Yoko Luna — Restaurant in Montreal

If you’re thinking about going to Yoko Luna for dinner or for a special occasion like your birthday, you really need to read this first. I wish I had. I fell for all the positive reviews and ignored the negative ones.

I’m not usually picky or hard to please, but this was my experience. On November 22nd, we were a group of eight celebrating my birthday and my friend’s birthday—on the actual date, which rarely lands on a Friday night! Since we were under nine people, we didn’t have to go with the $95-per-person group menu, so we could each order what we wanted.

The Food: I shared a few dishes with a friend: Grilled scallop aguachile Wagyu quesadilla Three makis: spicy tuna, king salmon tartare, and truffle mushroom crisp

Scallop Aguachile : The presentation was stunning. It was fresh, but that’s about it—no flavor, no seasoning, nothing. It was completely bland. My friend agreed with me. Huge disappointment. Makis : They were okay, but that’s it. Nothing special, especially for the insane prices of $30–$42 per roll (4-6 pieces each!!). Wagyu Quesadilla : This one was a complete joke. Everyone at the table tried it, and we all agreed—it tasted like those frozen appetizers from Costco that you heat in the oven. We actually all laughed. To sum it up: the food is ridiculously overpriced for what you get. Just because a place looks fancy and charges high prices doesn’t mean the food will live up to it. Real high-end restaurants deliver quality that justifies the price. At Yoko Luna, it feels like they’re trying to seem “luxurious” just by being expensive.

The Club After dinner, we stayed for the club. The music was alright at first, but it got boring pretty quickly. The crowd was decent, mostly people in their late 20s to 40s, but the place wasn’t even that busy for a Friday night.

Now for the part that really ruined the night. Since it was my birthday, not everyone could join us for dinner. One of my friends arrived later to join us just for the club. When I made the reservation, I specifically asked about the guestlist, and the girl I spoke to (French from France, but I don’t remember her name) assured me it was flexible and could be updated on the spot. She never mentioned that at a certain time the club doesn't accept guestlists anymore.

At around midnight, my friend showed up and called me to say he wasn’t being let in. The bouncer—an obese (no offense) guy with dreads—told me that they don't accept guestlists after midnight. That made no sense, especially since the club was half full. What’s worse? Right AS HE'S SAYING THAT, he let in two random girls without even checking if they had a guestlist or had a stamp.

I stayed polite and explained it was my birthday, and I’d really appreciate if he could make an exception for my friend. His response? : “Tu commences à vraiment m’énerver”. The other two bouncers just stood there staring at me without saying anything.

In the end, my friend had to bribe him with $20 to get in. That’s right, he couldn’t get in for my birthday unless he paid off the bouncer, which actually made me laugh (highlight of my night). But apparently, half naked girls who look high as a kite off some something, can walk right in without being questioned. Yea, Yoko Luna is very high-class, trust me!

Final Thoughts Yoko is a perfect example of a place that’s all about appearances. They charge sky-high prices and market themselves as this fancy, exclusive spot, but the reality doesn’t even come close. The food is overpriced and mediocre at best, the service was rude and unprofessional, and the overall vibe doesn’t justify the hype.

If you look at their negative reviews online, they all seem to get the same copy-paste response. They clearly don’t care about improving, just about maintaining this illusion of being high-class.

I went in thinking it would be an amazing experience, but I should’ve listened to the bad reviews. My birthday was ruined, but at least I know to not go back. Save your money and go somewhere that’s...

This review is for F1 Race Week *

Overall 2 stars - low value for price, waited over 2 hours for food, food was average at best

Service 3 stars - our waiter did his best but no management involvement to support staff with customer issues (missed opportunity to turn a bad experience around).

Atmosphere 4 star - Looks as pictured, definitely a cool vibe.

My family and I are in town for F1 and a friend recommended we check out Yoko Luna. I made reservations for 7 very easily online. Night of, we arrived and were seated within 10 minutes - no issues there.

We entered the main room and the atmosphere and decor are exactly as pictured. Our waiter was friendly from the start and the bus staff was also hard at work.

HOWEVER - our experience slowly started falling apart after it took 20-30 minutes to bring us drinks and we in fact went through 3 round of drinks as we waited for 2 HOURS for our food. We definitely wouldn't have ordered as many rounds had we not been there so long. During this time I would have expected a manger or anyone other than our poor waiter to bring us a complimentary appetizer or anything at all to address the fact that we waiting our entire dinner time (again 2 hours) before we saw one plate come our way. We did order a 48 piece omakase (all nigiri per what the menu states) for our table. Our waiter tried to explain away that this is huge undertaking by the kitchen BUT sorry... that's really unacceptable when they created a whole Race Week menu to entice and streamline meal service. 2 hours to prepare 48 pieces at a restaurant that specializes in sushi its WILD. Note- the online menu says 36 pieces but the restaurant menu said 48 (see receipt).

Unfortunately there's more - we didn't even get all nigiri! Half of what came out was sushi rolls! I have NEVER seen a more lackluster "omakase" at such an exorbitant price (over $300). Note - video attached was the omakase order and we ate a few pieces off before I decided to capture this. I'd love to say we devoured a ton of it before but it was a mere few pieces. But did anyone notice anything close to 48 pieces of nigiri?!?! I believe it was in the ballpark of 12 pieces.

At this point everyone at our table was starving, disappointed, and felt completely ripped off. I had to strongly suggest we at least get a round of shots on the house which was well vodka... Our total bill was over $700. We all just shook our heads in defeat. I've paid less money at a Michelin star restaurant. We were waiting for so long they started breaking down the whole restaurant before we could rush through our sad meal.

Clearly per other reviews, Yoko Luna has the ability to deliver but for us, I would never go back on...

The manager didn’t inform us on the minimum for groups when we booked and called me on a Wednesday when my celebration was on a Saturday to tell me that all my guests would have to pay 95$ minimum for a group of 16. Because it was mid week and I only had 3 days to find an alternate location, I simply informed my guests. If you know anything about Montreal, it’s hard to get reservations for large groups last minute. 5 guests declined the invitation due to not being previously advised of the minimum spend and I ended up with 11 guests. After much complaints and calls from my boyfriend and friend, Tony the manager told us we could have an « à la carte » menu for 11 people. When we arrived, to the restaurant the day of the event, our table was not ready for us. Because of that they moved us upstairs to a bar so that we can wait. After 25 minutes, They informed us that we couldn’t be seated until all guests arrived. It’s Only after my boyfriend complained to Tony that they brought us to the restaurant. Once downstairs at the restaurant, we still waited 10 minutes to get seated because the table was not ready. Basically, we got moved from one location to another for absolutely no reason because now instead of staying at the bar, we were standing in the middle of the restaurant waiting to get seated. The manager Tony also told us we couldn’t bring balloons for my birthday celebration, but when we arrived, there was a table with balloons and decorations. He then told my boyfriend that the table with balloons was reserved for the « owner » and that’s why they were allowed balloons and I wasn’t. Furthermore, we went to add 15% tip for the bottles we had ordered during the night and the waitress had the audacity to tell us that we have to tip her 18% because it’s law for nightclubs. Having lawyer friends, I know that it’s not law, but because I felt pressured in the moment, I still added 18% on top of the gratuity I had already payed. All in all, the experience was subpar and...