Classiques de restaurants du Vieux-Montréal au coeur de la Petite Bourgogne. Un hommage à Charles "Joe-Beef" McKiernan, héros de la classe ouvrière du 19ième siècle. A deux pas mi-ivres du célèbre Marché Atwater. Steaks et fruits de mer.
Les avis convergent sur une expérience culinaire riche et généreuse, typique d'une institution montréalaise où l'ambition est au rendez-vous et l'ambiance est dense et chaleureuse. Des plats phares comme le foie gras double down, les spaghettis au homard, le canard et le bœuf dans différentes cuissons reviennent souvent, accompagnés de desserts tels que la marjolaine et la mousse au chocolat qui marquent les esprits. Le service est fréquemment salué pour son attention, sa connaissance du menu et sa convivialité, même lors des soirs chargés, mais certains estiment que le prix est élevé et que les portions peuvent sembler justes pour le coût. Des détails récurrents évoquent une cuisine audacieuse et festive, où les saveurs s'affirment avec intensité et une certaine opulence, tout en restant accessible par l'ambiance et l'accueil. Des critiques notent aussi que la constance peut varier selon les plats et les jours, mais l'expérience globale est décrite comme mémorable et digne d'un retour, particulièrement pour les amateurs de fruits de mer, de viande généreuse et de desserts généreux. Globalement Joe Beef demeure un repère du paysage culinaire montréalais, synonyme de plaisir gourmand, d'énergie conviviale et d'un goût pour le raffinement sans prétention, même si le rapport prix-qualité peut prêter à débat.
Great good. We had the steak, oysters, clams, lobster spaghetti & the bloody ceasars....all items were top notch. The staff was great & friendly while service was fast. Prices are a bit on the higher side but well worth it & reasonable. Definitely would recommend. 10/10.
Hands down, one of my top restaurant experiences ever. Cozy, lively, warm atmosphere & funky decor. Service was attentive, yet laid back & fun - our server was very knowledgeable & made expert recommendations. We were there for dinner on a Friday night, & the restaurant was completely full. Everyone around seemed so happy, & I knew it was going to be great when the diners at the next table had their eyes rolling back into their heads after receiving their first course. Started off with a flight of oysters & the stone crab - incredibly fresh & the oyster from Maine was HUGE. Loved everything. From the entree section, we ordered the escargot & bone marrow dishes - the bone marrow was a standout & was served with a heavenly tomato cream sauce & perfectly grilled, buttery baguette. For the mains we ordered the lobster spaghetti & sweetbreads (the latter the suggestion of our server over the steak). Lobster spaghetti was one of the top 3 pasta dishes of my life & the sweetbreads were served with a slight char. Amazing. I didn't think I could do dessert, but somehow I found room. Ordered the banana crepe dish at our server's suggestion. Absolutely insanely good with perfect butterscotch sauce drowning a crepe wrapped around banana ice cream. Perfectly balanced - the flavor of banana was not too overpowering & whole dish not too sweet. Our server recommended a great port to pair with it. We had cocktails throughout which were all fantastic & expertly made - we tried the Kamakaze, the Manhattan, the Caballero & one lighter one made with cider & pear. Also if you're interested in the merch, you can get some at the restaurant (if the items are in stock on their website, they can get it for you). I got this sweatshirt! 100 percent will return & the experience was completely worth it !!
4 nov. 2023
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Joe beef is the top rank Canada restaurant & certainly I have high expectation. However high expectation means high disappointment. We ordered scallop sashimi (features of the day), escargot, lobster spaghetti, hanger steak & dessert? I expect wow factor in this meal, but end up wow, very average. The scallop sashimi has nothing special & cost $24 for two little scallops sashimi. The most disappointment is the $75 half lobster spaghetti. It is their signature plate, but the lobster is not fresh at all tonight, the lobster meat has no lobster taste & the meat is not firm. Overall, I don’t recommend. Montreal is noticeable for nice dining, but tonight is an exception.
this is going to be a more personal review. the food is amazing & so was the service. definitely worth the price. BUT, the food was a bit cold when we got it. additionally, the atmosphere wasn’t what you’d expect from such a high end restaurant. i went during the summer & fruit flies are expected near the bar & kitchen, but the amount of actual flies i noticed around the dining room was very concerning. i think i counted 10 flies just above our table. maybe this was just a one time thing but it was definitely a turn off while eating your food. i’d like to also add that all the doors that were visible to the clients were closed. small note but the music felt more like club music rather than fine dining music which also kind of makes the whole experience a bit weird. additionally, the restaurant is kid friendly (or at least, they accept children). this might not matter to some, but it really made our experience so so. there was a big family sitting behind us & they had 2 small children that would not stop crying & screaming. this is definitely not the restaurants fault, nor the kids (obviously) but i was a bit confused how the parents didn’t try to make the kids calm down. if you would like to have a calmer experience & are like me, i would recommend asking the restaurant to not sit you close to a family with small children if possible.
in conclusion, the food & service is just phenomenal. yet, the atmosphere & vibe weren’t the best.
definitely recommend coming but take my advice when reserving.
& i hope the whole fly thing was noticed by staff & resolved.
I went to Montreal for my birthday. My friend recommended Joe Beef. I'm so happy she did because it was so good. A big thank you the wonderful bartender Mike, who made amazing drinks.
We had high expectations given the title of former #1 best restaurant in Canada but we were very disappointed. We even wondered how this could have ever been even in the top 100. Given the price point, we were expecting a certain quality of food & level of service & ambiance that just wasn’t there.
For apps, we had:
- smoked eggplant: it was a cold dish, which was unexpected with eggplant (i prefer them warm but ok fine), flavour was great but needed a touch more salt, bit of crunch from the crostini was perfect, the olive oil was great
- foie gras entremet: it’s like a foie gras cake, which was a cool concept except the dish was so sweet you couldn’t taste the foie gras. It was like a foie gras dish for ppl who don’t like foie gras (but then why would you get it lol)
Mains:
- lobster pasta: seems to be what they’re known for but was sorely disappointed in this poor spin on carbonara with coconut milk. I like food that is out there but the coconut milk just made absolutely no sense here. Without the lobster, you would have never known it was lobster pasta. The lobster was also overcooked & you only get half for a small portion. It just felt so overpriced for what you get, & the dish wasn’t even good. I was really sad.
- guinea fowl: this daily special saved the dinner for us, the meat was crispy on the outside, perfectly cooked inside, super juicy, gravy was not too heavy. However, the lack of carbs from the dish was really noticeable. It would have been great to mop up the sauce with some bread even.
Service: Normally I don’t rate on service, but I think it’s reasonable to expect a $$$$ restaurant to have at least decent service. We did not feel welcomed the minute we walked in. We stood at the host table for a solid 5 minutes before a host even acknowledged us standing in front of them. It took almost a full hour for apps to come out. Mains took equally as long despite half the restaurant being empty (it was near closing, we were the last time slot).
Ambiance: It was way too loud in there. Music was very loud so everyone had to talk louder to hear each other. We ended up having to almost yell to hear what the other person was saying across the table. The tables were really close together & they were unstable - I almost knocked our table over several times because I leaned on the corner a bit trying to shuffle in & out.
Overall, very disappointed in our experience here. It felt like a mediocre diner charging fine dining price points but failing miserably on delivery. I don’t recommend coming here at all, save your hard earned money for better food, especially at this price point.
Food was hit or miss, we ordered 3 appetizers & 4 entrees that were shared. The service was great, it's just a shame that the food didn't live up to the hype. We would definitely not recommend, especially when you consider how expensive it is.
8 juin 2023
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Après avoir pu réserver une table à une heure raisonnable & avoir attendu presque 3 mois, j’ai finalement l’occasion d’essayer ce restaurant dont j’entends beaucoup parler depuis quelques années. Un couple d’amis nous accompagne pour cette soirée. Mes attentes sont élevées mais je ne serai vraiment pas déçu. À notre arrivée à 18h00 pour notre réservation de 18h15, l’accueil est chaleureux & on a l’impression d’arriver chez des amis. On s’occupe de nos manteaux & nous nous assoyons sur une banquette près de la cuisine.
Andy (ou Andrée-Anne pour les intimes), qui sera notre hôte pour ce souper, nous apporte nos consommations & nous explique patiemment & en détails le menu affiché sur l’ardoise avec certaines recommandations personnelles & accords entre les entrées & plats principaux proposés. Suite à notre commande, un cuisinier prend la peine de venir nous consulter afin de suggérer une alternative à une entrée choisie par rapport à l’accord au plat principal. Il reviendra aussi plus tard afin de s’assurer que la substitution proposée est appréciée. La nourriture servie est savoureuse & l’accord des goûts est remarquable. Le choix des plats est varié & les prix aussi. Le seul bémol, le choix de bières est un peu restreint, mais les sortes offertes (Brasserie Le Castor) sont très bonnes.
Rendus au dessert, la gourmandise prend le dessus & on partage une assiette de petits beignets à l’érable accompagnés d’un bon café. L’addition est raisonnable, tenant compte de la qualité & de la quantité de la nourriture servie. En quittant, repus, on se promet d’y retourner sans faute !
Quelle belle terrasse... Ambiance très sympa, service impeccable, nourriture & vin, parfaits... Seul bémol, nous avons attendu plus de quarante minutes pour notre table, même si nous avions une réservation à 21h30 depuis un mois... Mais la qualité du reste de la soirée & la gentillesse de la serveuse qui nous a tout de même offert un verre de mousseux rosé pour compenser l'attente a tout fait oublier! :) super super soirée, j'y retournerai & je le recommande, surtout pour la qualité de la nourriture, de la belle terrasse & du service!
Ambiance! Si vous aimez la musique très forte & les gens qui sont obligés de crier pour parler, cet endroit ait fortement recommandé.
Côté cuisine: les entrées étaient très bonnes.
1- Plat de légumes avec une crevette, une huitre & un couteau (sorte de moule allongée), servi avec un aïoli excellent!
2- De la bedaine de porc (bacon épais) servi avec sauce au prune & un peu de salade de choux. Seul bémol avec ce plat, la sauce au prune avait un goût plutôt "sauce au cerise VH", mais le porc par lui même était très savoureux.
Les plats principaux;
1- Spaghetti homard. Les pâtes étaient quasi crues. Il y a des limites au ALDENTE. Le gout de la sauce était très bonne, la chair de homard très salé.
2- Wiener Schnitzel,(escalope de porc panée). Le porc n'était pas assez aplati & la panure était imbibée de gras avec une méga dose de sel dans ce plat! J'ai arrêté de manger après 3 bouchées. J'avais un bloc de sel dans la gorge.
On nous a pas fait payer pour les 2 plats principaux. C'est une attitude appréciée qui démontre un sens des responsabilités.
Je ne retournerai pas à ce restaurant & aucune recommandation de ma part. Dommage, pour ce resto je m'attendais a beaucoup mieux.
Si les propriétaires lisent cette critique. 2 commentaires. RELAXEZ SUR LE SEL & aussi, vos vins sont hors prix. Lisez le menu des vins de chez HAMBAR pour ne pas le nommer, le même vin que l'on a commandé à votre restaurant est $30.00 de moins. Étant habitué à fréquenter de bonne table & il y en a plusieurs à Montréal, il ne faut pas rire des clients.
