Le Filet — Restaurant in Montreal

What a strange place. It’s pretty posh looking and people clearly come here to celebrate something, dressed nicely, and the ambience is certainly nice although nothing special. The food positions itself as something worthy of a Michelin star and the presentation is indeed beautiful and creative. Unfortunately, the flavors are just not there and the combinations don’t make sense and don’t work together.

We started with their baked oysters which happened to be the best dish — miso glazed, a tad too sweet but really tasty, an excellent appetizer.

Tuna tartare was quite good, with a crunchy seaweed cracker, although I felt like there were too many sesame seeds.

Then it all went downhill: scallop appetizer was on a bed of gazpacho that didn’t quite pair with them and was absolutely forgettable. Black linguini felt like it was a mix of two dishes — pasta was already smothered in sauce but then there were pieces of seafood in the dish (clams, squid) that needed some sauce too and it wasn’t there. Overall felt dry, but good flavors. Finally, the lobster sweetbread dish — same issue as with pasta, just a bunch or different things beautifully positioned on the plate that don’t quite work together; I appreciated seeing green pea shoots there but did the tiny bits of sauce go well with it? Not particularly. And did the sweetbread go with any of it? Not really. And did it have enough sauce? Not at all.

The overall experience was also tainted by the fact that we’ve waited roughly 40mins (!) just to get our appetizers (when I inquired when it’s coming the waiter said — “are you in a rush?”) and then another 30 mins for the main dishes. The table next to us complained about wait times too. The kitchen needs to figure something out or reduce the number of tables. As it is right now, the wait times are...

It’s not easy to get a table here at the weekend... and deservedly so. At 24 hours’ notice we booked a spot for two at the bar which turned out to be a great way to enjoy Le Filet.

It’s also not cheap. But worth it, in our opinion. (We do live in London so we’re somewhat inured to high restaurant prices).

Excellent food... smoked mackerel rillettes that left most pâtés standing got us started. The scallop special was the best dish of this Canadian odyssey so far. An absolute banger. Fantastic sticky rich octopus, a couple of nice sashimi/tartare based dishes... clever textures. Two cracking deserts... a chocolate-on-chocolate monster, and the Sombrero, which had a stunning refreshing fruity punch to balance the richness. All the dishes were spot-on, a wide-ranging wine list with plenty of not-too-crazily-expensive options.

Service is slick but friendly and knowledgeable - our fantastic server Alex managed to look after us and others at the bar, chat with us all, and still knock out perfect cocktails and all manner of drinks to the floor. She also reminded us of Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Buffy era, which can be no bad thing, although fortunately she’s more likely to confront you with a steak than a stake. The service in the kitchen and front of house seems effortless. No mean feat in a busy place on a Saturday night - they’re working their butts off but make it look easy. Class job.

The place is noisy... but it’s the noise of a room full of diners talking and having a great time.

One of those dinners where everything was just right. Great food, great service, great fun. A great experience all-round ... glad we braved a miserably rainy night in Montreal for this...

Foodie spot with very good quality food that is mainly seafood.

Location: 3/5: Trendy location in mile end but not easily accessible by car and a good 10 minute walk at least from a metro station (Mont-Royal metro station on the blue line) Service: 4.5/5: Prompt, courteous, attentive. Coat check taken care of both when arriving and leaving. Only downside is that waiter did not come forth with wine suggestions and explanations, which I would expect for this caliber restaurant. Food: 4/5: Foodie paradise. Great presentation and high quality food. Taste is good but did not blow me away and quantity is IMO a bit lacking. The selection is also a bit too limited IMO. The disadvantage of a limited menu from these top restaurants is that each item must absolutely blow your mind to make up for the lack of selection. IMO Le Filet is close but not quite there. On the positive side, although this is mainly a seafood spot, their wagyu beef appetizer was great and so was their beef main (accompanying Swiss rösti was good). Wines are also decent and have a great selection. Desserts are sublime. Atmosphere: 5/5: Quiet yet lively, classy/upscale, tables well-spaced, good music at just the right volume and tastefully displayed tennis theme that works out well because you can see tennis courts right outside across from the restaurant. Even the menu follows the tennis theme in a unique creative way. Cleanliness: 5/5 Price: 3.5/5: For foodies, the price is excellent. For the rest of us, IMO considering the quantity of food on each dish and the limited selection, the price is a...