Ruby Rouge — Restaurant in Montreal

Terrible. I was there 6 years ago and thought it was mediocre. Went back last night and thought it was terrible. Originally, I had thought that Ruby Rouge could be the "one" restaurant for a craving for late night dim-sum. Google says that they close at 10pm, but when I went they closed at 9:30pm. Not what I expected in a large metropolitan city.

Let me describe the restaurant. Situated on a second floor, as you climb up the stairs you'll notice the front office where the money is being counted. The washrooms are down the hall to the left. Brownish carpeting, which was probably once crimson red, leads you to large rectangular room with blocks of tables with large ones (seating 8 or more) near the walls and smaller ones (seating 4) in the middle. It is arranged in a fashion like a track and field 400m circle. The smaller tables are in the middle circle and the large tables outside of the track. Another room to the right (behind the entrance staircase) also seats additional people and can be easily partitioned off from the main rectangular seating area. It restaurant eeriely reminds me of a Hong Kong mafia movie gone terribly wrong. I can imagine the mahjong being played in that room.

Staff is rude, menus were not available, did not understand English or French (had to resort to speaking Mandarin), food quality sub-par and bitter tea. Ordered eight dishes. I wish I had the time to describe all of the dishes, but I'll give you the top two. White radish cake, which is typically made into a rectangular cake and fried on both sides were cold. Bamboo, pork, wrapped with thin tofu skin was hard with little imagination (could had done some garnish). Didn't finish the meal. Bill came early because I was told that they were closing early. Left a tip, which I regret doing so. The waitress thought that the tip was insufficient, sneered at me, and dumped the tip into a bowl. Besides seating me and delivering everything on a cart (one-shot delivery), and picking up the tip, I'm not sure if it warranted a tip in the first place.

Thinking back, the fact that the restaurant which can seat tables more than 70 tables in the main seating area (supporting at least 4 people per table), and had only 7 tables with people should had been my first clue of the lack customer retention/loyalty.

Bottom line. Don't waste your time. If you've got a hankering for dim-sum. Suffer, find other restaurants in Montreal, or drive out to Toronto (dare I also say Ottawa) for dim sum. There is good dim sum out there, don't let this restaurant ruin your impression...

I will start by saying that I am half Chinese and that this has been my family's go to place for countless dim sum Saturday Brunches so my rating might be a little biased. If you want a traditional dim sum style brunch this is the place to be. The decor might be trapped in a strange 80s China time loop, but let's be real: If you're looking for a great traditional dim sum meal on a Saturday morning, you're either Chinese or a white person that has a clear AZN penchant. And good on you for that! So now that that's established here's what's up: This is the real deal: frantic waiters rushing arround with steaming carts yelling what their offering in Cantonese. I don't speak Cantonese (unfortunately) so I usually ask them to show what they have and they will happily mention vague ingredients in English. For all our non asian friends: don't be nervous about the odd dumplings, and large quantity of fried shrimp and porc. It's all delicious I promise! (Except maybe for the tripe: I usually avoid that stuff on principal).

Rundown: if you want a traditional Cantonese style brunch: this is the place. If you're one of the people complaining that they didn't serve you water or "proper" utensils: Why the hell are you in Chinatown to begin with? They serve a constant free refil of tea which is the traditional dim sum drink. That's way more than enough to hydrate you. But if you want water just lift your hand and ask. It won't kill you and they are glad to oblige. Also if they only gave you chopsticks be happy. That's a compliment. It means they think you can handle chopsticks. If they gave you a fork (which they've done for me a few times when I come with my Italian/quebecois Fiance) it means they see you as a whitey and think you can't use chopsticks. Still don't be offended or rude. Just use the chopsticks instead and prove them wrong....

We were so happy to find Ruby Rouge and great dim sum in Montreal! It’s on the 2nd floor up a main flight of stairs. We completely over-ate stuffing ourselves with all the expected goodies: har gow, chicken feet, sticky rice with lotus leaf, tofu skin, shu mai, shrimp/beef rice roll, fried pork dumpling, bbq pork bun, tripe, baby squid, beef short ribs, fried pork dumplings, hot sour soup, calamari, fried noodles (4 different kinds), mixed vegetables. The waiters were terrific and ensured we had lots of tea and ice water.

Dim sum operates differently here than NYC. In NYC, it’s a blood sport to get a table on a weekend – they open around 9am and if you don’t arrive by 10-10:30am, you’re going to be waiting an hour. So we arrived at 10:07am discovering that Ruby Rouge doesn’t even open until 10:30am with the carts starting at 10:45am. They were very gracious and allowed us to enter and sit at a table. Same carts being pushed around with tasty treats and a main table with a few more offerings. Excellent and comparable dishes to our favorite NYC dim sum. The sesame balls had different inside filling than we are used to. We did not find taro cake or the skinny crispy shrimp egg rolls – can’t win them all. We also noticed a cart with what looked like churros – we didn’t try them – maybe next time. We will...