Monday 8th of June 2009 02:44:59 PM

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This was my first restaurant experience in Montreal and it was eye-opening, to an extent. It was a bit of a walk down Saint-Laurent from my hotel, but I passed a ton of cheap restaurant that, in hindsight, I should have patronized considering the price of the food at this place.
The "snacks" mostly ran over $10. I ended up with the gnudis, which was $11, and consisted of some doughy balls filled with ricotta cheese in a citrus sauce. I had never had this before (although heard of it), so it was nice to get something different. The meals (remember kids that "entree" actually means "appetizer" in direct opposition to US menus) ran close to $20 and seemed to be mostly seafood, from what I could discern with my limited knowledge of romance languages.
Maybe this is commonplace in Montreal, but the menus are entirely in French, except for "Grilled cheese". The bartender spoke English, but through a thick accent and took a bit of probing to pull even that out of her. The crowd seemed to be all Francophone, and mostly in their 20's, which seemed to match up with the hipster neighborhood I had wound up in.
First off, they don't do a tasting tray, unless I severely messed up that communique. She said that she could give me a couple of samples though, which she did. However, on the plus side, glasses of beer are only $3.50 before 8pm (when they go up to $4).
The beers were a bit disappointing. The IPA was slightly hoppy, contradicting the half-bitter water I had previously been served as an "IPA" in eastern Canada, but had no taste and a poor finish. The stout was decent, but a bit weak. The cream ale was interesting in that it was possibly the first cream ale I had tasted that tasted like someone had literally poured milk into a stronger ale, in that it was creamy but had a little bite. Not bad, but nothing impressive. I would recommend that one for general drinking though.
Weakness was the big drawback on their beers: I don't think they had anything above 6%.
Per the service, maybe it was because I don't speak French, maybe it was because I came in alone, or maybe this is just the norm in the 'tude-centric Plateau, but it was cold and slow.
Per the atmosphere, the bar is tiny and it has a cafe feel to it, with lots of little tables around.
But, on my next trip up the hill, I won't be coming back here.

Monday 12th of May 2008 02:37:01 PM

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Reservoir is located near the middle of the plateau district, just off St Laurent. It's easily reached on foot from downtown or by the 55 bus. The beers are good and consistent, but the selection isn't very exotic and doesn't vary much. The food is quite good although pretty pricey...try the cod balls (accras de morue). There's a really nice terrasse on the upstairs balcony with a nice view of the street below. Can get pretty crowded on weekend nights...