Ratafia — Restaurant in Montreal

We came to eat as a larger group and left a bit wanting.

Some took the tasting menu (recommended for 2) and some the a la carte menu. A bunch of us are pastry cooks in the industry and came to enjoy the food, and especially the desserts. A lot of the food was good but not mind blowing, unfortunately our birthday cake dessert seemed to be missing its "hidden milk surprise" as the other two at the table oozed out milk when cut, the last one was missing its wow factor center piece.

I started noticing, however, that a lot of the dishes that were ordered by people a la carte were exactly the same portions as the ones we had as sharing plates on the tasting menu. Doing some math, I saw that we could've ordered everything on the tasting menu separately, and paid less than what it was for the tasting menu (119$) ex. Tomato 18$, Squid 22$, mushrooms 20$, cheese ?? Not on menu, Pavlova 15$ and Rhubarb 16$. That's 91$ for everything we were served so unless the cheese course is the most expensive thing on the menu at over 28$ there's something wrong with your menu pricing.

Service wise it started off great, we were waited on well and attended too but as the night went on it started to drag, cocktails were forgotten about and plates were brought to the wrong people.

All in all, we had a good time but left a bit rubbed the wrong way by the tasting menu kind of being a scam, had the portions reflected it being for 2 people and not the same as the ones being offered for 1 I think we'd have left a little happier, however now I feel like we could've gotten more plates on the carte for the same price as what we payed for a tasting menu that...

Highly recommend if you are looking for a great drink options and exceptional dessert.

I think most people will have a special spot for them in a city, and this place really made it to my list for Montreal.

Super friendly and helpful stuff. Beautiful decor inside and lovely patio outside. The atmosphere plays in harmony with the menu.

The menu is meal light, but with good amount options for savories. There are also some great options for cocktails, wine and beer. However, my visit was very much focused on desserts.

The description about the desserts on the menu don’t do enough justice for the actual presentations and their flavours. The desserts themselves are definitely pieces of arts virtually but also complete their artistic expression right in your mouth. There are some pretty adventures flavour combo, if you open to try them, you may discover some deliciousness you have not tried before. You can definitely see and taste, the creative and care that was put into theses dessert and that is exactly what make them so special.

Just to name a few words that jumps out about the desserts: yuzu, sake, jasmine tea orange blossoms, labneh creme, olive oil pear, scotch, cocoa

The cocktail and plum wine I had was also very delicious. The pairing of the plum wine and my last dessert was great.

I would love to go back to try their food, more drinks...

Overall a great experience with decent food and tasty drinks. Service was extremely warm and friendly.

Our first course (CRÉMEUX CITRON) was an outstanding dessert. The balanced savory and dessert components were extremely well though out and executed. The wine pairings throughout the three courses matched extremely well.

We felt a little disappointed by the palate cleanser which unfortunately acted as a second course, I guess we expected a more composed dessert instead. Regardless, the sorbet was quite good.

We ordered an a la cart KOUIGN-AMANN and was thoroughly disappointed by the dessert. It was just too hard in texture and differed drastically from the kouign amann we’ve had in Montreal or Toronto. The apples went really well with it, but the buttermilk ice cream wasn’t to our liking and the quenelle/rocher needed work/finesse.

We felt that this place has great potential and ambition, unfortunately some of the food fell short. The service started out extremely strong but trailed off a bit when they got busy near the end of our meal. We had to wait a while to get our bill, but it was brought to us promptly when asked. Great job in ending my birthday celebration on a high note, thank you...