Artisans — Restaurant in Montreal

We booked a room at Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal and Artisans is on the main level. As soon as you enter the store, the array of desserts are mesmerizing. I felt like this kid in a candy store overwhelmed with joy and happiness at the sight of the displays. There were variety of spices in beautiful packaging, olive oils from different parts of the world, cheese that are sourced locally as well as imported from Europe, specialty Japanese soy sauce, an array of specialty teas, locally produced maple syrup, condiments, pastas, fresh produce and charcuterie. That night that I visited, they were short staffed perhaps because it was almost closing time but nonetheless they were friendly and attentive, being apologetic because of the slow service. The store was organized, clean and the display was carefully thought of, hence the products' prices were a little bit on the higher end. I think it's all worth it given the fact that you as a customer get to take home something special. I recommend dropping by even if you only buy their...

Really my rating is lower than it should be, so take it with a grain of salt. The shop is really a 5-star, but because the shop is embedded with the restaurant within a hotel the shop is extremely expensive due to those factors. You generally wouldn't go here for your groceries if you were a local. This shop panders to the wealthy clientele of the hotel. All that aside there are some very high-end products to be found, which one would expect a premium for. But just like buying wine in a restaurant turns a $15 bottle of wine in to a $45 bottle of wine, the same rings true here. Premium products at a premium price with a premium on top for good measure. Otherwise the shop is...

It is really unfortunate that Marché Artisans, one year after its opening, is still incapable of offering the high-quality catered and take-out meals that were offered for decades by the Fairmont's Boutique Gourmandise before renovations of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. I was willing to give the Fairmont's Marché Artisans a year to get their act together, but like in 2017, it's now mid-November and they still have no Holiday Catering Menu available. I'm permanently deleting the Fairmont QE's catering services from my list of high-end take-out holiday menus. They've convinced me that Marché Artisans will forever remain...