Restaurant Poutineville Vieux Québec — Restaurant in Quebec

An Absolute Disaster — and Then Some!

If you're looking to waste your money, time, and appetite in one go, this is the spot. I ordered two mega-sized poutine and a steak sandwich. When the food arrived, I genuinely questioned whether this was meant to be eaten or thrown out.

The poutine was old, cold, and clearly cooked in reused oil. It looked and tasted like something they'd prepared hours ago, abandoned, and then lazily reheated and slapped onto a plate. Zero care, zero freshness. It was disgusting.

The steak sandwich? Completely bland. No seasoning, no texture, just a dry, lifeless piece of meat shoved into bread and called a meal. Honestly, every single item on the table tasted like it was thrown together as an afterthought.

And the cherry on top? When I politely told them the food was bad, instead of caring about my experience or asking how they could fix it, the staff snapped back with: “Maybe it was just too much food for you?”

What kind of response is that? I'm not stupid—if it was too much, I’d have taken it home. I’m not dropping 70 bucks just to leave food on the table. The issue wasn’t the quantity—it was the terrible quality.

I came in hungry and hopeful. I left pissed off and disappointed. Save yourself the money and the mood—skip this place.

In respond to owner's comment: Thank you for your response. But the truth is, you already had the chance to make things right in person when I brought up the issue—not here in a public review. I visited your restaurant yesterday on Saturday May 17 at 8:30 PM, and when I expressed my dissatisfaction, instead of addressing it properly, I was met with a dismissive comment about portion size.

I’m a tourist and won’t be back in town, which is exactly why I left this review—not for you, but for other people like me who rely on reviews to choose where to eat. That’s how I ended up at your place—because I trusted what I saw online.

Next time a customer gives you a chance to fix something on the spot, take it seriously. Don’t wait to do damage control...

Great selection, but a few deep-rooted problems show a lack of care. The #1 issue is the quality of the fries, the foundation of poutine, was lacking. They tasted burnt despite being soggy. My son had the fries alone, and he couldn't even eat them because of this. It was only after tasting his, without toppings, that I could see that they were not taking care of their deep fryer.

We spent $200 for our family of five.

To be fair, I did like the selection. I had the "chinese" cheese fondue fries, and they were wonderful. The cheese squeaked with every bite. The amount of gravy was correct, not flooding the dish but coating every fry. Good thing it did, otherwise I'd have tasted the burnt sogginess left by their haphazard cooking.

From the moment I entered the restaurant, we had problems. There were empty tables in the restaurant but a line up out the door. The waiter had to keep pushing past people to get to the streetside patio, using the same main entrance as the line as we waited for them to get to us.

Shall I go on? We ordered appetizers and they were served together with the meal. The kid meals were served after the adult ones came. They were out of two beers on the menu. When I ordered a second drink, it took 10 minutes and came after we were done. We were promised the Sunday deal of $4.95 for the child menu but got charged $5.95 for changing it to just fries anyway. This is even though poutine is on that same menu.

At the table there are QR codes that promise "up to $25 off" for leaving a review. The waitress said to me I was the first one she'd ever seen get it to work. It took a few tries and hacking the URLs. So here's your review. And I...

We went here to eat because we saw it had a 4.6 star rating and were really craving some poutine. However, I'm giving this 2 stars for a few reasons:

1. When we walked in, I noticed a couple guys counting wads of cash in one of the first booths. Apparently they worked there because one of them stood up and brought us to our table. This was a common theme. You never really know who actually works there. All employees wear random casual clothing - totally fine if an employer is chill with that, but at least have your employees wear name tags with the business name or something(?) A bit confusing to say the least. We also saw a waitress roll her eyes when another couple requested more water. Not sure why that was considered an issue.

2. The menus are either falling apart or look really dirty and worn out. Made me want to wash my hands after handling it. The cutlery and glasses were the same way. They had smudges on them and just felt unclean.

3. The poutine is meh. We ate it because we were hungry, but we'd likely go elsewhere in the future for poutine. It just tasted bland and dry, even with the toppings on it.

I would pick another spot if you've got a poutine craving and you're in old town, QC.

Edit: I appreciate the response from the restaurant. It sucked being excited to go there and then being let down, but it's nice to see a restaurant want to...