New Montreal Restaurant Thread

[lgna69xxx]

After over a year of Special K and Eagerbeaver telling me i must go to Beijing, i took the plunge tonight. Not the easiest place to get to but well worth the trip. I got the Beef Chow Ho, chicken fried rice and 2 egg rolls...... in a word, FANTASTICO! Total was around $22 but it is enuf for 2 people easily and or for having leftovers. Never realised but this place is open til 4am fri and sat and 2am on sunday. Beav, next time i will try the shrimp with lobster sauce. :thumb:

 

[foobarator]

Les Trois Brasseurs on Ste Catherine facing Eaton's

I've been there lately on a semi regular basis. Not the best beer if you compare to other micro brew pubs in Montreal, and not the best food if you compare to other restaurants BUT overall for the price and service you get a VERY decent place with very good meals and quite good beer. So far I've been mostly ordering their chicken wraps and they are quite big and tasty, big enough that I don't need to order any additional food, and at around $10 for a plate along with french fries, it makes for a happy meal.

As for their beer, their IPA seems to be their best fallowed by their Amber. Both of them are quite spicy and refreshing. I'm mostly a stout drinker so for me to repeat at this place, either their beer and food is mighty good or there is something else.

You'll be judge on their beer and meals, as for the "something else" well for me it is their main barmaid that works daytime, a Neve Campbell clone or should I say "sosie" I think her name is Caroline/Carolina. And if you're like me and another million other guys out there, then you have to go there and check her out. Man when I first spotted her I was like "No way!! Wow!" but Yes she is VERY hot and she's quite down to earth not conceited at all. I'm not that good at small chit chat so I don't bug her at all and after my second pint I become quite aware that I'm staring. So I get this mantra going "must not stare, must not stare" that I keep repeating until I finish my beer. So far so good, I'm still alive, so she hasn't kill me (yet), and my nose still looks normal, so she hasn't punched me yet. But my god she's so hot! Anyway for those Neve Campbell aficionados she's a must see.

 

[UncleBob]

Brasserie Fiesta Anjou

http://www.brasseriefiesta.com/

Excellent Home meals! Everytime I go there I'm delighted. I'll drive the long way to stop by.
Even the Paté Chinois (Shepperd Pie) is amazing!
Included dessert is usually very good too. Their Poor's Men Pudding (Pudding Chômeur) is the best I had so far.

At least two very good looking waitress, two average, two less than average. Most of them are very friendly and very competent.

 

[bigjean]

As for their beer, their IPA seems to be their best fallowed by their Amber. Both of them are quite spicy and refreshing.

Yup the Amber is really tasty! It's not very expensive, 2 pint, 1 flammekueche, the incredible waffle, a "5 à 7 discount". I always sit at the bar, the staff are really friendly in general, it's one of my regular place watch a game. The one near Crescent it's really great too.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Time to post some updates in this thread.

I went to Montreal with a friend this past weekend and we had all good meals. Friday night we had a pre-GT sushi dinner at Mikasa, an old standby resto of mine around the corner from the Omni on Peel. We ordered gyoza (shrimp dumplings) harumaki (a Japanese seafood spring roll) and then salads and a bunch of fancy combo sushi rolls. This place is a bit pricy but I have always liked their sushi and never had a bad meal there. Everything we got was good and one roll in particular was outstanding. My friend put in a second order for it. Was tuna and a bunch of other things, well arranged and presented.

Saturday before the Habs game we had dinner at La Medusa, an Italian restaurant on Drummond. In the past I had been here a few times, including back in 2006 for a well attended Celine's Fantasies dinner. They now have a second dining room downstairs that I do not recall. It is a small back room that features a small bar, a private wine rack and a big screen TV on which they were showing the Alouettes game. We ordered buffalo mozzerrella as an app and then my friend got a pasta dish with meat sauce while I ordered the chicken fiorentina, a fileted chicken breast with melted mozz, spinach and prosciutto. The food was very good.

We had breakfast Saturday at the Chez Cora on Drummond. The food was good but I am not crazy about the way they prepare their scrambled eggs and am generally fussy about eggs when eating out. For lunch Saturday I sat at the 2nd floor terrace at Winnies on Crescent Street and ordered a Caesar Salad with chicken while my friend smoked a cigar, drank an excellent tawny port wine and nibbled on a fruit cup.

Sunday we stuck around for the breakfast buffet at the Omni which was good. They had scrambled eggs with some kind of cheese which was tasty although not heated sufficiently, burrito shaped omelettes that were precooked, pancakes (American style), French toast, ham, bacon, sausage and smoked salmon which was of decent quality, and there were also lots of croissants and pastries to choose from. Hot coffee was served in a carafe. $20 plus tax per person, kinda pricy but I thought the food was good.

 

[smuler]

Thanks for the updates

Especially about Chez Cora

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[Madmanacross]

La Maison de cari Golden est une place géniale si vous aimez la nourriture indienne; le décor est vraiment moche, mais la bouffe est tout simplement fantastique.

http://www.restaurantmaisondecarigolden.com/fr/

 

[lgna69xxx]

Jimmy Restaurant 3924 rue Hochelaga

Went here a few days ago with a couple buddies, and myself not being a breakfast person, usually never order it but for some reason was in the mood so my friend orders the same for all three of us, the Big Plate he called it. First came a coffee, then a fruit cup (very good) then the big plate which should of been called the HUGE PLATE!

2 eggs, hashbrowns, side of baked beans, bacon, sausage,french toast (amazing), a pancake, some fresh tomato slices and 2 slices of toast! None of us finished it all but what a great way to start the day, at almost noon, lol.

Did not see how much it was as my friend would not let us pay but i think it was around $10 each including tip.

 

[smuler]

I'm confused

Yelp lists it as a pizza place ?

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[EagerBeaver]

To me Nickels is the preeminent Montreal greasy spoon breakfast destination.

 

[lgna69xxx]

You obviously have never been to Jimmy Resto, Beav.

To me Nickels is the preeminent Montreal greasy spoon breakfast destination.

 

[EagerBeaver]

iburger

I have seen the first restaurant in Montreal that is exclusively a creation of the 21st Century, and it is iburger (on Metcalfe between St. Catherine and Rene Levesque).

It's got a business plan that applies smartphone technology to dining. Every table in the restaurant is a giant touch screen computer with your menu on it. No more hard copy menus. It's all in the computer screen. You can scroll through appetizers, entrees, burgers, salads and drinks and make your choice. You simply select your dish and then a menu will pop up itemizing any extra choices to your selected dish. Once you are finished, you simply hit complete order. No waiter involvement in taking your order. You are your own waiter via the touch screen ordering process.

Of course, this novel dining concept would not work if the food sucks, and iburger's food is good. I ordered a grilled chicken salad that came with mangos, avocados, tomatoes and tossed in a light citrus dressing. At $15.95 it was better than Winnie's comparable Winnie's salad that is priced at $16.95. I also could not resist the temptation to order the Baileys Cheesecake which is a cheesecake soaked in Baileys and served with a berry garnish.

In 50 years all restaurants will be set up like iburger and we will remember that they started this dining revolution.

When the waitress brought me my bill which was modest for what I ate, I asked her if this type of self ordering hurt the tips of the wait staff. She said that it did not. She said that the self ordering reduced customer frustration with waiters who are perceived to have screwed up an order. She said at iburger, the customer has complete control over the ordering process and that leads to a happy, satisfied customer. And better tips.

The house specialty is higher end burger dishes. Although not as expensive as mburger, the burger dishes looked elaborate and well prepared from what I could see.

This is a place I will definitely be back to soon!

 

[Special K]

No waiter involvement in taking your order but someone does convey your dinner to your table, right? They don't shout a number and you go and get it?

 

[hungry101]

these are starting to pop up in the airports. Your order is processed somewhere in New Deli and forwarded back to the kitchen. I see absolutely no advantage as a customer with the acception you can browse the web while waiting for your burger.

 

[EagerBeaver]

No waiter involvement in taking your order but someone does convey your dinner to your table, right? They don't shout a number and you go and get it?

No there are waiters and they bring you water and your meal and also ask you if you want anything else. So it is not completely automated. As hungry101 mentioned they have Wifi and you can surf while you wait for your food.

I should mention that when I went back a second time for lunch the tables were not working throughout the restaurant, and the waitress took my order the old fashioned way.

 

[EagerBeaver]

This is just an update on my second trip to iburger. This time I tried the pecan crusted goat cheese salad with pears and berry vinaigrette dressing. It was very good. As previously mentioned the computer screens on the tables were not working, so the waitress took my order manually. Iburger seems busier at dinner than at lunch despite serving good entree salads that make a good lunch. I still have not tried one of their burgers. But they do have a few burgers on the menu, including one with foie gras, that are quite expensive.

 

[Doc Holliday]

This is just an update on my second trip to iburger..... I still have not tried one of their burgers. But they do have a few burgers on the menu, including one with foie gras, that are quite expensive.

I appreciate your restaurant reviews, especially this particular one. However, why did you chose this particular eating place if you had no intention of trying out one of their hamburgers?? This is just like going to KFC and not having any chicken, or going to Burger King and not having any burgers. It's mindboggling if you ask me.

 

[EagerBeaver]

There is actually a simple answer which is that iburger has a nice selection of entree salads and most downtown restaurants do not. I thought I already mentioned this. The salads at Winnie's and elsewhere are average. I had two entree salads at iburger and both were well above average. Compared to Winnie's and Baton Rouge the entree salads are substantially cheaper and much better. It is a no brainer.

The third time I went to iburger I sat at the bar and noticed another glitch. I ordered 2 items and got charged for 3 when I got my bill. I noticed nachos, which I had not ordered, on my bill. The waitress then explained the last guy that sat in that spot and ordered on that screen had eaten nachos. So I would advise checking the bill when it comes which you should do anyway.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Crescent Sushi

I was disappointed to see that my go-to downtown sushi restaurant, Mikasa, is apparently closed pending the completion of what appears to be a massive renovation or restoration project to the facade of the Residence Inn on Peel, the same building which, on the ground floor, houses Mikasa. This has apparently been in the works since a slab fell off the facade of the building and killed a woman dining at Mikasa back in the summer of 2009. In any event, the closure of Mikasa left me looking for a new go-to sushi restaurant downtown. For now, it is Crescent Sushi on Crescent Street.

I noticed this place on prior trips, and I made it here for dinner twice last week. On both evenings, the place was wildly busy and most of the customers, I would say close to 95%, are under the age of 25. They could film the restaurant scenes from the Logan's Run remake here. Crescent Sushi is a bit different dining experience than Mikasa. Mikasa is styled as a high-end sushi restaurant, with elaborate specialty rolls you do not see on very many sushi restaurant menus, an extensive selection of dishes, and extremely high quality that somewhat justifies the high price of dining there. Crescent Sushi, on the other hand, specializes in a la carte sushis and is catering to a budget conscious college crowd. The menu is extensive but fairly basic, and there are no creative house rolls as at Mikasa. Nevertheless, they do the basic a la carte sushi very well, prices are reasonable, and service is very efficient and fast. It reminds me of a New York style restaurant with its cramped seating, but this did not seem to dim the enthusiasm of the hordes of college kids who seem to flock to this place.

The best things I tried in my 2 meals were the barbecued eel, the smoked salmon rainbow roll, and the kamikaze roll.

It is a nice substitute for now, but I will look forward to the completion of the renovation of the Residence Inn so that Mikasa can once again get up and running. On my prior trip to Montreal in October I brought a friend who is a sushi aficionado to Mikasa and he thought it was the best sushi he had ever had. We ordered over $120 worth of sushi and he sent me an email after the trip saying that Mikasa was "the bomb" and a "must" visit on our next trip which I think will be in February. I am just hoping that Mikasa will be open again by then.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Baton Rouge

I originally wanted to stop for lunch on Friday at Eggspectation at the Complex Desjardins, but the line looked like a 30 minute wait just to get a table. I could not wait.

Knowing that Baton Rouge has a good selection of entree salads and it is right next door, I decided to go there. For the record, on my recent trips to Montreal I have eaten entree salads for lunch at the Keg, Madison's, Winnie's, Reuben's, and now iburger and Baton Rouge. For the record, the best entree salads are being served at Reuben's and iburger, with iburger's being by far the best value entree salad.

At Baton Rouge, I got the seared ahi tuna salad. This is an entree salad I frequently order back at home in the USA. The best seared ahi tuna salad I have ever had was at American Joe's Steakhouse in Fairfield, CT. I have had the salad at a number of other places as well.

Baton Rouge's seared ahi tuna salad is average. Most places serve it was a mound of wasabi, and the tuna is seared and crusted. At Baton Rouge, no wasabi and no crusting of the tuna. It was seared slightly too much. The salad portion was not bad - the dressing was tasty and it was a nice mix of greens. But for $20.99 I was expecting a little more. Basically it is overpriced, although BR is topped by Reuben's which is charging $21.99 for their seared asian tuna salad.