le godot — Restaurant in Montreal

UPDATE: The owner reached out to us to better understand the situation and to ensure it doesn't happen again. We decided to give it another chance and it was an amazing experience this time. We tried their new tasting menu and it was delicious with very good portions, and the sauces, as usual, were incredible. The chef is honestly a magician when it comes to sauces. I am generally not a big fan of meat, but the two meat dishes were cooked to perfection and I actually really enjoyed them! Everyone left feeling happy and full. The owner was the waiter during the whole evening and service was impeccable. He cares so much and it was a real pleasure to watch him take care of all the guests in the restaurant and to find out more about the story behind this place. He was also checking with all the guests who were having the tasting menu on what they think about the new menu to take notes, which we thought was very thoughtful. They also put a big emphasis on staying local for food, but even the art on the walls is from a local artist. And the atmosphere, especially in the evening, is simply perfect and intimate. I can definitely see that my first experience is not a norm here, thank you Harold for showing it to us. This place is actually a little gem and we will certainly come back again!

ORIGINAL shortened review: I would like to start my review by saying that I've been looking forward to going to this restaurant for months. I hyped it up so much to my friends and family and everyone was so excited too to go on my birthday. So initially I was going to leave a great review until it was time to pay and our waitress Camille I believe and her colleague which I don't know the name changed my decision. She ruined my birthday night and I truly wish I would've picked a different restaurant. I really really hope that this is not a norm here because that would just be sad. We were a group of 6 with 5 having a tasting menu and one person having another dish due to inability to eat everything on the tasting menu. Every tasting menu was 80$ and we also had 2 bottles 50$+90$ of wine which were perfect for 2 glasses for each person. Please see my review below for the food experience itself. After dinner it was time to pay, and we received our bills. The dinner was expensive which was expected, with some goods and some bads but overall a very positive experience. So everyone tipped but apparently not enough according to our waitress and her friend behind our table. The face she made when she was getting the tips was crazy! Her voice changed and her fake smile turned into a face of total disgust, and as soon as she finished rolling her eyes at our table she ran to the back and was talking to her colleague about us, showing her our receipts and clearly complaining about the tips. Her colleague than proceeded to looking at us, then turning to her with her mouth open. And all this right in front of our table. Every single person at the table witnessed this and was absolutely shocked. We left with such a bitter aftertaste from the experience that I genuinely wanted to break down. This behavior is seriously unacceptable. The tip is absolutely not mandatory yet everyone did tip. But I swear I wish I could tip this girl a big fat 0 and take every cent back had I known what was coming. This is disgusting and unacceptable, I just don't have other words.

As for the food experience review: All the food was delicious but the dessert which was very sweet. All the sauces were super tasty. The presentation of all food was spectacular. Everything was very tastefully decorated. The interior is super cozy and perfect for an intimate dinner. The portions are very small. It is definitely not enough food if you are going in hungry. We asked for extra bread, we were brought burnt slices of bread. There are two bathrooms and one of them did not have soap so you had to wait for the other one to free up to...

I’m from a party of 6 that visited the restaurant about a week ago. My friend left her own review earlier, I’d like to add my own review of the experience.

On the positive side, I was happy to find out that I didn’t have to order a tasting menu with everyone else which was very accommodating of them. I recently had a surgery that prevented me from having two of the meals on the tasting menu so I opted for a scallop risotto. For a dessert, I had their only option of the baked pear with a puff pastry on top and ice cream. Taste wise, food was delicious, clearly prepared with a lot of thought.

Here are other negatives: The biggest negative that contributed to such a low rating was the waitress’s reaction to my friend leaving a tip that she thought wasn’t adequate. The waitress, (her name was Camille as per our receipt) upon seeing the tip, rolled her eyes and pursed her lips in disgust. Once everyone paid and even left a tip despite her reaction to one of the tips, we witnessed her going to complain to the other waitress that night and proceeded to show her our receipts, point at our table, and open their mouths wide in shock right in front of everyone. It’s highly unprofessional and disrespectful of them to act this way. The waiting staff wasn’t willing to communicate with us in English, the language that our table was most comfortable in. Despite the questions being asked in English, they responded in French. They even asked at the beginning of the night whether we prefer English or French and I responded English and they proceeded to answer in French. We were also all communicating between each other in English at the table, something that a waitress would’ve noticed. The main meal portions were painfully small, whereas the dessert portion (in the photo) was quite large. When we asked for additional bread (that if I recall correctly cost extra), half of the bread we were brought was burnt. Not toasted, not slightly burnt, it was burnt black. The soap was absent in one of their bathrooms. After I let the waitress know, about half an hour passed by when I visited the bathroom again and there was still no soap. For a restaurant it’s quite gross. Personal preference that didn’t influence the overall rating however did contribute to the rating of the atmosphere is the floors and the temperature in the restaurant. The floors were so slippery to walk in high heels that I caught myself almost twisting my ankle every time I walked. The AC also wasn’t strong enough to hit our table near the window so...

We booked Le Godot through the “MTL à Table” event website, which clearly stated that guests could choose their menu. When we arrived, we were surprised to see only two printed set menus (A & B). Naturally, each person in our group of four selected based on preferences and dietary restrictions — one friend is pescatarian, and I’m lactose intolerant.

However, the waitress then told us that the entire table must choose the same menu. This rule was never mentioned on the event website. They refused to accommodate our dietary restrictions and insisted that everyone order the same set. We were forced to choose the pescatarian menu, but most dishes were heavy in cream and cheese, which I couldn’t eat. It made the whole experience very uncomfortable.

I understand this is a special event with fixed pricing, but transparency matters — nowhere did it state this limitation. If a restaurant can’t respect dietary needs or clearly communicate their rules, they shouldn’t participate in an event meant to showcase the city’s food scene. Very...