Jatoba — Restaurant in Montreal

I have gone pre-covid when this place was fairly new/hyped and recently. I recall the whole experience about the same both times.

Let's quickly talk about Service and Atmosphere.

Service for what we had was 5/5 on par and up to basic expectations. Greeted warmly and well informed of their menu.

Atmosphere they have 2 areas, front and back with the back being more open in a glass room enclosure and a lot of plants, it had a nice vibe but the front does have this cozy warm Asian inspired feel to it. 4/5

Let's get to the food: This place is on the pricey side and I'll describe it as best as I can for what I have had, and seen. I will also describe how to go to this place and really enjoy it.

Food is pricey, easily call it double of what you would expect from a standard Asian restaurant. High price, small dishes, almost tapas style if you want to call it that.

Some items from their menu, Filet mignon, Lobster ginger and King Crab ($60+) offers at most 5-10 bites. Their other items which would be your go to for sides like Fries ($20), Calamari ($40) or dumplings (3) (~$18). There is only so much you can go high for price. Flavours had that hint of Asian cooking with a more quality preparation and plating. Tasty yes, unique no. Be full and happy? Not at the prices. Desserts are double the price of something typical but nothing unique that I haven't seen or tasted before.

Drink wise, everything stands around $15+ for your alcohols. They made some fairly nice drinks and I would say they made an amaretto sour that is going in my books (super frothed egg whites). I make this drink blind folded and even started to make it with egg whites but this was another level of froth, almost whipped cream line. Half the glass was alcohol and the other half was whipped but it was well worth it.

Listen if you go to this place as 2 and you order a app, main and dessert, you are easily over $100 and you won't be full. The best suggestion is going to this place as a group of 4-5 people and each spend about $75/all in (2 orders each). This will get you about 8-10 dishes that you'll be able to try tapas style with just 1 maybe 2 bites. This way you can try a lot of different stuff without hitting a price tag of $200+ (person) which you can easily do. Food is 3/5. It's not bad food, it's just pricey and with pricey food, your expectations are just up there.

Go here with friends, real friends that know how to food share and you probably won't be...

I’d like to recognize both the positive and negative aspects of the service during our visit.

Service Rating: ⭐ 5/5 for the support staff (bussers, runners, and bar staff) – Everyone else on the team was attentive, friendly, efficient and really top-notch service worthy of the highest end restaurant. ⭐ 2/5 for the waiter who took our order – Unfortunately, our overall experience was seriously impacted by two concerning incidents. The 1st is not drama, the second in quite unnerving.

Drink Order Mishandled One of our guests ordered a regular (non-diet) Coke. When the drink arrived, the server delivering it (holding the printed bar order in hand) stated it was a Diet Coke. The waiter who originally took our order quickly and firmly insisted it was not. However, a simple taste test confirmed it was Diet Coke.

Though the drink was eventually replaced, the way the situation was handled was troubling. The waiter’s defensive attitude, dismissiveness, and his unwillingness to listen came across as unprofessional. It felt more like, "just take what you're given," rather than an effort to ensure a good customer experience.

Allergy Risk – Serious Oversight We ordered a multi-course tasting menu (we did not choose, we let our waiter decide on the menu) and clearly communicated one important dietary restriction: an allergy to shellfish. Despite this, the final course included two plates containing shellfish (crab and shrimps). Thankfully, we identified this (again thanks to the support staff) before anyone with the allergy took a bite — but that’s not always possible, especially with items like dumplings where the filling isn't obvious.

When we raised the issue, the same waiter casually responded, "Oh yes, I know — but I really wanted the rest of the table to try these out." This is not just a lapse in judgment — it’s a dangerous and completely unacceptable approach to food allergies. It demonstrates a lack of seriousness, care, and professionalism.

Mistakes can happen, but the lack of accountability and the dismissive attitude from the waiter made both situations feel much worse. Service staff are not just responsible for delivering food; they are trusted to listen, respect guest needs, and ensure a safe and welcoming environment. In this case, that trust was broken.

I hope the management sees this as constructive feedback and takes appropriate action — particularly with regard to allergy protocol training and...

Underwhelming and overpriced. The menu looked nice and given the ratings we had high expectations. Ambience and decor were nice but once the food came our excitement ended there. Food was sorely disappointing. Maybe the chef was off tonight?!?! Har Gow(蝦餃spelled on the menu as Hagao - Japanese romaji spelling) the dumpling skin was thick and extremely gummy - we've had far better at Chinese dimsums for half the price. Awabi was actually Tokobushi from PEI. But in English they are both called abalones. I guess you can't expect the real deal Awabi for CAD36. But then the menu should say Tokobushi. It was basically their version of clams casino but with two strips of rubbery overcooked Tokobushi and green peas(!) mayo galore and super salty. Wow really?Beef tataki with quinoa and the papaya salad (hardly any mango even though it said so on the menu) with broiled eel were acceptable. But we couldn't wait to get out of there. Bill came and we paid by card and anyone who has a good credit card that does not charge FX fees know NOT to accept conversions to home currency but the waitress had already selected the payment to be converted ( receipt indicated +4% surcharge). When we pointed this out they were clueless and insisted that if you have a non-Canadian credit card that it's better to pay this way. Which is a bunch of crock because we had paid using the non FX fee credit card numerous times in this trip and trips around the globe. It was too late bc they'd already processed it but we advised them to always give the customer the choice on the currency. Very unprofessional and we were unimpressed. If you are looking for good seafood try Monsieur's Resto Bar on Rue de Bleury - their food was superior! Do not judge a book by its cover- looks nice from the outside but just awful!!! Anyone who knows real Japanese cuisine can see thru the misleading naming of the menu once the food came out. Another tell-tell sign. We barely saw any Asian clients - definitely no Japanese diners eating there -we...