Elena delivers a lively but welcoming Italian experience with a menu praised for pizza and pasta, including the Dany pizza and Mafalda al ragu, along with fresh salads and bread, while the wine list and desserts are frequently highlighted and service is often described as attentive; the atmosphere ranges from buzzy and loud when crowded to cozy and intimate in quieter moments, and some visits note pacing issues, occasional delays, and prices that can feel high for portions, though many reviewers consider Elena one of the best spots for pizza and salads in Montreal.
Excellent!
My daughter surprised me with a birthday dinner at Elena. When we arrived, our table was not ready & our host Olivier sat us at the bar & suggested a glass of bubbly wine while we waited. Once seated at our table, our server was very friendly & attentive. We started with the olives & the salumi - both very good quality. We then shared a Caesar Salad & the Supplì. The salad was tasty & you could tell that the dressing was made in house. The supplì were just as good as the ones I had in Rome. We then had the pasta special, triangular ravioli with ricotta & artichokes, with a very light sauce made with mint, lemon zest & Parmesan … what a surprise!! It was delicious & refreshing & very well designed. We also had the AP style pizza which was amazing. We had gelato for dessert, the pistachio was to die for ! During the meal the service was great, & Olivier was knowledgeable & great at suggesting wine pairings.
We will definitely be back!
2026: nice olives & bread to start, but would be nice if olive oil had a little balsamic. The suppli Al telefono were better than typical arancini. Funguy pizza was overflowing with mushrooms. The lamb pasta was delicious. Tiramisu tres leches was perfect, best of both desserts. My friend enjoyed her chocolate cannolis.
Service was friendly. Suggested wine was great. Été something. Lighting could still be better, it felt dark rather than intimate. Maybe some fake candles?
2024: The Dany pizza was delicious & creative with the sesame spinach honey combo, but I didn't like how wet it was, like all the toppings just slide off as soon as you lift it up.
The Gigi pasta was a interesting bitter mix of flavours with the fennel & arugula, but there was barely any sausage in it.
Olive oil cake was nice but pretty dry compared to other olive cakes I've had. I know the cream+olive oil is there to compensate but it's not the same.
Cannolis were delicious & well presented, available without the pistachios if you have an allergy.
The Barbossa is a smooth young red wine accompaniment
Service was very attentive & efficient. Glasses were never empty. Decor was typical modern industrial. If there was music, it wasn't memorable.
Mar 15, 2026
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Reserved a seat for a small group a week in advance, only to be placed at the bar table right by the entrance door. The pizzas were pretty mediocre, burnt (not leoparding, just burnt & bitter) & the crust was dense & lacked air pockets, I'm quite sure the entire batch was under-proofed that day.
Wrote in the reservation notes that we we're celebrating a birthday but it was a surprise. Immediately on arrival, the hostess mentioned the birthday (bummer). Barely any service, it took twenty minutes before I had to ask who I could order with. The waitress came by twice in the +2hours we were there & didn't speak a word. Not one hi & did not check in to see if the food was okay. We honestly didn't even know she spoke English until we asked for the bill. Our entire table works in service & we can all say that the servers go around looking at the tables but don't actually speak to their clients unless its to collect their payment. We never tip less than 20% but tonight, tipping 15% felt wrong considering the only service we truly got was from the bartender (he took our order as well). Probably best as a takeout spot…..
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Although most people seem to go for the pizza, I go for the salads. Always fresh, well composed & delicious. They may look like a medium sized salad, but trust me there's a lot in that bowl. Only attempt to eat one yourself if you're super hungry.
UPDATE: The loss of the back terrasse is sad. It was so much more pleasant than sitting in a terrasse in a reclaimed parking spot right next to Notre Dame St. Traffic.
The white shop towels are sure to cover any dark clothing with a pile of white lint balls.
What was a great kale Caesar now has an overly sharp dressing with way too much vinegar.
Waiting 45 minutes for a pizza on a Tuesday night just after 5:00 in an empty restaurant is an unacceptable attempt to run a bar bill.
Nous étions deux, assis au bar. Nous avons été pris en charge rapidement par le barman & notre serveur. Leur service était irréprochable.
Côté repas, tous étaient excellents. Arancini & polpettes en entrée, suivi d'une pizza style napolitaine & d'un plat de pâtes fraîches maison savoureux. Mention spéciale pour le gelato, qui était d'une onctuosité comme je n'en avais jamais gouté.
This is our second time coming to Elena. We visited back in August for our anniversary. I requested Elena for my birthday dinner, my husband made a reservation & put dinning room in the comments section.
We arrived & was told they only had the bar, or one table available only for an hour. We decided to stay, & would just eat fast.
Ordered a salad, & two pizzas.
When our pizza arrived one was completely cold, & the other was room temp/ warm.
Not the hot fresh out the oven I was expecting.
I usually don't care for pizza, but had such a great time in August, that I asked to come back to celebrate my special day.
Not sure what happened tonight, but I'm extremely disappointed.
Sep 30, 2025
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Everything - top to bottom was approachable, the menu was beautifully simple while allowing us to really get something each of us wanted. The servers were lovely, & the central bar design is unique! I loved the food so so much. Somehow my favourite thing we ate was the cauliflower. Cocktails were also great! What can be said other than we are in debt to those who recommended us.
We popped in for a takeout. We ordered 1 pizza & 1 pasta. The order took more than 30 minutes to arrive. The pizza was burnt & the pasta's was barely warm. A bit disappointed by such a nice place. Quality inconsistent.
Nice hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The space itself is quite small & despite reservation we were seated at the bar, which wasn't ideal. Food is delicious, especially the ragu, but is somewhat pricey for what you get. Service was excellent.
The staff was rude & said ! we booked a table for 6:30pm arrived 10 min later & she told us the table is booked at 7:30 pm & we have to give up a table by then! what do you mean you got rush us during our meal lol! that was rude & unacceptable! cool place un organized staff! bartenders are great tho
Jun 2, 2025
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My friend & I are seated at the bar. We didn't know what wine to get but the waitress was very helpful. Service is top-notch! Love the ambience & food is great.
Been coming here for years ! Love it ! Sister to Nora Gray & Gia . All super solid spots . This place is so versatile. Date night ✅ Group party ✅ Pit stop in the back for a hoagie, pie & glass of wine ✅ sit at he bar, sit at a booth , sit downstairs it's all good the food is top top. The vibe is top . Love it Have eaten around the world & will always love this restaurant.
The pictures are from different dinning experiences at Elena over the years !
Check it out you won't regret it
Great design & music inside. I love how all the tables in the dining room are against the wall & so you get benches & chairs all around. Warm & welcoming space although having come in the winter, I bet the people at the bar & on the first few tables felt a strong draft when the door opened. Service was very attentive & quick. The food was bang on. Polpette & beets starters were incredible. The meatballs were delicate & served in a delicious red sauce. The beets also had a distinct flavor, almost like they had been seared, & the stracciatella was like bufala x10. For mains we had the Diviola pizzas. Crust had some crispy bits & some chew, the sauce was sweet but I liked it & the peperoncino & sausage on the za was off the charts. Definitely would go again & would be really curious about the pasta.
Jan 8, 2025
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this is a very nice restaurant with great food. Menu is very small font , which I don't usually mind, but sitting at the bar where there is dim to no light, you are recommended by the staff to use your phone light to read it. It takes time at an empty bar to get the attention of the waiting staff, but when they notice you , are very polite. I would love to visit again to take a final decision if my review stays the same. I had heard a lot about this restaurant so I hope this would be different next time.
We were seated at the bar. Bartender who also took our orders was very attentive, friendly & explained the menu well. The restaurant itself has very dim lighting with minimal decoration. Trendy yet simple. We ordered the supplì, Dante salad, beet with stracciatella, diavolo pizza & the special pasta of the night which was ravioli stuffed with butternut squash in a butter sage sauce. For dessert we got the olive oil cake which was super moist! All tasted great but i wasn't blown away either. Very basic italian dishes. Service was great & did not feel rushed. Not sure i would go back just because the menu didn't make me curious for more.
My experience began with the reservation platform giving me an error message for 20 min & then we called. Called no answer but we got a call back. We didnt ask where we would be seated because we didnt know the layout of the place so we ended up being placed at the bar .... by the door ( ....so ask ). The kale ceasar salad was great with a mountain of parmesan cheese & the right amount of dressing . Now for the pizza our choices were diavolo 2.0 & the funghi ; for me the tomato sauce was too watery the meat didnt have as much flavor or kick as i wouldve expected from a diavolo so the whole thing fell through but i really enjoyed the funghi that had the flavor of the mushroom & parmesan collide in harmony, i will add that the crust was perfect in both. The pasta ( all'amatriciana) was average at best ,with so many good italian restaurants in the city unfortunately this one did not bring it home for me, the guanciale was burnt & again the sauce was watery. The dessert : Gateau au Chocolat , is a brownie texture shaped into a cake slice topped with ice cream , good but maybe heated ? The service was good & the staff was knowledgeable & at your service , simple & effective. Overall not a bad experience but will i go back ? Maybe , hopefully to have a better culinary experience that would be up to the hype. Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4
Food was tasty & the ingredients were high quality. Had both the past & pizza & both surprised me with their quality. Service was also really good we sat at the bar & were well taken care of
