Del Friscos — Restaurant in Dollard-des-Ormeaux

Generally a solid restaurant and used to be my Italian affordable go to in Montreal until I had 3 bad experiences in a row with their chicken Parmesan- which was one of the best tasting and texture in the city for the money. But when I had 3 times a rubbery and odd texture chicken breast on 3 different occasions, where twice management insisted there was nothing wrong with the chicken breast thigh it was very undesirable - I decided to call it quits. But this week my dining partner wanted to go and well, I am a gluten for punishment - or so I thought. This time I ordered capelinni pasta with half bolognese and half marinara sauce and it was perfect. My dining partner had their 7oz roasted chicken breast with veggies and a house salad. Both were just fine and the breast was actually cooked well and no odd frozen like rubbery chicken breast - whew. This being stated one issue I have here all the time - is the unreasonably loud noise level most of the time, especially during key days and times.

This was especially nasty when we went, as there were 3 parties going on, however, there appeared to be a kids party where the adults decided not to calm the kids in the slightest even though they were clearly screaming in the restaurant en mass and where the entire restaurant was overrun with the noise. Management did nothing to try and deal with the blatant inconsiderate lack of parenting from the adults. I’m fine with kids parties and with noise, but when you cannot hear the person sitting in front of you (because of one tables being too loud) that is just way too much and not acceptable. This is not a McDonalds this is a classy family-ish dining restaurant with a fine wine list and bar. This was wrong on so many levels from a (lack of) management that I won’t even comment, and also wrong from the adults (perhaps parents?) who just gabbed amongst themselves and didn’t pay any attention to the kids. So lesson here. Though the server was lovely and great at getting the order and the meal was delicious, I have to think twice if I wish to refer people here again - if they are looking for a decently calm environment and if they wish to be able to relax and speak comfortably with the people they are trying to have a nice dining out experience. You get my point right?

So to note, all their dishes are great, French fries are one of the best in town, wood oven fired pizza is great, all pastas are spot on and their appetizers are great too. If it were not for this experience I would say go, go now, and have a chicken Parmesan while you’re at it. But one I would not recommend the chicken Parmesan just to be safe and two, I do not know what hours coincide with one’s desire to eat/dine in a calm environment. For the price there are many places to have equally great Italian food without the noise level and crazy kids parties. So you choose. Food wise, you should be just fine and the atmosphere is actually nice as is the bar with the big screen TV’s to enjoy sports events while eating and drinking. If you have kids - given management does not care about its clients enough to calm noisy kids down, bring them there as this would be perfect for you and your kids, and why not have a kids party there instead of McDonalds and feed the kids some yummy quality made food. Who knows, maybe this becomes the next best place for kids parties with adult quality Italian cuisine with great alcohol?? Anyway, enjoy and don’t forget desert. I’m not a chocolate person but I did try their heated up chocolate brownie al la mode with vanilla ice cream and drizzled chocolate chips and chocolate and caramel syrup. Wow is all I can say !!! A must have, maybe start with this and then...

It was a Wednesday, not a very busy day really, but the service was slow, a little slower than slow, it was a table of 10 persons and we were arriving in a space of 20 minutes, finally we ordered some drinks and cocktails, after the drinks and having previously been reviewing the menu ...so it took 35 minutes for the waitress to come to take the food order and we ordered as starters meat balls in sauce with Cheese over and eggplant lasagna... and only then we knew that the Chef was not preparing the lasagna, which we should have known from minute 1... so she never told us, that way we would not have created false expectations and not wasted our time, but we ordered something else, after another 30 minutes at least, the starters arrived, the meat balls had an excellent flavor combined with the sauce and cheese, the texture was firm but soft to the palate, the first ball was really good, I was really enjoying it, the second came with a surprise, a piece of eggshell that the sound and sensation In the mouth, it's one of the most unpleasant thing you can find in a preparation, that killed the balls and ruined the moment (see images). However, my wife's starter replacement wasn't bad at all. Then, 42 more minutes passed before they came to collect the plates, and just over 15 minutes later the pancetta sandwich finally arrived, by that time we had no more appetite, then it took a good 40 minutes more to come and pick the dishes and ask about the desserts that only one of us ordered, then we asked for the sandwich that we had not touched, to take away, and after another 20 minutes or so, he came with the machine's bill. We arrived at 6:22 pm and left at 9:13 pm. A long stay and not a full pleasant experience, although I can't say the rest of us weren't satisfied, but I didn't even ask. In short, I was left hoping for something better based on the reviews I had read. The atmosphere is good and the decor is pleasant, perhaps with better waitressing and less carelessness from the Chef it would have been an excellent experience, just details could had...

Worst service Ive ever experienced at this restaurant. no reservation, wait 20 minutes. the hostess asked everyone but US if they wanted a table at the bar to avoid the waiting time. we were offered to sit outside, so we accepted. waiter did not respect standard customer service for Del frisco's after a question, WALKS AWAY instead of asking "is there anything else I can help you with"? Or "any other questions?! ... JUST WALKS AWAY LMAO. took over 15 minutes before we had our glasses of water. the food came and NO BREAD was offered. ( we had to ask for it ) the table d'hote chicken mango salsa was quite dry. waiter did NOT come back to see if everything was okay after food was served. to top it off, it got windy and started to rain and NONE OF THE WAITERs bothered to come see if we were okay. got switched inside to the bar where we got better service. again, waiter was NOWHERE to be seen. ( chris and Mathew ) lady installed us at the bar and was most probably the manager, she eluded professionalism. my guest's glass of water was empty and he had to drink out of mine he was soo thursty and NO WAITER seemed to care. we got offered desert for the poor service. we asked to talk to the manager to avoid having to write a review on google but the response was : He is busy preparing salads in the kitchen, we are very busy and its hecktic. I will tell him you said thank you. Result = I probably won't return to this restaurant. What a disapointment. I feel bad for the owner. I wish he knew how poor service can affect his business. Its much more pleasant to go to a restaurant where the waiters are all nice and polite. Everytime we visit a restaurant, it's an experience and waiters make such a diference between having a "meh" day to having a "great day". Its too bad... I really like their...