Inspired by Paris’s golden-era brasseries, Brasserie 701 welcomes you in a chic decor with its grandiose neo-classical architecture and a lively ambiance. The bustling brasserie serves French brasserie classics from breakfast through supper every day, with brunch served on weekends.
Specialties
Fruits de Mer, Beef, Fresh Oysters, veal, Lamb, Cheeses, Burgers
Does Brasserie 701 have a private room for group events or parties?
Yes, Brasserie 701 offers a private room available for group dining, private parties, corporate meetings, and special celebrations. Contact the restaurant directly to discuss availability and group menus.
Brasserie 701 is widely celebrated for its stunning architecture, elegant ambiance, and exceptional location in Old Montreal. Many guests appreciate the high-quality French cuisine, highlighting standout dishes like the steak frites, duck confit, and various brunch offerings, which are often complemented by a well-curated wine selection and creative cocktails. While service experiences can occasionally vary, the establishment is frequently praised for having a professional, warm, and attentive team that goes above and beyond to ensure memorable experiences for birthdays, anniversaries, and group gatherings. Despite some feedback regarding occasional noise or timing, the overall consensus points to a beautiful, welcoming destination that offers a sophisticated dining experience.
An absolutely exceptional experience from start to finish! Laeticia was hands down the best server we've had in a long time: warm, attentive, & full of great recommendations without being pushy. She made the whole evening feel special.🌖
Food-wise, the duck parmentier was outstanding, rich, perfectly executed comfort food done right. The oysters, mimosa eggs & the fish were a beautiful, delicate touch alongside it. & the Mont Royal cocktail? Incredible, perfectly balanced & a great way to start the night. ✨
Everything from the food to the service to the atmosphere was top notch. Can't wait to come back & ask for Laeticia, you won't be disappointed!
We dined here for both dinner & breakfast. The breakfast was delicious & prepared very well, no issues.
Dinner was another story. The service was not great. They forgot about our food order & we didn't receive our meal until almost 45 minutes later. My friend's shrimp meal arrived cold. My chicken dish was not delicious at all, the chicken was greasy & the weird tomato & eggplant pancake was inedible. Our server also would disappear for long periods of time. Not the greatest dinner experience.
Our waitress Elodie was very friendly. She was alone serving a full section & remained friendly & checked in on us when she could. The food arrived cold & the'poached' egg was completely solid & hard boiled so that was disappointing. The food was fine overall but probably would've been better if it was warm. It was comical to watch the rest of the staff maneuver around our drinks when they came up at the bar; we watched 3 servers in a row unload entire trays of dishes over top of our drinks & no one ran them :(
Thick cappuccino with the milk at the correct temperature. It's a simple thing that mean a lot. Eggs Benedict also definitely much better than your average. Something about the sauce or the ham elevated it. The interior boasts excellent window views & the ceilings have ornate plaster molding. Great service too.
Our visit to Brasserie 701 started off on a sour note. Right from the beginning, our server, Mathilde (name on our bill, as she did not introduce herself), was quite rude when we mentioned we had an extra guest joining. The restaurant hadn't picked up the phone any of the times we called, so we couldn't inform them in advance, & she made it clear she wasn't happy about the change. That set a really uncomfortable tone.
Mathilde's rudeness wasn't just a one-time thing. She was condescending when we asked for five extra minutes to order at 6:55 (reservation was at 6:45), made snarky comments when we requested more bread after making us wait one hour after the first bread was served, & didn't listen at all when we tried to explain that our steaks were incorrect & why they were incorrect. Mathilde responded with visible impatience & rudeness. She rolled her eyes, made snide remarks, & generally didn't set a welcoming tone the entire time she was serving us.
We ended up waiting over two hours before actually getting our food. Naturally, asking for some extra bread just to hold us over didn't mean Mathilde could be pretty snarky about it & didn't need to make it clear that bread wasn't unlimited & basically treating us like we were asking for something unreasonable. The entire table was left wondering what was the cause of this mistreatment. As the table was full of young professionals, we decided that it was not okay for anyone to go through this & this ended up hitting a nerve after multiple disrespectful actions coming from the server. I requested a manager to take control of the situation & find us a new server just after my steak was wrong for a second time.
On the positive side, once it became clear that things were really not going well, especially after I received two steaks in a row that were cooked wrong (I ordered medium-rare & got well-done twice, & two other guests also got the wrong doneness) the manager, William JF, stepped in. He was truly kind & attentive, took over the table, & really tried to help us out after all the chaos. Thanks to him, we at least felt like someone was on our side & was listening & trying to make things right.
However, by the end of the night, even with his help, the experience just didn't fully recover. Although he credited the steaks & was willing to give me something else besides the steak, I truly was already without appetite by that point in the night. I just ate what I consider sacrilegious (a well-done steak, hard to cut, hard to chew, tasted like burned) that I didn't order because he suggested I change the plate. While William did his best to help & credited the dish, the overall experience never recovered from how poorly the service & the cooking were handled.
We were left waiting far too long for our meals, & the initial rudeness & mix-ups really overshadowed what should have been a nice dinner. In short, while we appreciated the manager's efforts, the evening ended up being more frustrating than enjoyable. The minimum respect expected was not received. We wondered if we did something wrong & felt like we were walking on eggshells around the initial server. While we were thanking her with a lot of kindness, she was responding with a lot of negativity. This is not the experience we had in mind when choosing this place to eat.
I personally have been to many different restaurants & have visited this restaurant for brunch on previous occasions, & I have never been treated this way before. Neither at the lowest nor the highest type of restaurants ever before. This speaks volume.
Our favorite restaurant for breakfast/brunch & to our surprise this morning our favorite breakfast plate was no longer available . The plate -eggs, fruit, waffle & chicken . Please bring it back as it's a popular one . Everything in one plate :(
Our omelettes were disappointing , & presentation :(
The breakfast was reasonably priced & very tasteful. The portion was also plentiful. This is coming from a guy who is used to eating from buffets for a vacation breakfast.
However, because our hotel's breakfast sucked, we went here.
The fruit was fresh & the environment was clean.
We got the two-eggs-your-way & it was amazing.
The drinks (smoothie,hot chocolate, coffee) were presented nicely.
I liked that the menu was short, nobody wants to read for breakfast.
The only gripe I have is that the bread should have come with butter without us asking, but that is a small gripe.
The jam was also slightly loose & unappetizing, but because the rest was so amazing , this place gets 5 stars.
If you think duck confit with pears poached in maple syrup is a good idea for a truly Canadian version of Eggs Benedict for brunch, then run to Brasserie 701 in Montréal! Sonia was our vivacious server but truly the whole team deserves an ensemble Academy Award. The 701 staff are the nicest people on the planet! You can also try the margret duck breasts for dinner, served on mashed carrots in maple syrup. Apple wine a must! GO!
