Restaurant Grinder — Restaurant in Montreal

I know the truth, I am but a plebeian Peasent, while I have done well tilling the meagar land given to me by my sovereign leaders, I have not yet risen to the station of being permitted to attend the the fine establishments where our overlords frequent.

Attending this place, however, is like stumbing upon a crumb that has fallen from our masters table, a gem that had slipped from the treasure trove and not yet been noticed by the powers that be. For one as myself this was an experience that my descendants will treasure in the collective memories for generations!

My infiltration was difficult, and I suspect they are on to me. The first test, one of literacy was easy, despite my hesitation. They had an arrow at what appeared to be the entrance pointing to the left, above it it said "Entrance". Following this arrow led me down a long dark hallway which increased my concern I would be found out, while also invoking feelings of exclusivity and high status. Thankfully we were greeted by a jewel of a hostess asking us for our reservation with a magical smile, before my nerves gave out.

Upon sitting down I made my first blunder, the waiter, Diego, said "Flat water or sparkling?" Not expecting this test I yet rose to occasion and said "Peirrior or Club soda bubbly?" To this the waiter looked at me with confusion and said "S.Pellegrino sir." I then realized my blunder: only peasents like myself drink club soda when pretending to be fancy.

The waitress, Mary, who came after, however, did not have a chance to receive the notification of my mistake, so suspected nothing. The menu was a treasure trove of incredible eats and foods that were foreign to my humble palette. While there was a distinct lack of pictures in the menu (thankfully my grade 3 teacher had taught me the animal and plant words) they had everything from Lobster Spaghetti to AAA ALBERTA BEEF BLACK ANGUS GROWN STRAIGHT FROM THE GROUND WITH THE FINEST HERBS AND SPICES. However they had an option for shared whole table variety! My fellow co-consipators and I chose that option. They saved me from literacy blunder by pointing out that the price on the menu was per person, not per table. Words are hard and tricky inventions of wizards and accountants to keep the common man down

The food was incredible, a flavor adventure of imagination and food sorecery if the highest level. Appetizers were divine drops of dews from the heavens, oysters arranged in a circle ready for us to consume them the way our overlords consume our labor, and a green sauce that might be made of avocado and olive oil, two fruits from two diffenent parts of the world coming together in a collision that was not available without the pirate extermination of 1952. And Millenials loving avocado toast. Dam Millenials always miss the true combinations. Avocados pair better with olive oil than toast.

Finally the dessert did us in. We all lost our composure and fought like animals over the delight before us! At this point the waitress said "your reservation time is over sir" to which point I looked at the wonderful decor, reminiscent of a luxury pub from the industrial revolution, with a saltwater tank, and electricity, and modern day people. And RAN-

To pay of course.

Oh and the Baked octopus was my favorite. Don't steal it from my...

Updated review :

The owner reached out to my boyfriend to understand what had happened during our first visit. He offered to have us come back for a second time, on the house, to make up for it.

We went back about a month later. We were greeted by Alejandro, the manager, who offered us a first round of drinks — just as good as the first time.

For starters, I had the tuna tartare and my boyfriend went with the fried calamari. Both were very good. For the main course, I had the short ribs (super tender) and he had the NY steak, cooked medium. Everything was solid.

The manager checked in on us without being overbearing, and he wrapped up the meal by offering us their pudding chômeur with soft-serve ice cream. Great dessert.

All in all, a much better experience than the first time. Thanks to the restaurant for taking the time to make things right. It doesn’t go unnoticed

———————————————- My boyfriend and I were really looking forward to trying this spot, but unfortunately, it was a letdown. We ordered the rib steak for two ($120) and asked for it medium rare.

We placed our order around 10 PM, when things were winding down, but waited at least 45 minutes without any updates. During that time, the waitress didn’t check on us once. I eventually flagged her down, and she mentioned the delay was normal due to the size of the steak — fair enough, but a quick update would’ve gone a long way.

When the food finally arrived 10–15 minutes later, the steak was cold and extremely undercooked — basically raw. I asked to have it cooked a bit more, and surprisingly, the waitress admitted she knew it was undercooked when she brought it out. Her explanation? Their medium rare leans “on the rarer side.” That’s not reassuring when you’re paying top dollar. The table beside us had also returned their steak, not once but twice.

The steak came back slightly warmer, but still incredibly raw and tough. My boyfriend lost his appetite after a few bites and decided to take it home to finish cooking himself. I ate a little more, but felt like I got robbed of an experience. The sides didn’t redeem the dish either — the mushrooms were way too salty and the mashed potatoes tasted like cardboard.

On the other hand, the drinks were very good and enjoyable.

When the bill came, I asked the waitress if it was normal for their steaks to come out like that. She admitted it was undercooked and apologized awkwardly, but no compensation was offered — no discount, no complimentary drink, nothing. For a $120 dish we barely touched, that was incredibly disappointing. After the drinks, our bill was way over 200$

As someone who works in the industry, I’d never serve a dish I knew wasn’t right, especially after a long wait. I would have gotten the manager involved the first time the food was returned to the kitchen. It’s better to communicate delays than to disappoint with poor food and service. Sadly, this experience missed the...

TOTALLY OVERRATED!

Let me start off by sharing that this review is based on my own humble hospitality experience, from my work and studies in Switzerland and around top notch restaurants and hotels in the world. -

This place is overrated. We went there for our wedding anniversary, thinking that we are going to have an amazing time. To our surprise, we paid 230 CAD, for 2 people, and left with frowns on our faces.

The place ambience is very trendy, but it was super packed compared to the current pandemic we are in. The waiters are friendly but they are mostly not properly wearing their masks, they touched all our plates with their fingers inside and our cups as well. NO HYGIENE AT ALL. I did not feel comfortable using any of the cutleries or dishes they gave us. They even took off their masks half way when speaking with us. When the manager came to speak to us, he took his mask off completely. We did not feel comfortable.

We ordered the Porterhouse (for 2 people) 150 CAD. First, it took more than 50 minutes for us to receive our meal. The waitress did not inform us in the beginning that it requires that much time. At one point we were worried that our reservation time would end before we even receive our order!!

Once we received our meal, IT WAS COLD! Yes, the steak that’s supposed to come fresh from the kitchen, looked as if it was cooked and they forgot to bring it for us. The mushrooms on the side were cold as well. To add on to that, we ordered it to be medium well, it came medium Rare! There was blood all over!

I was very disappointed and sad to be honest! We shared this with the manager, he said they will heat it more. But we all know that the steak once is cold and you reheat it, first you loose the proper texture and second it will not reach the right cooking stage by only heating it on the heat lamp.

Anws, they brought back the steak, STILL NOT TO THE REQUESTES COOKING STAGE. I swear I was going to cry. 😭 I am paying so much for this meal and I expected it to be up to my expectations.

Once again they took it and reheated it. At that stage, I was about to tell my husband let’s just go somewhere else. But we still wanted to give them a chance.

Third time they got us the meal, we just wanted to eat after waiting nearly more than 1 hour and 45 minutes to eat properly.

The meat texture was not satisfactory, neither was the flavour itself. Totally not the flavour we were expecting.

To be fair, after they changed the meal, the sides came hot and were tasty.

As a service recovery, they added mashed potatoes as a side, and gave us desert at the end, which were satisfactory.

All is all, I don’t think I would come back, or recommend it for my connections.

Not at least for the hyped up experience they...