The quality of the food in Old Montreal is outstanding, and La Sauvagine certainly met and exceeded the standard.
One of my best friends, Caucasian, French-Canadian in his early 60th, married to a dark-skinned African woman made a reservation for 4 to have dinner at this French & Portuguese restaurant. I’m an Afro-Canadian, retired Executive from the Petroleum Industry. This background is important to understand my review. My friend, who is still working and living in Africa spends a few weeks a year in Montreal. As for me, after a long career in Canada and overseas, I elected to retire in Florida with my wife but we try to spend the month of July in Montreal as well. My friend told me that he has been to that restaurant before and highly told me about a famous waiter who, over the past 4 decades has served people like Charles Aznavour, Guy Lafleur, Mireille Mathieu, The Beatles etc… Since it was my last evening in Montreal and I didn’t have a chance to see my friend and his wife, I was looking forward to seeing them and share a great meal in their company. In fact I was his best man when he got married and I helped him tremendously in the real estate in Florida. That evening turned to be my worst nightmare in a restaurant. The famous waiter, Anthony is 69 with an outstanding track record of serving celebrities should retire now and spends his time doing other things. The landscape has changed but not him. My wife and I have never been treated that way in any restaurant around the world. 1. From the beginning, when we mentioned the humility of Pope Francis, he told us bluntly that he is not a real Pope. To him, the real Pope was Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger). I told him Ratzinger was the opposite because of his extravagant luxury taste. He believed this is the way a Pope should behave. Although I disagreed but I respected his opinion. 2. After my friend introduced me to Mr. Celebrity Waiter, I mentioned the name of the 2 Universities where my wife and I graduated. He didn’t wait a split second to remind me about the bad reputation of my University. I knew right away the evening was going to be long. 3. Ordering wine: my wife wanted to try a good Portuguese white wine close to a French Chardonnay similar to a Pouilly Fuissé. The way he answered me was as if I didn’t know what I was talking about. He was very insulting. 4. Serving wine: During the 2 hours we were there, systematically, whenever our glasses were empty, he would pour in my glass half of what he poured in my friend’s glass. Both of us were drinking red wine. He would wait when both glasses are empty before he would come over to pour more wine. I didn’t exist. His job was to entertain and please my friend. We were mere accessories. Since he noticed which one of the 2 black women was my friend’s wife, he had done the same thing to my wife i.e. more wine in my friend’s wife glass. This pattern was repeated not once or twice but many times. My wife and I were commenting about it all along the time. 5. Stereotyped comments: When my friend told Anthony that he worked in Africa with me (we met in Africa but both of us were raised in Montreal), he immediately started to brag about the fact that he has served the son of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the former President of Senegal in West Africa. He assumed right away that I was, may be, a poor African who is invited to this restaurant by his rich white friend. Anthony completely ignored me and my wife all the way. We don’t deserve this kind of attitude in a such cosmopolitan city in 2022. 6. After dinner drink: My wife asked him if he has a great Armagnac he could recommend. Of course, he said yes. He brought in a VS Armagnac, which is lowest grade Armagnac money can buy. When I asked him for an XO or at least a VSOP. He told me that’s all he has. I found him so arrogant and so self-centered that he turned me off to the point that I refused to order any dessert or after-dinner drink or even a coffee. I was ready to leave. 7. No attention to detail: At a certain moment, I was getting so annoyed that I told him I’ve worked or visited more than 75 countries and I’m a wealthy retired Executive. He still continued to treat me the same
We found this family run restaurant on our last night in Montreal. Our waitress was so attentive and never let our glasses be empty (water and wine!), she was also incredibly knowledgable regarding both the menu and the wine list. The food was amazing - we had the charcuterie to start with which was so tasty and then my husband had the salmon and I had the pork in maple syrup glaze! We also had a lovely Canadian Chardonnay. It was so lovely to be able to eat outside and soak up the atmosphere and so pleasing to find a family run business still flourishing - never take travel for granted and support these family businesses whenever possible!
I took the seafood pasta and the oysters (10/10)
This is honestly one of the best restaurants to go to in Old Montreal! We went at 10:30pm (not intentionally!) and even though they said the kitchen was almost closing they still took us in for as long as we ordered fast. They were so accommodating and friendly! We ordered the steak and the seafood pasta and THEY WERE AMAZING! The sauce of the pasta was so delicious! All the flavours blended so well! It is now my go-to place in Old Montreal! 5/5!!! Yumm!
Generally a great service with a beautiful ambience of Old Montreal. The food was good but beware that the Pot au feu de poisson & Coquillages aux fruits de mer Seafood "bouillabaisse" shows lobster on the menu which is why I ordered . However disappointedly, there is no lobster since it was taken off since covid . Could do with a menu update or inform the guest when ordering.
Prices are expensive and food does not justify it.I didn't like my meal at all: completely dry chicken and super spicy, couldn't eat it.A very bad experience, unfortunately. I should have read the reviews first.Tourist trap.
A true gem! Visiting Montreal last minute for two days and wanted to make a great night out of the first night. While we didn’t have any reservations to this place, they were able to accommodate us upon entry even though it was packed on a Saturday night. All I can say is wow! Try the seafood!
Loved everything about the place, especially the service. The lady serving us was very attentive . The food was amazing. Especially the french onion soup. We tried the Peri Peri chicken and the lamb shanks both were very very tasty. Definitely recommend and would love to go back!
Had a take out during lockdown, which turned out to be the best meal we've had during our stay in Canada from London. Scallops and prawns for starter, Salmon and Seaford pasta for main... all of which were perfectly cooked and seasoned so well. Real quality food, support your local business during these difficult times because they deserve it!