absinthe

really superb!. a real gem in the city. loved the food, the staff, and the warm atmosphere. the dining experience was such a treat. try the duck, you will be truly impressed.

always a hit!. if you haven't tried absinthe cafe yet... what are you waiting for? it is always an absolute pleasure to dine there. upscale atmosphere without it being too fussy, amazing service and incredible food.

a great dining experience at absinthe!. the food was delicious and the service attentive. strongly recommend this restaurant. no need to drive to montreal for a great tasting meal. i made reservations online and the server remembered we were celebrating a birthday. a nice surprise!

my husband and i went to absinthe for the first time and for my birthday... and we were so pleased that we did! the staff was so kind - they treated us to a lovely drink to celebrate when we were seated. and after dinner, they surprised us with a birthday cake as well! talk about amazing service - it was totally their initiative to do all of that. we had steak frites and it was delish! the ambience and atmosphere was just perfect. highly recommending this place to all friends and colleagues. we will definitely go back!

disappointing. my first experience was fabulous, we were very well served and the food was awesome! definitely a place to go back to. well 6 months later, we went back for a night out and it wasn't at all the same. i don't know if they have a new chef but everything was extremely salty. will not go back.

fondue monday's - great fun!. went to absinthe with a big group and enjoyed the fondue set menu that they have on mondays. the fondue worked well with our big group as we were able to relax, eat and chat whilst we dipped our food. the fondue itself was fantastic, service was great and no complaints here. i would definitely recommend absinthe for larger groups.

great food, excellent wine pairings.. y wife and i have been to absinthe a half-dozen times now, and it has quickly become our favorite restaurant in the city. the atmosphere is great the food is excellent, but it's the wine pairings above all that keep us coming back. the sommelier is second to none. if you haven't been already, it's definitely worth your time to check it out.

was expecting a much better culinary experience for the price. plates were overseasoned with salt mostly. the exprience itself was great, good service and good drinks. unfortunatly will not be back.

warm dark chocolate fondant. delicious and great canadian touch.

great as usual. best steak frites in town. great service, great drinks. we're regulars and never had a bad experience. do yourself a favour and try the actual absinthe as well.

damn that poutine is good!. i have been here twice with the intention of going back again. the first time i went the waiter was a bit rude, but the second time i went the waitress was a wonderful and attentive.

i got the burger twice which comes with a salad to start and a side poutine.

the salad is very tasty and it is a good starter!

then comes the poutine and burger. the poutine is amazing, the gravy is very flavorful! the burger is also very good, although i usually end up bringing most of the burger home because it is huge! (not that i am complaining)

would you like some steak with your salt?. went to absinthe for the first time with my husband and small group of friends. our waiter was friendly and left our table to be for the most part, checking in every so often. the focaccia was pretty good. by the time our food came everyone was very hungry, so the food was wolfed down. i, however, could not scarf down my food despite being quite hungry. my steak was incredibly salty, which was what was agreed upon by the entire group (though they had finished theirs). by this time we flagged down the waiter and explained i could not eat this food on account of it being too salty (the frites were also incredibly salty). he took mine away and probably 20 minutes later i had a new steak in front of me, with the exact same problem. it turns out they marinate their steaks in soy sauce and then use a sea salt brine, which explains why the sodium content was fairly high. apparently they do not have any steaks that are not marinated either. i was then offered to have another dish. by this time everyone else had finished eating. one of the couples even had their dessert before my new food came 30 minutes later (and nothing for me to munch on). when my new plate finally came i had them pack it up because it was so late by then. despite the server being nice and them giving my meal on the house, i won't be returning just because the salt content was over-the-top and the prices high for the quality of food.

everything tastes like salt and butter. very slow service.. i came here a week ago for lunch with a work group, the menu was terrible, and when asked if we could have a chicken breast with the salad they said no. so i went with the burger as i thought this would be the "safe" approach but my question is, how do you **** up a burger... terrible.

the bun was soggy like wet dog and tasted like nothing but salt and butter. i removed the bun from the burger and ate the beef patty by itself, which lacked taste. it basically tasted like salted ground beef cooked in a pan, very plain, seemed like no other spices used to enrich the flavour. it took just over an hour to receive our order.

never go here.

dan.

lacks creativity and is heavy-handed on the salt!. we dined here last night as a group of six. the kitchen was quite slow with us waiting half an hour for mains to come out and with the house less than half full.

steak frites and hamburger mains were all extremely over-seasoned (too much salt). i found this to be the case when i dined here on my previous visit as well. the hamburger was cold and bun soggy. cod was the only dish that was actually under-seasoned. only good dishes were the pork tenderloin and duck, although the duck needed to be rendered more. all dishes were boring. chefs should take a look at what other restaurants are doing - they're being left in the dust in the creativity compartment.

yes, the prices are somewhat cheaper than other bistro restaurants in the neighbourhood but the quality and creativity is far below that of it's peer restaurants. save up a bit more and go to allium instead. i would put this restaurant on par with wellington gastripub which i also don't like for similar reasons (lack of proper execution, creativity, and haphazard service). but if you like salty and safe (aka standard) food in a dim- lit place, you'd like it here.

great food and great place. went for anniverary. i had the hanger steak and my wife had the stuffed chicken. both were great, and they even gave us a complimentry glass of port and dessert for our anniversary.