Chef Deck Says:
Claremont should only remain a restaurant frequented by Westmount mommies who are too drunk at lunch to be able to distinguish fine food! For those of you who don`t have as large of a disposable income from your bourgeois husbands, buyer beware. Though not very expensive the prices should at least justify being able to use olive oil in their dishes. The Salmon and pine nut pasta though recommended by the waitress was worse than a lean cuisine. The chicken salad was ok but again use some frickin olive oil. If you end up there only go for a burger, 3 cheese pasta, pizza or the goat cheese salad (by the way, they used to have great sweet potato shoe string fries but now they’re fat and weak).
So called classy Westmount ladys (used loosely) to look at: 9/10
Food: 6/10
Running into Greg: 12/10
Chef Deck Signing Out!
Claremont Cafe Urban Bistro
5032 Sherbrooke W., Westmount, Montreal; 514-483-1557
Hours: Daily 11:30 am – 11:00 pm, brunch Saturdays & Sundays: 11:30 am – 3 pm
Pay: VISA, MC, AMEX
Price: apps $6-12, mains $12-25
For good food in westmount try mess hall. It has a nasty reputation but try it! The chef is talented, the food is great. Too bad the owner is a flake.
I’m going to be honest: I love Claremont. But I did grow up in Westmount, and I admit I was indoctorinated into the Claremont cult at an early age. I also have to admit that you want to stay the hell away from their more “creative” dishes….
Lesley back in the day Claremont was da bomb but then they lost good ol Lyle Knocks!
If i was a woman in Westmount i would be extremely insulted by your mindless (and grossly inaccurate banter). If you think the Claremont (not CLAIRMONT) was better in the day that Lyle was here, your opinion holds no water. This place was disgusting when we bought it 4 years ago (they had a 8 year old carpet behind the bar that was NEVER cleaned!) DIS-GUS-TING. Maybe you were one of the coke head customers who destroyed this place back then. It took me a while to get rid of the nasty drugged out clientelle that ruined this place. Maybe that is why the beautiful WESTMOUNT women come here again? They dont have some sweaty, strung out creep licking them up the side of their face anymore or selling cocaine at the bar. Those guys went out with the trash. The ambiance is waaaaaay better, the music as well. The service before was HORRENDOUS!!!! I almost passed up buying this restaurant because of the horrible reputation it had. This place has improved MILES since those “bar daze”! The food is about to be kicked into high gear with a great chef taking over in the next few weeks too. I think you will find our “creative dishes” less creative and more simple and scrumtralescent! Normally a bad review would make me really nervous, but you are an idiot. I find it quite funny how lost and bitter you are.
Lesley, next time you come in ask for Aaron. I would love to buy you a great glass of wine. BTW we have more than 3 bottles on the list like they used to.
Dear Aaron:
It doesn’t anger me that you reacted in the manor you did, for the review was a little racy, but I want you to know that the banter is to create reactions (and a little humor) and not to insult your clientele (which I happen to be). As per the defamation of my character however, I have never been a drug user and don’t feel it’s justified. When I speak of the old Lyle Knocks days, I speak of the food and only food. I really do feel that many of the dishes have gone down hill over the years and am happy to hear that you are doing something about it, because your still a restaurant I love to frequent for the more simpler dishes and the Dentergems (if that’s how you spell it). By the way love the roast beef at La Louisiane and plan to do a good review there. Also you should give me a shout when you do change the chef for I’d love to see what changes take place and do a nicer part two to the review.
O ya clean up of the place looks good Mr. Aaron
running into Greg who?
Chef Deck,
Wow, so much controversy over The Claremont. A place where the burgers (the only thing decent on the menu) are served well done even when you ask for them medium, always! Then again maybe it would be better for my health that way. Maybe the chef was trying to tell me something about where they get their meat. A place where the spinach salad is not served on baby spinach leaves but on the cheaper whole spinach leaves that taste like shoe leather uncooked. A place where most of the waiters look like they should be frequenting a mile-end afterparty at 4:30 am, it seems like the less some of these guys shave the better. That was kind of harsh, I will take that back by saying that the service is good, unless your of course you’re having brunch. The hangovers the waiters are suffering haven’t passed yet. A place where “al dente” is merely some foreign word that was lost in translation. Talk about clean up. Yes it looks much better than it did. Aaron you did a great job in ripping up the old carpet. Why it god’s name did you install another one? The new carpet won’t look so new in a couple of years. On the positive side, I enjoy the claremont for it’s cozy atmosphere on cold winter nights and it’s an excellent place to see nice bums in lululemon sweat pants. Aaron I look forward to eating at your establishment when your new chef is in place. Then again you have to cater to your westmount clientelle and in westmount surprisingly, most of the clientelle do not want good food. I am a foodie and it angers me when I over hear comments like “Like Oh my god, can the chef like make me some like, tortellini rose”. So knowing that’s what you have to cater to, I probably will be enjoying your restaurant on cold winter nights looking at nice bums in lululemon sweat pants.
Just because J was wondering. The Greg you are inquiring about is Greg Harris.
Yes sir
Just came back from Claremont and the food was great: I had pasta in creamy sauce with mushroom… delicious. We also had a nachos entree and although nachos are simple to make most places forget to layer the cheese, but not at Claremont, they were perfect! On the negative side, the food was a bit expensive (21$ for table d’hote which included a bowl of amazing pasta and a small salad) and the salads were pretty plain. However, the drinks at 10$ for 3oz are impressive and worth it!
I will go back for sure!
Insider,
you seem to know this place intimately… it kind of weirds me out (lol). For the record, the meat for the burgers comes from a very reputable (smaller) company and we go thru so much of it that it is fresher than fresh. The spinach in the spinach salad IS baby spinach. That is one of the things i changed, personally, almost 3 yrs ago. It used to be like swiss chard! We do occasionally get the “Quebec spinach” if supplies are low, and i really dont like that stuff.
In regards to the carpet, i always swore that i would never have a carpet in my restaurant. After MUUUUCH deliberation, it made the most sense (to my dissapointment) to put a new one in. There is an issue in this direct neighbourhood with flooding when it rains really hard (as we are the flat at the bottom of the hill) and if i had put hardwood in (which is what i WANTED) it would have been destroyed months after we put it in. I also have found that it is quite loud in the cafe in general and the carpet eats quite a bit of the noise. Having it steamed cleaned regularily is a huge expense as well, but we dont really have any other option. We have tile behind the bar and we put runners over the highest traffic areas, to try to perserve the carpet. We are looking into replacing the carpet in the next month to two max.
I hope you will come and check out the progress on the food with our new Chef. He will be here full time by sept 1st. He is coming in on a consulting level in the interim. He worked under Michael Noble at Diva at the Met for two years among other amazing Chefs since. A very exciting time for my little world called the Claremont. Constantly fighting the battle to be better and better. It is a hard battle at times! I am happy to have such a large base of loyal customers that keep us going. If u all keep coming, i promise to always be making it better.
Dear Aaron,
As an objective bystander, who enjoys dinning at your place every now and then (love your sweet potatoes no matter what), i believe this is becoming a bit ridiculous. Plus, this site’s entire purpose is to review food, and share personal experiences here and there. By using it as a platform to defend your resto (to superfluous levels, i might add), you’re abusing its nature, and boring many of us to death! And above all, my friend, there is nothing more suspicious and discouraging than an owner keeping track of every little critique, good or bad, regarding his/her establishment. This projects either defensiveness (not so good mate) or lack of confidence (not good at all) in the quality of your service.
Please, accept the fact that some people are not gonna enjoy your place much as you would wish for, and spare us the all the desultory details. By now, we believe you when you say you’re doing your best. Leave all the rest to your client’s discretion. If, in any case, you still feel obliged, terse and to the point responses would be greatly appreciated. And, please, no need to CAPITALIZE all those words you feel might be so important….
Best, and see you soon
This is very funny. I heard about the debate and was determined to talk about the very cheesy and delicious nachos but someone already did that. I now just learned a whole lot more about Claremont than maybe I needed to go but hey, never hurts. So if I ask for Aaron, do you think he’ll give my company and me a nice glass of wine too?
Aaron,
I got one thing to say…new chef my ass! We came for a quick drink & decided to have a quick bite, what a mistake. The salad was wilted and the dressing was so vinagary, pizza was ok but you really shouldn’t call it a pizza, it’s a baked pita! We came, we left, we won’t be back.
Ciao!
I went to Claremont with an open mind after reading the comment battle here solely so I could make up my own mind on this place that I have now read so much about I feel like were related. I got to say that while food is not great (sorry aaron) its not bad either at least the pasta I had anyway. But the atmosphere was good and the girls were nice to look at. The price I found to be very high for what I had but hey thats just me.
Maybe things will get better in sept with this new chef coming, lets hope so.
I’ve eaten at the Claremont once, and I’ll admit, I wasn’t that impressed. The portions were ridiculously small and the food, mediocre. Mind you, this was a couple of years ago, so maybe things have improved.
It’s too bad that the restaurant hasn’t done anything to distinguish itself. I mean, La Paryse is rather plain, and they’ve secured the “best burger in town” status, so why can’t the Claremont do something innovative?
The problem with restaurants that have large menus is that very few of them manage to be consistant in the quality of their food. If you’re gonna “do” pasta, then do pasta, if you’re going to “do” burgers, then do that, thus allowing the chefs to perfect their skills in a particular genre, unless ofcourse you’re business has the money to hire a professional chef who went to school in NYC or Paris.
On a sidenote though, as a Westmounter, I’m getting really tired of hearing generalizations made about the kind of people who live here.
Jokes Azzaelea…. just jokes
I love all people but like to joke…
Ya know?
Chef Deck – I wasn’t refering to you, but some of the comments made by people reading your review.
cool.. no worries
Maison de Seoul Review | EatWell Montreal // Jul 25, 2007 at 4:25 pm
[...] next to the Claremont restaurant in Westmount, is a little Montreal Korean gem. It’s a nice spot to go if your sick of the [...]
Still a great place to sit on the terrace and enjoy a nice martini or vodka soda. Its not fine dining but I’m not expecting it either. I am satisfied because I get what I expect.
After having what resembled lunch last week there, i must say that new or old chef, dirty or clean carpeting, this food was the pits. From the veggie puree soup, lukewarm and having as much taste as a piece of cardboard, to the “Claremont Club”, soggy and as filling as a packet of saltine crackers, this lunch was a complete and utter atrocity and i don’t use that word lightly.
For a good lunch in the area, there are a places like the former mess hall, le foumagerie ect.., i don’t advise going to Claremont unless you really have to shit and they have the closest restroom.
As for claremont being a former coke spot a few years ago, although i am not into drugs, i am pretty sure that that was the last time some customers left satisfied.
After having eaten at the Claremont this weekend I have to agree that the food is mediocre for its price. My burger was dry, the bun too large, and the added on aged cheddar tasted of nothing at all. I asked for medium and got well cooked, the meat is thin and tastes like cardboard. My boyfriend’s burger also had such potent blue cheese that well, it only tasted of that, just very potent blue cheese.
The salad was good, though it could use a few more veggies and a little less dressing, as it was soaking in it. I do like the little greasy fries, but that’s about all I liked. 7$ for chicken noodle soup? Seriously, it better be damned good for that price. It looks nice, and congrats on cleaning the place up, but those lamps are pretty dirty when you look up into them. And the service took quite a long time for 3 overcooked burgers.
Because of all this, my tip was far from generous, and a calculation mistake on my part I undertipped a little bit. I was offended however to see that the staff took the liberty of adding more to the tip than what I had actually written on my bill when I checked my credit card bill later. The waiter was a little weird, and zoned out most of the time.
I also find it to be a little angering, when the menu states that there’s a 2$ add on for sharing food, and an 18% gratuity for groups of more than 8 people. That’s more than tip, and unless service is good (because that’s what tip is for, a thankyou for good service), there’s no reason to justify overpricing customers even more than the food on the menu. And sharing food? I payed for my meal, so what I do with it shouldn’t be any of your concern.
Honestly, there’s much better places to eat for around the same price all around the area, Mess Hall, the korean gem beside it, la fromagerie, soba and sushi, all much better worth the price and service.
i just went there last week. Wow.Is the food ever shocking. I was dissapointed when I ordered a salad. The salad had a really bad taste which was rotten as if they kept the salad too long in the fridge. They put way too much salad in a bowl for me. I asked for a small salad. They just clumped it on the table. It's not the waiter or waitresse's fault. But whoever is the cook. My god please improve the food next time. Remind yourself to buy fresh salad before serving it to someone. Not rotten disgusting salad and big quantities. I have to give a rating 4/10 for that.
worst food ive ever had, poorly run establishment. Mindless owners will do this to a resto.