Fruiterie Milano — Local services in Montreal

Still new to this city but was pleasantly surprised with this place. There were a couple of problems but overall I liked it and will be coming back. The selection of packaged imported goods was very good. Oils (they have some exceptional extra virgin olive oil here), balsamic vinegars, dried pastas, tuna, tomato sauce, expresso coffee, etc - chances are they have it and they carry good quality imported Italian brands.

The cheese selection was varied and of good quality. I have had better Parmigiano Reggiano but what they carried is still good. Some self-processed cheese experts (I know they are experts because they type in all-CAPs) will claim that anything labelled Parmigiano Reggiano is all the same cheese produced in exactly the same area. Maybe they are fantasizing about one giant co-op that mixes all the milk together from all the different farms in all the different provinces involved. Or perhaps they think it all comes from the same farm and cows to, and all in the same year. I won't waste time trying to educate these folks, but for those who want to believe this I weep for your ignorance and your palate. Google is your friend.

The deli meat counter was great. Not a huge selection but they carry some decent Italian imported Parma ham, domestic mortadella, salami, etc. Again, not a huge or varied collection but what they have is fresh and they do enough business that it looks like stuff does no sit around for too long. The girls behind the counter are polite, friendly and speak French, English and Italian. The fresh bread section was sparse and not very fresh. .

The meat counter was good. Better local choices for sure but at least this place was clean and the meat was fresh.

The pre-prepared meal counter was a disaster. No one was at the counter when I visited and the steam trays of pre-prepared food looked dry, old and anything but appetizing. The lasagna looked disgusting to be honest. A place like this should be doing incredible business for a counter like that and it was a complete ghost-town - not a good sign.

The fresh fruit and veg section was also a nice surprise. Fresh and the area kept clean and organized. I guess with the nearby Jean-Talon they have to keep their quality up to compete.

So I will definitely be coming back here for the deli counter and to pick up those hard to find Italian imported...

So update: I was at Milano's over the weekend as I had to go purchase something urgently and it was the closest store. I saw Lavazza organic coffee beans - bag of 2 lbs which I just purchase at Metro for $16,99 for $37.99 at Milano. Yes 123% higher at Milano vs. Metro. I think it's shameful that Milano charges ridiculously high prices for products. And unlike some of the reviews, you can find most of their products elsewhere. The Metro near my house sells lots of the high end pastas from italy at a fraction of the price. Berchicci in St-Leonard has all italian imports and you won't need to fuss with parking as they have free parking.

Way overpriced!! I used to come here often but post covid they have increased their prices so much! It's insane. I actually can purchase most of their products elsewhere now even grocerers like IGA carry some of the pasta for half the price. I also did not like the fact that their cashier refused to serve me in english. She spoke only french and got really upset when I started to talk to her in english. Anyhow as a long time customer - that was my last visit. not worth it and I discovered lots of amazing grocery stores in laval that have much better produce, products(from italy) and better...

Wow. One of my favourite grocery stores, ruined in one visit. Obviously amidst this COVID-19 pandemic, any grocery store will have unique safety implementations, but they decided to limit one shopper per household. This make absolutely no sense. I wanted to show my mother this grocery store (she lives with me) & they were giving us a hard time originally and not letting us in. Eventually we got in and began shopping around. But the young grocery attendant was following us around and the store. We were maintaining distance the whole time. After following us around the store, he decided to confront us saying that we needed to “keep our distance from each other”. He proceeded to curse at us saying that it was bull* that we were let in to begin with. I could not believe what had just happened. We ended up cutting our shopping short after this terrible incident. Very disappointed..

It really is a shame because this grocery store has such unique products that you cannot get...