Chez L'epicier has a classy decor and menu, but I find the food to be artsy to the point of not really being food anymore. If you want to look at the food and not eat it you will really like this place.
The price structure is staggered so you can spend anywhere from $20 to $80 on your entree depending how fancy you want to get. The seven-course tasting menu is at the top of the tree. One problem with the tasting menu is that if others in your party are getting single-dish entrees they will be waiting around when you are on the various courses.
The wine list is phenomenal. You want to spend $2000 on wine? You came to the right place. Many of the wines are elite French vintages rarely seen outside of Europe. The lower end wines are around $100 a bottle and there are numerous grand cru options at around $400-$500. Only bottles are offered, no glasses of wine.
I liked the laid back elegance of decor with a touch of rusticism. It is the perfect fit for feel of Montreal. They have shelves where you can buy various sauces and condiments in the foyer area.
The real problem with the restaurant is that the chef is an artist, not a cook. For example, when I got the tasting menu the final (seventh) course was a piece of lamb about the size of my thumb perched on top of a log cabin tower of vegetables I did not recognize. Over this aedifice was poured a semi-sweet chocolate sauce. The foundation of the quixotic structure was a bed of fluffed potatoes embued with a sauce of some sort. In general, every dish had to be explained by the server so you would know what it was.
I don't really fault the restaurant for doing this kind of preparation, because unfortunately the trend in Quebec now is "avante-garde" creations which emphasize visual appearance. Hopefully this fad will go away soon. I mean, for the love of god, I go to museums if I want to look at art, and I go to restaurants when I want to eat.