Cadet — Restaurant in Montreal

Solo trip to Montreal. Want to try a nice restaurant. The name Cadet comes up when I googled Michelin recommended restaurants.

Not far from my hotel. And it accepts reservations. I booked 8 pm. I usually eat at 6:30 pm but you never know if there would be any flight or train delay on arrival.

Party of 1. Checked and confirmed and reconfirmed by text message.

I walked in at 7 pm. Sorry we are fully booked. She turned around and checked the bar. It’s not even half full but she goes by the book. Not bending any rules not doing me any favour. Great greeter!

And I left and looked at their website. Text based website in this generative AI world talking about agentic AI. The restaurant is still using old school website

Apparently their menu is not kept up to date. To prove it to all the google masters, I ordered the zucchini dish. And also took a picture

The dish is very very delicious. Lots of flavours. Fortunately I am the only person having that dish that night. I wish I could lick the purée off the plate. I was thinking of a spoon full sushi rice to finish it all

I also ordered the Deep fried sea bass. Excuse moi. ne parle pas francais. Don’t come with a plate next to me and asked me if I want you to debone it for me. I would do it differently. I would debone the meat and put it back and let customers enjoy.

Good to know the chef had some lots of work before putting it into the fryer

Removed the scales, trimmed the fins and even took the bones out from the fish tummy. It is very well done. Someone don’t eat fish a lot might not think of these. The chef did a lot to prepare.

The fish and the sauce is so tasty but the bottom of the dish is raw cabbage chopped up. It was kinda disappointing. The cabbage averages down the great taste of fish and the sauce.

I would highly recommend you go before the owner wants to be on fine dining experience market.

It’s a family restaurant for sure. Expect you would hear whining kids or laugh out loud people dinning with you.

Service is neither good nor bad

I am so torn to give you 4 stars. But it...

We had a reservation made well-in-advance for late-evening and were seated promptly. We opted not to order cocktails as we aren’t big drinkers.

We ordered 3 dishes to share which the server recommended against as the portions were small. However, we went with the burrata, broccoli, and beef tartare.

The burrata was well cooked and the flavours were just okay. The sauce accompaniment could be compared to rooster sweet and sour sauce, with greens, and cherry tomatoes. The menu noted “basil” pretty sure there was no basil on this dish and if there was it was not enough to be recognizable. Cutting corners much? In addition, the amount of cherry tomatoes served with this dish was extremely minimal, as in 2 cut into halves, compared to what would be typically found in a similar dish elsewhere.

The broccoli side dish flavours were good, nothing to write home about but will note that the broccoli was cooked very well.

Now, onto the tartare. The presentation was awful. The tartare was plated on a saucer and looked like it was placed haphazardly, like cat food. The tartare was sprinkled with a minimal amount of Parmesan cheese, what I believe was a single mushroom, and paired with 4 crostini which were extremely crunchy.

All this to say, the portion sizes, flavour, and clear desire to cut costs at every corner did not bode well for an enjoyable dining experience. The prices are outrageous for what is served here. Further, the dining experience is lack lustre and the staff weren’t concerned about our experience until it came time for the bill.

It is clear that this restaurant relies on being “exclusive”, however, anyone that actually cares about the quality of food and dining experience vs. appearances should...

Our group of six was up to visit Montreal for a weekend and happened to get a recommendation for this place. We went for dinner and each of us was immediately impressed. Cadet is decorated with an elaborate bar display of wine bottles under fluorescent lights, neat rows of tables, and sharp-dressed wait staff. Our waiter, Jean-Sebastian, was incredibly knowledgeable of the menu and helped our group hand-select the perfect combination of dishes. We were treated to three "courses" each consisting of four or five plates of food. Each dish complimented the rest and provided its own wonderful sensations on the palette. From everything we tried, the table's favorites were the fingerling potatoes - a simple dish but expertly prepared to offer a memorable punch on the senses; the rib-eye, which is significantly larger than other plates and includes a 10 oz. steak covered in tomato sauce, thin-sliced chorizo, and sunny-side eggs; the blood sausage with crispy basmati rice, sweet squash, and a touch of chili; the duck prepared with white beans and apples then drizzled with a maple sauce that adds just a hint of sweetness; and one of the most impressive strawberry-rhubarb tarts I've ever tasted for dessert. While those are just the highlights, I enjoyed everything we ordered and it was easily one of the most impressive dining experiences we had while staying...