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| - Overall, a very disappointing and expensive experience.
Being huge fans of Tapas 24 in Barcelona we were very excited to try the Montreal location and see what the regional influence would bring to the plate.
Made a reservation for 5 several months in advance. However, when we showed up it was clear that although we were in the list, they had not decided where to seat our party. They quickly put together two tables for two and added one spot at the end in the most uncomfortable location in the restaurant, jammed in a high-traffic area between the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the bar. We had servers and other customers bumping into us from all sides. I expressed my concern to the server when we arrived before the rest of our party but were quickly dismissed.
Service leaves a lot to be desired. Quick to remove dishes and glasses, slow to attend to concerns or questions, and very very fast to refill glasses to the point you feel you are being rushed out of the place (particularly because you are not asked if you would like something else to drink when you finish a glass).
The menu that tries to be casual but ends up being just plain confusing and disorganized clashes with the atmosphere, decor, and loud environment that feel more like a very pretentious bar.
That being said, the biggest disappointment was with the food, missing all the high notes that we were expecting considering the pedigree of the restaurant. While the restaurant in Barcelona backs up their prices by making sure the ingredients and preparation are top notch, we didn't feel the Montreal location really lived up to the expectations. Hard to pin down exactly how but it was simply "Meh!". Additionally, whoever is expediting has very poor sense of timing for a tapas place where it is critical that shared dishes are not sent one at a time with huge waiting times in-between as this makes it really hard to enjoy the food.
My best guess is that whenever they were trying to do a dish from the original restaurant or perhaps something authentic, either the ingredients, the seasoning, or the temperature were off. And when they were trying for something of a fusion nature bringing Spanish flavours to a Canadian dish there was nothing exciting added.
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