L'Ours Caverne Culinaire — Restaurant in La Prairie

Would probably rate this a 4.5, but since I have to choose between 4 and 5, I'll pick 5.

Just came back from valentines dinner and it's safe to say we're both impressed.

Initial thought's walking in weren't the best. Things seems a little shabby, but they are in the process of refurbishing the top floor, so I'm sure once the upstairs is open, the downstairs will follow.

The cleanliness of the dinning room could be better. Nothing bad by any means. The staff are very quick at getting things done, but perhaps a little too quick. Things like the side of the tables seem to be missed between services and if you happen to get a black table top, it's quite noticeable.

Service is top notch. Aside from waiting for the bill, which I think is often delayed in a byo so that you can finish your drinks, everything was great. The most pleasant surprise being how well the front end staff worked together to make sure nobody was left hanging for too long. Not to mention how well our server handled being asked for additional apps between the first course and the main.

Food was good. Not great when comparing menu prices, but the kitchen is pumping out some dishes that are worth tasting. I thing overall, once all courses are eaten, the value is there.

The highlight of the night for me was from the beet arancini from the valentine's day special appetizer. We ordered the standard arancini from the menu afterwards to compare and there's no competition. That beet arancini is outstanding!

The beef tartare was another solid pick from the standard apps menu. It was very much like your classic recipe, but well executed and worth trying for anyone who enjoys tatare. One of the best I've tasted on the South Shore for a while. Another honourable mention was the soup of the day. Mainly because it was a cream of zucchini soup. I mean, who'd have thought? Sure, cream soups are generally easy to make with anything in the walk-in, but it was pretty tasty considering.

Main courses weren't as much to write home about. They were good, but maybe not to our tastes. The Mrs enjoyed the risotto, but found it a little "much". Translating to "it was good, but the richness of the duck was lost". Meanwhile I had the bavette. The plate was good and it was nice to get some actual home style french fries that were done right, but the steak did pack a punch. My initial thoughts were that they used liquid smoke, but it may just be the wood and smoking style. With the sauce and cheese it was good, but just the meat alone left almost a bitter taste in your mouth. Nothing like I've any time I've smoked meat at home.

Dessert was dessert. It won't blow your mind, but it won't disappoint either. I tried the creme brulee and my wife had the lemon tart. I think the biggest highlight being that the creme brulee was a lighter than most and seemed to be made with real vanilla.

Overall consensus is that we will be returning. The staff are great, the kitchen are putting out good food while appearing to constantly be trying to innovate, and it's a byo. Looking forward to seeing what the top floor looks like as well once...

Food was on another level. Had their daily specials and it was great, but the pulled pork in the cavatelli definitely shined. I'm somewhat of a fan of pulled pork, working in a barbecue restaurant myself and also being somewhat of a competent pitmaster (hey, my friends rate my brisket a 10/10) and that was some of the best pulled pork I've ever had. Pretty inventive to put it in a pasta with Chorizo too. Tried some of my friends smoked salmon too, was spectacular and the burger my other buddy had was one of the juiciest I've ever seen. The Caesar salad my brother had was a bit odd, being served as a whole half-head of romaine with all the proper ingredients sprinkled on top, but the dressing was on point and obviously there was some care in selecting the lettuce heads as there was none of the black spots or wilting that are a trademark of a standard grocery store.

All that being said, they do need to put some sound dampening in the dining room. A group showed up after us and they were, well, a bit loud for the rest of the patrons to sustain a normal dinner...

The interior decorations are fantastic. I really like the vibe it gives and it does match the restaurant's name. The service was good. Some waitresses were super friendly and energetic while some others were a bit more gloomy but everyone worked quite efficiently and were all respectful. The food was pretty good. I really liked the flavours from the sauces and the fries. The slight crunch from the fries were just on point. The ribs on the other hand was not falling off the bone as seen in a lot of other restaurants but it was still good. My biggest problem with this restaurant is unfortunately the price and the portion. Seeing the prices in their menu, we were expectint much bigger portions and it was overall a letdown. Edpecially the steak, it is priced at 41$ and rhe size of the steak felt like an appetizer. I wish they would have specified the portion size in their menu because it felt way too overpriced for us to enjoy the food. Most of the other main courses were around 35$ and the portions are smaller than a lot of other restaurants that serves...