Where all the cool kids hang out in Halifax

Halifax has more universities than seems logically permissible – eight schools in a city of 300,000. The population balloons from September till May, creating a student-driven economy that focuses on their priorities: organic ingredients, cheap prices and creative decor. You can eat at any of these beloved hangouts for under $10 and feel like a local while you're there.

Your Father's Moustache

1
700-5686 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3J 1H5

If you want to see Dalhousie University bros in their natural element, head to the excellently named Your Father's Moustache. It's more an institution than anything else, home to longstanding live acts (Joe Murphy and the Water Street Blues Band are frequent favourites) and one of the city's most popular rooftop patios. Surprisingly, it's also got some of the best cheap lobster you can find in the city, a hidden gem among the pub fare for which it's more typically known.

Sicilian Pizza

2
5245 Blowers St, Halifax, NS B3J 1J8

Sicilian is the last pizzeria remaining at Halifax's famed Pizza Corner, a downtown landmark that was once home to three competing shops serving fresh pizza slices and greasy donairs. Donairs, gyro-like meals filled with meat similar to shawarma, served with a specific creamy sauce and topped with onions and tomatoes, were inaugurated in late 2015 as the official food of Halifax. There's no more iconic spot to eat them than at Pizza Corner. Sicilian also serves gargantuan slices for cheap prices, so go nuts and order with your gut.

Split Crow

3
1855 Granville St, Halifax, NS B3J 1Y1

What is arguably Halifax's most famous bar has earned this distinction largely for two reasons: A combination of nearby students and daily happy hours, sometimes dubbed "power hours," where beers go for $2.50 and everyone's stomping the hardwood floors to the tunes of whatever band is crammed on the tiny stage in the corner. If you're in the mood for food, opt for one of their daily under $10 specials, offered twice daily at noon and after 4:30 p.m., or check out the bar during a non-power hour and enjoy a simpler pint on the beautiful, pedestrian-only Granville Street.

Ardmore Tea Room Limited

4
6499 Quinpool Rd, Halifax, NS B3L 1B2

Good food, and plenty of it! Add in unlimited coffee, and we're talking some solid value. Take, for example, the historic Lumberjack Plate: For $7.99, you get two eggs any style, two fatty sausages, three slices of bacon, two slabs of ham, a pile of hash browns, two pieces of toast and the aforementioned bottomless coffee. That's a ridiculously good deal, no matter how you slice it.

Burritto Jax

5
5215 Blowers St, Halifax, NS B3J 1J5

Atlantic Canada's premiere burrito franchise started right here on Blowers Street, peddling messy chicken, beef and pork dishes with their signature Jax sauce. There's a great variety of toppings and salsas available, and the restaurant's popularity assures the freshness of its ingredients. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better deal for under $10 anywhere else downtown, especially one with such speedy service and delivery.

Xtreme Pizza

6
5970 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3H 1Y7

Yes, the pizzas are extreme. The Canadian Classic comes with bacon, mushrooms and pepperoni, while the Halifax-specific donair pizza features tomatoes, onions, and donair meat and sauce, but the real joys of Xtreme are its side dishes. Their namesake garlic fingers are basically a soft, doughy pizza covered in garlic, mozzarella cheese and garlic butter, while the massive panzarottis (get the one packed with locally-churned Brothers Pepperoni) can easily feed two for $11.

Maxwell's Plum English Pub

7
1600 Grafton St, Halifax, NS B3J 2C2

With more than 100 beers to choose from, Maxwell's has cemented its place as a go-to bar for large groups seeking equally large quantities of beer. The Plum offers a wider variety of local craft beers than almost anywhere in the city, not just Haligonian titans Propeller and Garrison, but also Big Spruce and Boxing Rock from across Nova Scotia. You can enjoy almost all of them via pint glass, sampler platter or 80-ounce brewtender. The daily specials and Saturday morning breakfasts for $3.99 don't hurt, either.

Freeman's Little New York

8
6092 Quinpool Rd, Halifax, NS B3L 1A1

A Quinpool Road institution since 1956, Freeman's is where you go if you're willing to pay a little more for a slice of the city's best pizza. Its proximity to Dalhousie University and King's College keeps a steady influx of students canoodling in its cozy booths on weekend nights, likely devouring either the meaty Iron Worker (pepperoni, bacon, ham and Italian sausage) or the spicy house specialty (sausage, feta, tomato, green pepper and red onion).

Whether it’s the Blue Jays, Raptors or Halifax Mooseheads, there are going to be times when Canadians – especially Maritimers – want to get together to watch the game, and nothing pairs better with a big-screen TV than a pint of domestic beer. Halifax doesn’t have too many sports-specific bars, but those that it does have get the job done perfectly.
Haligonians will often boast that their city has more pubs per capita than anywhere else in Canada – a claim-to-fame so commonplace it’s proclaimed on Nova Scotia’s tourism website. Their proliferation keeps the happy-hour drinks well priced. These pubs are among the best places to enjoy drinks on the cheap.
You didn’t come all the way to Nova Scotia for the beef, did you? Steeped in English tradition, Nova Scotia’s capital city is home to some of the finest fish and chips in the country. You might encounter a few hefty lineups, but it’ll be worth the wait.
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