A&W

Reviews

• John M.

  star star star star star_border 12 July 2026

  Whenever I'm in Halifax Shopping Centre and feeling peckish, I tend to make a beeline for the A&W. It may be the only "burger" place in the new HSC Terrace, but even with the reasonably competitive fare in the Mumford area, and even other selections available at the Terrace, A&W stands out.
  
  It can get busy, especially as there's only two registers, one which is rarely open most of the time. Most of the time it's efficient, though, and orders are prepared promptly. Their animated menu board sometimes makes the menu options disappear, but fortunately, the ads played up there are rarely that long.
  
  As for the fare itself, it's generally a winner. A&W's in Canada have been drifting away from their nostalgia appeal to a more source-conscious image, emphasizing that their meat and ingredients come from Canadian farms, raised and prepared ethically. They even offer French's Ketchup over Heinz, since it's produced in Canada! I'm not sure if that carries into the food itself, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.
  
  I tend to prefer the burger selections over their chicken, especially with a KFC a few metres away, but their burgers bring the goods, and cover many different tastes. There's the basics, like the Mama or Papa burger, and more varied options like the Teen Burger, with bacon, cheese, and a full array of veggies and condiments. There's also the Uncle Burger, which uses fancier beef and ingredients, and in a rare gesture for a fast food place like this, they offer a slightly more exotic option with the Mozza Burger. And these are available in double-patty options.
  
  The beef is flavourful and not overly greasy, well-complemented by their famous seasoning salt, and the vegetables tend to be generously provided. They sometimes overdo it with the lettuce, but at least it's full-leaf lettuce, unlike the shredded rubbish you'd get at Subway, and it rarely comes near the core of the lettuce head.
  
  The fries are pub-style, thick and evenly cooked, but I tend to find them a bit bland. So I tend to prefer ordering the onion rings. Unlike the feeble frozen-in-a-bag rings you get at meat huts like Burger King or Dairy Queen, A&W onion rings are almost a meal unto themselves. They use big onion slices, fried in highly crispy, melt-in-your-mouth batter. They're prepared fresh, as far as I know, and it shows.
  
  They also offer several breakfast options, if that's your thing, so you're never wont for selection there. If you don't want something fried or covered in cheese, you're kind of out of luck, and it can get more expensive than other offerings on the Terrace. In general, though, A&W knows it needs to compete, and it does it with spirit. If you're in Mumford and want a burger, I'd second-guess the woefully average McDonald's up the way, and make a trip into the Shopping Centre.

• Chad V.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 9 July 2026

  So this pains me in many ways, 1) most expensive  franchise burger joint I have experienced 2) in one order they messed up one order of onion rings out of two(wtf?) orders of rings 3) after getting food poisoning from said ring, they stated to re pay for my loss which was a blank gift card.
  The cooking is on off, two exact meals look completely different. It's a shame, I used to love A&W but nearly 30 dollars for burgers and onion rings, bloody to expensive.

• Chris C.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 6 July 2026

  The food is the same as expected but since moving to the BASEMENT,the service has gone to shit.They were open since 930am and it took them 25 minutes to make one burger.....ONE!
  Worst service for the brand in the province.

• Amanda R.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 28 June 2026

  If you think that you will receive normal A&W quality (fast food quality that is), you are sadly mistaken. It was 4:12 pm on November 24th (a Sunday afternoon), and it was not that busy. Took forever to get the order, so I assumed they were making it fresh. It consisted of 2 burgers, 2 fries, and 2 rootbeers were $20.70. The fries were soggy, and although the pictures show a nice amount of bacon, there was about a third of a piece of blackened dehydrated bacon, something that you may decide to make bacon bits out of. The only semi positive thing would be the rootbeer.
  
  Truly disappointing

• Kirk F.

  star star star star_border star_border 27 June 2026

  It's food court food.
  
  I mean, really, what more can you say? It's good for what it is but it's fast food burgers and fries.
  
  I will say this: staff can be very efficient. The first time I went, I thought it was odd that there was no one in line or waiting for food. Then I realized that one of the reasons is that the staff are so fast. People don't have to wait very long at all. Now, not all the time, some times it is busy and there are waits but, overall, I was impressed.
  
  The onion rings are pretty good here. I realize it's fast food and you should expect they'd be the same at every A&W but that's not always the case. They're just the right mix of crispy and tender.
  
  And, of course, they have A&W root beer - which has its fans.