I'm not sure where the small handful of five star reviews are coming from because this place is to be avoided at all costs. Most of the other stuff I've read about it has been spot on, that is to say not very good. It was pretty much the only negative dining experience during an otherwise wonderful summer weekend in Montreal.
It was getting a little past supper time and we were tired from all the walking so my girlfriend and I somewhat arbitrarily picked a place near the Old Port that seemed to have a decent looking menu and wasn't either completely dead (never a good sign) or totally packed. Sadly it's my guess that most of the other, better establishments were already full and that those that were here were just happy to find a place on a patio (we didn't even end up sitting outside).
First off let me say that the decor is simply atrocious...that's not something I often comment on when reviewing establishments unless it's highly impressive or highly offensive. In this case it was the latter. Old, dingy looking and inexplicably lined with grotesque paintings of dead animals. It didn't really offend me as a vegetarian rather so as an art critic. Ugh.
The food itself was nothing to write home about. I had an uninspired pasta and my girlfriend, a so-so salmon. The house wine was abysmal and the bread had to have been day old...there's no way it was baked that same day. If it was, something was clearly wrong with it.
Service was acceptable though not especially attentive either.
If you're in Old Montreal and want a nice dinner go elsewhere. Yelp would have really been my friend in this instance...I could have avoided La Maree.