I hesitate to write resto reviews as I am not a qualified food writer. However tonight, on behalf of innocent tourists everywhere, I make an exception. On the recommendation of a friend - and a respected guidebook - my wife and I dined at Da Emma in Old Montreal. I should have known better when, upon entering, I noticed several dozen celebrity photos along the walls (notoriously a red flag within the industry). Although buoyed by the interesting character of the room - a former prison - and the busy bustling crowd, dinner was a major disappointment. Two appetizers - eggplant and a caprese salad - though large in size, were bland and indifferent. The tuna secondi, albeit cooked to order, was drowning in a red sea of tomato sauce that even Moses could not have parted; and my agnolotti pasta tasted as though it had bought from the nearest IGA and then forced to sit in the steam table for hours on end. It's as though the kitchen was manned by automatons going through the mechanical motions of preparing the founder's recipes.
The only thing going for our experience was our Tunisian waiter, however even he gave up on us towards the end, forgetting to remove our plates, and bring us the bill.
In a city renowned for its restaurants, there has to be better examples of memorable Italian cooking.