Joséphine — Restaurant in Montreal

My wife and I enjoyed the drinks and appetizers, but the lobster tagliatelle was terrible.

The wonderful: Service was very kind and hospitable. The hostess and the server were both very gracious. We sat down at our table, and we’re conducted through a beautiful meal.

We began with oysters and cocktails. The house oysters are incredible! The mignonette sauce very good—a beautiful vinegar base with finely chopped shallots.

We moved next into grilled octopus and the Cesar salad. We loved the both! Th octopus was served with roasted red peppers, a root vegetable purée, and an herbaceous gastrique sauce. We loved every bite of it.

The real star was the Cesar salad. Served on half a head of romaine, with a balanced, creamy dressing. The chef grilled the lettuce prior to dressing, and this made all the difference in the world. The sale had just a hint of Smokey flavor that suffused every bite.

The bummer: We had very high hopes as we shifted into our shared entree, the lobster tagliatelle with extra lobster. The house made pasta was a perfect al dente. The lobster, however, was in scant supply despite the double portion. The mushrooms in the dish dominated the plate, and the cured egg yolk made no meaningful appearance or contribution. I wish I had ordered the fish of the day.

Conclusion: This is a lovely restaurant with delightful service. Read the ingredient list of each dish and be sure to ask questions about which ingredient is the star...

Located a the immediate corner of Duluth and St. Denis, Josephine has a very pleasant, warm if dimly lit locale with a central bar area separating the restaurant into two approximately equal sized halves. We visited during the MTL A TABLE event so the menu was limited (see image) but the restaurant has an emphasis on seafood.

The ranking is difficult and would have received 4.5 stars as the meals were on the cusp of very good versus good but something kept holding it back. For our appetizers we had the salmon tartare (good but missing something, like an avocado base) and the butternut squash soup (beautiful presentation, tasty but was served lukewarm)...for our mains we had the Shrimp Tagliolini (good but not over the top) and the Braised Beef (very good, great sauce but too dry...like it had been under the heater for an extended period of time)...and, finally, for dessert we had the chocolate mousse (great toffee crunch on the top but the mousse itself had a bizarre spice added to it that was slightly off putting) and the crème caramel (good). As mentioned earlier, it had great potential but something was either missing or odd in almost all dishes.

The service, however, was excellent and there was no shortage of staff available to take our order, delivery plates or just make sure everything...

I would like to thank Josephine and the staff for the excellent service we had tonight. Their special offer on Wednesdays is 1$ oysters and 5$ Aperol Spritz. They have a beautiful orange terrasse and the indoor seating is cozy as well with plants hanging from the ceiling and white tiles everywhere.

The Aperols were very good, the oysters were to die for, as well as the vinegar sauce to accompany them.

The scallop entry was good, they were grilled to perfection and tasted great, although the plate was slightly expensive (15$).

We also had a grilled octopus salad that apparently was a newer addition to their menu. We told them that the vinaigrette needed something extra, as the salad was a little bland. They were comprehensive and welcomed our criticism very well.

Overall, the experience was good! We ordered the oysters after the entrées and they took a fairly long time to arrive. We in fact got a little bit impatient because of that. However, our waitress and the chef were generous enough to offer them for free because of the wait! We also got free shots, which was very appreciated. The service was definitely exemplary.

I would definitely recommend this place on Wednesdays and for the oysters! The seafood is very good and they have a lovely staff. It would be the perfect restaurant for a...