Bistro Garage Café — Restaurant in Montreal

Excellent food and cheap price. Nice ambiance overall.

Details: we ordered two burgers with fries. Bacon, cheese for both and mushroom for me. The burger itself was delicious, well grilled. The bun (average normal bun) was a bit mushy for me but not too bad. The salad, onion and tomato that came with it were a bit on the dry side of "I've been cut this morning in a bunch" instead of "freshly cut for your burger". Nothing too bad here either unless you are picky. I am not a fan of the whole "open your burger, add the ketchup and mustard yourself then close it again". I do not like having to touch my food, then bottles of condiment that i-don't-know-who manipulated too just before me, then eating with my hands. I also enjoy when a burger has its own sauce. My girlfriend added the sauce of the fries and it was delicious. Overall still amazing and delicious. But you don't know if it's supposed to be a dining or fast-food experience. It's awkwardly funny.

The fries though. You could say "McDonalds style" of thin yellow fries. But the taste is more refined and delicate, and the crispiness and freshness makes it completely different. But the sauce. Fries' sauce... Just Delicious. Mayo? Paprika or cayenne? Aioli? I don't know but it was so very delicious. I should have asked for an extra portion of it. Can eventually be too spicy after a few bites for sensitive buds.

Ambiance is family friendly but definitely more bar-like than coffee-like. Noisy like a bar is. The little candles at the table added an extra charm. Waiters were nice, but they are quick to go. Food came fast enough.

Quality price is unquestionably good. For the two burgers, two tap beers and day's dessert, 37 with taxes. Very very decent.

One small thing though, the chairs are not "fat-friendly" as they come around and almost wrap you up at the ribs. I felt like I was a child in a high chair. I quickly got used because I could fit with an inch of free space, but I'm actually...

In the spirit of fair play and out of respect to the restaurants who survived Quebec's draconian lock-down measures during covid, I've decided never to smack talk a resto without looking at the big picture first. There's plenty to like about Bistro Garage: a tall frosty glass of Peroni on the hottest day of the year was just what I needed, and was served promptly by an efficient bartender. This is the type of place where locals go, and sitting at the bar it's easy to see why, The staff is friendly and seem to know many of the customers, at least on the day I was there, and good vibes where in abundance. I only wish the burger I ordered was as generous as the kind service and smiling locals. Sadly, paltry portions served on a lackluster plate seems to be the norm in "la belle province". I really don't understand it. Montreal is a place that has been re-birthed from its humble roots of hot dogs, poutines, tourtières and pâté chinois, into a centre de la gastronomie widely acknowledged for some truly stellar dining experiences. Now, clearly this is not a Michelin dining experience nor is it trying to be, but you would think .. and hope! ... there would be more pride in what's served at the le garage and other slightly bobo yet still accessible establishments like it. A small-ish burger served with a scant handful of of previously frozen shoe-string fries thrown on the plate doesn't inspire much, and certainly doesn't live up to the great decor and overall jovial ambiance of the place. Jeez, even a sprig of parsley would be an improvement over the bone dry offering that left me feeling sad and depressed and yes, hungry! I was quickly snapped out of my pit of gloom by a bagpipe group parading down Wellington and all was good in the world again. I'll be back, but next time I'll...

Atmosphere seemed nice. Food looked okay but we never got our food so it's difficult to evaluate. You see? They have a very small restaurant, basically the size of a double-garage. The kitchen is also tiny and divided from the dining area by a simple countertop. Keep that in mind as it will become important later. We place our order. The waitress almost immediately brings us our drinks. No problem there. We wait. Wait. Wait. 25 minutes later someone from the staff notices that we have been sitting there like idiots for the past almost half hour without any food and by now our drinks were almost empty. He goes to see the waitress that took our order. Minutes later the waitress comes to see us apologizing because their COMPUTER SYSTEM that prints out the order in the kitchen didn't work and the kitchen never got our orders. Reminder, the kitchen is in the same room, divided by a countertop. We had an event to attend so we had to wait it out and eat after the event thanks to their inefficient kitchen/dining room design. Someone should explain to their manager that a computer system to convey orders to a kitchen might be nice and useful in a large scale environment like a chain restaurant where the kitchen is hidden away a half mile from the dining room. But that in the context of a "hole in the wall" countertop diner, it will only make your operations inefficient and lose you customers. Good luck with your future endeavours. I don't go to that area often, but if I ever do, I'm very unlikely to return here. Final tip: If you are going to eat here make sure the order gets to the kitchen... in other words do the waitress' job. Now looking at their reply: It came quicker than the food! Sorry but you...