Price range: inexpensive to moderate
Food: Good
Service: Good
Decor: Good

This is an interesting restaurant with very authentic Middle Eastern food. The front room is well lit and dominated by the bar while the back room has more atmosphere and is very lively. It is decorated in gaudy Bedouin fashion with Persian carpets and hammered metal ornaments. Brass filagree lamps shed soft lighting. There is continuous entertainment with traditional singers, an Arabian style dance band, and accomplished belly dancers. The menu offers a long list of Eastern favorites from Shish Kebab to Felafel. Generally the food is well prepared in the typical Mid-East manner although some Canadian and French dishes have been added as an afterthought. The “Very Special Dishes,” Cous-cous and Kat Kout (grilled or stuffed chicken), are available with a four person minimum when ordered in advance. Appetizers are all strongly seasoned purees and include tahina (sesame paste), Baba Ghanouch (an eggplant base), and Hommos Bi Tahina (mashed chickpeas).They are served with fresh pita bread. The Lebanese salad combines a tangy mixture of cucumbers, onions, yogourt, and spices. The stuffed vine leaves are very good as is the substantial portion of Felafel. A delicious Arab Baklava is served for dessert. The choice of mint tea or Turkish Coffee completes the Eastern tradition. Service is smooth.

A la carte main dishes at lunch and dinner from $3 to $7; businessmen’s lunch $2.95. Open six days a week; 11:30 a.m. to midnight Mon. thru Thurs., 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fri., 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sat. Closed Sundays, New Year’s Day, Easter Monday and Christmas Day. Reservations advisable, necessary on weekends, jacket required evenings. Entertainment nightly on weekends. Can accommodate groups up to 75; group lunches $3 to $5, dinners $5 to $8. Fully licensed. Honors AE, CX,
DC, MC.

Notes for 2010 Readers

This restaurant, reviewed in 1976, no longer exists. Currently, the address is occupied by Chez Lien Plus. There are two restaurants with the name “Ali Baba” at different locations: The Couscoussière D’Ali Baba on Amherst, and Grillade Ali Baba on Mackay. It is not clear if one or either of these are related to the original restaurant; if anyone has any information or updates, please share them in the comments.

Share your memories of this restaurant in the comments!

Price range: Moderate
Food: Fair to good
Service: Fair to good
Décor: Excellent

The décor of this relatively new restaurant is tastefully done in warm red brick accented with the beautiful collection of antique doors that are left from its predecessor, La Vieille Porte. Alfie’s specializes in roast beef, or so says all the advertising, and as of our last visit we tend to agree. The best thing offered here and the only item on the dinner menu is the roast beef which is tender and juicy. The beef is accompanied however, by only mediocre Yorkshire pudding and insipid vegetables. At lunch the businessmen’s specials include additional choices to the roast beef, but on a recent visit they were unacceptable, and as a rule overcooked. Desserts from the pastry cart are impressive to behold, but on occasion not as fresh as desired. Service strives for correctness, but can be unpolished and abrupt — surely time will even out many of these rough spots.

À la carte main dishes at lunch $5.50 to $9; table d’hôte lunch $4.50 to $7.95, dinner, roast beef only $6.95. Open six days a week; 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Mon. thru Fri. and from 5:30 p.m. to midnight Sat. Closed all statutory holidays. Reservations advisable. Jackets required. Can accommodate groups over 100; group lunches and dinners at regular menu prices. Fully licensed. Honors AE, CB, CX, DC, MC.

***

Notes for 2008 Readers

This restaurant, reviewed in 1976, no longer exists. This restaurant appears to have been located within the Place Victoria shopping centre underneath the Tour de la Bourse, on Square-Victoria, but we cannot find any record of it there today, nor if it moved elsewhere.

Share your memories of this restaurant in the comments. If you have period (1974-1979) or current (2006-2008) photographs of this location that you’d like to share, drop us a line at gyron.malloway@gmail.com.

Price range: Inexpensive to Moderate
Food: Excellent
Service: Excellent
Décor: Good

An Italian restaurant which benefits from its proximity to the Jean Talon farmers’ market, the interior is decorated with mosaic, oil paintings, large plants, an aquarium and mirrors to give an illusion of space. The effect is clean and bright. Tables are close together and, when crowded, the restaurant is extremely noisy. Besides the standard hors d’oeuvres, the menu includes Moules et Palourdes à la marinara. The garlic is not too strong and the wine sauce is excellent. The mixed antipasta is not exceptional but is attractively presented. Soup is homemade, very substantial, hot and very good. There are some delicious items on the menu; the Scallopine de Veau au Citron — tender pieces of veal done with lemon is a choice dish. The Copa Bianca (custard with wine) is on display in the glass case at the bar and probably is a favorite. It is scrumptious. Italian wine, available in three sizes of carafons is excellent. To end the meal, small glass cups of espresso coffee are a change from the usual beverage. On Fridays, a complete fish menu is offered, including an Italian Bouillabaise. Service is cheerful and helpful even when the restaurant is very crowded.

À la carte main dishes at lunch and dinner from $4.95 to $8.75; daily specials $2.50 to $3.25. Open six days a week 11:30 a.m. to midnight Tues. thru Sun. Closed Mondays and Christmas Day. Reservations necessary. Group lunches and dinners at regular menu prices. Fully licensed. Honors CX, AE, MC.

***

Notes for 2008 Readers

This restaurant, reviewed in 1976, no longer exists. Another Italian restaurant, Il Bongusto, now operates from the same address.

Share your memories of this restaurant in the comments. If you have period (1974-1979) or current (2006-2008) photographs of this location that you’d like to share, drop us a line at gyron.malloway@gmail.com.

5182 Côte des Neiges
2080 Mountain Street
808 St. Catherine Street West
360 St. François Xavier Street

Price range: Inexpensive to moderate
Food: Good to excellent
Service: Fair to good
Décor: Excellent

The cornerstone of Louis Tavan’s restaurant empire has expanded to four locations in and around Montreal. All have beautiful décor, a Tavan trademark, with rough walls, exposed beams and oak furniture. The menu lists different crêpes from plain ($1.35) to crabmeat filled ($4.95). There are two different crêpe batters, lightly salted buckwheat for main course dishes, and slightly sweet wheat for dessert-type crêpes. Fillings-to-crêpes ratio has improved of late; the crêpes are now more generously filled. The Salade de Louis ($1.85) is also very good. Service tends to be erratic, depending on location, time of day and luck. On Mountain Street, the upstairs room, known as Le Colbert, is exquisitely designed to resemble the interior of an old ship with beautiful curving woodwork.

À la carte crêpes from $1.35 to $4.95; crêpe du jour, $1.95 to $2.95, includes coffee. Open every day of the year; 11 a.m. to midnight Sun. thru Wed., 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sat. on Côte des Neiges St.; 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mon. thru Fri., 10 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Sat., 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sun. on Mountain St.; 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Mon. thru Thurs., 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fri., 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Sat., 4 p.m. to midnight Sun. on St. Catherine St.; 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon. thru Thurs., 11:30 am to midnight Fri., noon to midnight Sat. and Sun. on St. François Xavier St. Reservations advisable. Group arrangements are possible. Fully licensed. Honors AC, AE, CB, CX, DC, MC.

***

Notes for 2008 readers:

This restaurant, reviewed in 1976, no longer exists. There does not appear to be any business at the former Côte des Neiges location; the Mountain Street location is now a club called Bluroom; the approximate location of the Sainte Catherine Street location is where the Aveda store is today; and we cannot find any business or restaurant at 360 St. Francois Xavier.

There had been a single remaining À la Crêpe Bretonne restaurant, at 5058 avenue du Parc, just below Laurier, but this location is now occupied by Le Margaux, a mid-priced French restaurant very popular with neighborhood diners.

Share your memories of this restaurant in the comments. If you have period (1974-1979) or current (2006-2008) photographs of this location that you’d like to share, drop us a line at gyron.malloway@gmail.com.

Price range: Moderate to expensive
Food: Good
Service: Good
Décor: Excellent

This restaurant, offering Old Quebec and French cuisine, is situated in the heart of Old Montreal. Windows on two sides offer a good view of the passing scene. The interior is artistically decorated in authentic early French-Canadian style with hand-woven curtains of catalogne cloth, blending tablecloths, walls of granite blocks, brick and fieldstone. The appetizers are most attractively served — the Coquille à la Catalogne ($2.85) in a shell on a service plate with lace doily. The tourtière (85 cents) is absolutely first-class (good pastry, delicious filling). The Entrecôte Catalogne, a recent special on the menu, is a tender steak garnished with an artichoke on top. The lunch time beef casserole contains tender pieces of beef in pan gravy. Cauliflower au gratin is quite acceptable, but some vegetables have a canned flavor. The maple desserts are delicious and the tarte au sucre (60 cents) is outstanding. Except for one house special at lunch, the menu is à la carte. Attentive and courteous service begins the minute you enter.

À la carte main dishes at lunch $3.75 to $8.75, dinner $5.25 to $11.50; table d’hôte lunch $3.50. Open every day of the year, noon to midnight, Mon. thru Sun. Reservations necessary. No special group arrangements. Fully licensed. Honors AC, AE, CB, CX, DC, MC.

***

Notes for 2008 readers:

This restaurant, reviewed in 1976, no longer exists. Laurent Godbout’s acclaimed Chez L’Epicier now occupies the same location.

Share your memories of this restaurant in the comments. If you have period (1974-1979) or current (2006-2008) photographs of this location that you’d like to share, drop us a line at gyron.malloway@gmail.com.

The price range category tells the reader at a glance whether the restaurant under consideration falls within his or her budget. The five price ranges are based on the price of dinner for two with wine, exclusive of tip. They do not include the cost of apéritifs or after-dinner drinks. It should also be mentioned that variation and recently skyrocketing wine prices may throw these guidelines off-balance when expensive rather than moderately-priced wines are ordered. Another word of warning — at publication time food costs were rising rapidly and some restaurants were therefore revising their prices accordingly. The following scale gives the basic guidelines which were used to place restaurants in their category.

Inexpensive: $10.00 or less — dinner for 2, exclusive of tip (without wine).

Inexpensive to Moderate: $10.00 to $25.00 — dinner for 2, with an inexpensive bottle or carafes of house wine.

Moderate: $25.00 to $35.00 — dinner for 2, depending upon wine ordered.

Moderate to Expensive: $35.00 to $50.00 — dinner for 2, depending upon wine ordered.

Expensive: Over $50.00 — dinner for 2, including a bottle of wine.

General Rating System

Our readers tell us this rating system is very helpful. The restaurants are rated on a four grade scale — fair, good, excellent and superb — in each of three categories: food, service and décor. The components which are considered when restaurants are reviewed and rated are:

Food: quality, preparation, presentation and taste, including originality of menu.

Service: quality, efficiency, knowledgeability, congeniality, polish and supervision.

Décor: physical appearance of the restaurant, inside and out, appeal, comfort, cleanliness and ambiance. While décor is, to some degree, a matter of taste, it will be found that the mood intended was given consideration and, therefore, an expensively decorated hotel dining room may receive the same rating as an inexpensively decorated, but very comfortable, casual café.

In all rating systems there is risk of misinterpretation. While the terms are self-explanatory, it must be acknowledged that individual biases are involved in any value judgment. Our system is intended simply to provide the reader with a broad guide as to what he may expect from the restaurants reviewed. Above all, it should be pointed out that of the more than 5,000 restaurnats in Montreal, fewer than 5% have been selected for inclusion in this book. This means that every restaurant described here has some merit which place sit in the category which warrants our readers’ attention. It als means that those restaurants which were dined at by our reviewers and which did not meet our standards have not been included.

The vital information about each restaurant was supplied at our request by the restaurants concerned and is accurate as of November, 1976. All such data, particularly prices, are subject to change.

Credit card abbreviations are the following: AC – Air Canada, AE – American Express, CB – Carte Blanche, CN – Canadian National, CP – Canadian Pacific, CX – Chargex, DC – Diners Club, MC – Master Charge.

Montreal is a city where the most popular dining hour is 8 p.m., but if you are used to dining earlier you will find that dinner is usually served from 6 p.m. onwards, and in this way you may avoid crowding. Although 65% of the city’s population is of French origin, menus are usually printed in both languages and while waiters and waitress are principally French-speaking, almost all are bilingual. Because dining out is so popular, reservations are always advisable, particularly on Friday or Saturday evenings. The normal tipping range is between 10 and 15 per cent depending on the service; 15% is most common, but exemplary service when found might be rewarded accordingly.

It is our earnest desire to have the exploratory diner discover and enjoy the wealth of fine fare available in this great city. We hope that this guide will encourage you to explore and experiment and that all your dining experiences will be rewarding ones.

We welcome comments from our readers. Bon appétit!

The Publishers
Montreal, November 1976