P'tit Plateau / little plateau — Restaurant in Montreal

We visited Le P'tit Plateau for supper. On the positive side, the decor was both ornate and quirky and perfectly captured the spirit of the Plateau. The atmosphere was convivial and pleasant. Our server was kind, attentive, and on-point. The proteins were well-cooked.

However, the dishes and policies were not without issues. I want to say first off that this feedback is intended to be constructive and to promote the success of the restaurant. In defense of the owner, Le P'tit Plateau has much competition in the city and they are a small restaurant. Having worked in restaurants all over the city, I can sympathize.

With that said, if you choose to dine at Le P'tit Plateau, pleasr be aware of their punishing policies. First, if you need to cancel a reservation for any reason, even for a medical emergency, and don't do so at least 7 hours in advance, the credit card of the person who made the reservation will be charged 30$ per person.

Second, at Le P'tit Plateau, every person must order at least one of their main dishes. If you have someone who is not very hungry, that person still has to order at least 3 appetizers. We have dined in restaurants all over the world and have never seen this before. This policy is not welcoming to diners; it is coercive and off-putting.

Finally, while the proteins were well-cooked, most of the dishes were underseasoned. Many dishes were lacking in acidity and came off as tasting flat. The garnishes were often bizarre and did not fit the dishes (e.g. they used raw bell peppers in vinaigrette as a garnish in multiple dishes that they don't go with, such as the foie gras). That same foie gras dish included both a tasty and sweet prune confit and raw cucumbers and bell peppers that didn't go with either the foie or the prune confit. The prune confit was a brilliant accompaniment, but the peppers and cucumbers should be replaced.

Most of the dishes were plain and lacked exciting elements to make Le P'tit Plateau stand out from other French restaurants in the city. Unfortunately, the platings also lacked finesse, often used the same approach (e.g. strangely spaced out elements separated on the plate), and appeared outdated like platings from the 1980s. Revising and modernizing the plating approach would be helpful (e.g. the owner could study Montreal restaurant Isola Bella's eye-catching platings to elevate their own appeoach).

To help the owner of Le P'tit Plateau, I'd like to offer another example of a Montréal restaurant that they could pull inspiration from to improve their experience. One of Le P'tit Plateau's French cuisine Bring Your Own Wine competitors in Montréal is the amazing Le Millen. Le Millen do not have punishing policies because their food is so good that they don't need them. Their platings are absolutely beautiful. Every dish is perfectly seasoned and includes creative and surprising elements. Each plating is completely different so you get both great visual and flavour variety. They use creative techniques like colourful powders on the base of the plate for more visual dynamics and subtle flavour additions. They also offer tasting menus, which Le P'tit Plateau does not.

If Le P'tit Plateau does not wish to offer tasting menus, they could still offer Table D'Hote options, which would add much more value to the diner. If they had Table D'Hotes, they could remove the rule about needing to order 3 appetizers because people would spend more.

If I were the Chef / owner of Le P'tit Plateau, I would go to Le Millen and Isola Bella and take notes on everything they do right. Then I would revamp my policies and menu accordingly.

With that said, Le P'tit Plateau has great potential, a great ambiance, a great location, and a great team. If they are open to tweaking their food execution, platings, and policies, they could easily be a top contender in the Montréal restaurant scene. Wishing them...

I don't visit as often as I I'd like, given my frequent travels abroad, but every meal I've had here, as well as those of my dining companions, has been stellar. I had the opportunity to revisit during the holiday season, when a Christmas table d'hôte menu was in effect. Happily, it included most of my favorite dishes, so it wasn't at all a hardship. Lina, one of the two wonderful hostesses, greeted us warmly as we arrived and we were sat at a window table. The dining room was intimate and the atmosphere, convivial, as is usually the case. We were three, and we all found items on the menu to satisfy our hunger. We were starving, and Lina happily accommodated our all too frequent requests for additional bread in between the courses. Who doesn’t like warm bread on a cold winter evening? We started off with the amuse-bouche of cromesquis of foie gras, basically a stuffed croquet. It was delicious, accompanied by a sweet relish of sorts. We then had the tomato soup as our first entré. It was pure velvet, with a delicately balanced flavour, slightly sweet, slightly acidic and served perfectly hot to ward off the winter chill. For our second entré, my companions chose the scallop carpaccio, which they both loved. I went for the escargot vol au vent, which was my only disappointment for the evening. I found the pastry absorbed too much of the garlic butter, leaving the escargots somewhat dry. No matter, not a big deal. For our mains, two of us selected the souris d'agneau, no mice involved, only lamb shanks. 😀 The meat was fall off the bone succulent. It basically melted in our mouths. Melanie, our lovely second hostess, told us it took 15 hours to achieve this degree of tenderness. I've had it three times already, and it's one of my favourite dishes here. Our other dining companion chose the bavette, a beef flank steak, which he loved. We had brought our own wines, one a prosecco and the other a California zinfandel, both were perfect with our selections and nicely decanted with suitable stemware and an ice bucket by Melanie. Chilled water was provided throughout the meal. Finally, for dessert I chose the classic crème brulée while my companions chose the boule de neige filled with chocolate mousse. All were delicious and a perfect ending to a wonderful meal. We are blessed to have such wonderful dining venues available to us here in Montréal. I'm anxious to return when the regular menu makes its reappearance. I'm sure I'll be as spoiled as I was during...

Firstly, Rebecca (not sure about spelling) provided incredible service from start to finish, and you can really sense that she is genuinely passionate about her role at the restaurant.

Secondly, it should be noted that this is a "BYOB" establishment, which applies to all alcohol, rather than it literally just being applicable to beer.

The restaurant is cozy and intimate, with very warm background music and a sense of authenticity in that it almost feels like you are being fed on someone's private property, rather than in a typical commercial restaurant.

Feeling a sense of urgency to try as much as possible in one evening (as I do not know when I will be able to return), I ordered the lamb, venison, foie gras appetizer, and seafood appetizer, and found each dish to be wonderfully delectable. I also tried my guest's eggplant appetizer which was wonderful as well.

We brought our own wines, and there was no charge for doing so.

If you are looking for an authentic french cuisine dining experience, I highly recommend you visit this restaurant. It is great to go with family, friends or even (perhaps especially) for a romantic, intimate date.

Consideration: If you are intending to spend a longer duration of time at this restaurant, I was told that it may be best to visit during the week, rather than on the weekend as it will be less crowded and thus you will have access to your table for longer, as well as potentially more attentive service by virtue of the staff having more time for each customer (although I can't imagine the service being bad on any night of the week).

We visited on Wednesday, and it was...