($18) seemed interesting, but I still had oysters on my mind from earlier that day, and a desire to try the local scallops. My wife on the other hand, just couldn’t pass up anything with lobster.
So our first starter was the Lobster Fondue $13
This was not quite what we expected, but the failure in this dish was that it was very bland. The lobster played no part in this dish, as the whole thing reminded me of the tasteless spinach & artichoke dip served elsewhere.
Island Oysters $14
There is a saying about oysters being either really good – or really bad, with no middle ground. After an amazing oyster experience earlier that same day – these were unfortunately on the other side of the spectrum. I can only describe it as a slight lack of freshness, as they had a slight funk on the finish. They also had not been separated from the bottom shell, as I discovered on my first attempt to tilt one back.
The Seared Scallops ($27) contained four large and beautifully seared morsels perched on a bed of mash, and topped with a bacon infused cream. The side of ratatouille packed plenty of flavour, but the dominating bacon fat was starting to coat the inside of my mouth completely. Good at first, but a little overbearing by the end.
Lobster Dinner ($35)
No complaints here, as everything on this plate was fantastic. For what it’s worth – this was the first female lobster we had on this trip (with roe). Curious if there are any fans of this? I’ll eat it, but I don’t particularly get excited over it. My personal favorite part of lobster is that small ounce of liquid in the claw.
It is probably prudent to inform the kitchen staff that the diners could hear most of what they talked about from our tables in the rear of the restaurant. A few of us at different tables shared a laugh over some of the things we heard.
We left this experience with mixed feelings, some good – some weak, with the wine being the highlight.
f o o d o s o p h y 
Odd-tasting fresh oysters are not something you want to mess with – send it back if smells bad before you take a bite i say. And no separation from the shell, that’s just plain laziness.
The scallops look really good here – did the cream sauce overtake the natural flavours at all?
I don’t think I’ve ever had lobster roe before. Curious as to what it tastes like.
Share more on the kitchen stories, you got me wondering. 🙂
I gotta say – compared to your last experiences (Captain Bobs, Water Prince, and Carr’s), this really doesnt do anything to excite me. I can taste the lack of excitement in the lobster fondue (i’ve had the same crab and artichoke dip a million times…all you taste is cream cheese), the oysters sound scary, scallops look over fussed. Did you feel the value was less than previous meals you had?
In terms of roe, i enjoy it, but not as much as some other roes. The flavour is fine, but i find it too firm and almost like the fried taiwanese caviar (oh-ee-tze) that im not a huge fan of. Much bigger fan of soft roe 🙂
Shokutsu: I don’t recall any off-putting odours, but definitely something off with the taste (specifically noticeable in the aftertaste). I tried masking it with the condiments (which helped to some extent), but was definitely unimpressed with both appetizers. I had hoped the wine would kill anything harmful 🙂
Scallops and bacon is a classic pairing, and this did taste good. The sauce didn’t interfere with the scallops (tasted clean, sweet, with none of the milky taste you get from frozen scallops) but there was SO much bacon fat in there. This would be much better as an appetizer (served in a smaller portion) – but as a whole meal, it was a bit much.
I’m surprised you’ve never had lobster roe. It has a dark greenish color when raw, but as Foodosopher describes, it cooks into a solid red colored mass (if left in the lobster). It is very firm, a slight earthy flavour, and much milder than the tamale.
As for the kitchen conversations, nothing offensive. Mostly mockery, name calling, and loud boisterous taunting over being too weak to do/lift something…
Foodosopher: No question – value was far below my other experiences.
The 6 oysters at Carr’s was $15, but significantly larger and tastier.
The 1.5lb lobster at Water Prince was $29, which included a large platter of mussels.
As for roe: my personal favorite roe is ‘Tarako’ (salted cod roe). My wife won’t let me cook it when she’s home (as it really can stink up the house), but it has a similar hard roe-sack texture to lobster roe.
Off Broadway now The Daniel Brenan Brickhouse (named for the building the restaurant is in). Some of the original menu items are still there and there are new items as well. The chef is Ilona Daniel and they have a very strong mandate of serving local Island ingredients.