Brasserie Porte Rouge — Restaurant in Missoula

I had the pleasure of dining at the Brasserie last night with a date, and was pleasantly surprised by the updated restaurant. The old Pearl Cafe was my favorite restaurant in Missoula, and I was hesitant to go to the new establishment because I thought I would be disappointed. I was very wrong and wish I would have come sooner!

My server Christina (or Kristina) was extremely accommodating, and helped with recommendations and stellar service through the entire experience. Additionally she pointed out they still used Pearl's bread recipe, which was touching to me. I had the Black Currant Shrub, Rack of Lamb, New Zealand Salmon special, and two desserts, the Vanilla Thunder and Tarte Au Carrote.

I thought the cheeseboard to be standard, and would have like a little bit better of a selection of meat and cheeses, but the pickles and mini pimentos were both a nice touch, as well as the house made bread, which has a delicious crust and makes amazing little sandwiches. I'd give it about a 7.8 out of 10 in its category.

Next I will speak to the absolutely delicious rack of lamb I had. Both of the entrees were amazing! The rack was cooked perfectly, and the accompanying pomegranate/pistachio gremolata was a delicious accompaniment I never would have thought of at home. There was even a miniature cannoli with very tasty ricotta in it underneath. I just wish there was more meat, but that is personal preference. As far as flavor and sides, this was fantastic. 9.3/10

The highlight of the entrees was the salmon my date had though! It was cooked and seasoned perfectly, and made in a bag and served piping hot with zucchini and squash inside the bag and a relish that was absolutely delicious and gave crisp notes to the dish. It was tender without being undercooked and buttery soft. Coming from Seattle I rarely ever find salmon that is at the same level as where I grew up, and I've been in Montana 20 years. This was some of the best salmon I ever had. 10/10. Perfect.

Last I will review the two desserts. The Vanilla Thunder again was as good as it gets, a layered cake with a delicious buttery texture in the frosting layer and a crunchy almond rocha flavored layer towards the bottom. An absolutely delicious cake that I throughly enjoyed. 9.6/10. The Tarte au Carrote was a different blend of almost pecan pie and carrot cake in a very dense and solid tarte crust. At first I couldn't cut into it, but that was because the deliciously put together cookie crust. At first I was put off by cutting through the crust, but I'd still give this dessert a solid 8.4/10.

Thank you very much for the thoroughly enjoyable meal, ambience, and fantastic service! I would highly recommend taking...

Service is absolutely horrendous. Server seemed like she thought she was hired to be a warrior for social justice taking her angst out on any man that dare sit in her section. When my date and I were first approached by the server, as a gentleman in todays world, I do NOT order for my wife however, I do always allow her to order first. After taking my wife’s order our server never even looked at me and simply walked away. Then we had to wait because no amount of eye contact could get anyone to help us, not even the two bartenders whom we were sat right in front of. Eventually our drinks came and my wife placed my salad order. No salad fork. Server continued without apology or concern that my food was missed. My wife and I took a moment to attempt to discuss the atmosphere, but we’re interrupted continuously by the gathering of servers and Bartenders at the end of the bar entertaining the single patron sitting there. He must have been famous or something because the staff seemed to ignore the entire restaurant in favor of conversation with this man. Ever walked into a bar and the entire staff acts like an exclusive group of friends, and they are all wondering why you are there. That’s what this place was like, if you weren’t part of the group, you weren’t welcome. After not once being asked how things were, we were asked about the main course. My single beer was nearly completely empty when dinner hit the table, it took me more than ten minutes of making eye contact with both servers and bartenders with my empty glass in hand, before finally a bus boy approached and asked if we needed anything!?!? I said “I would love another beer” he helped me quickly. Alcohol is typically restaurants biggest money maker, it’s insane that I made direct eye contact with as many servers as I did with not one of them approaching the table. This is when I pull the money that I had reserved for the tip and handed it to my wife. I said, “I am going to let you do the tipping tonight.” Meanwhile, I found the busboy and throw him a $20, told him it was not to be shared, he and he alone earned that tip. Food was mediocre and way overpriced, but I will say, it was MOSTLY well prepared and tasted good. One exception was the casing on the lamb sausage which was not trimmed properly leaving a inedible piece of sausage casing or rubber like substance in your mouth. Places like this make long time Missoula residents realize how special The Red Bird was. At The Red Bird it didn’t matter if you were from Portland or the Bitterroot, you always got the same...

TLDR: Quite pricey for a poor execution at elevated food. Dishes were plated well and looked lovely but lacked in flavor, depth and balance. Service was unwelcoming and disorganized considering we're one of two groups in the restaurant. Many people seem to very much enjoy this restaurant so maybe I am not the demographic for this. If you are intrigued by the menu, at least be prepared to not eat a filling amount of food.

Came into Missoula on a day trip with my partner from Bozeman and decided to go here after seeing it was highly recommended through Reddit and Google. It was quite a lackluster experience to say the least considering the high praise this restaurant was given.

The service was quite disappointing and unfriendly. Most staff didn't seem to be interested in having to help us and seemed to take their time in checking in to take our orders.

Overall our food left us unsatisfied and hungry. I had ordered the rack of lamb and my partner ordered the short rib. Both dishes seemed unfocused and executed poorly. The highlight of my lamb was the meat itself but unfortunately there was only 2-3 bites worth of meat. The risotto that was paired with the lamb left a lot to be desired in flavor to compliment the protein. My partner had quite a difficult time finding satisfaction in her short rib as well. There was very little meat albeit it was soft. Unfortunately the connective tissue to the bone was still very tough and difficult to navigate. Typically you would expect some bit of sauce left to bring out the overall flavor of the protein but that was also no where to be found. As a whole both dishes were disappointing and overpriced for how...