Le Zouk - Resto Pub Le Zouk — Restaurant in Montebello

On our way to a weekend getaway in Mont Tremblant, we decided to stop in Montebello for some lunch. Without bothering to check reviews, we simply pulled into town and stopped at the first restaurant we encountered — Le Zouk.

At first glance it appeared like a unique venue with a near-capacity crowd. We were able to secure a table for six on their patio as we found the interior of the venue to be a bit stifling.

Our server was amiable enough, at first. However, once we switched from french to english, things changed dramatically. No one was ready for an alcoholic beverage at this time of day so we simply requested water. That never arrived. In fact, half way through the meal, after multiple requests, my wife finally went to the bartender and procured a pitcher of cold water for our table.

The food was even worse than the service. I ordered the veggie burger which was advertised as including nachos and a side salad. What arrived was a literal joke. In this era of impressive meat substitutes, the burger that arrived was a first-generation, store-brand, frozen patty of literal pressed vegetables (c.1990s), cooked to the consistency of a softened hockey puck. This was served on the smallest and cheapest store-brand burger bun ($2.25 per dozen) with a single leaf of lettuce and a dollop of salad dressing.

I’m not sure what passes for nachos in Montebello but I can’t imagine it in any way resembles what I was served, which consisted of twelve stale, tiny, round, store-brand tortilla chips accompanied by the tiniest plastic ramekin of store-brand tomato salsa — approximately two tablespoons.

The only thing on the plate that was remotely edible was the small sprig of Spring salad and dressing in the middle of the plate. Roughly three bites worth. My wife agreed about the salad, especially since the small frozen pizza they heated up for her was absolutely unpalatable.

Everything on my plate could be purchased at the local grocery store, at retail, for less than $2. Yet, I was charged $20 for this insult of a meal that began with a quality of product that is below what I normally purchase for our everyday meals. And we economize.

To say that we received bad service would be to imply that we received any service at all. Our food server, as previously mentioned, failed to even attempt the bare minimum by bringing us water. When she did bring a plate to the table, she walked up behind me, reached around my left side and dropped the plate from about ten inches off the table — just enough to make a loud statement without tossing the food off the plate. Although, on one occasion, she brushed my elbow as I was eating and almost pushed my fork into my face. No apologies. No acknowledgements. Didn’t care how the food was. Literally wouldn’t give us the time of day. We were blatantly and intentionally ignored.

Not sure what a business in a tourist town doesn’t understand about running a restaurant but you would literally be better off driving ahead to the local grocery store and buying a better version of everything they serve there. Find a nice spot in the park with a grill and you could prepare an infinitely better meal than their unfortunate excuse for cuisine. It barely...

It definitely wasn't a great experience. I'd say the only thing that I enjoyed was the decor. All the wood was beautiful and I loved the plants, especially the crawling vines. It made me think of a cozy nook you might see in a magazine.

The food options were both limited and varied in different ways. There were many different options when it came to the main part of the meal but the only available side is salad and nachos.

The quality of the food was decent as long as you are ok with well-done meat. The salad especially was nice and fresh. The nachos were a bit odd in that they seemed to have absorbed a small amount of humidity and were not crisp. Also, they were of a cheaper variety and stood out a bit in comparison to the rest of the food.

I don't know if things were worse than normal because it is labour day, but the service was awful. Almost everyone was incredibly slow and had to be asked for things more than once. More often than not they were silent and had a surly attitude. For example, we needed to ask for utensils and the bill multiple times.

The temperature was a bit too hot to be on the patio since there is a heat wave and the shade was limited. The temperature was better inside but seemed to get warmer the longer we were there, as they didn't have air conditioning and the airflow was poor.

To summarize:

Pros a. Architecture and decor (wood, plants, etc.) b. Nutrition (salad, etc.)

Cons a. Service (attitude, speed, etc.) b. Climate (heat,...

Let me spare you from reading through all the reviews on the service at Zouk's. They are overwhelmingly negative (with a few exceptions). Here are the words used in other reviews for the service: Mediocre. Terrible (3 times). No personality. Rude or very rude (four times-and we had her yesterday, she was brutally rude). Very bad. Never looked at us or checked on us (five times). Never a smile. Not friendly. Lazy. Ridiculous. Incompetent. Unprofessional. Cold. Jaded. Uninterested.

One reviewer wondered "perhaps we spoke the wrong language", but no, several of the negative reviews for service were translated from French, so it seems the rude and cold service is available to all...

Seriously, do yourself a favour and wander down the road to Le Bistro, where we had dinner Sunday. Smiles, genuine warmth and friendliness, quick, efficient service, and killer pizzas! The chicken nachos we ordered at Zouk's were absolutely terrible, by contrast. Most of the nachos had nothing on them, the sauce used tasted like a sweet ketchup, there were maybe 6 pieces of chicken, and it cost 28 bucks including tax.

I have never in my life not left a tip. I know how hard waiting tables can be, and we always tip 15-20%. At Zouk's, we left no tip.

That's how bad the waitress was. And given the other comments over the past 3-4 years at least, she has been that bad for a loooong time. She must be the owner, as we can't imagine any owner keeping a...