Haute Cuisine prices without the haute cuisine. We were expecting more from Maison Boulud in Montreal’s Ritz Carlton Hotel, & while some aspects were great, others were disappointing.
Positive points: beautiful restaurant with sumptuous seating, attractive garden-side seating, snob-appeal atmosphere.
Negative points:
Very high prices, even at lunch – two courses $35, three courses $42, with very limited choice. The online table d’hote menu is not updated when the menu changes, so we had no idea what was on offer, until we showed up.
Regular menu items at lunch vary from about $29-$43 for main courses, & $17-$24 for entrees, i.e. $46-$67 for two courses.
Very high wine & bar prices: cheapest glass of wine is $13, then it jumps to $17-$25 for a 5 oz. glass. Martinis & cocktails are $15-$24, more for better brands. We were astounded that they did not have Grey Goose available, even though it’s specified in one of their cocktails. Bottled beer is $9, regardless of whether it is domestic or imported ($9 for a Molson Export or a Stella Artois? This makes no sense at all!)
We don’t mind the prices as long as the food quality matches. Unfortunately, Maison Boulud was not haute cuisine. We’ve had equal or better food at several of the city’s trendy restaurants & bistros, at lower prices, so we were disappointed that Maison Boulud did not deliver the “wow” factor. Ingredients seemed to be of above average quality, but more expertise is needed in the kitchen. The food was good, but not great, especially at these prices. Generally speaking, the food was bland.
The bread basket was not delicious either: very salty focaccia, & rather ordinary baguette. Some say that you can determine the quality of a restaurant by the quality of its bread basket.
Cutlery is placed directly on re-usable woven placemats, which may seem attractive, until you see the staff wiping the placemats with a wet rag & then placing new cutlery for the next client. Not very sanitary. Our waiter even placed some cutlery directly on the table.
Several of the cooks in the open kitchen seemed to not be wearing hats or hairnets, which is not legal in this city.
Service was perfunctory, not as polished as one would expect at the Ritz Carlton, & not exceedingly friendly. Not even a thank you for a generous tip!
Our waiter spoke very little English, which was also surprising in a hotel catering to many businessmen & wealthy visitors from other parts of Canada & abroad.
Sublime,l'art culinaire a son meilleur,une expérience a vivre au moin une fois dans une vie tout simplement parfait !!!
Plats & sélections représentatifs de la qualité des restaurants Boulud. Le service par contre, pourrait s'avérer un tantinet moins convivial & plus chic.
Il manque l'impression du « Le client est important»...
Nous sommes loin de Jean-Georges.....
I had the pleasure of dining here for dinner & it was everything I hoped it would be. The service was wonderful, very professional yet the waitress was able to joke with us none the less. The food was amazing. I started with the Duo de Saumon, then the Venison loin & finished with the Chocolat Fondant. All of it was outstanding. My only criticism was the decor, it was a bit bright for my liking at dinner time & honestly overall a bit underwhelming. However the service & food greatly made up for it.
