Best New Restaurant

"There's a lot of new high-end restaurants in town," says Sketti & Ball Co co-owner Geir Simensen. "That's the opposite of what Sketti is. We make all of our pasta upstairs, we make our meatballs, we make all the food from scratch -- so we're high-end in that regard -- but as far as [atmosphere], it's really come as you are. It's date night; it's before the show; it's casual."

Since its opening last December on Argyle Street, the choose-your-own-pasta-and-sauce joint has come into its own as a Halifax favourite for its larger-than-life mozza sticks and its pastas, ranging from chicken parm to winter squash cavatelli.

"We try and be a little playful," Simensen tells The Coast. "We're not an Italian restaurant, so we don't want to be pigeonholed with too much [of that], but at the same time, we're certainly not going to shy away from it."