Maggie Oakes — Restaurant in Montreal

My recent lunch at Maggie Oakes in Old Montreal, prompted by high ratings, unfortunately fell short of expectations, leaving my wife and I with a rather negative impression.

We opted for outdoor seating to enjoy the charming atmosphere, but our initial interaction with the waitress set an uncomfortable tone. She seemed a bit short and sharp. We considered leaving, but we were tired from walking and really wanted something to eat, so we chose to ignore the vibe we were getting and proceeded to order.

As we awaited our meals, several other diners came into the restaurant. My wife and I looked at each other and noted the difference in the approach and conversation of the waitress with these other diners. We listened as she explained the entire menu, without prompting, to at least two other groups. This explanation was necessary since the menu is broken into sections and has specific meals depending on the size of your group. This made it much easier for the other diners to choose their meals. They were also English-speaking visitors.

We were seated at a small table, understandable since space was limited. As the stereotypical "tourists," we left our hotel well-prepared, with water bottles to stay hydrated, hats to shield from the sun, and a camera in tow. The section wasn't very busy and had quite a few empty tables. There was no one sitting next to us, so we used a chair to place our bags and hats.

With zero explanation or conversation, our waitress came back to our table and grabbed our stuff from the chairs and began stuffing them into corners of the chairs we were sitting in. We were aghast. My hat was crushed, and she attempted to place my wife's bag on the back of the chair. However, the back is smooth and has no hook for the bag to latch onto securely. We knew this because we initially tried that before attempting to place it on the other chair. She couldn't put the bag on the back of the chair so she placed it on the small, already crowded table. At this point, we started to feel frustrated but decided not to let the interaction affect our mood since we wanted to continue exploring the surrounding area and maintain our high spirits.

I don't make this comment lightly, but I do feel my wife and I were treated differently after we saw the interactions with the other diners. Since there were other English-speaking diners, I can only assume the different treatment was based on something else.

We are left to ponder... What was the reason for this difference in treatment and level of service? Non resident of Montreal? Skin tone? Both?

Either way, we would not be dining there again. This experience has also taught me a valuable lesson, no matter the stage of the process, if I don't feel comfortable or welcomed...

My family and I walked in here for a late lunch; the atmosphere is dark, very nice, and the outdoor area is open and breezy. At first, we were asked in French what language we preferred. We're a mix of levels of French competence, so my dad quickly said "Anglais." Lol.

Four of our group members knew what they wanted to drink, while my brother and I were undecided. The four drink-orderers received them quickly enough, but my brother and I waited/inquired about ours for much longer than usual, for beverages, at least. It was a tough wait.

When it was time to order our food, I asked if the Vegetable Focaccia, if ordered without cheese, was dairy free. Our server said that it was, so I ordered it that way. We waited an even longer time for our meals to arrive, but they were nicely plated and smelled delicious. Unfortunately, the one thing that I did not want on my sandwich, cheese, was on my sandwich. It's okay, I'm used to this sort of thing happening, but when my food took such a long time to get to me, I expect it to at least be as I ordered it. I was disappointed, but I was hungry, so I picked the cheese off the sandwich and ate it as best I could without (something I do only in desperate vegan situations).

The sandwich, even with the cheese picked off, was amazing. The vegetables were just the right shapes to not fall out, the bread was perfectly crispy and soft (you know what I mean), the flavor was what I wanted from a focaccia, and the fries were just right.

I hated that my family rushed through their meals; we were running extremely late by that point. I am a slower eater in general, and I could tell I was falling behind. I was not able to finish my fries, and I had to eat the second half of my sandwich faster than I would have liked. That was tough.

I had a very mixed experience at this place. I think the staff may have been a little overwhelmed, but who knows. I do know, however, that I will forever clearly remember that sandwich. It really was a...

None of the hostesses looked joyful nor welcoming. There were maybe two three tables when we arrived yet they had troubled seating a reservation for two. Not sure what the confusion was. Maybe its an oldport vibe. We were also given one menu not sure if that was standard. While all other tables were given bread, we had to ask for some. Maybe because we ordered oysters for entree. Our waiter was nice though, did a good job with the menu introduction and explanation of dry aged cuts. The floor manager was very nice as well.

Ordered an amaretto sour and virgin caesar. The caesar had a distinct taste maybe its a different tabasco. It was intriguing. It was garnished with two green olives and a baby salty pickle.

Ordered a dozen oysters as entree. They weren't very meaty and wasn't too well shucked as some were still attached and some had large fragments of shells in it. Not a big deal.

Chose the 30oz 45 day dry aged porterhouse as main, asked for medium rare. It came with a side of vegetables and mashed potato. It was a good assortment of veggies but bland. The mashed potato was amazing! I didn't see any truffle shavings or felt them but it had a very strong truffle taste. Most probably made with truffle oil. Nonetheless a very pleasant surprise. As it was my first time having dry aged cuts I wasn't sure what to expect but it was not very tender. Probably would have been a better experience with a top sirloin. The taste was not gamey at all maybe its the result of dry aging. Seasoning wasn’t the best either but I guess the sauces made up for it. It came with two choices of sauce between a red wine sauce, a pepper sauce and a maitre D butter.

Expected the meal to be pricey but it was pricier than expected. Menu price for the dry aged cuts were marked as “Market Price”.

Overall experience was subpar for a 250$~ dinner. Fair to say I expected a better vibe from a perceived high end restaurant. Cant say I was in awe except for the mashed...