La Perla Dining Room & Lounge

I took my Mom here for Mothers Day. I let her pick the restaurant.
If I had to sum up my experience, it would be this: Meh.
The restaurant is located on Alderney Drive in Dartmouth in a second storey walk-​up, and the exterior décor leaves something to be desired. When you walk up the stairs to where the restaurant is located, the décor is slightly better, but gives off an ambiance of being faded and poorly maintained. The service was okay, the waiter was attentive enough, but we were waiting quite a while between courses.
The food itself seemed oddly paired and not all that great. The pasta was cold, and the seafood and sauce didn’t taste good at all. Having been to a number of restaurants around HRM (Il Mercato, Café Chianti), the food wasn’t up to my standards. Considering the amount of money they charge, there is very little value to be had for your money.
Overall, I’m disappointed by La Perla. The food, atmosphere, and overall value leaves much to be desired. If your looking for a Good Italian experience in HRM, consider Il Mercato or Café Chianti. Not recommended.

While looking for a new restaurant to try out My friends and I went to Dartmouth, but hunger over took us before we had the chance to really look around, when we walked past La Perla.
My friend looked at the menu posted outside, and decided to go in.
I don’t judge restaurant quality by its design, but décor does adds to the experience. Here the walls were all a bright yellow with low light and motel paintings on the wall.
We were greeted by a hostess, who asked if we had a reservation, we did not, didn’t know we needed to, but we were seated.
Our server brought menu’s quickly enough, As we got a closer look at the menu, we realized that the menu we looked at outside were the appetizers, the majority of their pasta dishes offered were appetizers only which ranged between $ 13.00-$ 20.00.
My friend was a vegetarian the menu offered a limited selection for her, and not wanting to ruin the dinner experience for us, as I suggested we leave in order to find another place where she didn’t have to settle, we stayed, and she settled on whatever it was that was available for her.
In between ordering and receiving our dinner server brought one dinner roll each for us. We all ordered the Insalata di Staniera which was Romaine lettuce, bacon bits, croutons, Parmigiano, and a zesty garlic dressing.
Unfortunately, our salad was bland, with very little bacon bits and croutons, the dressing was nothing more than garlic oil, which held a very powerful garlic after taste.
We shared an order of Risotto balls. They were good, but nothing special, what I liked about them was the crunchiness of the breading from being deep fried.
For the main course I ordered the Linguine con Pollo ‘L Indiana — Linguine tossed with chicken and spinach in a curry sherry cream sauce. (an appetizer) It sounded much better in writing then it was. The curry sauce was bitter, the pieces of chicken were over fried causing the outer layer to be brittle.
I can’t speak for my dinner companions but eating here was a very disappointing experience for me.
I love pasta — and what I ordered read to be delicious, but as a final product, it was not.

La Perla was my first authenticate Italian Restaurant I have ever visited and the greatest disappointment. Not only did the waitress not offer to provide recommendations on their menu but I was left wondering what I should have as I am not familiar with Italian foods and ingredients. Anyhow, my order ended up being simple (Ravioli) and to be honest I give the chef a kudos for art design with the the ravioli and sauce drizzle on the plate but I could have bought a can of chef-​boy-​ardee and got the same results in flavor. To top it off, I spent $ 21 plus gratuity for the meal and then when I went to pay they asked if I want to tip. Next time, McDonald’s or another fast food restaurant will suffice!

Went for lunch today, with my usual crowd of 3. I had spinach salad, and calamari, which is in my opinion the BEST around. The spinach salad was okay, typical fair, not a fan of the mound of pre shredded mozza cheese that comes on top, dressing was perhaps home made, however, it would, in my opinion be better if the salad was tossed in the dressing, as it was it was just poured over the top portion, and was difficult to mix it on the plate, the result was sections with globs of dressing and others with none. The calamari is cooked to perfection, and tossed in the best tomato sauce, good portion size, enough to share for sure, and is again amongst the best that I have had in the city. Other meals at the table were the daily special, which was asparagus soup and grilled veggie and feta sandwich, this was enjoyed, and muscles, which too were enjoyed, I did not try either. We shared a brownie type dessert, which was very large and good, what was good to see as the price for the dessert was almost $ 10.00 which I consider to be on the high side for dessert. Overall the food is good, if not pricy for lunch, we were the only people in the establishment over the lunch hour on a Wednesday. The service was good, if not slightly slow, especially since we were the only people there. The décor is okay, the yellow is a bit much, perhaps too bright of a yellow, not a nice shade, but I get what they were going, for, a little pick me up without spending too much money. Some of the chairs appeared a little worn and could use to be replaced. This is a good, long standing Dartmouth establishment, and I would go again.

I have been eating at La Perla for over 20 years — yup, older than many Unilocalers. La Perla has survived in Downtown Dartmouth on a less than pedestrian friendly street. On the down side, it overlooks the concert monster of Alderney Gate, with a few limited viewplans of the Halifax Harbour and its activity. That is about it — everything else is pretty top notch.
It is a second story walkup from street level. There are a couple of rooms, but at lunch we always get seated just in the door to the right. Most often there is a window seat — and one person gets the view.
Being relatively small the service can vary. When there are only a couple of tables occupied, the waiter is attentive, knowledgeable and provides excellent service. If it fills up, such as during the recent pre-​Christmas rush, food may take a few more minutes to arrive.
The calamari is a standard — well cooked, nice tangy sauce arriving at the table steaming hot. Due to the large size, this is an appy better shared so that there is room for the main.
All of the mains that I have tried are excellent — sufficiently sized, lots of flavour and not meals that you will see all around town. The menu focuses on salmon, seafood and chicken. I guess this is northern Italian fare. Note that the chef will often be able to cook up penne, pasta and sausage for the meat lovers — but you will have to ask for it. The PPS is my favourite dish. The meatless pasta with the pine nuts is a great dish for the vegetarian. The seafood crepes have lots of excellent curry flavour. Note that this restaurant loves heavy sauces with butters and oils — so one fills up quickly. In fact I don’t think that I have ever made it to order a desert. Maybe I will get a chance in the next 20 years.

La Perla is a place that gets overlooked too often when people talk about fine dining in Halifax. The décor is a bit tired, but the food is always excellent. Their calamari may well be the best in the city. The specials are always worth checking out, and the menu has a great mix of Italian offerings, many of which incorporate local seafood. The lobster and veal pasta is a highlight.
Good service and a decent, reasonably priced wine list are two more reasons why this a great place for a date or an evening out of fine food and good wine that won’t break the bank.

La Perla has the potential to be a great restaurant, even one of the best in the area but the problem is that the food is a little inaccessible to the general population. While I enjoy eating fancier «cuisine» every once and awhile it seems to be the only things that La Perla offers.
I’m a fan of the color yellow but the inside of this restaurant has overdone it and chosen a color that makes look like the interior of a preschool. There are so many main dinner dishes that the waitress couldn’t even keep straight the names of the ones that we had ordered.
The positive for La Perla is their great location, right on the Dartmouth Harbourfront and the fact that they have a number of dishes made from Nova Scotian seafood. It’s not going to be the prepared the same as at «Phil’s» and it will cost a lot more, but it does feel more authentic at least eating it harbour side.

La Perla, is located downtown Dartmouth and is one of the great Italian Restaurants.
You can walk to it from the ferry. It overlooks the Halifax Harbour, it is beautiful in the evening as well as day.
I loved the inside brick on the walls. The building itself dates back to the 1700’s, so there is a lot of history with the building.
We went here for lunch, I had Insalata di Spinachi with a glass of white wine. It was fabulous, homemade dressing, fresh bread and great ambiance. The smells from the kitchen were just heaven.
It was hard to resist the cheesecake, the desert menu is fantastic.
However I did have a Caffe la Perla, which consists of
Coffee, Frangelico, Brandy, Baileys, and cream. That was my desert, and what a great cup of coffee that was. :)
The menu has a variety of palate pleasing dishes. They also do private functions, catering, and also gift cards. It is great for lunch, supper or that special night out with someone.
Go, enjoy, and treat yourself.