Noir Kitchen & Lounge — Restaurant in Hamilton

We went here for a prefixed menu for NYE. We arrived a couple minutes before our reservation time. We waited 25min to be seated at our table. They were very good at communicating with us on the delays and found us a seat near the bar to wait until our table was ready. When we were seated the server gave us the menu. My partner ordered a beer and I kid you not it took 20 minutes for him to get his beer. First course rolled in a few min after he got his beer. We waited another 25 minutes for mains. Both courses were tasty, cooked well, and flavours went well together.

What really irked us was the fact that our waitress was serving a table of friends in the corner (they hugged on arrival) and paid very little attention. The person supporting her with water refills was on the ball though. We decided not to order additional drinks because by the time she got back to us and asked if we wanted another drink we were almost done our mains and 2 hours into our reservation and didn’t have time to wait another 20min for it. Once the mains were done it took her 10 minutes to clear the plates because she was preoccupied with friends. At that point we asked her to pack up the desserts to go because we were 2 h 15min into our reservation and did not think we needed to budget more than 2.5 hours on a 3 course menu. The manager? Came over and apologized and said they could have the dessert right out. We stayed and quickly ate it. Dessert was tasty but the nuts inside the toffee pudding were hard as a rock. You literally couldn’t bite through them. But they added a nice flavour so I see the idea behind it…just needs a bit of adjustment on execution.

All and all, the food was good, the atmosphere was really cool, and the communication was good. It was their first NYE and they clearly have some service issues to work out. We’re going to try this place again during a quiet weekday or brunch to get a better feel. Lots of potential and hopefully with some staff training it...

First let me start off by saying that the customer service and desire to exceed client expectations at Noir is truly 2nd to none. They went over and above in trying to ensure we had the best possible food experience and let me tell you it WAS an experience.

Celebrating my husband’s birthday, we were treated to a culinary adventure that blew us away!

We kicked things off with the tuna cannoli – an ingenious twist on the Italian cream-filled dessert that was as bright as it was flavourful. This playful tartare creation set the tone for the entire meal, and I can’t recommend it enough! Then came the corn fritters—golden, crispy, and perfectly seasoned. Add in the caesar salad and we were in heaven. Honestly, it’s probably the best we’ve ever had! The vegan parmesan dressing was so exquisite, it had us questioning everything we thought we knew about vegan flavours. Moving onto the mains—where do I even begin? The 100-layer wagyu lasagna was an absolute masterpiece, the flavours and textures were perfection. The crispy melted cheese? A dream come true! As a self-proclaimed burger connoisseur (I once did a 30-day burger tour through Southern Ontario—yes, you read that right!), the Noir burger is now at the very top of my list. Each layer was crafted to elevate the flavour in ways I never imagined. Cooked perfectly pink, it was a symphony of taste that had me wanting to move to Locke Street just for this burger!

For dessert, we indulged in the heavenly blueberry lemon cheesecake and the rich chocolate cake — they wrapped up our meal in the best possible way. And as if that wasn’t enough, Chef Kenny personally visited our table, making the whole experience feel even more special. Noir isn’t just a restaurant; it’s a shining star in the Hamilton food scene, and I’ll definitely be back—especially for...

I will sum things up by saying, the food was not amazing in my opinion. The oysters were good, fairly standard in my opinion. The mozzarella sticks tasted good and were larger than expected. The burrata salad lacked flavour and we were not impressed, it tasted soggy. As for the main dishes, I was not very impressed with anything I tried which was the dish I ordered and my friend's mains. The ravioli had very minimal flavour and portion was small. It was not at all what I was expecting. I tried a piece of my friend's stuffed chicken supreme and the chicken was quite dry. Also, as I booked with a group we were placed outside as seating is limited inside. The outdoor temperature that evening was around 6 degrees cel and we were seated farthest away from the heating lamp so needless to say we were shivering. We were eventually moved closer to the lamp after people left an hour in but it was still very cold even where we were seated closer to the lamp. It is hard to enjoy the experience when you are freezing cold and the food cools very quickly as well, as you are eating. The reviews are good online, but I myself was not impressed. The food was expensive as well (around 90$ per person without alcoholic drinks). Maybe different menu options are better than the ones I tried and perhaps sitting inside would have improved the...