Went to Rufus on the Thursday night before the August long weekend - it had been recommended to us by a local Montrealer. At first the girl who greeted us could not find out reservation for 8. The bartender stepped in to help us... and we were seated. It took about 20 mins for our server (the original girl) to take our drink order and we should have assessed that that was a good indication of the poor service that would follow.
I don't know if it was because we are anglo (and this area of town - Little Burgundy/Grifftintown is predominantly franco) but she was slow to help us, rude and kept ignoring our requests for drinks...water...napkins..etc. At one point my husband walked up to her in the restaurant and asked politely if she could come over as we all wanted to order more drinks - at which point, she proceeded to have a 10-15 min conversation with some guys sitting at the bar! I was in awe.
I must say though - the food was very yummy. It seems that they change their menu periodically - when we went, it was a take on Japanese street food. The soba noodles were extremely flavourful,...agedashi tofu - YUM..and who doesn't love dumplings?
Cocktails were pricey - $14 range. I ordered a margarita and it was straight up but NOT over ice...
The decor leaves much to the imagination...let's just say it looks better under candlelight.