Bello Ristorante — Restaurant in Quebec

I wanted to end my trip to Quebec on a high note at this restaurant, but it turned out to be the worst experience. I understand that French is primarily used in Quebec, but since we don’t speak French, we placed our order in English. The staff member appeared to understand English, but unexpectedly started criticizing our pronunciation. This immediately made us uncomfortable. We also had difficulty understanding the staff member’s English accent, but we didn’t mention it out of courtesy.

The issue started when we asked for a description of a menu item we were curious about before placing our order. We simply wanted to know more about it, and we told the staff that we weren’t ready to order yet and needed a bit more time. Later, we called the staff back and ordered only a pasta and one other dish. The food arrived, and although the explanation was given in French, we didn’t question it and began eating.

However, when we received the bill, we were shocked. We had clearly ordered around $40 worth of food for the two of us, but the total came to $90 per person. When we asked for clarification, we were told that the items we inquired about were added as if they were actual orders. As customers who clearly didn’t speak French, it would have made sense for the staff to confirm our order, but they just brought everything out. It felt like an intentional overcharge.

Moreover, after the first dish arrived, it took another 45 minutes for the pasta to be served. As tourists on a tight schedule, we needed to catch our tour bus within two hours, but we had to wait almost an hour for a small pasta dish and ended up running to catch the bus. The experience was so unpleasant that it felt borderline discriminatory. I didn’t want to leave a tip, but the staff handed me the payment machine with a preset 15% tip, so I was forced to pay it.

This was the worst experience I...

My husband and I were staying at the Fairmont Frontenac and were recommend to Bello by our concierge to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary. We had wanted a delicious italian meal to celebrate being married for one year. A place that offered good food, a romantic setting and quality service. Unfortunately we recieved anything but that. It is a Monday night, so we were expecting pretty good service, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Our appetizers came out okay, then a large party sat down and it was like we were forgotten about. My husband and I both ordered the salmon entree. Mine came out looking beautiful and fully cooked. My husbands (after telling the waitress he had an allergy to pepper) came out covered in pepper. The plate was taken away by the manager on duty and a new piece of salmon (in the same dirty dish from the first peice of salmon, with the pepper still in it) was brougt out. This second piece of salmon was 1/2 cooked (ice cold in the middle and raw). My husband even tried to show the waitress and touched the food to prove his point. We also couldn’t believe a restaurant not taking the allergy seriously. We thought at first a language barrier, but i repeated the allergy in french and english when we sat down to the waitress. A 3rd plate of salmon came out, this time the waitress nor the manager on duty brought it over (another member of the restaurant dropped the dish and walked away). Neither the waitress nor the manager even came by to see if this plate was okay. My husband ate around the still cold and uncooked center and I asked for the check right away. This restaurants service and how they made our anniversary less than special is why we have spoke to the Fairmont and will be writing a letter for their concierge to no longer recommend this establishment. I would give this restaurant no stars, but google doesn’t...

My husband and I are visiting Quebec for a few days and find it to be a great place to visit. The sites and attractions have been amazing! We travel often and like most people we enjoy eating great meals. We choose this restaurant after having dinner at various French inspired restaurants in the city. Needless to say, the food experience was not good. First, it’s a lovely space and we were greeted by the host and seated immediately. We requested to sit at another table because we were placed at a high top table and preferred to sit at another table for comfort. Our waiter arrived and offered water and then took our drink orders. This is where it all went south. Drinks arrived 25 -minutes after ordering. Server apologized and proceeded to take our food orders (we had to ask about chef specials) and he was not knowledgeable about the specials without reading them from a note. Orders are taken and we began the wait. He came back to the table 30-minutes later and asked if we would like more drinks but no mention of the food, I asked him when would could expect to get the food. Appetizers finally arrived and let me say , my husband’s meal was good but my Caesar salad taste like it had been sitting for too long and was soaked to the point that the croutons were soggy and the lettuce was too. I ordered risotto duck with Foie gras, it was too salty and the worst risotto I’ve ever had. The service was very disappointing and to add insult to injury, the waiter asked at the end of the evening, if we wanted separate checks. I paid the check and left. Risotto dumped in a nearby trash can. I would never visit again but will say that I’m happy for those who had a great...