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| - God, I hate to be a buzzkill but this place isn't very good.
After descending the gaudy mirror and wood paneled stairs, I thought for sure I'd end up in some wannabe Mafioso's love nest only to be met by even more fabulous ridiculous interior design. This place has to be seen to be believed. Deliberate irony is the only defense.
We had fabulous service from a gentleman from Afganistan who while making our sandwiches discussed his feelings about the state of the world. He was fantastic - interesting to listen to and just so passionate about serving us what he felt was the best meat in Montreal. It so pains me that I ended up so disappointed with this place.
My companion and I split both their famous Reuben and their 'classic' smoked meat sandwich. It likely goes without saying that the portions here are simply huge and a great bang for the buck is certainly to be had, at least as volume is concerned. The meat is piled stupidly high on the sandwiches making them near impossible to fit in your mouth. Don't even think about calorie counting.
The meat does, as other people mentioned, melt in your mouth. Despite a rather strong smell that some complained was a tad on the foul side (it comes with the curing), it did taste good and had what I thought was an unusual amount of coriander flavor to it. But for the most part it tasted exactly like an average corned beef - absolutely no evidence of the smoking that others seem so convinced makes this place and Montreal meats so unique.
It didn't help that the bread wasn't that great and quickly melted and fell apart, that the mustard lacked any kick, that the Russian dressing was devoid of tang, and that the sauerkraut was actually pretty gross. And I freaking love sauerkraut in all of its stages of carefully controlled rotting goodness.
The fries were mooshy and flavorless. Having worked a frialator in a past life, I would have been ashamed to serve these to anyone. Even my gravest of enemies. I also know from working a frialator that churning out good fries isn't hard it just requires paying attention.
Other people's reviews make it clear: this place is all about the "unique" meat. The meat shines, above all else but that's because everything else was...well, bad. This is my honest assessment: I completely fail to see the uniqueness of this place and its product versus a traditionally prepared corned beef. When the other aspects of your meal are taken into account the experience is average at best. It is also completely devoid of any locals. I have some theories.
Can we also be clear here? Corned beef is cured in brine NOT smoked. My rudimentary understanding of physics also dictates that smoke doesn't do anything to submerged objects such as meat. If you watch your sandwich being made the meat is removed from a vat of steaming brine (liquid clearly visible). So unless the meat here goes through some baffling process of curing, smoking and curing again this is just your regular everyday corned beef - which is what it tastes like.
I am doubtful smoking makes up any significant portion of the process, if at all, and even if it does none of the signs of smoking are present in the meat we were served (e.g smoky flavor, color, textural qualities).
So go here if you want to be surrounded by tourists, have a dining experience with heaps of mediocre food and just OKAY corned beef that pretentiously claims to be more than it is. Next time I'm going to try Schwartz's.
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