The Old Triangle

Here’s what the building on the corner of University and Fitzroy in downtown Charlottetown looked like on May 4:

The Old Triangle: Before

Here’s what it looks like today:

The Old Triangle: After

They’ve done a lovely job renovating the outside of this building (rumours are that it’s even nicer inside). It’s nice to see life being breathed back into appropriately-scaled downtown buildings; too bad about the hulking yellow monolith that’s taking shape behind it.

The Old Triangle is open for business tonight.

Comments

Josh Biggley's picture
Josh Biggley on May 22, 2009 - 12:36 Permalink

Fantastic piece of urban renewal. The key now, of course, is for Charlottetown residents to vote with their dollars. Instead of spending our money at national-chain eateries we should be frequenting local establishments. In a place like Charlottetown that local and personal feel is crucial to our success.

Dan James's picture
Dan James on May 22, 2009 - 14:21 Permalink

It opened yesterday evening at 5pm. A few of us from silverorange went down around 9pm for some beer and appetizers. The place looks great inside and has a very nice feel to it. Plenty of beers on tap (including Smithwicks and Stella) and the appetizers were tasty. We tried the french onion soup (very good), the sweet potato french fries (very good), and the chicken wings (average).

The service, especially for having only been in action for 4 hours, was very good.

We’ll be back for lunch/dinner at some point in the immediate future. We’re hoping it will make its way into our weekly routine.

The only downside on our first visit: The free Wifi is VERY weak. The signal kept dropping out for my iPod Touch.

Nathan's picture
Nathan on May 22, 2009 - 14:23 Permalink

They did an excellent job renovating every part of the building. As someone who has been renovating another old building at the opposite end of the block I really appreciate that this wasn’t just a re-paint it quickly type of renovation. The final result shows both inside and out. And they have 16 beers on tap.

I personally like the contrast of the restored three-story wood buildings with the larger brick/metal/glass buildings in the neighbourhood. The combination is visually interesting and makes the restored buildings more prominent. And I don’t think I’d like either extreme as much: an all ye-olde quaint street, or all large brick and metal buildings.

oliver's picture
oliver on May 22, 2009 - 14:55 Permalink

Maybe with a mural instead of a monolithic wall that big building wouldn’t be so oppressive. I’d suggest blue sky and clouds for the mural, but it wouldn’t be 4-season. I guess it’s not actually going to stay yellow. Pale gray might not be nearly so bad.

Island Journalist's picture
Island Journalist on May 22, 2009 - 17:10 Permalink

FYI — Fiddler Roy Johnston & Friends will be there Sunday afternoon.

Old Triangle Session
Start: May 24 2009 — 2:00pm
End: May 24 2009 — 5:00pm
Timezone: Etc/GMT-3
Join Roy and friends for the first of a regular weekly session at the Old Triangle , a new pub opening on University Ave, near Cedar’s restaurant. Slow session first hour. Everyone welcome.

Dave P's picture
Dave P on May 22, 2009 - 17:50 Permalink

Sounds like a worthwhile stop while I’m back on the red mud next week. Fitzroy St has changed a lot over the last year.

Lena Webster's picture
Lena Webster on May 29, 2009 - 17:04 Permalink

The Old Triangle restaurant is to be commended on the wonderful job they have done on the outside of their building. It has improved that corner so much!
However, as a former member of the board of the Canadian Paraplegic Association, I am even more impressed wtih the effort they put into making their restaurant wheelchair accessible. Not only is there a ramp at the entrance, but customers also have access to both levels as well as the outside deck. A job well done!

Natalie's picture
Natalie on June 7, 2009 - 02:00 Permalink

I don’t know if myself and a bunch of others went in to the “old triangle” for the first time at the wrong time this evening but the entire place is absoulutly excruciating. I myself have never seen a manager so not well dressed and service especially from a manager as poor as we did tonight.
To take almost half an hour to bring us menus this would be after I myself went to find them and ask for the fifth time that we would like a server.
To take almost an hour for our food and then we finally deciding we wanted to leave, asked for the manager and then telling him we aren’t paying. He then saying I will get the bill for your drinks… what a disgrace..
Being in the Tourism Industry for four years this place won’t last for long!!

Yogi's picture
Yogi on June 7, 2009 - 05:27 Permalink

Nobody goes there no more; it’s too crowded!

Josh Murnaghan's picture
Josh Murnaghan on June 28, 2009 - 21:02 Permalink

Just wondering if it has the same menu as the locations in Halifax and or Moncton to be passed on to hotel guests.
Their website hasn’t been updated with the new location yet so I didn’t know of a menu to hand out

Melissa Gallant's picture
Melissa Gallant on July 12, 2009 - 18:40 Permalink

This is our new favorite place to go! My husband and I have been several times but our favorite is Sunday! We are Disc Jockeys and it is impossible for us to go out on the weekend nights so it is perfect there is a place to go and enjoy some great entertainment on Sunday afternoons and evenings. One Sunday we had such a great time we were there in the afternoon and came back later that night! We would also like to compliment the sound quality. Excellent! We were surprised to find out that the speakers gave such a full bodied sound without any bass cabinet. We liked it so much we bought a few sets of the same speakers for our business! Although after being there on different occasions I think it might be beneficial to have somebody on staff who knows a bit about adjusting sound levels for the different entertainers. It is obvious that there were different qualities of sound for different groups perhaps because the entertainers are left to fend for themselves without a live sound guy to set things up for each group? Anyone who doesn’t play music wouldn’t realise or understand that each group has unique sound requirements and the sound system needs to be adjusted accordingly. For example one night the music sounded awesome coming from the instruments but you couldn’t hear the vocals. Another night you could hear one instrument but not the other. When you are performing on stage it is extremely difficult to adjust your own PA because what you hear onstage is not what the audience is hearing. Just a suggestion. But anyways enough on that…….The food was awesome everytime we were there and so was the service. It can be a bit crowded on the weekends for sure but that’s because good news travels fast! Another couple of things I might suggest are that I heard several people comment on, is to have a hostess to greet and seat you as you come in. I have heard several people comment that it annoying that you have to wander around aimlessly trying to see if there is somewhre to sit. And also, it’s too bad that with such great music there isn’t any room to dance. Even clear out a couple of tables when the entertainment starts? Awesome job people and thanks for this great new addition to Charlottetown!

Explosive's picture
Explosive on January 21, 2010 - 01:38 Permalink

Hi Natalie:
I came across this site to take a peek at the outside renovations of The Old Triangle, what a beautiful transformation indeed!
Reading the comments I can tell this restaurant will be in business for a long long time. I actually had the oppurtunity to eat at The Triangle many times in the last 8 months and I have to say I was more than pleased.
I read your comments on how the manager was dressed poor and service not great on the opening week, since you have had many years experience in The Tourism Industry I have to ask why you would be so hard on a business starting out. We really have to be proud of anyone who is willing and ready to take on such a huge challenge. There are far to many vacant buildings in the downtown Charlottetown area and this fantastic upgrade on this popular corner lot is something Islanders can be proud of.

I respect what these people have accomplished with this business (without any PNP handouts) and I hope they are not deflated at all by all the “nay-sayers”

If you feel the need to complain , perhaps you could find a more viable cause, such as our grafitti problem downtown or child poverty

Gotta go….on my way to the Old Triangle for an order of the greatest Calamari I have ever tasted.

gail's picture
gail on January 30, 2010 - 23:22 Permalink

This building hasnt changed much , I use to go there when i was in my 20’s now living in Moncton , and happen to come across the pics , took me back to the days of the club scene in charlottetown some 30 yrs ago