Le Pois Penché

We visit Montréal at least once a year, and it’s almost always around March, for our anniversary. I’d rather be in this beautiful city when it’s not cold as balls, but the sentiment is nice, it’s now tradition, and hotels seem to be a bit more affordable during the winter months. This also happens, too, to be around the time of the Montréal en Lumiere festival, which goes through most of February until the beginning of March. This is the second year we just happened to be in the city when this was going on.
Since our first trips up north, we’ve also gotten a little fancier, and have taken time to find gastronomically interesting restaurants for a nice dinner. We rarely if ever go for all-​out nice dinners, so once a year in Montréal is a-​okay in our book. However, we didn’t realize that the Montréal en Lumiere festival basically screws you over if you want to get reservations at a nice place. (Last time we were up here for the festival, we literally walked a main drag and stopped at a restaurant.) Everyone we called was either booked solid through May or was under renovations until March or was participating in a festival special. Including our hotel, which closed down the restaurant the entire weekend for a $ 300 per person tasting menu only. Which, and we enjoy nice dinners but, was just a little too rich for our tastes.
Anyway, this isn’t a review of our weekend. It’s a review of this restaurant. So let’s get to it.
Because we thought we were SOL on a nice meal, we went to our concierge, who recommended Le Pois Penche. Granted, a lot of concierges get kickbacks from restaurants, but he assured us it was one of his favorite places around, and they make a mean old fashioned. AND, he was able to score us a table. Sweet! Then we saw the mixed reviews, and were a bit nervous – maybe our concierge DID steer us wrong.
When it was time, we walked on over to the restaurant, which does kind of look like a tourist trap from the outside, though it’s not on a super busy touristy street, which is good. We were promptly seated and ordered drinks. This was probably my only complaint of the entire night: We had, literally, four different people coming by to ask questions, serve, or pick up plates. That was a bit strange. But nevertheless, our main server was very attentive.
A few people have mentioned that service is slow. I thought it was at a relaxed pace, and I didn’t feel rushed, which is important, and hospitable. On to food!
BEVERAGE
I started with the recommended Old Fashioned. It was a good recommendation, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think what set it apart from other OFs I’ve had is that it was just a tad sweeter than usual. It was very drinkable (dangerous!!), without feeling like I was drinking straight bourbon. Large twists of orange peel also added to a balanced drink. Later on, I got a glass of Sangiovese red, which was another great recommendation to pair with my duck confit.
STARTERS
We shared (okay, *I* ate) the Torchon de Foie Gras. Holy god in heaven, this was absolutely delicious. We got a generous cut of foie, served with a wedge of toasted brioche, and a nice spattering of fig and almond jam. We did receive a basket of bread for the table, but we could have used more. it was actually kind of difficult to finish the foie with the bread provided. God it was good. I could totally eat another plate of it right now…
MAINS
I ordered the Duck Leg Confit. I’ve had duck a few times, and it seems to be a protein that is just incredibly difficult to cook. You have to render the fat properly, and cook it long enough so it’s not tough. Not to mention… have you ever had a real turkey leg? They’re just not great. But whatever they did to the duck confit, it was cooked perfectly. However, it was served with the skin-​on, so I kind of wish it was crispy. I ended up removing the skin, which was fine, and the duck meat was still succulent and flavorful. The roasted potatoes beneath were almost an afterthought. I kind of wish the side stood up a little better to the duck, but overall, this was a very satisfying dish.
My fiancé ordered the Steak Frites… as usual. I sampled his frites. And yes, they were tasty, and I kind of wish I got those with my duck instead of the fingerling potatoes and random leaves of brussels sprouts. He very much enjoyed his steak, though I’m not sure I would have ordered it. For whatever reason it was USDA flank (do they not have delicious steak available up here in Quebec?). I’ve frankly just seen better quality steak for steak frites for the same price as places such as Les Hailles. Ya know?
DESSERT
I got a super delicious Vanilla Bourbon Crème Brulee for dessert. It was beyond tasty. But I just love crème brulees. Fiancé got a dense Brownie Sundae with homemade vanilla ice cream and cracker jacks. Somehow the cracker jacks were bland, but the brownie was awesome, so he was willing to forgive.
In the end, we both really enjoyed our respective meals, and $ 160 CAD wasn’t awful.

Terrible service. Food was way too over priced for the lack in quality. I had taken a Über there and even the Über driver was telling how bad the place was. I should have listen to him…

decent food although really expensive
wine list is confusing at first but my waitress explained everything for me (I was 16 at the time)
restaurant seemed empty and it was around 7 on a weekend so a bit curious
waitress was hot but that was the highlight of the restaurant lmao
would not recommend since it is expensive for mediocre food that takes a long time

OK. SO, there are some very good things about this place. The appetizers are extraordinary, and some of the meat dishes are good too. it’s not a great value (a bit pricey, considering), but the service just isn’t great. I know that this has been mentioned on Unilocal before, but it’s an issue– at least for this American.
Our waiter was REALLY nice. He was thoughtful and made great suggestions. And the ceviche appetizer is really, really great. You must have it.
But he and the other lone server in this fairly large restaurant were simply too busy to be available when you needed them (for a new drink, or the bill, or whatever). IN the end one does notice these things. This is what takes this place form a 4 star to a 3 star review, in my book.
So, specifically, the food is like this: Oysters were great (not cheap, but great. On the other hand, they’re pretty hard to screw up!). The ceviche appetizer is so glorious I don’t know what to say. It should be a main dish. Light, delicate, and just spicy enough. Just awesome. The Steak Frites on the other hand (how can one screw this up?!?) was a poor cut, and not at all tender. Go ahead and use a flank steak for God’s sake. It’s easy!
Anyway, my date’s filet was much better. In the end, It’s a bit expensive and the food varies wildly, and the service is simply a mixed bag. I’d like to give this place a better review, but that’s the deal, my friends!

We came for Christmas Dinner at 6:00pm. We had reservations for a month prior and called the morning of the dinner to confirm. The restaurant wasn’t too busy and we were seated immediately. Our waitress brought the menus, explained what was not in the menu, and we waited. We ordered a starter to share for the table whilst we looked at the menu to decide. The waitress seemed in a hurry to take our order and didn’t want to take a drink order without a food order as well. She wanted to clear the menus away, she said. We ordered the drinks and the rest of the food. We waited. The table starter came. It was a delicious bone marrow with escargots, delicious gravy and morels. As soon as that was cleared they brought our main course. They realized their mistake, took them away and then brought our starters about a half hour later. We couldn’t catch our waiters eye at all. We needed cutlery, we wanted wine. We waited. The food was quite delicious, a steak tartare with truffle and Parmesan, a couple of onion soups. We waited. I told our waitress that we felt abandoned, we had been in the restaurant for over an hour and had t been able to catch her attention to order wine. She said that she was swamped and she needed to give us to another waiter. We got out wine f I’m him, but he did t seem to care. He opened the bottle, smelled it, poured two glasses and walked away. We complained to the manager about the wait. TWO HOURS after we walked in we were served output main course. It wasn’t exactly what we ordered, we had to send some back to get heated. We were happy to leave and probably will not go back. Yes it was a holiday, but if they couldn’t handle the numbers they should have either had more wait staff or not taken as many reservations. There are many other places to go. We enjoyed dessert and coffee with an after dinner drink elsewhere.

Not a perfect French food, great win list but too intent to look at. I had prime sea food soup

This is one of my favourite place in Montréal tried last year in summer (table outside on the walk way are typical Paris style and this time in winter. Ostriches and tartare are the very best things and the good environment with soft music jazz up all the rest.
Really suggested

Montréal à table a bien débuté au Pois Penché sur le boulevard de Maisonneuve, centre ville. Une découverte de bons plats et de service à la bonne hauteur, entre brasserie parisienne et fin resto.
Le potage à la citrouille, est une merveille. Les bettes au pieds de vent, avait plus tôt les pieds devant… des copeaux de parmesan aurait suffit.
La joue de boeuf a fait l’unanimité. Une belle viande bien avec ses jus, servie en belle et bonne portion.
Comme à Paris, sinon mieux, le service aimable par des Français bien élevés…vraiment comme on l’aurait souhaité! …convivial et jamais déplacé.
Le gâteau au fromage… le brownie… bon, sans plus.
Un peu cher pour une promo de restauration.
Nos amis désirent y retourner et c’est une bonne idée!
Bravo, Montréal à table

Went to this place on my birthday, my hubby’s pick, he knows I enjoy seafood. And this was a right place to go exactly for that. We had seafood tower which combined

Nope — not a place to recommend at all.
The food is whatever, half the menu is not available, it is freezing inside and the manager is barely pleasant.
A definite pass

My boyfriend and I found this place this past Labor Day weekend while visiting from the States. It was wonderful!
The service was a bit slow (hence only ⁴⁄₅) and it took them about 10 minutes to come to our table. Other than that though, everything was excellent. Their wine list was very extensive, although if you want to order by the glass you’re somewhat limited.
Delicious mussels appetizer, I would highly recommend them!
I had the NY steak, ordered MED, came out MR, but it was actually better that way so I didn’t mind. BF had the veal, which he said was wonderful. Bit pricey, but we thought it was worth it. Would definitely go again.

My wife and I discovered Le Pois Penche while touring in Montréal because it was near our hotel. Even though the meal was a bit expensive, we benefited from a positive currency exchange rate. The restaurant is conveniently located on a corner near the art museum.
The service was attentive and courteous. It was a bit strange that, about ¾ of the way through our meal, our server told us that his shift had ended. However, the new server stepped right in without missing anything.
The wine list is extensive. The sommelier suggested a good Sauvignon Blanc from the inexpensive part of the list– about $ 70 CA. The least expensive wine bottle was $ 60.
The cheese plate we had as our appetizer had three, large servings of different types of fromage. All were delicious.
I had a veal T-​bone, which was perfectly cooked. It came with green beans. Unlike the perception of stingy French dishes, this dish was more than enough to eat.
This is a great restaurant to enjoy a Montréal fine dining experience.

Great location, but otherwise a waste of money and time. Their «signature» scallop ceviche was so salty, it was not palatable. Their over priced shrimp cocktail had small shrimp that were not even deveined. Save your money.

We walking in at 4:50pm and were told that it was after 5pm so we had to have the formula 1 dinner menu. I showed her the time on my phone which was 4:50pm and she said it didn’t matter.
After ordering it took 45min for the 2 salmon entrees we ordered to come out. They were both undercooked. I sent it back and it came out under cooked again, one was clearly grilled while one may have been baked. I gave them to the manager and told him I no longer wanted the entrees and to remove them from the bill.
Bill was around $ 77 on the paper, which was correct with the salmon entrees removed. When we gave them our card there was no option for tipping, and it simply displayed a total of $ 166. We canceled the transaction and that’s when we started yelling.
Absolutely terrible. Very slow service, water was rarely refilled. The restaurant was not full. I will never return.
On a side note the bread and butter were very good.

Great bar, great food. 1^st night in Montréal we pulled up to the bar and had a great meal. The wine list is off the charts.
If you like food and atmosphere you’ll like this restaurant.

C’est bon. Que ce soit pour bruncher, déjeuner ou dîner on n’est pas déçu côté bouffe. Mais c’est cher!

Snob, cher, peu copieux (voir la photo) trop guindé et peu de choix pour un brunch.

Premier avis en français !
Alors je vais essayer de rester bienveillante, car c’est mon chéri qui m’a emmené là-​bas pour la St Valentin ! Malheureusement j’ai été un peu déçue…
Le lieu: ³⁄₅
Très sympa, typique des brasseries françaises: bar ouvert, grandes banquettes… J’ai trouvé le service impeccable: serveurs disponibles et souriants, on récupère nos manteaux au début, on nous sert une corbeille de pain (oui comme en France !), bref, super.
La carte: ²⁄₅
Je peux confirmer que ce n’est pas une carte typique des brasseries parisiennes. Il manqué des plats de base.
Ensuite j’ai trouvé les plateaux de fruits de mer hors de prix, ainsi que la carte des vins (mais bon, je dois essayer de m’habituer). On a donc pris du vin au verre, et à 14 dollars le verre, j’ai cru m’étouffer.
J’ai pris un tartare en plat… et bien heureusement qu’il y avait des frites, car je serais restée sur ma faim ! Il était certes très bon, bien assaisonné et relevé, mais je n’ose même pas imaginer si je l’avais pris en plat d’entrée ! Et pour 30 dollars le plat, encore une fois c’est un peu excessif.
En dessert, j’ai craqué pour mon dessert préféré, la crème brulée. Encore là, j’ai été un peu déçue…malgré le craquant du caramel sur le dessus, la crème était plutôt lourde et trop «flan»
Je pense que cette brasserie est plus adaptée pour les repas d’affaires, où ça en jette d’aller dans une «brasserie parisienne» et où l’on a pas peur des notes salées en fin de repas… Pour le typique, on repassera !