Henri Brasserie Française + Lounge — Restaurant in Montreal

The menu in general is short but really well defined as a classic French bistro with staples such as the Duck terrine and -my option for the entrée- the Shrimps with cocktail sauce (so photogenic that I could not resist order them). During all the time that we were studying the menu we watched a very active and smiley team always keeping the tables impeccable, checking that your water glass was full, answering clients’ questions. It was difficult to decide which main course to choose as everything looked amazing. I went for a very delicate beef dish: Sweetbread in a very light Noilly Prat Extra Dry ambré vermouth sauce. My wife’s option was the really fresh and delicious Torched Mackerel. But the surprise of the night was a side dish that we just ordered because we saw it pass by to a nearby table and it was love at first sight: the most attractive little vegetables casserole or as in French: "la cocotte de légumes glacés". You cannot order your main dishes without this tender and delicious selection of perfectly steamed veggies. Wine options are amazing. You can have them by the glass. They have a private cellar and you will be able to enjoy wines exclusively imported. My recommendation is the Bourgone Rouge (Pinot Noir) from Clotilde Davenne. In the cocktail section, there are multiple choices but my wife decided to try an interesting one: “Noyeau Fleuri” made with Amaretto and Violet liquor. And last but not least, if you order desserts at Henri Brasserie you will have the opportunity of enjoying the delicate work of international renowned pastry chef Florent Chevalier who -after winning an important pastry contest in 2016- is working at Birks creating amazing desserts such as “Le Caramel et la Tonka” or the heavenly “Île flottante”, both our choices to close this unforgettable evening. I must mention the location in the landmark and iconic 1881 Maison Birks’ building in the corner of Cathcar, Saint-Catherine West and Union streets, this beautiful place is worth a visit just for its location and architecture in downtown Montreal. We went for our wedding anniversary dinner and it could not be more perfect. When you arrive to the breathtaking and really high ceiling room at the reception, you will have the first contact with a very helpful and cordial staff in a beautifully area decorated with authentic art nouveau stained glass window panes with the portraits of Cleopatra and Balkis, queens of Egypt and Sheba. All the employees are really helpful and very proud of their jobs. One of the very professional waitresses explained that the Birks family (when informed that the Restaurant would be carrying the name of their ancestor and founder of the house, Henri Birks) decided to bring back the original windows as part of the decoration. When visiting, please take the time to see the exquisite details of the portraits made with glass. The color white is dominant in the decoration, simple and not in competition with the building that is the star. Just the fact that the lightning was specially modified to highlight the beautiful work of the ceilings and columns is proof of that. Definitely a 5...

My partner and I were guests at Hotel Birks and decided to get a drink at Henri Brasserie before going to our dinner reservation. As soon as we walked in, the maitre’d asked if we were staying there and demanded our room number for one of the hostesses to look up. I thought that was a bit weird and an unwelcoming way to “greet” someone but my partner said it was probably because they wanted to charge it to our room. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. When we were presented with the bill, we told the bartender to charge it to our room. The bartender said “we don’t do that here.” Which confused us because why would the maitre’d hound us about whether we were staying at the hotel. My partner asked the bartender if they ask everyone if they were staying here and he said “I don’t know why the maitre’d asked that. That was weird.” I also asked the hostess and she didn’t make eye contact and said “yes.” It was pretty strange that the staff gave two different answers. It seemed like the maitre’d saw me, a black woman, and decided I couldn’t possibly be staying at the hotel. After we paid our bill, tipped the bartender and left, the maitre’d came out of the restaurant in a belligerent and hostile manner and demanded to know what was going on. I explained that I felt discriminated against and made to feel unwelcome. He became even more hostile, rolling his eyes, insulted us, and claimed that they ask people their room number because they have people not paying their bills. Which leads me to ask why they singled me out and why would they believe I wouldn’t pay my bill. In order to the defuse the situation, I said okay and left it at that but felt absolutely horrible and humiliated afterwards. The maitre’d was acting unprofessional, racist, and disrespectful. My experience can also be corroborated with other black and brown patrons which you can read in other reviews that I discovered after my experience. These similar reviews tell me this isn’t an isolated incident. Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, and/or gender is illegal. I don’t suggest dining here if you’re in Montreal. There are so many better restaurants like Vin Mon Lapin and others that treat everyone with respect and have...

The Henri Brasserie Française is usually always a sure thing for brunch. Everytime we come we always have a great time and experience & Mimosas are yummy. With those reasons we came for the Easter brunch. They had a special Easter menu and we ordered one of everything creating our own tasting menu, plus the seafood tower and an additional dessert.

The seafood tower was a great way to start our meal. Including lobster, shrimp cocktail, and oysters that were fresh and perfectly clean and shucked.

Easter menu: The rabbit croquettes were fresh and crispy but left a bit to be desired in the taste profile. It was more of a crispy mini arancini with I’m assuming bits of rabbit. Couldn’t really make any meat out to be honest I could only make out the rice. The rabbit must have been busy delivering Easter eggs because he was MIA in our croquettes. Also a very small dish, we got 3 croquettes total, and 2 of them were the size of a large marble, the third was even smaller. The dish was mostly shaved cucumber.

The chicken and waffles were delicious. Chicken strips were fresh hot and crispy, waffles had a crispy exterior and soft and fluffy when you cut into them, and the poached eggs were perfectly cooked. All drizzled with maple syrup.

The lamb shank was fall off the bone tender and rich, the mashed peas were very pulpy in texture and a very dense. It would have been nicer if the peas were blended with fluffy mashed potatoes.

The bitter chocolate tarte dessert was refreshing with the citrus gel and wine foam.

La goutte chocolatée was just the right amount of chocolate with the chocolate biscuit and chocolate cream mousse. A nice balance of textures with creamy and crispy with almonds crisps and cocoa nibs.

The restaurant is beautiful with all the architectural details from the molded ceilings down to the stained glass.

The service was good! Our server Dom was great and friendly, only opportunity was having to ask for a refill to our water glasses. To conclude we had a nice time as usual, but there were a few things that could’ve been better. Still recommend for brunch though, and valet is a plus who like hunting for a...