Le Lotus Bleu — Restaurant in Montreal

this place is disorganized. they had empty bowls/plates from previous customers all over the place and had an issue finding us an empty spot to sit at. once we sat at a table, next to it was a pile of dishes/bowls from the previous customers... and you could see those empty remnants scattered across the rest of the tables in the restaurant. the waitress came over (someone else's review notated her as the one with the 'murderous' look behind the mask - i think this was the same waitress we had) - anyway she didn't bring us any menus and we had to look ourselves for a menu at a nearby table. honestly i regret not walking out at this point. waitress was not very welcoming. we ordered the braisd beef rice noodle soup; the meat is definitely not what you would expect... looks nothing like any braised beef i've ever tasted before...and it really looked like the pork belly slices you get from the costco ramen kits. i seriously doubt we actually received beef. we debated asking her whether she gave us the wrong meat .. but decided to just let it go. the broth was very light and had barely any flavor - probably just water? however, the seaweed salad was very pungent with garlic flavor. when i was paying the bill i was not accustomed to the card reader options (there were 3 bullets i think and there was french on there that threw me off for a moment - for context - all the other restaurants we were at prior had the plain old 15%, 20%, etc options, but this one actually had 3 bulleted options written out with french and no numbers). i was a tourist visiting montreal the first time, got caught off guard with the french- in the spur of the moment of being thrown off by the format i just selected the last option by reflex . the receipt immediately printed and the waitress eagerly glared at the receipt and told me "usually people pay a tip" - and i responded to her that i selected the wrong option, can i add it on a separate transaction? she was able to manually punch in a total for me to add the tip. anyway - it was a very 'interesting' meal for sure - questionable looking meat/lack of broth flavor, and yet a very entitled, brazen waitress who demanded a tip for her non-existent / non welcoming "service". i am still regretting not leaving the restaurant as we were sat next to dirty tables of empty bowls and plates.... would have avoided non-authentic braised meat and a...

Pretty tragic, this is a small establishment and I hate giving reviews like this but our experience really soured everyone over for the evening. The night really could not have gone any worse.

We lined up out the door for dinner service around 7:30. We got in at around 8:05, we sat down and had our orders taken, starter of fried dumplings, bowl of noodles for three, small bowl of wonton. We asked for glasses of water in the meantime. Nothing for 40 minutes, asking for water again at 8:45. By 9:15 we had asked them a third time to bring our waters and still no food in sight.

Finally we get our glasses of water, and they proceeded to bring out our meals ONE AT A TIME, 15-20 MINUTES APART. When the second bowl came out and I had finished my meal, our friends were getting visibly frustrated and uncomfortable, we were overhearing the same story at the table next to us, they had been waiting an hour and a half for their food and they were a group of six. The line out the door had continued past closing time and were sat on the floor waiting for what I could only assume was more disappointment.

The dishes were very bland, easily one of the worst wonton soups I've ever had, the noodle soups also had watery broths, next to zero flavor. When the last two dishes finally arrived 15, followed by 17 minutes later, both of which just as bland as previously described, our friends had had enough and decided to send them both back: then the starters of fried dumplings finally arrived...

We argued at the front desk that we did in fact, refuse 2/4 noodle dishes, sent them back, only to have them deliberate with us that the dishes are difficult for them to make and that even though we had only tasted them prior to sending back, we should cover the full amount. This is not how you run an establishment. We argued and deliberated only for them to come back with more excuses about how they will surely lose money from this and how unfair it is. It is now 10:08pm, we have been inside for 2 whole hours and our two friends had ditched to find somewhere else to cut their losses. Finally at around 10:15 they caved and took our 40 dollars for the fried dumplings, bland noodle soup, bland wonton. 2 hours and 10 minutes later.

We tour a lot of noodle houses in Chinatown, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. This was easily the worst we've been to, hands down. Worst service, worst food, worst...

I went here to dine on a Sunday night because my friend and I were craving the "Crystal Bean Noodle."

To start it off, when we first entered the restaurant, we were welcomed by a blast of hot air. It isn’t normal that the temperature outside (around 20–22 degrees) was much cooler than inside (close to 30 degrees).

The waitress didn’t seem happy to welcome us when we greeted her. She had an attitude and tried to seat us right at the entrance where all the clients passed by. We were displeased with that choice and asked if we could sit at the back on the left, but she refused. She insisted it was impossible since “there might be a possibility” of a group of four coming. We had no choice but to sit in the center. The irony in all this: a couple came in a few minutes later, and she gave them the exact table we had requested earlier. Apparently, since they looked “better” and seemed like they “had money to spend,” it was fine for them.

When it came to ordering, it was also quite an unpleasant experience. I CLEARLY told her that I wanted to order 2 × L6 (which she somehow took as only 1 × L6) and 1 × R1 (which she mistook for R3, an unavailable item). I honestly wonder if she was interested in doing her job, because clearly she wasn’t listening at all.

As for the food, I have no positive comment. The quality has changed over the past year. Their “Crystal Bean Noodle” has worsened in quality, it was much more soupy than before, the ingredients didn’t look fresh, and the noodles didn’t give that cold sensation they used to (not to mention the heavy use of MSG).

By the way, I wonder why businesses like this are still operating if they can’t afford to install or fix their A/C. Running operations with a bunch of fans is not what a business should strive for.

And for those questioning or curious about the hygiene of this place, let me say it loud and clear: it’s worth a call to the MAPAQ. Honestly, I don’t think it’s part of the hygiene code for a waitress to clean off a client’s table right after they left using the same tissue the client had just wiped their mouth with before spraying the table down. The risk of cross-contamination is clearly high and does not reflect at all the values of a trained employee respecting the hygiene code that should...