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.
Way too expensive for the taste & quality of food. Just because you're paying a lot, does not mean that it's good. We ordered: The raw scallops (I enjoyed this dish) Dry Sausage (4 little slices, with some pickled dishes strewn about, with very little flavor) Lobster Spaghetti (Best dish of the night & would recommend - but for $71 CAD...getting three little pieces of lobster makes it hard to really justify & say that it's a great deal) USDA Filet Mignon (peppercorn sauce wasn't really all that flavorful, & the bleu cheese crumbles were served on I believe a celery stalk) - $90 CAD Sauteed Mushrooms (dry & somewhat tasteless...was really expecting something more especially after the water talked these up significantly) The food is fine, I guess, just not at the price point offered. I was expecting to be blown away by the food here but it was just kind of...mediocre. I spend nearly $400 CAD for a dinner for 2 that left us both not really that impressed. There are better places in Montreal that have a lot more flavor & are unexpectedly great more than Joe Beef's is. The waiter is also oddly pushy about ordering dishes to the point of near discomfort, & reading other reviews here saying the same it's a bit concerning & seems like they're more interested in pushing out food rather than good food.
We came here really wanting to love this place. The service & vibe were great, but we were disappointed with some of the food. Some great dishes, some unforgivable. & I just can't justify the price for what we got, especially compared to some other restaurants that execute cooking flawlessly. Starters: Steak tartare- wonderful. Best dish of our night Artichoke special- let down. A bit like under pickled antipasto, that could have come out of a jar. Mains: Sweetbread- delicious dish with a great sauce. Not enough sweetbread Suckling pork confit- pork not confited right. Pork rind was inedible (sticky & chewy, rather than crispy). For the prices of these dishes, every component of the dish should be well executed. Good flavours around the dish, but the cookery was disappointing. Dessert: Chantilly cream with strawberries- strawberries are in season, making this dessert very sweet & fresh. It was nice.
9 juil. 2024
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Met some very high expectations. The mutton chop was even better than the hanger steak. Best hunk of meat in ages. Both demi glace sauces were amazing but the sage in the mutton sauce was just wow. Server made great wine suggestions. Great experience.
Charming comes to mind to describe everything. Staff was friendly & helpful. Our waitress Kialina was awesome. Duck for two & bread after to sop up the sauce was my favorite but everything was great. Check was very reasonable given how great the meal was but not used to Canadian prices yet,
We dined here yesterday after having reserved a few weeks to a month in advance &... wow. The hype is real. The tuna tartare was a nice fresh start. We then transitioned into the lamb shoulder & lobster spaghetti which we shared. The lamb was cooked to perfection. The sauce & elements on the plate all blended in so well together. It had a faint but pleasant horseradish / dijon taste to it which was very nice & the lobster spaghetti was creamy & delicious. Lobster often gets lost / overpowered in pasta dishes with ingredients like tomatoes but this was not the case here. The lobster was the star of the dish on a bed of creamy spaghetti that included pancetta & chives. It was simply exquisite. Kudos to the kitchen & staff as they didn't miss a pulse all night. It was a great & memorable meal. I would highly recommend.
I've travelled all over the world & dined at many fine dining establishments so I expect, when I am about to spend $100 on a meal, to have three things- great service, sublime food, & to leave satiated. Not so this time, I would label my experience here, bland & boring. 1. My reservation was on time & the servers were friendly. However, they immediately led me to one of the worst seats in the restaurant at the bar at the end of a counter on a high bar stool where servers would have to go around me multiple times. This is a pet peeve of mine . As a single traveller, I'm often given the worst seat. I watched couples get lovely window seats when I was being stuck at the awful seat, I just said no & asked them to move me. Servers found me a place but then I was basically told that I was not to linger. Strike 1. 2. Service was good & friendly. Meal started with waiter asking me if I wanted a drink. I very specifically asked for one type of alcohol. The waiter checked & said they had it, so I ordered it. They brought it over , I sipped it, & it was not my drink. Then I had to go through this gaslighting experience of having the male waiter tell me that my drink was correct when I knew it wasn't! If I have to pay $100 for meal, I want the correct drink brought to me & I don't want to have to convince a waiter that there is an error. Sure enough, the server went back & I overheard them talk & they didn't even have my choice of alcohol there. They were wrong on 3 counts- 1 -to tell me they had it in the first place, 2- to serve it to me & 3- to try to convince me that I was imagining that it was wrong.Grrrrr! Strike 2. 3. For that price, I had hoped for & even expected a piece of bread, but I guess they don't do that here which was very disappointing.But I heard the waiter say that the portions were big & I even asked about what I was ordering & he said it would be enough. So I thought, I don't need the extra carbs. I ordered the scallops de Boston, which the waiter explained were served raw. Context- I have often scallop scuba dived & eaten scallops straight out of the shell & they have been delicious .What really sold the dish to me was the waiter saying that it had black truffle on it. Now I love truffles so I was really looking forward to it. & for $18, I assumed it would be divine!! What came were 5 slivers of scallop, maybe the equivalent of one & a half , maybe two scallops? They were in a liquid with what look like black truffle shavings. I tasted it & it was completely bland. I could not detect any seasoning but I thought, "maybe they didn't put any salt & pepper on them because they wanted the scallops & truffle to shine" but no, the truffle had no flavour at all & the scallops tasted slimy. I did not enjoy them, but I was hungry so I ate them. They did ask me what I thought of them, but after arguing already about my drink & being shuffled to a bad seat to start the dinner, I wasn't in the mood to explain. To top it off, when I tried to put slight pressure on a scallop to cut it , a whole bunch of ice underneath the dish spewed out all over my clothes, table, etc., which was not pleasant. As I was trying to clean it up, I also knocked over the fake candle. The server came over to help & I explained, "I was only trying to cut one in half". To this, he responded, "don't cut it in half, eat it whole". I guess I had to reach the age of 60+ to be told how to eat scallops correctly without making a mess. At this point, I don't have my drink, didn't enjoy the scallops, have no bread & I'm waiting for halibut for my main course, I asked how it was served & what the sauce Veronique was. It sounded good. My halibut came. It was a generous slice, had some nice brown colour, & seemed cooked well. But when I tasted it, it had absolutely no seasoning, was bland & the sauce also seemed unseasoned & bland. What was the point of the sauce if there was no flavour to it ? This was not a good experience & I will not be back. Strike 3!
I've been here multiple times but the last trip was one of the best restaurant experiences my wife & I have had in Montreal. Our waiter was absolutely marvelous, & took extra care to ensure our meal was perfect & suitable for our dietary restrictions. My wife is a picky vegetarian & typically hates fine dining as they typically offer a plate of vegetables or salads. Our waiter worked with the chef to create a cheese plate, & sides including morel mushrooms which she was enamored with. I have an allergy to alcohol & eating french food tends to be difficult due to just about everyone having alcohol in it. Our waiter worked with the chef to adjust sauces to allow me to try some of the most amazingly delightful & delicious French food I've had. The sweetbreads were delicious, the pork was perfect, & the morels were out of this world.
21 mai 2024
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Intimate yet lively spot for an incredible meal. The perfect place to get a little dressed up, enjoy a few drinks, & splurge on some very high quality dishes. Hangar steak was tender, juicy, & flavorful all on its own. A true beef: what other beefs aspire to taste like. The optional mushroom sauce added a complex flavor profile, but I felt the steak could certainly stand on its own too. Veggie platter was large, filling, & tasted fresh off the farm. Not the mention, the generous helping of shrimp, fish, & cuttlefish. The raw tuna was aesthetically unorthodox, but paired with the tomato & caper sauce, was bright, tart, & surprising. I definitely recommend Joe Beef for a special dinner in a darling neighborhood!
Fantastic dinner, probably the best we had on our trip. Had the seafood special appetizer with the aoli sauce which was incredible. Beef tartare was great too! Split the New York strip with the bone marrow. Cooked to perfection & so rich with the marrow also liked the side horse radish cabbage. Someone else got the lobster pasta which was outstanding! Enjoyed the lemon sorbet thoroughly!
The most important thing, the food, was a disappointment. The raw tuna ($30 + tax) was seven small squares of thinly sliced tuna on quite average potato chips with tiny dollops of'dip,' a very insubstantial & underwhelming dish. In the next dish, the'clear borscht' was just a consommé, the smoked herring was like the tuna too insubstantial & the pommes dauphines were soggy (yuck). The famous lobster pasta, an eye watering $71+tax: the lobster was too small a portion (including a large decorative but empty shell on top) & had a rubbery texture, either not having been cooked or sourced well (but at least you know you're getting a famous dish circa 2005...). The pasta was tasty if far too salty, but more importantly, they do not mention on the menu that it's prepared with small pieces of bacon in the sauce; not very thoughtful for anyone who is pescatarian or doesn't eat meat or pork. The Cornish hen was succulent & excellent overall, the one good dish. The service was excellent, as you would expect. Overall, I would not return & cannot recommend.
We ordered beef tartare to start & the shareable steak as our main. The red wine sauce was excellent & really elevated the dish. The sides of marrow bone & bitter greens complimented the steak well. Be prepared to wait up to an hour before food arrives during busy dinner times.
2 mars 2024
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It's definitely an antagonistic restaurant. They started very well. Service was great & we got a nice wine option. Although overpriced for the quality, I give points to the waitress for capturing our desire. Appetizers were really good. That had set up the bar. We got a quiche & a rice on bacon with egg on top. Really good options. Present flavours & well served. The main dish we got to share ny strips. Honestly, a bummer. The meat was ok & the sauce felt like a meat brouillon diluted in water. Some potatoes were even burnt. Dessert was really good. Their signature, well done. Another point loss was the forceful 18% tipping. Service was good, but 15% standard was more than enough. Staff was very receptive & great. One of the waitresses slipped wine a few times on the table. Overall it was a 9 out of 10. Honestly, it was an ok restaurant. Not a should go back one.
4.5⭐️ because the food was salty. FOOD: creative, very delicious, but salty. • Bone Marrow Custart: so cream, the bone marrow is mixed with egg & cream & turned into something like a savory pudding. The creamy tomato sauce & croutons balance out the rich flavor. 100/10 • Duck platter: I love how they have all the heart, liver & kidney. The meat was tender, gravy is super tasty, if it was less salty I'd really love this restaurant. SERVICE: Amazing, as soon as my plate is cleared out, 2 seconds later another waiter saw it & bring me new plates & cutlery. The place is extremely busy til midnight. Although I had reservation I still have to wait about 30 minutes. They're super busy but they managed to do the service really really well. VIBE: very small place, it's impossible to walk in without reservation. It's an old house with some weird decorations, I got scared with the giant bull head in the washroom.
We loved the lobster spaghetti super creamy & portion is generous. For the duck dish to share, the meat was perfect cooked but the sauce is a bit too salty, we couldn't taste & sweetness & sourness from the plum sauce.
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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Great experience. Staffs were nice & freindly- explained the menu very well.
We ordered hanger steak & lobster spaghetti. Considering it was sirloin, kitchen staff did an amzining job. The meat was cooked perfectly, even the tomato on the top was great. (Could be better if it was aged sirloin with that price).
However, the lobster spaghetti was more like 'meh'. The lobster meat may have been overcooked since it was chewy. Its sauce didn't really have much taste- just creamy, & that was it. Could've used garlic or saffron or just something. Some parts of the spaghetti noodles were stuck together.
It was a pleasant experience overall, but could be better with that price.
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.
The restaurant was very crowded when we were there & we sat outside on the little rustic backyard terrace/potted garden. I have to say that I'm not comfortable standing right next to someone else's table to read the menu & I also can't read the menu, at length, before I make my choices. The service was good & the food here was good but I wouldn't rave about it. I don't remember the entrees that we had so they must not have been great but we both had the Lobster spaghetti which was very good: very good pasta & good sauce. We had some sort of Pear tart for dessert which was very good but the servings were very small. The Bloody Caesars served with a large shrimp & fresh olives along with the standard celery stalk etc. are my favourite memory of our visit: they were so good that I'll go back to Joe Beef for a couple of those. Expensive restaurant, but not 5 star, IMO.
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.
