Bazar Café — Restaurant in Montreal

*DO NOT EAT HERE IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES OR DIETARY RESTRICTIONS * On August 4th, my partner, myself and a friend went to Bazar Cafe for brunch. We had heard great reviews and were very excited to try out the place. As soon as we arrived, we told the server that my partner has an anaphylactic allergy to olives/olive oil, peanuts and tree nuts. She assured us they don't work with nuts (which was a lie -- we saw in the menu they had a salad with a nut mix) and that the tajine dish we wanted only had "a little bit of olive oil". She didn't seem to take the allergies seriously and thought we were worried about the calories in olive oil. This made us hesitant to order the tajine. We explained the allergies one more time, and she assured us that they could make the smoked salmon sandwich with no olives or olive oil, so that's what we ordered. We waited for our dishes for 1.25hr (three tables that arrived after us were paying by the time we were served) and, when they arrived, the sandwich and the side salad were COVERED in olives. We kindly asked the waitress to remove the dish and bring a new one without olives. She looked annoyed, never apologized for the mistake, and returned 3 minutes later (which was bizarre, considering that the dishes took so long to come in the first place). She ASSURED us they made a new dish. As my partner is about to start eating, we find another olive in the salad. The waitress clearly picked the olives off the top of the sandwich and didn't see the olive hiding under the lettuce. We asked another waitress to get our server and asked her to take the dish away. My partner calmly explained that she carries an epipen but could've gone into anaphylactic shock because of their lack of attentiveness. The waitress said nothing and took the plate away. She returned two minutes later and mocked my partner, touching them on their shoulders and asking if they had "calmed down" because they sounded "very distressed" (these were her actual words). I asked for my meal to be packed and informed the waitress we were leaving. She tried to charge us for my partner's meal and acted surprised when I said we wouldn't be paying for that. This was the worst service I've ever had in Montreal, and I cannot get over the fact that she could've KILLED a person because she didn't take their allergies seriously. The sad part is that I had my dish when I got home and it was delicious, but this server absolutely RUINED this restaurant for us. I'd highly recommend following up with her and providing further training on handling allergies as she'll end up seriously harming someone if...

Nous avions une réservation pour l’heure du dîner. Notre groupe est arrivé à l’heure, mais notre table n’était pas prête. Après quelques minutes d’attente un peu malaisante (nous étions coincés entre l’entrée exiguë et des gens déjà attablés), nous avons enfin pu nous asseoir. On nous a installés à une table à environ 3 mètres de la seule toilette du restaurant. Des bouteilles d’eau ont été mises sur notre table, mais nous n’avions pas de verres. Il a fallu environ 20 minutes pour qu’on nous en apporte. Enfin, nous avons pu commander nos plats et nos cafés. Malheureusement, la serveuse nous a seulement apporté la moitié des cafés et a sans doute oublié les autres; il a fallu les redemander. Pas non plus de salière ni de poivrière sur notre table; il a fallu en prendre sur la table d’à côté. Au final, de notre arrivée au restaurant jusqu’au moment où nos plats ont été servis, nous avons attendu au moins une heure et demie! C’est incroyablement long, surtout que le restaurant n’était pas bondé du tout; la moitié des places étaient libres! Était-ce dû à un sous-effectif? Bref, la plupart des gens de notre groupe ont bien aimé leur plat. Pour ma part, j’ai pris l’omelette au saumon fumé. Elle manquait cruellement d’assaisonnement et était très fade; j’ai dû mettre du sel et du poivre à plusieurs reprises pour la terminer. Je pense qu’il n’y avait aucun assaisonnement dans les œufs. J’ai aussi été déçu par les 3 feuilles de laitue et les 4 morceaux de concombre qui faisaient office de « salade », de même que par les 5 petits morceaux de pommes de terre, qui étaient bons, mais en quantité insuffisante. Au moins, le saumon fumé était très bien. Au final, entre l’attente interminable, mon omelette fade, le va-et-vient incessant de gens allant à la toilette juste à côté de nous et la difficulté à nous faire servir convenablement, j’ai trouvé l’expérience décevante. Seul point positif : l’ambiance conviviale était agréable, avec la cuisine ouverte donnant sur la salle à manger. Je ne suis pas cuisinier, mais honnêtement je peux sans problème me faire une meilleure omelette et une plus belle assiette pour une fraction du prix. Je pense que ce restaurant a beaucoup de potentiel, mais il faudrait sans aucun doute resserrer un peu vos façons de faire et revoir certaines de vos recettes. Les fines herbes, les assaisonnements et les épices, c’est pas juste pour faire...

Had a great time having lunch at Bazar Café on a Saturday!

The atmosphere is very cozy and beautiful ✨

I had the Bazar Sandwich, which was one of the best, if not the best, merguez sandwich I've had. Loved the caramelized oignon touch that I had never had with merguez before, it was a perfect match! And let me talk about the potatoes... The roasted potatoes are beyond delicious, with the crispy seasoned skin and the soft center. I took my time enjoying each bite of the sandwich, potatoes, and the salad.

The service was exceptional, the host Camelia was welcoming and nice, as well as the server. You can feel how much they care about the customers.

I definitely recommend and will come back to try more...