Reviews portray Monarque as a refined Montreal dining destination that blends a chic brasserie vibe with a formal dining room, offering an elegant yet lively atmosphere. The cuisine is repeatedly described as superb, with standout dishes including bone marrow with escargots, bouillabaisse, tartare, duck, veal cheeks, and a highly praised seafood selection, though a few items are noted as overly salty or uneven in texture. The presentation is praised, ingredients are described as high quality and carefully balanced, and the open kitchen and kitchen-facing tables are frequently highlighted as special touches. Service is described as professional, attentive, and knowledgeable, with many guests feeling well taken care of, while some reviews mention variability in service levels, language gaps, or occasional delays. The wine list is extensive and a strength, though prices can be high. Ambiance is consistently described as beautiful, classic, and Montreal style, with some comments that the space can be loud or the temperature a bit cool, and a few complaints about dessert quality or portion sizes. Reservations are recommended given popularity and the two-menu structure, and many leave eager to return for another memorable meal. Overall, Monarque is viewed as one of Montreal's top dining experiences for technique, presentation, and hospitality, albeit with occasional inconsistencies in service and value.
Great dinner & drinks spot. The food is incredible & the portion size was huge! Service staff were very helpful, polite, & quick. It's a very busy & popular spot so get a reservation. We chose the Brasseries over the Dining Room just based on the menu & we weren't disappointed with our choice. I'm sure the Dining Room is good too though! Cocktails are well done too!
This was a disappointing dinner. The service & atmosphere were good but the food did not live up. I had the ribeye. It was unseasoned, too thin & really just not a very good cut of beef for the price. Other dishes were mixed. The drinks were pretty good. The presentation was good as shown by the pictures I took. But it just didn't deliver on food.
Sep 16, 2024
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We visited Monarque by recommendation of my husband's colleague who visiting Montreal regularly. We love it! We chose to dine in its casual more affordable price point Monarque Brasserie & we visited twice as the first time was excellent! I will review both visit in 3 days apart in key areas that important to our dining experience. SERVICE The first greeting, table seating & our table service was immaculate & contributed & complemented our first dining experience at Monarque. The personnel who looked after us on Tues 23 July 24 (sorry we did not get your name) was absolutely fantastic! One of the best, & the best asset to the establishment! He was professional, attentive but not intrusive. He was helpful with the wine & frankly making us deciding to ho back 2nd time even we had many other restaurants in our wish list. We only had 5 dinners in the city & we chose Monarque twice. The second service was amiss, unfortunately. Greeting was cold, no smile, no eyes contact, took us to the wrong area of booking but all resolved. Our waiting personnel was aloof, more attentive to certain tables so we were left having to try to get his attention when we wanted to order more drinks & desserts. FOOD Classic French dishes & to-die-for desserts! We had foie gras, lamb ratatouille, canard, seafood bouillabaisse, grilled octopus & passion fruit pavlova. All 10/10. Wine list is great. We are not heavy drinker so love a few glasses of good wine & it does not disappoint. AMBIENCE A blend of modern & retro deco, warm & flattering lighting, sexy bar area with sleek bartenders. People watching here looked fun & romantic date is good (except if the service is amiss second time- wouldn't be fun). Music is good level of sound, ventilation is great. Feel airy & comfortable to be in.
The food, cocktails, & wine were quite good, & we would have had a good experience had it not been for the absolutely awful, non-existant service. I wish I was exaggerating, but our waiter said maybe 15 words to us over the entire ~2 hour dinner service, only saying more than one word responses when we asked for a wine recommendation. He provided completely non-verbal responses when ordering, did not ask if we wanted to order additional drinks after our first (we had to specifically request for additional glasses of wine/cocktails), did not explain anything about the food, restaurant, or ask us anything about ourselves. Generally very unfriendly & unkind. He acknowledged our orders with a frown & a slight nod of the head every time. I wish I could tell you who specifically our server was, but he did not even bother introducing himself. He felt very hostile & annoyed he had to have to serve us. There were multiple instances where we were without drinks, meaning the restaurant lost out on additional revenue we would have spent on alcohol. After our table's second drink order, he took the wine list away & did not offer to return it for the rest of the evening, even after clearing away our empty glasses midway through the third course. After ordering red wine, the waiter poured my glass but ended up spilling a sizeable amount on the table & into the bread basket. The waiter noticed he spilled, but did not apologize or acknowledge it to us in any way, he simply walked away without a word. By the end of dessert, our last course, the waiter we had for most of the evening had not come around for 15 minutes after our plates were clearly finished & our drinks were empty. I flagged down another waiter who was walking by, who explained to me that our original waiter was gone for the night & that he was supposed to be replacing us. The original waiter did not explain to us that he was leaving for the night, & the new waiter in charge of our table did not introduce himself until I had to get his attention myself. We certainly don't expect to be treated special by any means, but this service was the literal bare minimum that could have been provided to us. It left us wondering if maybe we were under dressed & were being shunned for it (even though other waiters were happily treating other guests in tshirts & shorts), or that we had said something to offend the waiter at the start of service. Although this review is quite scathing, we are always especially friendly with wait staff & almost never complain about service, so I cannot understand what we possibly did to deserve service that amounted to rudely & non-verbally plopping the food we ordered at the table. Nobody asked us once how our food or service was. This was *by far* the worst service I've experienced, not only in Montréal, but at any restaurant I've ever dined at. It was such a complete shock that it came from an establishment where we expected to spend about $600 between two of us (but ended up spending less as we opted out of a cheese course & did not order as many drinks as anticipated, both due to the service). I would have been annoyed if we received service like this at a McDonald's, but at a fine dining establishment, I thought it was completely & absolutely unacceptable. We will be vehemently recommending that our friends & family who visit Montréal avoid Monarque at absolutely all costs. A completely & total disappointment from a restaurant we were very much looking forward to experiencing.
My partner & I drove two hours from Ottawa to Montreal because I wanted him to try Monarque for his birthday. I've been here before, a couple of years ago, & had a wonderful experience so I was excited for him to try it - but unfortunately, our experience tonight was less than satisfactory & left me wondering how such an amazing place went ... sorta downhill.. let me start off my saying the majority of the food was good. We ordered the bone marrow & octopus to start, & the lamb rump & butcher steak for our mains. The bone marrow was melt in your mouth delicious & the octopus was just as great as I remembered. The lamb was also so flavourful & cooked to perfection. However, the steak was tough & not cooked to our order - we asked for medium & it was RARE. Not a big deal to us because my boyfriend still enjoys it rare. Our issues lied mainly with our server. From the moment we sat down & ordered drinks to the moment we received the cheque, he seemed miffed & like he couldn't be bothered to answer our questions or assist us with the menu & gave us attitude the entire time. My partner ordered a Diet Coke which was completely flat & tasted watered down, & we let our server know that we thought the fountain was out of syrup. He argued with us about it right then & there & told told us that it wasn't possible, he then walked away & asked the bartender about it & came back & condescendingly told us that it can't be possible it's flat since it came from a can & proceeded to argue with us back & forth trying to convince us of what WE tasted. We then asked him if he could just please just bring us the can & we can pour it ourselves. He gave us both a look of disgust & said "uh ok" with attitude & walked away - as if we just made a seemingly wild request. We were both so taken aback at that first interaction after only being there for a few minutes that this server was: a) trying to gaslight us into telling us what WE tasted instead of just apologizing & bringing the damn can of Coke - & b) acting as if we were bothering HIM when it's his job! ... the can of Coke was infinitely better than the original glass which makes us believe the "can" he "just opened" was already open & flat from the previous night. Our other issue was when we were trying to ask him questions about the menu, because I was trying to decide between two dishes, he was visibly annoyed & offered no help & just reiterated what I could already see listed on the menu... again, very condescending & what I would expect from a teenager who works at a fast food place NOT a 5 star restaurant. Also, when my boyfriend ordered the steak the server asked "medium-rare?" We asked for medium & he seems visibly bothered again by us saying that then just said "ok" very short & walked away. The fries were also overly salty. My partner & I both have extensive experience in the restaurant industry & fine dining & the lack of manners & quality from our server really put a damper on our whole evening & experience & took away from our overall enjoyment of the meal. It's sad that we got better quality of service from the bus boys & host that paid more attention & interacted with us or acknowledged our "thank yous" AT THE VERY LEAST. So from our experience tonight, 3/4 dishes were great, but our experience with our server left us feeling both so terrible, disrespected & unwelcome we just wanted to finish our meals quickly & skip dessert & leave asap. The server also failed to acknowledge me a few times & only directly asked my boyfriend how his meal was. Do yourself a favour & go somewhere else - for these prices, find a better place with better service where the entire staff works as a team & offers the same level of quality service across the board, who values their patrons. While the busboys & host were very friendly that one server ruined our entire outlook on this restaurant indefinitely.
I was excited to dine at the Monarque, as I had heard good things about the food. However, my night there was quite disappointing. The food was great, but the service by my server & the service manager (a gentleman in a light blue shirt) was entirely lacking. I try not to leave reviews on negative dining experiences, as they can be subjective. I am leaving this review to encourage the management to review & improve their service. I visited last Friday's late dinner service (20:45, July 5th, 2024). It was a less busy time, with quite a few empty tables. 1. We received the wrong first course. When one of the service managers (light blue shirt) came to check how our food was, I gently notified him that I received the wrong first course. He double-checked & acknowledged the mistake, but he never apologized. Instead, he made the service staff who delivered the food apologize to me, which was unnecessary. Mistakes happen. It's okay. 2. Our other first course never came. As the same service manager removed our plates & utensils, I gently notified him that I had never received the foie gras. He replied, "Oh, now you want to order foie gras?" Again, I gently let him know I made the order with my server & asked him to check. He checked, acknowledged the order was in place, dropped off one set of utensils without a new plate on the side of the table, & then walked away. Neither the service manager nor my server ever apologized for the mistake or how he spoke. The service should reflect if the dining costs $150+ per person. My server was barely attentive to my table, & the service manager's handling of their mistake was unprofessional. I thank the other service staff again who delivered my food, changed my utensils & poured my drinks. They provided an excellent service.
Sophie was an excellente waitress, she gave excellente suggestions & we had a great time. Thank you Monarque team, we loved the vibe, the drinks & the food. The owner of Barsol pisco who was with us, really liked your signature cocktail (just want a little heavier on the pisco for the bite 🤩) blessings to all ❤️
Jul 9, 2024
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We met friends at Monarque last night for dinner & drinks. The wait staff was fantastic, with a perfect measure of attentiveness - always making sure that our experience was great without getting intrusive. We sampled a number of dishes. The fries were done to perfection (gotta start somewhere); the steak tartare was extremely flavorful (a must try); we then progressed to share a dozen oysters - with fresh grated horseradish & mignonette. For mains, we ordered the special - a roasted pork shoulder served on a bed of vegetables - which took an hour to prepare. Our friends ordered the pork chop & the cuit du jour - grilled flank steak. While we waited for our mains we shared a plate of sauteed mushrooms, & another of asparagus & fiddleheads. Both were extremely tasty. The mains arrive... The lamb shoulder was... Wow. Just wow. Slow roasted to perfection, it had a crispy exterior & juicy, succulent flesh. Every taste was spectacular. We wrapped up with dessert - my wife had the ice cream sandwich, I had the creme caramel. Nice way to finish off. A great shout out to Sonia, our server, & Serge, who assisted us in making the overall experience such a pleasure.
Surprised how crowded it was on a Friday around 5:30. Didn't appear to be a seat available but were accommodated. The service was excellent. It was apparent throughout the meal there is a level of quality control & observation that is lost in most restaurants to keep the table clean of plates, refreshing of water & drinks & to inquire if anything is needed. The charcuterie board was delicious & impressive in assortment. Presentation of each dish was a small work of art. The menu is relatively small which my assumption is it's rotational & by chef's selection which keeps it interesting.
After a few visits to Montreal with no reservation success, I was able to snag a last minute Brasserie table reservation for 1! I arrived & was immediately brought to my table & walked through the menu by Vincent. He gave great reccomendations & was great about checking in. Honestly, the entire staff felt like they were trained in hospitality. The host came by to check on me in & took another drink order. & the server, who was taking care of the table next to me, also took a moment to make small conversation. I regularly dine out alone due to work travel & while I don't always feel comfortable, I was put at ease the entire time. Okay the food/cocktails - AMAZING! The bartenders make wonderful cocktails that are both enjoyable to watch being created as they are to drink. I got the Farigola & the Colibri. The food was wonderful as well. I ordered the ricotta ravioli which balanced the cheese & meat super well. Raviolis were cheese filled & the meat was underneath. The fried cauliflower was huge (this is the single portion) & very butter forward if that's your thing - it's my thing so I obviously loved it. The steak was cooked to exactly medium rare (as ordered) & the fries were perfectly crispy. 10/10 would reccomend... if you can get a reservation ;)
I had a great experience here for a presentation in their basement conference room. The service was attentive, the staff were super friendly & refilled our drinks/water constantly throughout the night (we never had an empty glass). The food was nicely prepared, flavors were balanced, the pavlova dessert was huge : some of my colleagues were not able to finish it. Overall a great experience & I can't wait to come back & try their full menum
Apr 23, 2024
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I have never had such an arrogant waiter in my life, he clearly hates his job. It's unfortunate to come to a high end restaurant & receive such terrible service. The food was good, small portions, fine dining type of idea, except for this price there is way better fine dining in Montreal. Pretty big restaurant so I question if everything is fresh. Other reviewer expressed a bartender licking a spoon & making drinks many times, if its true, that is pretty insane for a restaurant like yours. Hopefully you put in place a hygiene standard for your staff.
Beautiful bistro style restaurant. We had a beer, a glass of wine & an order of the lamb poutine. It was delicious. Such a lovely spot to grab a nice drink & some light bites. Would highly recommend.
This restaurant is located in beautiful old town Montreal, not too far from the Notre Dame. It is beautiful & modern inside & the lighting is nicely layered. We ate at the brassiere. Our waiter was very attentive & friendly. He was able to suggest a cocktail to drink as we were indecisive. We got buffalo mozzarella & wild mushroom gnocchi for appetizers. Both were delicious! The buffalo mozzarella was nicely seasoned with the vinaigrette. For the main course, I selected the butchers cut which was a flank steak with herbed butter on top. It came with a side of fries. The fries were delicious & crispy & served with mayonnaise. For dessert we got a tarte tatin. Caramelized apples with puff pastry & icecream…How can you go wrong?!? It was heaven! Overall it was a great experience & I would highly suggest it for a nice dinner out!
This place is without a doubt one of the best restaurants we have visited in the last month & we have LOVED it.
We loved the kitchen, you can see the stuff working there. It gives us a nice feeling that we are going to eat something delicious, fresh, & clean
We loved the kitchen 😍
The place is nice & spacious. The service is very warm & personalized. There is a good variety of delicious dishes & quite tasty drinks. They gave us a dinner to remember & we will surely return as soon as the opportunity presents itself. An extremely pleasant experience to enjoy with family or good friends.
