| rev:text
| - Who is writing the reviews for this place? The owner's nieces and nephews? So, our first impression was very positive - beautiful locale in the old part of Montreal. Thought had been given to making the restaurant a marriage between the old and the new.
We started by ordering a bottle of wine, but the waitress came back and said she wasn't sure we would enjoy it as it was "natural." What in the world is a natural wine? Thinking there was something lost in translation (even though I lived in Paris as a student and can speak some French), we ordered a different bottle of wine. This time, the sommelier came to our table to tell us if we sent back the first bottle, we would definitely not like this one. I politely reminded him that *we* did not send back the first (unopened) bottle, but that the waitress said we would not enjoy it and who would drink a wine after the waitress says it's not good?
The sommelier then said he would bring back a bottle we would enjoy. We thought we would get an amazing wine. My DH had indicated he liked full-bodied: Cabernets, etc. The sommelier comes to our table with an OPEN bottle of wine. That's right, it wasn't opened in front of us. Umm. Strange, maybe someone sent *that* one back. Anyway, he pours us a sip tasting and it is a good wine, but very light-bodied. Something summery and drinkable, but not a fab wine. After all that, we really expected something great. Additionally, the sommelier never told us the price, nor showed it to us on the menu. In all of my previous experiences with sommeliers, they will point in the menu at least one option (sometimes more than one option), and you order, knowing the price (whether it's $40 or $400). So, not only did the sommelier have in his list wines that a regular customer would not "enjoy," but he brought us an opened bottle, suggested a wine that was not along the wine that we wanted that evening, didn't even ask us what we were eating, and didn't even show the price of the wine brought to the table. Very amateurish.
Fortunately, we just looked at each other, ordered mojitos, and the rest of the evening went off without a hitch. The food was solid and interesting. The main dishes were particularly good (duck and fish). It was a little gimmicky - the waiter pours the sauces at the table (this could have easily been poured in the kitchen!). I couldn't help but feel they were trying oh so hard to make an impression of being so sophisticated. But, both the duck and the fish were well executed and the flavors were solid., so I know there is talent somewhere in that kitchen behind all that fanfare. I just wish they would have the confidence that the food is good enough. Because, right now the restaurant "experience" is an epic fail.
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