taverne square dominion

march 1, 2015 / by zuuchini / in food , montreal , restaurant review / post comment if someone asks me where to grab a drink in downtown, my immediate response would be “dominion square tavern”. with its enriched history and enchanting decor, it is not difficult to comprehend dominion square tavern’s charm. recently, my long time wish to dine at dominion square tavern was not granted instead alunchopportunity was presented. with a unique special on every day of the weekday, i fell upon a day in which the special did not pick my curiosity. so, i had some mussels. the mussels were cooked with bacon and cider. they paired nicely with the salty canadian bacon. it was expected that the portion was generous given the steep price for alunchduring work days. the fries that came as a side dish were a nice touch too. a little crunch, yet full on starchy goodness once bitten. dominion square tavern, i shall see you again for dinner.   zuuchini share this: facebook twitter email like this: like loading...

since i hadn’t eaten sincelunchin preparation for our late dinner reservation, the wi-fi also distracted from my stomach grumblings. while planning this weekend, i had asked a couple of montreal food bloggers for their recommendations. taverne square dominion was one that made the cut for being close to the train station, having rave reviews and still serving dinner at 10pm.

we all enjoyed the tavern with its old décor and whitewashed walls and downtown friday night crowd.i was very glad i had finally tried it and would love to return, maybelunchwould be better with its business crowd, swear i saw a few familiar faces from the montreal gazette at the bar. but then the mirrors were so washed out, their faces were so distorted...

greatlunchspot. mb rating 7. greatlunchspot.
mb rating 7

average... in every way: food, ambiance, even drinks.

went for dinner, had the ploughman'slunch(fish version) and the nutmeg doughnuts. thelunchwas very basic (could get this or better anywhere, and i mean anywhere!), the doughnuts tasted of oil and where not particularly moist. drinks were good, strong, but some very small for the price and again, nothing particularly original.

ambiance is ok too, i know some people live it, but was really just an upscale looking pub.

i don't recommend it above anywhere else in the city for drinks, and there's def better places to eat.

ridiculous manager. exceedingly slow decent-ish lunch. won't be back.. this is the third time i've been to tsd, and certainly the last time. every other time the service had been slow, but the drinks delicious. today'slunchexperience (just water and an entree for my husband and i) was ridiculous.

after working as a restaurant manager, bartender, and server for many years, i give all restaurants some time before i write them off my list. afterlunchtoday, taverne square dominion is no longer on my list. the server, anne-claude, was just fine, although she could have warned us that the meal i ordered (the salad with roasted chicken) was going to take forever. we were sitting down, with menus in hand, at 11:50. we ordered before thelunchrush arrived. the table next to us (arriving a good 15 minutes afterwards) had their dessert in hand just after we received our meal. note that we didn't receive our meal until 12:25. for a weekday, workdaylunchthis is ridiculous.

when i asked to speak to the manager to politely voice my concerns (i understand her name is virginie, although she never bothered to introduce herself - i found out her name from our server after our ridiculous conversation) -- she came and told us that it was our fault: "ordering off the menu" (e.g., taking anything but the special) takes time, and the roasted chicken in particular. fine. but this could have be explained by the server (a point she acknowledged), or by the menu. or by anything. maybe even by a tableside visit. then, virginie claimed that it had only taken 20 minutes "according to the computer." well, in real time, it took at least 35. she didn't apologize (even after i had mentioned that the salad greens had some sand / grit in them ... no it wasn't the croutons and i found sand at least three times), all she said was that the chicken was one of their most popular items and wished us "bon appétit" and walked away.

i didn't expect a discount, i just expected some common courtesy, concern for customer experience, and maybe just a little bit of professionalism. virginie failed on all fronts.

the succulent chicken unfortunately left a sour taste in our mouths, thanks to virginie.

(and don't worry, anne-claude still got 15% ... but would've gotten more if virgine wasn't so terrible)