L'Express
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L'Express
11:30 am - 1 am Christmas Eve: hours might differ
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Restaurant L'Express, located in Le Plateau Mont-Royal, Montreal is one of Montreal's best-known French bistros. The menu rotates somewhat, and there are always daily specials, but l'Express specializes in: pâté, foie gras and bouillabaisse appetizers; steak tartare, steak-frites and veal kidney main courses; and cheeses, crème caramel or chocolate mousse desserts.
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ABBA CÉLÉBRATION 2025
Dec 10, 2025 to Dec 31, 2025
Reviews for L'Express
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Display Allfrench(99) dessert(54) recommend(51) duck(50) wine(48) bistro(46) steak(44) classic(41) confit(40) pickles(34) duck confit(33) bread(26)Page 1 of 2 - 26 Reviews
Tommi
A lovely restaurant with great French atmosphere. The meal was great from bread to creme brulee. In particular, the octopus was cooked perfectly & was tender; the duck confit was paired beautifully with a nice fragrant sauce; the caramelized sugar on the creme brulee complemented the custard. Service was right on time & kind.
James
Food was fantastic. Old school French vibe. Pickles & mustard & bread was superb.
Bijan
By far one of the best restaurants in Montreal. Incredible French Bistro on St-Denis. The service is fantastic, the food is delicious, & the cozy atmosphere is immediately greets you.
Each table comes with complementary pickles, dijon mustard, & bread!
The duck & veal kidneys are a must have. Finally the Ile flottante dessert is massive, but delicious.
Dodd
When you enter l'express, you get a rush of nostalgia & familiarity; even though you've never been there before. The decor is classic but not over the top. It has a certain type of charm.
Make sure you reserve in advance because this place gets packed quickly, we had a reservation for 4pm & there were already a lot of patrons.
Food is good, a tiny bit salty but they do provide a huge jar of
home made pickles & baguette bread a volonté to balance everything out. Its on the pricy side but the portions are big enough.
In the end, we loved the pickles so much that we bought a jar home, 30$ but it taste amazing.
Although the place is named l'express, we've never felt a rush to eat or a rush to leave. The waiters always ask if we wanted the next course or not & we enjoyed the time we had there.
Sunniva
Haven't been to this establishment in years so it was lovely to see that service was excellent as always. However, the steak was very chewy & difficult to cut but the fries were alright. The pickles & bread served before the meal are a nice touch! The crème brûlée was excellent!
Bunker
My wife & I had dinner at L'Express on a Wednesday night during a trip to Montreal after reading about it in the NYT. It lived up to its reputation.
The staff was warm, welcoming, & skilled, making us feel comfortable right away. The meal started with pickles & bread--a simple but memorable touch. L'Express feels like an authentic French bistro, the kind that has inspired places like Pastis or Parc (both favorites of mine). It reminded me of a restaurant I once visited on Île Saint-Louis in Paris, adding to its authenticity.
We shared a green salad, steak frites, & a pasta special with meatballs in red sauce. Every dish was clean, simple, & well-executed. The restaurant was packed, with every seat filled, & the atmosphere was cozy & lively. We enjoyed the sophisticated local chatter & the charm of the space.
It's easy to see why L'Express has been around for decades. The food, service, & vibe are top-notch, & the prices are reasonable for the quality. The surrounding neighborhood was also a nice area to explore. Reservations are a must. Highly recommended!
Jacob
Just amazing have been there twice now in the span of a week the star if the meals has been the house ravioli just incredible the sauce is amazing super rich & refined I would pay the $30 just for the sauce & bread.
The duck confit is also amazing & the octopus is delicious comes with a red pepper type sauce very flavourful.
But again get the ravioli & extra bread to not waste the sauce.
Parking on that street is very rough I recommend you just take a taxi or Uber as whatever you pay for the ride is worth the lack of frustration trying to find parking.
Robin
the epitome of a french diner! started out with the bread / butter / pickles, which came with a side of the best mustard i've ever had. split the steak frites & quiche with leek for mains. quiche was good but the steak was REALLY good. fries come with mayo, obviously. really excellent meal, would go again!
Victoria
came here on a sunday night, service was amazing. loved how you start off with bread & pickles, we ended up getting the buffalo cheese which was incredible. for the price of the steak i would expect a bigger piece, could definitely do with less fries but it tasted good, would do a different main next time. for dessert we got the maple profiteroles which were delicious & the creme brûlée was really good as well but the cookie on top was forgettable. one thing to note, there was no music playing which threw me off. overall a great spot, lovely for a late night dinne
Arthur
Started with the bone marrow. Was good, but very very oily. The bread & pickles are complementary & for a person who is not too big on pickles I did find myself eating quite a few. For the main I had a difficult time picking between a few things I really wanted to try but ended up picking the risotto which was amazing. Super flavourful, tasted like the sea! Will definitely want to come back again to try other things.
Lisa
Really nice place for a French meal! The liver pate was amazing. They also provide complimentary bread & pickles to eat it with. The pickles were some of the best I've ever had. The duck confit was also amazing & I'd order it again if I came back. The beef tartare was a bit of a miss though.
Z
Had the steak & fries with the fish soup. The steak was done right to my liking & recommendation (medium rare) & the soup was good. You get to enjoy the bread & butter & the jar of tiny pickles which was awesome. Will repeat!
Liz
I totally agree with the other reviewers who say that this restaurant is worth the hype. It totally is. We made a reservation, which I suppose was a good idea, although I couldn't tell if it was totally necessary on the night we went. Also, we initially walked right past the restaurant because it's a bit nondescript & doesn't have a ton of signage. We both ordered drinks, which were well made & pretty strong, & very much enjoyed the pickles with mustard & bread/butter. Really, the only downside was that the waiter took the pickles away before dessert, so we couldn't have dessert pickles. For our appetizer, we shared the celery remoulade, which was a perfect little pile of, basically, celery coleslaw; it was very good, especially with the pickles & mustard. Our mains were the duck confit & the shrimp/chorizo risotto, which were also delicious (& also paired well with the pickles/mustard). Dessert was the profiteroles (which were maple-y & delicious) & the chocolate gateau (which was also delicious & pleasantly not sweet at all); they honestly would've paired well with the pickles/mustard if we'd still had them at the table.
Léa
Great experience overall! The food is great, the service is slow, but it was extremely busy & they seemed understaffed for a Friday night! Plus, they did accommodate for the wait by giving us two free glass of wine which was really sweet! I recommend the steak or the poached salmon as a main, it was honestly a 10/10! For the appetizer, the chicken liver pistachios with the bread is so tasty. The maple profiteroles, for the dessert, were so well balanced in terms of sweetness, 100% recommend!
Wedyan
The place amazing, i like the bread , pickles & butter 😍burrata salad & their French fries 👌 the steak was ok but not flavorful , duck delicious but salty
Gregorio
Great spot, felt like a refined diner. Food was really good, you get served bread & butter with pickles & mustard included in the service. Prices are for sure on the higher side but they reflect the quality of the dishes.
Jasmine
If you're a fan of delicious wine at great prices, a constantly replenished bread basket, & an endless supply of pickles, this restaurant is a dream come true! My friends & I have officially declared it our top spot in Montreal. The ravioli & steak are absolute must-tries, & the service? It's off the charts-11/10!
Janice
Three of us came to dine for an early dinner on Friday night. I was not a fan that they sat the 3 of us at a two person table with one of us sitting at the "aisle". It wasn't particularly busy at this time so I think we could have been better accommodated. Other than that, the food is delicious, well seasoned & perfectly cooked. Portion sizing is quite large too! We had the duck confit, hanger steak & fries & the chicken. They also provide fresh bread & a large jar of pickles - a very nice touch. We also had the espresso creme brulee to share at the end which we would highly recommend. All in all, very well done & would recommend to anyone who is looking for great french food!
Mira
The service here is so thoughtful, from pouring a taste of wine for both me & my husband to serving the perfect amount of bread with their rillettes so that we didn't have to ask for more but didn't waste anything, timing everything perfectly & being very kind during the reservation process. Also have never eaten anything here that wasn't delicious. Never fails every time! Thanks for making our anniversary dinner a special one!
Jren
Delicious authentic French fare in its iconic locale on St-Denis, perfect for a date night. Make sure to reserve because they get booked solid! Love the giant jar of pickles that you get with your bread & butter at the beginning of the meal. The fries were crispy & served with mustard-mayo. The steak was cooked perfectly, with a generous pat of herby butter. The beef tartare was chopped a bit finer than I am used to, but so flavourful. Definitely recommend this dish! The île flottante was splendid to look at but a bit too sweet for my taste but still something worth ordering!