I always think of Joe Beef as being one of the top restaurants in Montreal. However, on my latest visit they did not live up to their reputation. The food was good but far from outstanding and the service was also good but not at the highest level. The prices however, remain high.
I eat at Joe Beef ever now and then and always greatly anticipate my visits. I expect to love the food but have been disappointed on my last visit. At our last meal at Joe Beef I found the food not to be up to its usual level. There were three items that disappointed us. In the buffalo mozzarella entree the fine flavour of the smoked cheese was completely overpowered by the overly strong sour flavour of the pickled vegetables. The cheese should be the star of this dish but you could not even taste it.
We then had the lobster pasta which use to be served with a delicate bisque that was so wonderful I would have loved the dish even if there had not been an entire lobster sitting on the plate! This week the sauce was think and heavy and not nearly as enjoyable. We also had the halibut, which I expected to be light and melt in your mouth perfection. Unfortunately the fish was heavy and very chewy.
One other disappointment was the server who took our desert order (not the same person who took the rest of our order). When describing the ice cream she failed to mention that there were nuts in this dish. Luckily my wife, who is allergic to pistachios and cashews, noticed the topping before digging in and possibly sending herself into anaphylactic shock. This same topping of nuts was also on the Hazel Nut cake and again our server failed to mention it. I was shocked that at a restaurant of this quality a server would fail to mention such an important detail.