L'incontournable Schwartz vous sert la meilleure viande fumée depuis 1928, sa recette est originale et ses épices uniques. Imaginez, vous passez la porte et vous vous retrouvez 75 ans en arrière sur l'historique --Main-- de Montréal. Un vrai monument à Montréal qui a reçu des célébritiés et des visiteurs de tous les coins de la planète.
Schwartz's est une institution montréalaise où le sandwich à la viande fumée est au cœur de l'expérience : viande tendre et généreuse, pain de seigle et cornichons à partager, souvent accompagné d'une poutine ou d'un soda cerise. L'endroit est constamment animé et les files peuvent être longues, mais le service reste rapide et l'ambiance old school rend la visite unique et conviviale. Certains trouvent le prix élevé ou la poutine décevante, mais l'envergure historique et la constance des saveurs font de Schwartz's un incontournable du patrimoine culinaire montréalais et une halte qui vaut le détour pour les amateurs de viande fumée.
I came in from Ottawa to pick up at the airport & decided to go for a little side trip, i was able to find a parking spot nearby., a sandwich was great ,staff were friendly, & it was a fun outmosphere
What else is there to say than what has always been said before? Incredible smoked meat sandwich. My wife who doesn't like any sandwich loves the smoked meat. The kids ate all of it & said the 30 minute line they waited in was worth it. Our server suggested their steak was worth trying & it was exceptional with their own blend of seasonings. The fries were the perfect blend of crisp on the outside & potatoey on the inside. This is a true Montreal institution worth stopping at over & over again.
21 mars 2026
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I love this place. The food was obviously amazing but the service was also incredible. Our waiter was so sweet & it was such a friendly vibe all around. The food was also so quick to come out, they literally pump it out seconds after you order it. It's very cramped but in the best way. It's so fun & I loved it. The fries were also great & the seasoning they give you to put on is phenomenal. & they give you the whole bottle so you can decide how much you want which is really cool. The pickle wasn't the best but other than that it was a phenomenal lunch & I would for sure go back if I'm in Montreal again!
Food: poutine & a smoked meat sandwich with a pickle on the side. Absolutely delicious! Service: prompt & friendly. Atmosphere: nostalgic, definitely cramped & busy but didn't mind it
Busy at mid day Friday shared table concept. Great portion sizes & huge picked. We three had the trad smoked meat sami which was juicy with a hit of spice & nice! Also had the fries plus smoked poutine which our uni student son enjoyed on his inaugural visit.
I loved the poutine w/ smoked meat on top! The atmosphere here is very relaxed, & the staff was understanding that I was new to Quebecois cuisine & very friendly. No regrets eating here!
25 févr. 2026
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Mediocre & overpriced food with poor service, but an extremely rude & aggressive cashier without any social graces who demands money & tips from you. I told my friends who are local to Montreal about this & they said it's common, which is why they avoid this place.
This place is definitely a tourist trap. They also charge you $3 extra for sharing food (see the attached picture)…
There are better smoke meat options like Pete's that you should choose over Schwartz's.
I really wanted to try the smoked meat sandwich here so that is what I have ordered. The bread was soft but thin & to be honest the smoke meat was not so tasteful that I need to add ketchup to enhance the taste but meat was really very juicy & generous portion. Sandwich size is just enough for one person. However, I was expecting to taste a special & unique flavor of the meat but again good thing it's really juicy & almost melts in your mouth. The fries has crispy burnt taste. The price is like around 30$ per person if you will have fries & a drink with it. The ambiance is like 80's or 90's era & I like it.
The staffs are pleasant & they serve fast. Overall, good to try for tourist as it has its history.
The food is good, pretty decent. However, staff were really rude especially to my mom. When we walked in the place we kept on being pushed off the door (where we were told to stand) rudely by the manager.
When we sat at the counter, we were practically neglected for the first 10 minutes, the staff (dude, asian as well) explained the menu in detail to the other customers at the counter but not us. We had to get his attention multiple times just to order.
The staff bitterly & in a low voice asked our order & if we want lean, medium, or medium fat meat. My mom is not fluent in English, so she misheard it as the meal sizing (small, medium, large). He intentionally exhaled loudly at us & just repeated it rudely without explaining (which is his job).
I ordered a cherry soda & the staff placed it in front of my mom. She held the can attempting to move it to me, but the staff immediately snatched it out of her hand for no reason. He placed it in front of my brother & when he was about to pass the can to me, the staff did the same thing.
We were utterly disappointed & offended with the service treatment so we decided to not tip. The cashier forcefully shoved the tipping jar towards my mom, & she had to flee from being harassed.
All in all, the food is not THAT good to get mistreated. Definitely NOT tourist & foreigner friendly, will not recommend to my friends & anyone who's visiting Montreal.
Ordered on doordash, we considered going in person but after reading all of these reviews about disrespectful, condecending, & demanding service I am truly glad that we stayed in.
The Sandwich à la viande fumèe was small but delicious, I haven't had pastrami in a long time as I usually follow a pescatarian diet but it was so worth it!
A perfect ratio of fat to meat, genuinely could not have been better except to perhaps have wider slices of bread to not need to stack the meat so high on small slices (makes it difficult to take a bite).
However, the poutine is the first terrible poutine I've ever had in Montreal, the fries were soggy which is to be expected & is understandable when ordering fries for delivery & the cheese curds were pretty decent, but the issue was that they were incredibly burnt & just tasted like char or straight liquid smoke. Don't get me wrong, I love a smokey flavor, I charcoal grill nearly every chance I get in all seasons rain or shine, but these were not just smokey fries they were actually burnt to the point that we just picked out the cheese curds & couldn't stomach the fries at all..
My suggestion is order from a food delivery app like doordash, ABSOLUTELY get the smoked meat sandwich, & avoid the poutine at all costs.
The food was extremely bland. The best way to describe it would be boiled meat served with mustard & bread nothing memorable or special. The fries used for the poutine were burnt, which further affected the overall quality. Combined with the long wait, the experience was disappointing. Overall, the wait is not worth it, & I would not recommend this place.
26 déc. 2025
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Authentic taste of Montreal smoke meat. Take out is right next door. Place is always busy, but luckily it is on a street with lots of other options. Combo comes with coleslaw & fries plus a stack of bread, eat with the classic smoke meat or take home. Poutine is lovely with good amount of meat portion. Classic smoke meat sandwich a must try.
Smoked meat isn't necessarily my most favourite thing but it's certainly moist & a Montreal staple. Staff were so endearing & friendly, really enjoyed chatting with them during our visit.
Memory, like smoked meat, requires the proper cure.
At Schwartz's, Montreal's famous Hebrew Deli, both have been marinating since 1928, & I've been sampling the meat & the memory since the 1960s, when my father led me through a blizzard into what appeared to be an entirely male domain wreathed in steam.
I was seven, perhaps eight. The windows were opaque with condensation, as if the deli were keeping secrets from the street. Inside: old men, everywhere. Serving, eating, talking in that particular Montreal patois where French & Yiddish & English form an uneasy trinity.
The original owner moved among them like a presiding deity who happened to know both my grandmothers. That first sandwich - strange, tangy, accompanied by what I remember as'yummy friends' (fries, presumably, though the phrase suggests a child's more profound insight about the fellowship of food) & coleslaw & pickles & a black cherry soda that tasted of artificial everything & absolute happiness.
Then the changing of the guard. New management. The windows no longer steamed. Across the street, the Main, where my uncle Jerry had landed after abandoning high school for the immediate rewards of the service industry. A pragmatic choice that probably made more sense than it should have. His offer of a free Main smoked meat couldn't lure me away from Schwartz's - the place I was smitten with.
Schwartz's endured through its transformations. By my university years, there was Frank Silva, dark-haired & mustachioed, barely older than we were, serving us at 1 a.m. with the air of someone dispensing not just smoked meat but narrative. His daughter now waits tables, another layer of sediment in the archaeological dig that is this place.
The restaurant sold again. Bought by the Nakis & Angelil-Dion families, though everyone says it's owned by Celine.
The lines grew longer, a mixed blessing, like fame. A takeout shop materialized next door, because even tradition must eventually bow to efficiency.
& now, in 2025, the final indignity: Schwartz's has been listed in the Michelin Guide. The countercultural haven where we huddled at 1 a.m., where steam obscured the windows & old men held court, has succumbed to its own fame & glory. Legitimized. Validated. Reduced to a destination for culinary tourists with their tire-company-approved itineraries. One can almost hear the ghost of the original owner sighing into his pickle barrel.
I've brought my children. They love it as my grandmothers did, as my mother did, as my father especially did & many friends we brought there. Four generations united by cured brisket & the persistence of a single address - though now we must queue alongside people consulting their phones for the Michelin star count.
What Schwartz's teaches: that some things - not many, but some - deserve to survive. That a good sandwich is a form of time travel. That inheritance isn't always genetic; sometimes it's culinary. & that recognition, like preservation, always comes at a cost.
Go. Take your children. Let the smoke & spice seep into them as it has into the walls, into the city, into all of us who return again & again to this shrine of meat & memory. Just don't tell them it's in the Michelin Guide.
