Pushap — Restaurant in Montreal

For over 30 year, the Mohan family has been proudly running this vegetarian restaurant / diner style watering hole to perfection. When I was introduced to this restaurant some years back I recall my reaction as "ugh, vegetarian" but I will try anything once. Well, almost two decades later I am still a loyal patron of this fantastic and authentic Indian vegetarian restaurant, where people from all walks of life come to sit and enjoy affordable and delicious food from India. The sole issue with this local has nothing to do with the restaurant, it is with the area it is located in. At one time one could find parking if you drove around long enough, since the redevelopment in the area, both government and developers recreated the streets and such so that there is almost no parking in front nor close by - free or paid. But let me tell you this, it is worth the time and energy to find parking and walk to eat at this restaurant as you will be delighted beyond expectation.

Food: fresh, great quality ingredients, beautifully plated in authentic Selection: A wide array of dishes that are sure to please your taste buds including fantastic samosas and onion baji starters as well as Raita and Bathra a fried puffed white pita/bread to die for. Atmosphere: Think of it as an Indian Diner, not a fancy restaurant and the atmosphere is just fine and cozy - not first date cozy (for some), but second date and so forth. The place is kept clean and the washroom as well. Service: As mentioned, this is a family restaurant and their pricing is value based - short for not ripping people off - so, during rush hours such as lunch time, they do get busy and may not have enough people at front of house to satisfy your urgent needs - but be patient, these are beautiful people and they are doing their best to serve their customers as if you were in their own home. So please, if you are in an urgent rush advise the server or front counter in advance and state how much time you have so they can evaluate if they can meet your time line so you enjoy your experience. Pricing: As mentioned, this place is all about providing real value. Their competitive advantage and why people are loyal boils down to great quality, fantastic taste, good portions, and excellent pricing. You are paying for the food not the fancy location, decor, etc. Meal suggestions: Typically most people like to order the meal of the day as it is not only affordable, but it takes the decision making off the list of things to do and lets the chef serve you what is fresh and awesome. It typically comes with a full plate of food including the bread etc. Also indulge in the Dal soup, it is chick pea based and kind of the Indian version of a French Pea soup - without the chunks of smoked ham (lol). If you are a fan of butter chicken, try the SHAHI PANEER. I have also visited the west Island location which is also delicious and does have parking - but it is far to travel and by the time you get there you would have found parking locally... unless you were heading to the west island or in that area. Their local is 4777 Des Sources in Pierrefonds and they have their own...

😠I wish I could give less than 1. The older owner man named Mohan, wow, you were unbelievably rude to us last night, I always respected you with utmost level and I lost all my respect for you last night, you showed your true color, I went to your place with family, friends, colleagues, big groups for over last 2 decades, you only want quantity over quality, “cash” payment with no receipt, and in return zero customer appreciation !! At 8:30pm, we arrive at your restaurant, no greeting, cashier tells us to sit anywhere we like, doesn’t inform us that they must leave the premises for 9:00pm sharp !! Had he informed us, we would simply get ready-made snacks for take-out instead of big thalis for dining in. But no you want to charge for more food of course !! What a sad strategy.

At 8:50pm, leftover cold food arrives.

At 8:51pm, the chubby cashier (dont know his name) makes us pay right away, so we pay and go back to our table to eat.

At 8:55pm your waiter tells us, we must leave the restaurant because they need to close😳 We reply “ok can we finish our food, we will eat as fast as we can”

At 9:00pm, he comes back and says “are you girls done?” We reply “we are hungry and we dont want to leave the food unfinished, we are really doing our fastest“

At 9:05pm, the chubby cashier comes close to us pretending to close the window and screams to our waiter “YOO WE GOTTA LEAVE”.😳

At 9:05pm our waiter comes to us immediately AGAIN, and says “ok we really have to leave now” 😳

We tell him “ok but nothing is stopping you, we already paid, so close your cash, clean the rest of the other tables in your restaurant except ours that you have not yet and we are leaving as soon as we finish our food” as we were still eating.

Thats when, Mohan the older older man owner from kitchen comes out and talks to the waiter and cashier, not sure what they whispered behind the cash amongst themselves while staring at us but he gets extremely rude to us, comes to our table, takes our plates away while we were still eating 😳, then other men enter the restaurant, apparently all family/workers and start to attack us (2 girls) with screaming and yelling and shouting. WOW!! We get attacked for not finishing our food within 4 mins ?? We are girls we cant eat fast like you men Mohan !! 😳😳 I go to all types of restaurants from 1 star to 7 star, NEVER have I ever experienced in my entire life such rudeness for nothing !! Then you tell us dont ever come back. Mohan, we will never go to your restaurant. I have heard from multiple people that worked in your restaurent that you have cockroaches in your kitchen always coming in from the mountain sights garage/recycle area, multiple customers find hair in food weekly, workers drop samosas on the floor by accident and you pick up right away and use them for customer’s take-out orders. I never really believed all that, but now I do. So no Mohan, I dont need to pay my $$ to get your extreme rude service and your dirty kitchen food. I hope you were drunk last night, because no businessman can talk in human history to customers so rudely the way you did with us last night ...

We went there on Friday at 8:30pm. The cashier told us to "yeah sit wherever". When we ordered, the waiter informed that they are only serving thalis now with limited options, which we agreed to. They served us the food at 8:50pm. 5 min later, our waiter came to tell us that they are closing in 5 min. We had just gotten our food and were not informed they were closing at 9pm, as we mentioned to him, but we said we will still rush and assumed we would be given the decency to finish. Afterwards, the cashier and waiter were pacing around back and forth our table to "rush us" ?? Waiter came back at 9:10 to say "are you done... because we really have to go". I am sorry but what kind of rubbish service is this? If you allowed us to dine in knowing the time, have the decency to let us eat in peace. I have never been to a restaurant before where they rush their customers to leave... They mind their business and close up, count registry or clean around. This "restaurant" must be completely ignorant of basic human decency required to run a restaurant, as TO OUR SHOCK the owner and other workers came out and started to attack us, saying how we are holding up 7 employees, that their business hours are listed on the door and I should've checked. We have been coming to this restaurant for over 20 years now, and this behaviour was unexpected and uncalled for. They were a group of 7 men bickering against us (2 girls). The fact that an older owner argues with their customer and basically kicks them out after TEN MINUTES of getting their order is unheard of in my book. If you are so worried of being home by 9pm, you should update your business hours to 8:30pm or even 8:00pm as decent restaurants don't kick their customers out at the listed close time. They clearly aren't built to be business owners, which explains why their food and service have taken a nosedive since COVID. Their failing business perhaps stresses them, but taking out frustration on customers is inappropriate, as by allowing us to dine in (and knowing your own closing hours), you took responsibility in having us there until we are able to finish our food, but instead - our unfinished plates were taken away and we were asked to pay, leave, and never come again. I will be taking this to the relevant authorities, as I would be cautious in dining around...