Trattoria Trestevere — Restaurant in Montreal

Lets start with the worst restaurant I have ever been in in my entire life. It is called Trattoria Trestevere located on Crescent and St Catherine. I went there on recommendations from Montreal website magazine. It was near downtown near our hotel and we were celebrating two birthday. Italian is everyone's favorite and our Italian taxi driver said it was good. It was extremely busy which was encouraging. When we made our order I had requested a glass of unsweetened tea and the waiter returned with sweetened tea in a dirty water glass half full. I sent it back I told him I could not drink sugar for health reasons. We looked at the menu and ordered our favorite traditional Italian food Shrimp Alfredo, Chicken Alfredo, Lasagna and spaghetti and meat sauce. They brought out the spaghetti and meat sauce immediately for a hungry 4 year old and we had to request bread which was warm. We requested more bread and it was not toasted like the first batch. The plate of spaghetti was substanstial and sampled the 4 year olds spaghetti while we were waiting for our food. It was so bland without any seasoning I thought we could have heated up a can of Chef Bor R Dee and it would have at least tasted better to a 4 year old. We were going to cancel the order pay for what we had and leave and go somewhere else. But we stayed and was totally appalled at what they called food. And can I say the service was so horrible I thought it was just us but the waiters were quarrelling among themselves constantly walking through the cramped aisles . They never checked on us or any other customers either. It was if these poor people were so used to bad service and even worst food, they were just happy to get out of the house. Let me go through each nightmarish dish. Starting with the worst of the worst the Shrimp alfredo. We ordered a double order of shrimp. Which came out beautifully displayed in the 12 Jumbo Shrimp surrounded by a plate of fettuccine. The fettuccine noodles were so overcooked they were like doughy soup and the sauce bore no semblance of alfredo I have ever experienced. Raw sewage would have tasted better. The lasagna , disgusting on every level it tasted like a square salty egg . I was unsure that there were even lasagna noodles in the dish. The chicken alfredo came out without the chicken. Just the soupy overcooked noodle concoction that had come out with the aforementioned shrimp alfredo. Im sure the Italians are turning over in their graves and some are not even dead yet at this restaurant disguising itself as Italian food. The owners of this restaurant must be thrilled that capital punishment has been eliminated in Canada because they would be fried in the electric chair and that would be the best cooking they have ever done. After all this horrible service and worst food. Hmm maybe its horrible food and worst service . I cant decide. They bring us a bill of $188.00 I am not Canadian and I understand the provincial & other taxes for your enviable free healthcare. But almost $200 bill for 4 meals served with water no wine was robbery. I didn't know whether to call the police or the health department. We did not...

I asked ChatGPT to recommend an authentic Italian restaurant near our hotel in Montreal to take a client for dinner, and Trattoria Trestevere came up as the #1 suggestion. Let me just say—it more than lived up to that recommendation!

From the moment we arrived, everything was exceptional—the warm and welcoming atmosphere, the charming location, and above all, the world-class service and food. We were fortunate to be served by the owner himself, who graciously guided us through a lineup of unforgettable appetizers: calamari, zucchini fries, beef carpaccio, prosciutto with melon, and the most incredible mozzarella in carrozza covered in the most delicious tomato sauce....I noticed on the way out a sign that says you can buy the sauces to take home....if I lived in Montreal, I would be buying their sauce by the Liter! Each dish was perfectly prepared and full of authentic Italian flavor.

For our mains, we enjoyed a variety of dishes—from veal parmigiana, seafood linguine, and filet mignon with pasta, to lasagna, rigatoni, and the highlight for me: the homemade spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta (I believe it was called malfatti). Every single person at the table said it was the best Italian food they’ve ever had. We ended the night with a spread of decadent desserts—tiramisu, crème brûlée, ice cream, and fried gnocchi with Nutella (which was out of this world). We sipped the best cappuccino I’ve ever tasted and were treated to a round of limoncello by the owner to finish the evening.

This restaurant is a gem—authentic, warm, delicious, and truly unforgettable. It was the highlight of our time in Montreal, and we are already planning to come back. Thank you, Trattoria Trestevere, for a truly special evening. Bless you! 🙏🏻

Ps. Sorry, I didn't take any photos of the food because we ate it all and were too excited to taste everything as soon as...

Dinner here was the worst meal out that I can remember. We should have never gone in, seeing from the street that only one table was occupied , but all the great reviews and photos online lured us in. We were seated in the front section, not in the main room which might have actually had some atmosphere. Instead we looked out on the street where all there was to see were closed up, shabby storefronts, a few guys lying on benches, and a poor, homeless soul pushing a shopping cart. The menu had uninspired, ordinary offerings and the wine list was bottles only, except for “house wine” by the glass. Service was okay, nothing special. Our waiter seemed uninterested and in a hurry, although the restaurant appeared almost empty. The Caesar salad was horrible - the iceberg lettuce was actually sort of warm, the dressing was bland, no grated cheese, and the croutons were stale. I had a few bites, but saw no point in eating more. The veal Marsala was bland and the pasta with tomato sauce was awful. Sauce from Costco has more character. My husband’s veal parmigiana was little better. We were so disappointed, coming to Montreal for excellent food. This restaurant was neither the creative Italian bistro depicted in the photos nor a cozy, family place with character. It was boring and pedestrian. The bill was almost as much as at the beautiful French restaurant we visited the night before with the house wine at this place more expensive ($15/glass for what tasted like box wine). This dinner was the low point of an otherwise wonderful trip to Montreal. The photos were so misleading, I...