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
5686 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3J 1H5If 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
5245 Blowers St, Halifax, NS B3J 1J8Sicilian 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
1855 Granville St, Halifax, NS B3J 1Y1What 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
6499 Quinpool Rd, Halifax, NS B3L 1B2Good 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
5215 Blowers St, Halifax, NS B3J 1J5Atlantic 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
5970 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3H 1Y7Yes, 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
1600 Grafton St, Halifax, NS B3J 2C2With 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
6092 Quinpool Rd, Halifax, NS B3L 1A1A 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).
