A summary of restos tried on my recent trip:
Kinko Izakaya, 1624 rue St. Catherine Ouest- This was the biggest disappointment of my trip, because great Yelp reviews were what led me there in the first place. Most Japanese restos fall into one of 3 specialty categories: sushi, hibachi or ramen. Kinko Izakaya is none of the above- it is one of a growing number of Japanese tapas restaurants, sort of its own genre. I didn't like the place at all, for the following reasons: (1) it's obnoxiously loud, with the chefs yelling and screaming whenever someone leaves the restaurant. I have seen this done before at traditional Japanese restaurants, but in a much more muted and civilized manner; (2) it's not at all original. 3 of the 4 dishes I got- fried prawns, fried vegetable gyoza, and baked oysters - were coated with different types of mayonnaise sauces. I understand that they are catering to the French Canadian palate, but serve the sauce on the side with a traditional ponzu or other matching sauce. Don't drown perfectly good shrimp and oysters with a sauce that I don't like with such dishes. I guess I didn't expect the sauces on the food, but it totally ruined 3 different dishes I had; (3) The oysters were prepared like Oysters Rockefeller, but with the addition of mayonnaise, which completely ruined it for me as well; (4) I ordered one of the 3 sushi dishes on the menu, pressed Atlantic Salmon sushi, which was also a disappointment primarily due to very high rice to fish ratio, and I hate restaurants that skimp on fish. However this was my favorite of the 4 dishes I ordered, and somewhat creative as the rice was nicely pressed with the fish into a compact rectangular piece, which held together firmly without a seaweed wrap. I do not recommend this place for all the above reasons.
Deville Dinerbar- this is now my favorite downtown restaurant and it produced my best meal of the trip. I ordered the cream of tomato soup (excellent, not too creamy) and the "Seoul Food Lettuce Tacos." This IS a creative dish, combining Korean and Mexican cuisines. They serve a beef short ribs bulgogi style with julienned veggies and kimchi, to be put in iceberg lettuce taco shells and then topped with sour cream, cheese and Asian tomato salad, which are all served on the side so you can combine as you wish. Delicious and I had more than enough lettuce shells.
I also ate there a second time and ordered my favorite salad, the Deville Macho Salad, although I asked to substitute steak for chicken and they wouldn't do it, which disappointed me. My friend had the sea bass special which she reported was very good.
Mai Xiang Yuan - the one at 1929 St. Catherine in Chinatown 2, not Chinatown 1. This time I tried the fried beef and onion dumplings, but they are not as good as the boiled for some reason. The dumplings are quite tasty though.
Cafe Vasco de Gama, Peel- this is a Portuguese Cafe that is serving breakfast/brunch and I stopped in for a late breakfast. I got the "classique wrap", which is ham, eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese and spinach in a wheat wrap. It was okay, nothing special. It's not a really well organized place. It's a decent downtown option, although the food is typically overpriced as are all the downtown places except the ones in the 2 Chinatowns.