bm

Hi All,
We're heading up to Montreal from VT on Friday the 8th of July for a night in the city. Looking for a good, casual restaurant for dinner. Would love a place with good poutine on the menu. My boyfriend is a meat & potatos kind of guy, so nothing "trendy" please. Also looking for a good breakfast place. We're staying Crescent and would love something nearby, but willing to go further afield if you guys can persuade me otherwise.
Thanks and Happy Canada Day.

laverendrye

Don't go to a restuarant for poutine. Get it on the street or at one of the St. Hubert BBQs. It tastes best at 1am or so. There are hundreds of places and I sure Montrealers will reply with their suggestions.

For casual meat and potatoes dining near Crescent Street, try the Bar B Barn, an institution of long standing for chicken and ribs, or Baton Rouge. For steaks, there's Gibby's and Moishe's but they're a bit fancier and a cab ride away.

oneillchris

Bar-b_barn gets my vote too, also for a burger Mr Steer on Ste Catherine st. For steak the best value is Gibbys in old montreal. For poutine definetly La Belle Province Chain or LAfleurs

oneillchris

mmmmmmmm poutine mmmmm sounds great I'm on a diet

Tanya

If staying on Crescent, there are several casual restaurants where you can get a great breakfast/brunch. I seem to recall an Irish pub that wasn't bad and served a large traditional breakfast of bacon, eggs, etc. Directly across the street, they offer a breakfast buffet but make great eggs benedict (sorry, can't remember the name)

Daniel_Williams

There's Eggspectations on de Maisonneuve near Crescent, which is pretty casual and serves brunches that will be familiar to a don't-like-anything-too-"exotic"-North-American-type palate (but does have other options); it's a sit-down place. There will be some trendy/stylish people there, but this is hard to avoid altogether in downtown Montreal. (Although go to La Belle Province for a poutine, and I think you might successfully avoid the well-dressed set (but not necessarily)).

Casual and poutine incidentally always go together, good and poutine is debatable . St. Hubert is perhaps the least greasy-spoon of the options (kind of like a Quebecois Denny's); La Belle Province & Lafleur are definitively unpretentious greasy spoon chains. I know there's a La Belle Province near Crescent, don't think so but don't know if a St. Hubert & Lafleur are nearby.

Have fun. DAN

bm

Thanks all. We'll let you know where we end up! Looking forward to a night in the city!

montrealdave

Very respectfully, I cannot believe that St.Hubert is being suggested...especially for poutine. Montreal has some of the best casual restaurants anywhere, and although I like St.Hubert's every now and again, it is not even the best restaurant for its specialty (BBQ Chicken). For the best Montreal has to offer, "Chalet BBQ" for BBQ Chicken is the best you will ever find, and very affordable. It's found on the corner of Sherbrooke / Decarie. "Schwartz" Montreal Smoked Meat...again, you'll never found better. It's found on St.Laurent...close to Mount Royal. Closer to Crescent, Bar B Barn for BBQ Chicken & Ribs is great, but the menu is limited if you don't like Chicken or Ribs. Baton Rouge is the more expensive and better version ribs...Ste.Catherine and just past Bleury. "Kojax" souvlaki at Ste.Catherine and Crescent is good fast food, but better if it's 3am and you've had a few drinks. Eggs Spectations is good for breafast but you pay for it...in my opinion it's good if you're having something fancy, but if you just want good ol' eggs and bacon/sausage, then try Rubens on Ste.Catherine at the bottom of Stanley. If you want poutine, Lafleurs is the best you'll get at a chain. Have fun!