Restaurant L'Académie — Restaurant in Montreal

Visited a few weeks ago and honestly, the experience left to be desired.

First of all, let me start by saying that the woman I spoke with on the telephone was wonderful (owner’s wife). We should be so lucky as to always come across ‘nice’ customer service people like her.

She took the time to speak with me and advise regarding vegan options. Was kind enough to accommodate a reservation for 4 people a couple of hours before the actual reservation.

Upon arrival, I saw that the restaurant was running at full capacity. It was very loud (but to be expected). We were seated on the second floor. The carpeting on the stairs was old, used and looked dirty (maybe because it was used??) I mean really . . . just change it! First impression was not great. We were seated without any delay so that was a plus. Sadly, the positive ended there. Once we ordered, it took one full hour to get served.

I did enjoy my pasta dish but the veal dishes left to be desired. Firstly, the meat was hard and chewy and secondly, the veal plates came with a side of pasta - the pasta was ice cold and not dressed at all. The one picture shown at least has some sauce that could be mixed into the pasta if desired. The other veal dish (not shown, meat was with red sauce) had no extra sauce at all so pasta was left uneaten (cold and completely dry – as though drained and put on the plate!). We also requested pasta for our vegan daughter (not pictured). The waiter said ‘no problem’, we will hold the cheese. He went on to proudly say that the pasta dishes were very good because they use a chicken soup base in the recipe. I countered ‘so it isn’t vegan’? He was confused - not a clue as to what vegan meant. I believe that if you are in the food service industry, you should be a little knowledgeable with respect to these special requests as these are becoming more and more popular options. He assured me that he put in a special request for my daughter to dress her pasta with tomato sauce only (did he? 🤷🏻‍♀️).

Anyhow, the reason we visited this restaurant is because we had a gift card. We will definitely not...

Group of 3 people for dinner. We were welcomed nicely at the door. We were seated upon arrival and the restaurant was not busy. I was a little surprised as we waited a long time before we were greeted by our waitress. It was approximately 15 minutes. The table next to us arrived 10 minutes after us are greeted and served water before us by the same waitress. We enjoyed the ambiance of the restaurant. We order calamari for an appetizer and it tasted good. We had 2 orders of their ribs and fries and 1 order of their mussels and fries. The portion of their mussels was very generous. They tasted okay. Their french fries were cold and flat. As fries cool down, the water starts to move out of the crystals and you loose the fluffy texture. I did not want to ask for other fries as all our plates had fries that were served in the same condition. The only way to eat them is to load on the ketchup, and then it becomes acceptable. As for their ribs the only thing you could taste was the sauce that was slapped on top of them. They were extremely dry and had no taste. They were not easy fall of the bone. Ribs should be cooked at low temperature and slowly. These ribs were cooked on high and fast, and they became dry. Remember this for ribs, low and slow not high and dry. I would not recommend this restaurant based on their service and terrible food. For the prices they charged, I would have expected better service and better food quality. This is my honest review that should warn other clients of my experience. I will never go back to...

Firstly, I came to have supper with my family tonight and it didn’t go as planned. We had to ask for the bread 56 minutes later, which came cold and hard. I asked one of the busboys to heat up my daughters milk, and he came back to tell me it will take 5 minutes because the kitchen was too busy to heat up a bottle that would take 30 seconds, understandably, he could have come back with an alternative and bring a teapot filled with hot water. I myself work in a restaurant and I understand that it gets busy, but to have someone working in the restaurant and come back to tell you they can’t heat up my daughters bottle because the kitchen is simply too busy to, is not professional.

The fact that we had to ask for the cake we brought to take it home because the service was too long, is...