Le Boucan Smokehouse — Restaurant in Montreal

Don't feel like reading this whole review? In short, eat at Le Boucan at least once if you can.

Service was professional, courteous, not creepy-friendly; in other words, perfect. Server noticed something wrong with the meatball order (guess: missing green onion garnish) and sent it back before bringing it to the table, which my bro saw and appreciated. Pulled pork poutine and meatballs were tha bomb. Bacon brownie wasn't as bacon-ey as I had hoped, but a good brownie nonetheless; went well with stolen sips of bourbon. My mom was lukewarm on the "5 napkins" burger, but she ate it without the freakin' bun, so I wouldn't read much into that.

I feel like I have to complain, mainly because I'm a jerk. So...my brother's napkin was stuck to the table with the last customer's BBQ sauce (at least, I hope it was BBQ sauce). Bro didn't mind, but he was two pints into the wheat beer by then. To be fair to Le Boucan, we didn't give the server any opportunity to correct the problem once discovered. To be fair to us, the second pint of wheat beer was without an orange slice. To be fair to Le Boucan, the server warned bro of the orange shortage when he ordered Pint the Second. To be fair to us, my brother says the first orange was not fresh.

I'd prefer a more rubbery-squeaky curd (i.e. St.-Albert), but that may be my Ottawa bias. The BBQ sauce on the poutine could be more visually obvious; confusing to taste BBQ sauce in one bite and gravy in another, and not be able to see why at a glance. Oh, and they had the Habs game en anglais. What up with that!? I know they have cable (and thus, RDS), because TV5 was on the other screen. And Don Cherry makes me sick.

Like I said, I'm a jerk.

Bill for three people, including bro's bourbon and 2 pints but not including tip, was $95. That's cheaper than comparable spots here in Ottawa, and the food was worth every penny...but if your pennies are few, you might choose to eat elsewhere.

If you're looking for après-Arsenal munchies and pints, don't mind spending a few bucks and don't suffer from severely debilitating germophobia, this...

Poor customer service. The food is ok; while the sides were lovely, our ribs and brisket were drier. The issue was the way my allergies were handled. I had spotted the buttermilk pie early on, and was excited to order it when the waitress came by. I had looked it up online and pics/recipes showed it to be nut-free. It came with peanuts garnished everywhere- pie, plate, ice cream. I am not anaphylatic, but I do get a very sore throat, and this was my recipe for disaster. I asked for a nut-free one. They refused, and told me I had to pay for this one. In spite of what happened after, they never once apologized or showed empathy. They proceeded to shame me (I should know better!), and to tell me that it is indicated in the menu that there are nuts and that I have to tell my server about allergies. Neither was true; the waitress frantically searched the menu, and even after not finding anything, continued to tell us it was there. Another waitress came to shame me again, and she implied I was out for free food, even though I has just told the waitress I would pay for food I could eat. She also implied I was lying about my allergies- who knows why. Then, she guilted me in telling me that her restaurant MAKES EMPLOYEES PAY FOR FOOD THAT IS RETURNED?? If this is the case, she is giving people a good reason to boycott a place that oppresses their staff. Most restaurants I know would have taken it back- also, if the ice cream had been removed, it was still fit to be served. Anyways we tipped them enough to pay for the pie, but left near tears and completely humiliated by the staff. We have informed a number of people I know who go there, who will be...

We visited the Le Boucan on Saturday October 11th, 2014. We were visiting friends in Montreal and decided to take them out for dinner. Well, what a mistake! First I must commence by saying when the first Platter was served to the table the waiter dropped it and broke a glass with Sangria which splashed onto our attire.. The chicken, potatoe salad and coleslaw fell on the table. It was quickly taken away and less than 2 minutes the chicken was put back on the plate and returned to the table. We did not eat it. We had glass/ hard plastic in our food. This was given to the waitress. Not once did the Manger approached the table to apologise. Oh..not to mention that our bill was well over $300.00 . Dessert was ordered and we were sitting having it when the bill was given to us. Still eating...the waitress approached the table and requested that we pay and leave the table because people were waiting for the table. Never in our travels have we had a restaurant staff asking us to leave because of a seating capacity. When we returned to the hotel we made a phone call to discuss this awful experience with the manager. She was very rude and had no compassion for the situation. Asked that the owner call us while we were still there in Montreal, he never did. When asked for the owner's name she refused to release that information. The next day on Sunday we called and again left a message for him to call us, he never returned our call. Later found out his name is Jonathan. BOTTOM LINE...they are rude and need a tremendous amount of customer service. We will not recommend or will ever...