Great restaurants in Montreal where you can hear yourself speak
“Great restaurants in Montreal where you can hear yourself speak – that’s a funny article!”
Perhaps. However, many of us are sensitive to noise, or are simply seeking to chat easily over dinner, with decibels conducive to a spirited conversation rather than a loud party. And so, we thought that offering a list of these restaurants would be convenient for many of you! The addresses found here are excellent restaurants that encourage conversation among customers. Of course, it is suggested to go earlier rather than later if you’re seeking a quieter environment, and you can also always check if they’re expecting large groups, which often means more noise.
Our list of great restaurants in Montreal where you can hear yourself speak:
Brasserie Bernard
Brasserie Bernard is an unpretentious address on Bernard Avenue. A classic of the Holder brothers (Holder restaurant), the brasserie offers an affordable French-inspired menu with a touch of home. The house is welcoming to kids, but is also known for its relaxed atmosphere that encourages conversation!
Montréal
Cafeden
One of our “nice, good and cheap” restaurants in Montreal, Cafeden is a great Vietnamese restaurant in Little Italy. With its minimalist decor, Cafeden could have very well been found in any cosmopolitan city in the world. The place not only has charming owners, but also offers the best papaya salad and chicken wings (soy and honey) in the city! Bonus: everything is reasonably priced and unless there’s a rowdy group, you’ll be able to hear each other. We like to sit at the bar while enjoying a glass of wine and watching the cooks waltz about.
Montréal
Candide
The restaurant Candide, hidden between Notre-Dame Street West and Lionel Groulx Avenue, has incredibly unique charm, to say the least. Indeed, this is the first restaurant installed in a converted presbytery! The cuisine is intriguing, while also so good that you can’t put your fork down. The cuisine here is locally sourced and inspired, and both delicious and thoughtful. The quality in the plates is of course reflected in the special care given to the clientele; one can come here to discover the exceptional dishes and wines of the house while enjoying lively conversation with your companions. The address is both original and charming.
Montréal
Graziella
Ah Graziella! Graziella Battista is one of Montreal’s best chefs. Since 2008, the chef has been running her wonderful restaurant Graziella on McGill Street in Old Montreal. In a chic and impressive decor, Graziella’s offers some of the best Italian cuisines in Montreal; surprising with its simplicity, its respect for tradition, the freshness of its products and the accuracy of its dishes. Here you can enjoy classic pastas and other exceptional dishes like the osso bucco that we’re in love with. We love Graziella for its inviting atmosphere, its generous nature, and because we can hear ourselves speak.
Montréal
Maison Boulud
Maison Boulud, a restaurant at the swanky Ritz Carlton, may be fancier and more expensive than the other addresses on this list, but in the category of “excellent restaurant where you can sit comfortably and hear yourself talk,” the restaurant probably wins the gold medal. Romain Cagnat, the very talented chef from Burgundy, prepares outstanding dishes with his elegant French touch. The terrace adjacent to the restaurant’s dining room is also well worth a visit – one of the most beautiful terraces in Montreal. We particularly like the elegance of the space and the refinement of the menu. This charming and honeyed address is a unique place to spend a lovely gourmet evening.
Montréal
Mikado
Opened in 1987, Mikado on Laurier Avenue West practices the art of sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, tempura, soba and Japanese entrees. Without using a classic sushi technique, Mikado offers an excellent and original Japanese influenced menu always using the freshest products. The atmosphere here is both chic and casual; the restaurant both elegant and comfortable. For an evening where you can hear yourself talk and eat very well, we suggest Mikado.
Montréal
Milos
Milos is an institution in Montreal. Not only is it one of the best Greek restaurants in the city, it certainly wins the prize as the most chic. Opened several years ago, the renowned restaurant now has an address in London, New York, Athens, Las Vegas and Miami. After a complete makeover of the restaurant in Montreal, Milos welcomes you in a most elegant and impressive environment, which allows for easy conversation. The delicious flavours of Greece on the plate are reflective of the extreme freshness of the products – from entree to dessert. While Milos is expensive, the midday and late night menus are more affordable.
Montréal
La Chronique
It’s quite a feat to last more than 20 years in the restaurant business in Montreal. To be consistently good is a combination of great talent, a lot of hard work, and a desire to do things right. La Chronique is one of Montreal’s best French restaurants, and the decibels at this elegant Laurier Avenue West address never get too high. The restaurant’s décor is refined, with white-covered tables and very professional service. In the kitchen, Belgian Marc de Canck and Quebecer Olivier de Montigny prepare one of the best French menus in town, that changes with the seasons and the availability of local goods.
Montréal
Le Club Chasse et Pêche
Club Chasse et Pêche is one of the best restaurants in Montreal and a must in our city. The name “Club” was there from the beginning of the project to represent the notion of privacy, and it’s worked. Being very discreet, a little away from the hubbub of Old Montreal, the address is ideal if you’d like to enjoy an evening full of good food and conversation under the radar. Their exceptional menu is inspired from their locally sourced ingredients, and enhanced with a carefully curated selection of wines. We come here for the cozy atmosphere and for the quality of the food.
Montréal
Renoir
The Sofitel hotel, in the heart of downtown Montreal, has a fantastic French restaurant. The chef of the house, Olivier Perret, is French by birth and received his gastronomic training there. Having worked in several high-end restaurants, he is now in charge of the kitchen of the chic hotel on Sherbrooke Street West on a full-time basis. Perret accentuates local products with his French touch, creating dishes that are bright, flavourful and carefully presented. Renoir is a plush, colourful restaurant with wrap-around chairs and tablecloths. The place is conducive for great conversation and amazing dining experiences.
Montréal
Restaurant Gus
In his tiny restaurant on Beaubien Street, chef David Ferguson prepares tasty and generous dishes that keep his regulars coming back for more. We come here to enjoy a comfort food menu that reflects the personality of the chef: dishes that seem simple, but are very well prepared, fresh, and flavourful! We love their famous Caesar salad, the nachos with foie gras, the onion soup, the beef flank steak, the lamb, and the Surf and Turf. Gus is a fantastic and consistent address, and the dishes are sure to create a regular out of you! For a hearty meal to be enjoyed alone at the bar, with friends, or as a couple, the place is warm, inviting, and you can hear yourself talk.
Montréal
Restaurant Toqué!
Toqué! is a Montreal institution that has been around for over 20 years! The house has always put forward small local producers at a time when the restaurant business was not very well known, and when the traceability of products was a rather vague concept. Season after season, the menus are based on market cuisine and local products are always highlighted. The quality of the products used by Le Toqué is incomparable. Owners Normand Laprise and Christiane Lamarche have brilliantly met the challenge of presenting a restaurant of international renown with an emphasis on Quebec gastronomy. Quality, consistency, and a cozy atmosphere are the hallmarks of this restaurant, which is ideal for people who are seeking a lovely evening where they can hear themselves talk.
Montréal
Barcola Bistro
Barcola Bistro serves typical Italian cuisine from the Northeast of Italy in the heart of Mile End. In addition to being one of the best Italian restaurants in Montreal, the atmosphere is welcoming and relaxed. In this simple and inviting space you can enjoy hearty dishes with authentic Italian flavours. The menu changes daily, and always offers a vegetarian option, a fish, a pasta and a meat. This is a homey address where you can hear yourself talk!
Montréal
Luciano Trattoria
Luciano Trattoria is a charming restaurant in the Petite-Patrie neighbourhood that offers pasta and appetizers with Italian flavours. Another of the best Italian restaurants in Montreal, this establishment is both warm and original, with garage doors that open onto the lovely terrace in front when the weather permits. On the menu you’ll find six choices of antipasti – carpaccio, grilled octopus, buffala, etc. – seven pasta dishes, as well as one fish and one meat option. We particularly recommend the gnocchi. Simple, authentic and endearing, this restaurant is a great place for conversation!
Montréal
Tri Express
Tri Express, located on Laurier Street East at the corner of Marquette Street, is one of the best sushi restaurants in Montreal. In a unique and eclectic decor, you will enjoy classics such as the “sashimi nouveau style”, the “unexpected” (the famous pizza sushi), the “divine” (wrapped in a cucumber leaf), as well as daily specials depending on what’s available. In addition to good food, the space is so original that it is clearly worth the detour: eclectic objects – mostly ocean-themed – from Japan and Vietnam adorn the walls and ceilings. Affordable considering the quality of the ingredients, you will not be disappointed!
Montréal
Lawrence
Lawrence, located on St-Laurent in the Mile End, offers delicious, delicate and well-presented dishes. Sourcing excellent local produce, meat (butchered at their Boucherie up the street), fish, and seafood, the quality of the ingredients is reflected through thoughtful, inventive, and careful preparation. The menu changes often according to the seasons, what’s available, as well as the chef’s inspiration. In addition, the restaurant makes its own delicious sourdough bread and the wines are mostly private imports. In their newly-renovated, elegant and charming space, they offer several small plates, mains, lovely desserts, as well as a very popular and classic Montreal brunch on the weekend.
Montréal
Nozy
Nozy is one of the best Japanese restaurants in Montreal. Chef Nozomu Takeuchi offers high quality, original, and spectacularly presented Japanese dishes in a cosy and romantic atmosphere. For a rather authentic menu, the address is worth the detour. We come here for an easy and inexpensive lunch or for an original meal in a place that never gets too loud.
Montréal
Il Pagliaccio
This little restaurant on Laurier Avenue West is as discreet as it is delicious. Serving excellent Italian cuisine, they offer many homemade pastas, as well as half a dozen meat, fish and seafood options, in addition to classic desserts that make this address well worth the detour. For the discerning connoisseur, this is one of those restaurants where the white tablecloths have remained! Photo Alison Slattery
Montréal
Aux Lilas
Located on Park Avenue in Mile End for over 10 years now, Aux Lilas is an unpretentious Lebanese address that serves very good traditional dishes with warm and friendly service.
Montréal
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