Renoir Restaurant — Restaurant in Montreal

As I step into the restaurant at the Sofitel Hotel “Renoir”, I’m thinking wow, nice upscale restaurant, and when I think of upscale restaurants, I think amazing service, amazing atmosphere and most of all amazing food. Well….. yes some parts of Renoir were great like the server we had was nice, polite and took to our every need, but I don’t know if she was fairly new because I found she did not know her menu very well. The atmosphere was nice, well cleaned and not so loud. We could talk to each other without yelling which was nice. Now brings me to the food. Now I love food, and no I’m not a professional food connoisseur, but I do work in a kitchen and feel I know what people are looking for, well I know what I am looking for. Let’s start with the appetizers and the amuse bouch. A corn soupish with edible flowers and some crunchy things was tasty and worth having again. Very flavourful and not too big as to fill you for your appetizers and meal. Next the appetizer, Quebec’s tomato gazpacho ricotta espuma with basil oil. This was by far the best thing I ate at Renoir. The flavour and aroma was on point. First time I ate gazpacho and now I’m hooked, so thank you for that. Then comes the main course. Let’s just say after eating the gazpacho I was a little disappointed. The amount of food for the price. Yes it was duck and sure I expected to pay a bit more for duck but what I received was surprisingly small. So then you expect it to be amazing in flavour, well sorry to disappoint you it was just ok. And what’s up with the leaf roll. I found does not match the story going on the plate. So let’s move to dessert. If I understand correctly they have a baker in the kitchen and the cakes are made in house. I ordered the pistachio cake, very nice light and tasty. Has raspberry inside. Very good. All in All not a horrible experience. But I will mention it took very long to get the food from the kitchen to the table and it was not a busy Sunday...

Renoir restaurant was an greate foody establishment in Montreal for many years. Recent visit on Saturday night with my wife was a big disappointment. The menu was very limited. The restaurant exhibits a new look with an open kitchen. Cooks and service people running around giving an impression of busy establishment. In general, the service was polite and the emphasis was on telling wonderful story about the food being served. The story was as conceptual as the food. Our choices were tasteless and did not represent the story told about them.

It started with a dish of teasers deliver from the chef, accompanied by a big story. The teasers were tasteless and did not represent the big story.

We both ordered a Duck foie gras au torchon from Marieville farm, apple cider gel and homemade brioche. The foie gras taste was mediocre the presentation aesthetics was poor. There was no wine in the selection to accompany the foie gras. Lighting was dimed to hide the offering. The price was steep for such minute portion $34. Our main choices (out of the limited offering) were as follows My wife Catch of the day (sea bass), fennelconfit, melted potatoes, and seafood hollandaise. There was a big story about the dish. Ehen it arrive is was nothing to resemble the story. The seabass looked more like a small sardine and the vegetable were and undistinguishing small blob of some veggies.

I have ordered the Guinea fowl again a big story. It arrived as small pieces of rolled up some bird meet. It was dry and over salted in summary tasteless. Nothing to do with the big story. No dessert ordered.

Total damage for two persons with 2 glasses of wine and tip $250.00 plus $25 for valet parking.

Poor Auguste Renoir would have a shock for using his name in such degrading establishment. Although his son Jean might have call it “La...

Our overall experience was underwhelming.

First the goods: The interior and the terrasse are well designed, not too chic, not too modern, not too old school, perfect balance where anybody would feel good. The atmosphere was nice, overall quiet and a couple of laughs here and there, people are here to enjoy their time while respecting others. The staff was very nice and you feel welcome.

Annnnd now the bads… Disclaimer: I’m french, and used to high-end french restaurant et classy/fancy places, as well as smaller gourmet restaurants. I think I’ve pretty much seen it all in terms of french restaurants. The food was good, but definitely not gourmet. You’ll likely be happy with the food but you’d expect a lot more from a place like this. While the service was good, our waiter was reading his notes while explaining to us the menu. Again, not a deal breaker, but I’m used to the best waiters in this kind of restaurants. Those who know the menu by heart, can advise on which alcohol to go with what course, etc. The price. To me this is totally overpriced. We paid around 230$ tip and taxes included for 1 champagne glass, 2 foie gras entrées, and 2 main courses. If I’m trying to estimate how much I think it was worth, I would say around 150 to 170$ tip and taxes included. The lack of refinement in the food dressing. There was almost no dressing. It’s just food in your plate, like you’d do at home everyday. Plus the portion size was huge. We laughed at the portions saying those were “american size”, it doesn’t fit with that type of french restaurant.

So overall, while everything ok, nothing is amazing (apart from the place and atmosphere), and it’s nowhere near a real high-end french restaurant.

Sadly, we will probably never go back and stick with better...