Holder — Restaurant in Montreal

I was surprised at my experience given that Holder was highly recommended to me by a knowledgeable friend. I went there on a date in the middle of the afternoon, the restaurant was empty, only 4 tables to serve. The restaurant has it's charm and the service was on point, we were served by 2 servers because of a change of shift and they both did not disappoint. The issues was with the food, first off I ordered a calamari appetizer and it tasted like frozen calamari and on top of that it was almost burned. If I were a chef I would never serve a dark brown fried calamari. The other appetizer was the grilled octopus which was the really good. Then my date informed the server that she was allergic to dairy products but still got server a plate with dairy in it, it was a good thing that she tasted a small portion before starting to eat and she had her pills on her, which she had to take because they did not remove the dairy from the plate. They did replace the plate and apologized. My main course was the grilled rack of lamb which I ordered medium rare and got it well done and dry. Again, they apologized and changed it for me. But the problem is that my date and I had to each wait on each others plates and had to eat cold food. At the end, realizing that they made a mistake they removed one glass of wine from the bill. All these issues and all they removed is a 14$ wine glass, which to me was pathetic. I'm not someone who will ask for free food, but given the circumstances, that would've at least made me want to come back and trythe restaurant again. If the restaurant was crazy busy, I would understand these mistakes to a certain extent, but as I said there were 4 tables (8 clients) in the whole restaurant. Based on my personal experience, I wouldn't...

After much excitement to try Holder, I came back highly disappointed and here are the reasons why:

Upon getting seated, waiter did not come by to introduce himself and offer to explain menu and specials. We sat there for almost 30mins with no server. He simply came and asked what we wanted and treated us like we were an inconvenience.

once we got our food, he was no where in sight. Not even to drop by for a customary ask if we are enjoying our meal

Food was very expensive relative to the quality and taste. Beef and lamb were dry and tough. The milk fed beef was so tough that it was like eating a beef jerky.

I think the price does not justify the quality of food and service. There are lots of other places in MTL you should consider before Holder. Do not be fooled by the high price menu and expecting a fabulous dining experience.

As a side note, our group felt like we were judged based on our clothing (just ended a long trip and just went with casual clothing) and were treated like lesser folks

I would never recommend this place or ever go back. Be better, Holder, and train your staff to be non-judgmental based on people’s attire. At the end of the day, they still...

The Great: The staff is professional, attentive and efficient while being friendly in a way that feels deliberate. The service was exceptionally quick.

The Good: The duck confit paired with a glass of Pinot was delicious and had the right balance of tastes and flavor. Crème Brûlée was good.

Not So Good aka Disaster: Whenever I visit French restaurants, I always order the onion soup, a staple that done well sets the expectation for the other courses. In this instance after ordering the waiter came back to say due to something unexpected, the kitchen would not offer onion soup tonight. I was disappointed until someone else brought the onion soup and said it was on the house for the confusion.

The French onion soup was a sloppy hot mess. I could not hide my disappointment and cannot recommend anyone try that slop. This maybe the standard for this restaurant but the cooked pot of chopped onions in broth really lets down the amazing duck confit!

Summary: Don’t have the onion soup. Go for the service and other French classics. Despite the weird soup, they have at least earned a return visit to try some of the...