Alma Montreal

Conrado

2.0

This review is written from a Mexican perspective & specifically regarding the taco omakase: YMMV. 0) booze selection: seems like the sommelier said "I am in charge of the booze & I don't care what anyone thinks" "Il y aura aussi des margaritas, des mezcals & des bières disponibles pour cette occasion! " "Une selection de jerez, tequila, mezcal & vin doux est également disponible ainsi que des margaritas". Lies... Mezcal: cheapest SAQ option, 1 option. Tequila: cheapest SAQ option, 1 option. Cerveza/beer: most commercial Spanish beer, 1 option. Cocktails: margarita (1 flavour) or mezcalita (1 flavour). 1) First dish was agua de tortilla. Just tortillas mixed with water, sugar & cinnamon. Minimal effort but fine... 2) Second dish was an aguachile with tortilla chips. Very delicious aguachile but only 5 tortilla chips. At least give me an even number of chips if I they are meant to be shared between two people. Also, nowhere near the proper amount of chips for the amount of aguachile which was very generous. 3) Third dish was A tostada... to share between two people. First time I had ever have to share a tostada. Not even physically possible to do it cleanly unless the tostada is getting soggy... which it was getting there... 4) Fourth dish was an octopus taco. I was afraid I was going to share one taco with my partner but we each got our own & it was delicious so nothing to complain here. 5) Fifth dish was a filet mignon carpaccio taco with a black garlic salsa; each our own. The filet mignon had 0 seasoning & it was placed on top of the garlic salsa covering the entire tortilla. Who in Mexico hides their salsa?!?! Besides not appreciating the salsa itself & making the tortilla soggy, in this particular execution, you take a bite & it tastes like tortilla + unseasoned beef & suddenly... boom! Garlic bomb! I was surprised no one internally picked this up. 6) Fish "Zaranzeado" with A tortilla. Surprisingly, the misspelling wasn't the worst part since what I was fearing the most happened: a single tortilla to share. I asked for another one & I was denied my request. FYI: in Mexico we get a side of tortillas with tortilla-based dishes. It kept getting worse: the tortilla had imprinted the name of the restaurant, which they obviously had to do in advance, so the "special" tortilla was soggy & room temperature. (Second) First time ever in my life sharing a tortilla which is pretty sad because the fish was seasoned & cooked perfectly. 7) The dessert amazing! Check Chef Mariana's Carlota Boulangerie Mexicaine. My favourite spot in town for Mexican pastries. She even went to our table to say hi & ask for feedback rather than having mezcal shots like the head chef did between dinner services. We are a generous culture. My blood is made mostly of corn. I am sorry, but I cannot have a lot of sympathy for a Mexican owner of a high-end restaurant who denies me an extra tortilla in QC while I can get it for free from any senito in MX selling way better street food.

Rodrigo

3.0

We got the tasting menu, food very well presented, but portions & flavors were not at its best. We had an apéro before going to the restaurant & after the end of dinner we ended up good in terms of appetite. I can imagine someone going with an empty stomach not having a good time regarding portions. Overused the olive oil in many dishes, lacking acidity on others, two steps were too salty & one dish didn't even have the black garlic mayo (described by the server, when I asked him where the black garlic mayo was located in the taco he pointed me out some fried crunchy pieces of garlic in oil) if you run out of an ingredient communication between kitchen & front of the house is basic so the server will give the proper excuses before & not making him look like a fool.

Luke

3.0

Service & vibes were excellent. Food was overall pretty good, but could use some more refining. For example, the shrimp taco was very bland, the tetala could have used more sweet potato, & the beef tongue had wayy too much mayo. However, the corn madeleines & queso fresco were delightful, & we loved the crudo. The portions were tiny, we had the 9 course menu for 2 & it felt like we split a set course for one. We had to eat elsewhere after, despite paying 280$ already.