Monarque — Restaurant in Montreal

My partner and I drove two hours from Ottawa to Montreal because I wanted him to try Monarque for his birthday. I’ve been here before, a couple of years ago, and had a wonderful experience so I was excited for him to try it - but unfortunately, our experience tonight was less than satisfactory and left me wondering how such an amazing place went … sorta downhill.. let me start off my saying the majority of the food was good. We ordered the bone marrow and octopus to start, and the lamb rump and butcher steak for our mains. The bone marrow was melt in your mouth delicious and the octopus was just as great as I remembered. The lamb was also so flavourful and cooked to perfection. However, the steak was tough and not cooked to our order - we asked for medium and it was RARE. Not a big deal to us because my boyfriend still enjoys it rare. Our issues lied mainly with our server. From the moment we sat down and ordered drinks to the moment we received the cheque, he seemed miffed and like he couldn’t be bothered to answer our questions or assist us with the menu and gave us attitude the entire time. My partner ordered a Diet Coke which was completely flat and tasted watered down, and we let our server know that we thought the fountain was out of syrup. He argued with us about it right then and there and told told us that it wasn’t possible, he then walked away and asked the bartender about it and came back and condescendingly told us that it can’t be possible it’s flat since it came from a can and proceeded to argue with us back and forth trying to convince us of what WE tasted. We then asked him if he could just please just bring us the can and we can pour it ourselves. He gave us both a look of disgust and said “uh ok” with attitude and walked away - as if we just made a seemingly wild request. We were both so taken aback at that first interaction after only being there for a few minutes that this server was: a) trying to gaslight us into telling us what WE tasted instead of just apologizing and bringing the damn can of Coke - and b) acting as if we were bothering HIM when it’s his job! … the can of Coke was infinitely better than the original glass which makes us believe the “can” he “just opened” was already open and flat from the previous night. Our other issue was when we were trying to ask him questions about the menu, because I was trying to decide between two dishes, he was visibly annoyed and offered no help and just reiterated what I could already see listed on the menu… again, very condescending and what I would expect from a teenager who works at a fast food place NOT a 5 star restaurant. Also, when my boyfriend ordered the steak the server asked “medium-rare?” We asked for medium and he seems visibly bothered again by us saying that then just said “ok” very short and walked away. The fries were also overly salty. My partner and I both have extensive experience in the restaurant industry and fine dining and the lack of manners and quality from our server really put a damper on our whole evening and experience and took away from our overall enjoyment of the meal. It’s sad that we got better quality of service from the bus boys and host that paid more attention and interacted with us or acknowledged our “thank yous” AT THE VERY LEAST. So from our experience tonight, 3/4 dishes were great, but our experience with our server left us feeling both so terrible, disrespected and unwelcome we just wanted to finish our meals quickly and skip dessert and leave asap. The server also failed to acknowledge me a few times and only directly asked my boyfriend how his meal was. Do yourself a favour and go somewhere else - for these prices, find a better place with better service where the entire staff works as a team and offers the same level of quality service across the board, who values their patrons. While the busboys and host were very friendly that one server ruined our entire outlook on this restaurant...

The food, cocktails, and wine were quite good, and we would have had a good experience had it not been for the absolutely awful, non-existant service.

I wish I was exaggerating, but our waiter said maybe 15 words to us over the entire ~2 hour dinner service, only saying more than one word responses when we asked for a wine recommendation.

He provided completely non-verbal responses when ordering, did not ask if we wanted to order additional drinks after our first (we had to specifically request for additional glasses of wine/cocktails), did not explain anything about the food, restaurant, or ask us anything about ourselves. Generally very unfriendly and unkind.

He acknowledged our orders with a frown and a slight nod of the head every time. I wish I could tell you who specifically our server was, but he did not even bother introducing himself. He felt very hostile and annoyed he had to have to serve us.

There were multiple instances where we were without drinks, meaning the restaurant lost out on additional revenue we would have spent on alcohol. After our table's second drink order, he took the wine list away and did not offer to return it for the rest of the evening, even after clearing away our empty glasses midway through the third course.

After ordering red wine, the waiter poured my glass but ended up spilling a sizeable amount on the table and into the bread basket. The waiter noticed he spilled, but did not apologize or acknowledge it to us in any way, he simply walked away without a word.

By the end of dessert, our last course, the waiter we had for most of the evening had not come around for 15 minutes after our plates were clearly finished and our drinks were empty. I flagged down another waiter who was walking by, who explained to me that our original waiter was gone for the night and that he was supposed to be replacing us. The original waiter did not explain to us that he was leaving for the night, and the new waiter in charge of our table did not introduce himself until I had to get his attention myself.

We certainly don't expect to be treated special by any means, but this service was the literal bare minimum that could have been provided to us. It left us wondering if maybe we were under dressed and were being shunned for it (even though other waiters were happily treating other guests in tshirts and shorts), or that we had said something to offend the waiter at the start of service. Although this review is quite scathing, we are always especially friendly with wait staff and almost never complain about service, so I cannot understand what we possibly did to deserve service that amounted to rudely and non-verbally plopping the food we ordered at the table.

Nobody asked us once how our food or service was.

This was by far the worst service I've experienced, not only in Montréal, but at any restaurant I've ever dined at. It was such a complete shock that it came from an establishment where we expected to spend about $600 between two of us (but ended up spending less as we opted out of a cheese course and did not order as many drinks as anticipated, both due to the service). I would have been annoyed if we received service like this at a McDonald's, but at a fine dining establishment, I thought it was completely and absolutely unacceptable.

We will be vehemently recommending that our friends and family who visit Montréal avoid Monarque at absolutely all costs. A completely and total disappointment from a restaurant we were very much looking forward to...

Monarque is the 42nd on the Canada's 100 Best Restaurant list and a nice dinner spot, but does it live up the expectation? We don't think so.

Food: Bone marrow, Burgundy snails: bone marrow has great texture and pairs well with the snails. However, one side of the bone marrow is way saltier than the other side. Thankfully the snails are not drowning in oil, which is great. I like the persillade, which has a wonderful kick with the vinegar. Sadly, the bread underneath was soaked in persillade and soggy. Lamb rump, ratatouille: the lamb was juicy and well-seasoned, the meat is very soft even in thick slices. To pairing with ratatouille is a great choice as the vinegar compliments the richness of the lamb. The vegetables are cut into cubes and provides better textures than slices. Butcher's cut: we asked for medium-rare and it's undercooked, the herb butter is what it sounds like. This entree tastes like a good steak at an average restaurant. To our amazement, the highlight of the dish is the fries. The potatoes are cut thicker, the outside is very crispy, and the inside is creamy like mashed potatoes. We love the chip seasoning; it is just the right level - clean and simple and no need for any more condiments.

Service: We are confused that why a seemingly fancy place would have such a disappointing level of service. The waitress interrupted our conversation to take the drink orders. To our surprise, there is no mention of her name, or the fish of the day or any words of greetings. Do we need to wear a ball gown to deserve her work duty?! We are not sure why that the food was served by different waiters and waitresses. There are enough staff for a less busy time like this and our waitress was walking, standing, staring at everywhere but doing her job. Monarque has nice and modern interior decor, yet we doubt if the waitress should be part of it.

Overall: It is a nice dinner place, though we don't see why it deserves to be in the top 100 list. Canda has good food and Montreal is like a diamond on the crown. Here, the atmosphere is nice, and the interior is tastefully designed. However, the food is what you would expect from a good, but not exceptional, restaurant. Maybe it is a good choice to entertain out-of-town relatives but in a foodie city such as Montreal, Monarque is certainly not a place to go back...