Damas ancre son identité culinaire dans des préparations syriennes authentiques qui mettent en lumière les techniques levantines traditionnelles. Les convives découvrent une vaste sélection de mezzés incluant un houmous velouté et un baba ghanouj fumé, accompagnés de viandes grillées avec une expertise technique. La cuisine privilégie des épices de haute qualité et des produits frais pour construire des profils aromatiques complexes caractéristiques du patrimoine moyen-oriental. Des plats emblématiques comme le fattouh et le kebbé témoignent d'un engagement envers une préparation minutieuse et des herbes audacieuses. La conception intérieure reflète la vitalité culturelle de la région par des textures complexes et un éclairage ambiant chaleureux. Cet établissement représente une destination majeure pour ceux qui recherchent une exploration approfondie de plats d'inspiration méditerranéenne préparés avec une précision rigoureuse. Chaque assiette souligne la richesse du paysage culinaire syrien tout en maintenant un équilibre structurel.
Damas est largement reconnu comme une destination culinaire de premier plan à Montréal, offrant une expérience gastronomique syrienne exceptionnelle, caractérisée par des saveurs authentiques vibrantes et une présentation soignée. Les convives louent fréquemment l'ambiance magnifique et élégante, qui sert de cadre chaleureux et accueillant pour des plats à partager tels que l'hummus signature, les tendres carrés d'agneau et les mezzés savoureux. Le service est constamment souligné comme une force majeure, avec un personnel professionnel et compétent qui se surpasse souvent pour garantir une visite mémorable grâce à des conseils avisés sur le menu et une attention constante. Bien que certains clients expriment des avis partagés concernant les prix et la taille des portions, beaucoup considèrent que le coût élevé est justifié par la grande qualité des ingrédients, la complexité du savoir-faire culinaire et l'expérience immersive globale qui incite les habitués à revenir pour des occasions spéciales.
For the price point, this experience was extremely disappointing. The food was good, not great. The server was friendly but the overall service was not at the quality expected for the price point. Food took too long to come so by the second course we were too full & had to cancel our remaining order. The end of the evening was the most disappointing as their dessert menu was absolutely not up to par, no pastries or cakes, just ice cream ($20 ice cream!!!) or baclava. Absolutely shocking to be paying that much for what you get. I would never recommend this restaurant. You will eat much better food at a hole in the wall falafel place.
We had dinner for two here & were apprehensive about price when looking at their online menu. Every dish we had was beautifully presented & was made with fresh & savory ingredients. Service was very attentive & unrushed. Seating was comfortable & environment very inviting. Yes this meal with be more expensive than at the average middle eastern restaurant in Montreal, but this is most certainly not your average middle eastern restaurant by any means.
I realize that this review will not make a dent in the overwhelmingly positive reviews, but I wanted to share our experience to add another perspective. We arrived with very high expectations due to the hype & went for the tasting menu with the premium wine package. In total we spent around $750 for two persons, a price level which obviously comes with expectations. The meal was completely fine, but underwhelming. The highlights were the amouse bouche, shrimp, & the "kiwi" dish. The rest was quite average. We never got to taste the dessert. Wine is, of course, a subjective matter, but while the sommelier seemed knowledgeable, many of the wines were too untraditional & special for our taste. Perhaps the regular wine pairing would have been a safer choice. The restaurant itself was nicely decorated, but the noise level where we were seated was very high. It was a struggle to keep a conversation going, requiring us to lean in & often repeat ourselves, which is not what we expect when spending that much on a couples dinner. We saw multiple other groups of customers getting moved to other parts of the restaurant, & assume they might have asked for that, to escape the noise. In hindsight, we should have done the same. While highly praised in other reviews, unfortunately the worst part of our experience was the service. Every single employee we were in contact with seemed nice & friendly, but while the waiter on water duty was attentive, unfortunately our main waiter was not. He excused himself after the first serving, assuring us that he had not forgotten us, but as the night wore on, it seems that he did. After finishing the servings of grilled meats, we sat for 40 minutes with no one approaching us or making any attempts to move on to the dessert. When we finally managed to get the attention of our main server, we had spent more than three hours on the meal & were more than ready to leave, so we ended up forgoing the dessert as we simply did not have the patience or energy to spend more time in the restaurant. Other customers that arrived much later than us, had finished their desserts, before we decided not to wait for ours. I am convinced that most other customers do not have the same experience that we do, but unfortunately it feels like we just threw a lot of money at something very disappointing.
One of the best restaurants in the city. Excellent food & service. Very pricey but you get what you paid for. I've tried the tasting menu several years ago & it was very good & way cheaper than it is now. I've also tried a la carte. Lamb is excellent. Everything is executed well. Definitely a special meal for a special occasion unless you have the wallet to eat here more than once a year. Highly recommend.
Very good food & flavors. Excellent wine list with incredible selections. Cocktail list is honestly pretty boring with a lot of redundant ingredients. Definitely a bit on the pricey side but worth a visit.
Damas is a famed Montreal restaurant that is hyped to be the best Syrian spot in town. The warm decor, beautiful lights, & upscale nature really makes this a place for special occasions. My friend was able to book us a table for a late night meal about a month in advance. They absolutely get booked up so if you want a table, be sure to plan ahead & make that reservation. Menu items are meant to be shared family style. As a vegan, it was admittedly hard for me to really justify ordering anything sharable that others would want given how pricy everything is on the menu. The two mezzes we had including the Fattoush Salad & their Hummus were already $50 for those alone, so you can imagine how high everything else would have been added up. I enjoyed the salad & its use of fresh ingredients, along with the hummus (which was by no means the best, but a solid hummus nonetheless). I really liked the circular pita that they provided with the hummus as it made for a great dipping mechanism for all of us. I don't think it's worth the price/value for someone that is plant based, despite them having options like grilled vegetables & what appeared to be a heartier legume dish. I think the price for these dishes is what get me so I can't in good faith absolutely recommend it unless you are someone that consumes animal products. With that said, the experience was great & I am very grateful to have even been a part of a meal with great company.
This place has a reputation & after all the hype we didn't feel like it lived up to it. Many if not most of the reviews talk about how excellent this place is if you're visiting Montreal - so, for a tourist experience or if you're not in the city often, it may hold up. But for these prices, & with so many wonderful options in this city, it was just way too much for too little. Good, solid tasty food, good service, a little slow, good cocktails, but with an atmosphere better suited for the'burbs. Overall should be half the price. Okay experience but won't be returning.
Everything was delicious! Price point is higher but the mains are shareable! The meat dish for 2-3 people is actually large enough for 3-4 people I would say.
