First off, the service was unacceptable. Our waiter was principally and I should say exclusively interested in providing attentive and professional service to my friend. And as others have mentioned there is a bit of waiting time between dishes.
The recommendations were not impressive. The wines were not impressive. The pours were not impressive. Whoever curated the wine menu is not very good. I recently was in NYC and I have been to a couple of other wine bars there in the past few weeks, where I was delighted with the wine recommendations as well as the wines.
Food itself was pretty run of the mill for Montreal. Not much better and not much worse.
The way it ends up expensive is because the right hand of the menu lists several appetizer type dishes at more of entree prices. They only serve small and medium-sized dishes. But many are priced high for a small-medium dish.
From the appetizer side I had the princess scallops. It was the dish that I liked best overall. It's $11 for two small-medium scallops but it's a fairly complex preparation and thus worthwhile. The ham and cheese gougeres recommended by my server were 4 pastries served room temp, with a little grated ham perched atop with grated cheese all over. It needed a lot more ham and lot more cheese, preferably hot and melted and with a bit more bite
From the 'medium' dishes side of the menu I had a yellowtail crudo with sliced radishes which amounted to a decent-sized appetizer. My duck foie gras dish was another appetizer sort of dish and with some whipped foie gras slivers spread out in on a plate along with slices of strawberry. Etc.
My friend asked me what I thought and I said that I wasn't blown away. She said that she was not either.
Music was ever so annoying. Among other music I didn't really enjoy, I won't be your beast of burden playing on a loop.
Aggravating and unpleasant experience. The wine and the food do not surmount the service and the spotty value. Moreover, a wine bar that doesn't do wine well?! Forget about it...Won't go back.