Restaurants Near the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Halifax
The Rebecca Cohn is on the Dalhousie campus, not downtown. Where to eat first, when to book, and where to park at the Cohn, from a Filipino restaurant on Barrington Street.
Barrios Restaurant & Bar
10/5/20265 min read
Restaurants Near the Rebecca Cohn: Dinner Before a Concert in Halifax
If you are looking for restaurants near the Rebecca Cohn, here is dinner at Barrios Kitchen & Bar, a Filipino restaurant downtown, planned around a concert on campus.
The Rebecca Cohn Auditorium is at 6101 University Avenue, inside the Dalhousie Arts Centre on the Studley campus. It seats 1,023 and is often called the largest soft-seat venue in Halifax. The Arts Centre opened in 1971, and the Cohn is where Symphony Nova Scotia plays.
It is not downtown. That is the thing to plan around.
We are at 1571 Barrington Street, down the hill. Dinner with us and a concert at the Cohn is a two-part evening: chicken inasal or a sizzling plate of sisig downtown, then the trip up to campus. It works, as long as you build the trip in rather than discovering it on the night.
The trip up to campus
From our door to the Arts Centre is about twenty-five minutes on foot, twelve minutes on the bus plus the wait at the stop, and six minutes in a car. The walk heads up Spring Garden Road toward campus; check a map app for the route from our door.
Halifax Transit runs between downtown and the campus. A transit app will give you the route, the nearest stop and when the next bus is actually coming, which is worth checking on the night. Dalhousie and Saint Mary's students have the bus on the U-Pass from September through April.
For two or three people on a fixed start time, a cab from Barrington Street is about six minutes by car and usually the simplest answer.
If you are driving, read the parking section below before you go.
When to sit down
Check the start time on your ticket and work backwards from it.
For a 7:30 start, book a table with us for 5:30. That is dinner at a normal pace, the twenty-five minute walk if you want it, and time to find your seat.
Book ahead, or call 902-444-2515, and pick a table time that leaves room for the trip up. When you sit down, tell your server what time you need to leave.
What to order when you have somewhere to be
Chicken inasal, $22, is the cleanest single plate on the menu for a concert night. A citrus, garlic and spice marinade, garlic rice, a soy vinegar dipping sauce and pickled daikon and carrots. One plate, complete, and pork free.
Spring rolls, $9 for four, and the pork barbecue skewers, $15 for three, are easy starters to share. The spring rolls are filled with seasoned ground pork and vegetables, and the skewers are gluten free.
Pancit guisado at $17 goes in the middle if there are a few of you. Vermicelli and chow mein noodles with vegetables, and you choose chicken, crispy pork belly or shrimp with it at the same price, or vegetables and tofu if you ask.
If someone at the table does not eat meat, the pinakbet at $14 is listed on our menu as vegetarian and vegan-friendly: squash, beans, okra, eggplant and crispy tofu, made without bagoong or fish sauce. The torta at $12 is the eggplant omelette, vegetarian but not vegan.
Leave the crispy pata for another night. It is $27, it takes two hands and a pile of napkins, and it is better on a slower evening.
Halo-halo, when the chef has it on as a special, is a sit-down dessert. Keep that one for a night without a curtain time.
Rebecca Cohn parking
Symphony Nova Scotia publishes the parking rules. These were the terms when we checked in late September 2026, so check the page before you rely on them.
On-street parking near the Arts Centre is free after 6 PM on weekdays and all day on weekends. Outside those hours you pay through the HotSpot app.
The two parkades work on an earlier clock. The CSB Parkade is free after 4:30 PM on weekdays and all day on weekends. The McCain Parkade charges a flat rate through HotSpot on the same schedule.
Watch the difference. The 4:30 line belongs to the parkades. On the street it is 6 PM, so a car left at the curb at five o'clock on a Tuesday still has to pay.
Before 4:30 on a weekday, read the signs either way. Some of those spaces are reserved or permit only.
After the show
Friday and Saturday, we are open until 11 PM and the last seating is 10 PM. If the concert ends by about 9:30 and you drive back down, you may still make the last seating. The drive is about six minutes, but getting out of the hall and parking take time too, so it is tight. Call ahead. If it ends at ten, eat before instead.
Tuesday to Thursday we close at 9 PM. On those nights it is dinner before and nothing after.
Sunday is Filipino brunch, 10:30 AM to 4 PM, $29 for adults, $15 for children 12 and under and free for children 5 and under, and nothing after it. A Sunday matinee works with brunch first. A Sunday evening show does not.
Mondays we are closed. For a group of eight or more on any night, call ahead.
What else is in the building
The Arts Centre holds more than the Cohn. The Dalhousie Art Gallery is in the same building, along with the Sir James Dunn Theatre, the Joseph Strug Concert Hall, a sculpture garden and Dalhousie's Fountain School of Performing Arts. Check their own hours if you want to see any of it, because a concert ticket does not come with them.
The front doors on University Avenue are the entrance to use. Symphony Nova Scotia calls them the preferred entrance, and they have an accessible ramp and a barrier-free door.
Quick answers
Are there restaurants near the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium?
The Cohn is on the Dalhousie campus rather than downtown, so most of the city's restaurants are a trip away from it. Barrios Kitchen & Bar serves Filipino food at 1571 Barrington Street, downtown, and is worth building into the evening rather than squeezing in.
Where is the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium?
6101 University Avenue, in the Dalhousie Arts Centre on Dalhousie's Studley campus. It seats 1,023 and it is home to Symphony Nova Scotia.
Where do I park at the Rebecca Cohn?
On-street parking is free after 6 PM on weekdays and all day on weekends. The CSB Parkade is free after 4:30 PM on weekdays and all day on weekends, and the McCain Parkade is a flat rate through the HotSpot app on that same schedule. Before 4:30 on a weekday, check the signs for reserved and permit-only spaces.
What time should we eat before a 7:30 concert?
Book for 5:30 and tell your server when you need to leave. Allow twenty-five minutes if you are walking up, twelve on the bus, six by car.
Can we eat after a concert?
Sometimes. On Friday and Saturday the last seating is 10 PM, so it can work if the concert ends by about 9:30 and you drive, but call ahead. Tuesday to Thursday we close at 9 PM, so eat before. Closed Mondays.
Where is Barrios?
1571 Barrington Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 1Z7. Filipino food, Tuesday to Saturday from 11:30 AM, until 9 PM Tuesday to Thursday and 11 PM Friday and Saturday. Sunday brunch 10:30 AM to 4 PM. Closed Mondays. Call 902-444-2515 or see the menu. Prices shown are from our current menu and may change.