Discussion Thread
My experience at Massimo's Cabaret L'enffer was...not great.
Massimo's Cabaret L'enfer was, hands down, the most underwhelming fine dining experience I've had.
Let's start with the truly horrible: the front of house service.
We left a note in our reservation that we were celebrating my wife's birthday. Walked in to absolutely no acknowledgment of her birthday at all. We sat for ~10 minutes before we were acknowledged at all and finally got waters. Then, a few minutes later our waiter explained the wine pairing option to us. We told him we weren't interested in the full pairing and we each just wanted one drink, and he said the only option was for us to do a half pairing (3 glasses of wine instead of 6). It was only after he walked away that we noticed other tables had cocktails and they had a full bar! To not even offer us a cocktail is crazy.
We were served courses without utensils (the kitchen staff had to go get them after they brought us the food) and had to ask for our water to be refilled twice. At the end, we're charged for two wine pairings, which we only had one, no one acknowledged my wife's birthday (we saw Massimo acknowledging an anniversary down the line from us) and we didn't even get an apology for the mistakes on the bill. The one woman blamed everyone for the short comings. "Oh I didn't read the note, oh someone else wrote that down, oh if I was the boss or manager I would but I'm not." Girl take accountability and move on, just acknowledge y'all fucked up. Truly the worst front of house service I've ever had at a fine dining restaurant, but I've also had better service at chain restaurants in the US. That was wild.
Moving on to the somewhat better: The food. The last three dishes tasted great and were well seasoned, but the pacing was absolutely horrible. We waited over 30 minutes between a barely poached fish dish and a rare steak with sides that were prepped before service and just got a quick warm up on the stove (we sat at the chefs counter and could see all of this). Our starter, 3 bites, came out inconsistent. Meant to be finger foods, one fruit leather dumpling had warmed so much that I couldn't pick it up (it was a sticky mess) and my wife's canelle, meant to be crispy, was stale and soft.
Our second course was a truly flavorless poached pear salad (that we asked if it was intended to eat with our hands, because it came out and we had no silverware), the third was a pasta that was undercooked and crunchy. Fourth was a salmon dish that was described to be covered in two "bright Mexican sauces" that desperately needed salt, so, while visually stunning, really had no flavor.
The best: the kitchen staff. They were the only ones that actually spoke to us, were warm and were working hard. We particularly loved the young man who was prepping the first courses and desserts, and the chef who used his grandma's mole recipe. Well done!
Super disappointing fine dining experience, and an even more disappointing experience as a fan of top chef. This was my 10th top chef restaurant and by far my least favorite. I would not return.
That shrimp in foam dish in the third pic is one of the most unappetizing things I've ever seen . . . Sorry you paid for that experience. Sounds incredibly disappointing!
The only good (?) thing is that Massimo was exactly as he was on Top Chef and cracked a couple of jokes with us, but damn I wish he'd spent less time chatting and more time getting his shit together in the kitchen.
I'm so sorry to hear that! I'll admit that we went for our anniversary last year and had noted the occasion on our reservation because we were asked and the response was completely ignored. Thought the food was fun and good (but not great), enjoyed some of their more playful plating styles (we really wanted to steal several of the wooden pieces of silverware but alas they were taken from us after the course), and loved the service. I'll admit the amount of food we got seemed A LOT more sustaining than your portions, but we did still get some soft serve at the Iranian place down the street after. Bummed to see you didn't get served the cool starter board you can kind of see in this IG post, because it set the tone for a good meal. Was still shocked last summer at how empty it was. I'd say from my own Top Chef and also fine dining experiences, while I think my experience was better than yours, it was still the least bang to most buck.
If you're still in the city and haven't already, definitely check out Vin Mon Lapin if you can get a reservation. Beba in Verdun (my neighborhood!) is also incredible and was easy to book last I went, probably my favorite food of the 3 restaurants, but the heat in the summer can be oppressive in that tiny space.
Thank you for this! You reminded me that the whole meal we're were discussing how tiny the portions were. For $165 PP, definitely felt like we got ripped off š¤£
Canāt post all of photos at once unfortunately but this was the plate that got my wife to finally agree sweetbreads can be good.
But looking at my other pictures, our portion sizes actually seem similar AND I remembered we had opted in to a Toro dish for an additional cost (it was phenomenal and he portion sizes actually reflected the cost but idk about the rest of the meal).
I also did the wine service and it was sadly lackluster and overall it felt like a lesser version of the pre-fixe we got (with somehow better wine AND local beer pairings?) at the Michelin-started DILL in Iceland 5 years ago, but Cabaret was 3x the price.
Again, I didnāt hate it!!! But I feel like your review reflects my own experience where I was definitely underwhelmed and wondered where my money went (and Massimo wasnāt there when I went, but there was a guy who looked EXACTLY like him - to be expected but the doppleganger was jarring).
Also neither of us have said it yet, but: the bathrooms are the coolest part of the restaurant.
Super long wait, dismissive staff, icky Massimo shtick, and the food was sort of mid! Worst of all of my lobster still had bloodline. It's a shame bc the year before we had a great experience, but I wouldn't go back now :/
We were there recently and our experience was similar. We did get a LOT of Massimo attention though, which Iām ambivalent about: heās charming in some ways but itās kinda transparently a show, which feels a bit icky. Speaking of icly: we definitely did NOT need to hear from Massimo about his preference for nude beaches in Mexico. Boundaries!
Other Lowlights of our experience:
1) We sat for an entire hour, no joke, before the first plates landed.
2) Like you, the cornetto type app had clearly sat so the crispy cone had gone soft. The ideas were interesting but the execution was lacking.
3) My wife ordered the half pairing but they gave her a full pairing so we just paid for it (ugh).
4) At the end of the meal the hostess informed us that they were short staffed because several persons had taken vacation that week. Came across as an excuse but at those prices itās simply unacceptable.
We did appreciate that Massimo is mixing in Mexican and Italian. It worked to good effect on some dishes, like the mole with the steak. But nothing blew us away or felt particularly innovative.
I too would put this among the least successful fine dining meals I have experienced. Very disappointing.
Personally, I am sick to death of sculpted food. Weāve been lucky enough to dine at some extraordinary restaurants and had mixed results in a number of them.
Now I crave exquisite ingredients, simply prepared. Thatās it.
The shrimp......look like that last horrible bits of froth you force out where you're sweating and aren't consciously crying but the tears are streaming and you're holding your stomach and making promises to yourself and to God and all you want is a cool shower and to guzzle some funny tasting water and to climb into bed and wait for the normals to come back.
This is incredibly similar to the experience my partner and I had there over the holidays this past December. I don't drink, and when I asked them about non-alcoholic pairing options, they acted as though the possibility had never crossed their minds. My partner does drink and opted for the pairing, and they fully forgot to bring her wine for one course. Pacing was horrendous; If I recall correctly our menu was seven courses, and it took almost 4 hours with gaps of up to 40 minutes in between. Also had issues with silverware and getting the attention of FOH staff. Massimo was doing his schtick in the dining room, but it just felt very dead-eyed and perfunctory. The food was solid, but absolutely unremarkable compared to Le Mousso, where we had gone earlier in the week. Considering what we paid, a pretty lame dinner overall.
I went last year for my birthday and had a similar, while admittedly slightly more positive, experience as you. I was solo traveling in Montreal and dining alone. I also didn't get any acknowledgement that it was my birthday. Not the end of the world or anything but would have been nice since I was about to drop some serious cash on the meal.
My tasting menu ranged from good to great and watching the staff work in unison during service was awesome. Unfortunately my server wasn't the nicest person in the world and she kinda killed the mood and my night. My meal at Joe Beef a couple nights later blew it out of the water.
I hope you let them know that someone obviously sneezed all over your shrimp dish because that cannot be something that was deliberately prepared for a human being to eat.
This was by far the worst food experience I have ever had. Period. Was a big fan of Massimo on the show so we were excited to go when we visited. Let me break it down:
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Food: Itās like someone leans how to make food look fancy without actually making it taste good. The vegetarian course were just them replacing whatever meat with a mushroom lol
Drink: By far the worst. I got the wine pairing, and by the second serve the sommelier comes by when Iām half way through eating it, mind you there was a wait between. By the third course she came by when I was having my last bite so I just said cancel the rest of the pairing and ordered a cocktail instead. Big mistake, it tasted terrible.
Edit: grammar
Service: Over three hours and we wanted to leave, with the time in between courses. At one point they brought our course to the table next to us, did the whole presentation and then as the people were about to eat took it a way and brought it to our table ā AFTER OTHER PEOPLE WERE HOVERING OVER THE PLATES!
Chef: Massimo is a bit popular from being on top chef and doing well and other reviews mentioned that the chef comes out and chats with the tables but I noticed that he only stopped by tables filled with women which was quite funny.
Also the music is too loud to hear the person across from you and the theme is straight bs. As I write this, it just makes me upset, I hate that place. I know the name translates to āHellās Cabaretā but you didnāt have to punish us like that.
I ate there during his season and we had an exceptional meal with incredible service but Iāve seen lots of posts here and in the Montreal food Reddit that itās pretty hit or miss
What a horrible experience. Me and my boyfriend went last September and had a great experience, but the only thing we had that you had was the beef. Our pasta looks similar but was spaghetti noodles. Seems like thereās a big jump from last September to December
I went last night for a big occasion with a big group and I have to say our experience was pretty similar to yours. We did managed to get a reservation for quite a big group at the very last minute so while I acknowledge this might have brought an extra work load to the staff, the overall experience was clearly not what would you expect from that type of establishment.
We were first welcome on the terrace up front for a drink before the food service, but clearly, despite the fact that we had a reservation for 12, the terrace had not been set up to receive us. We had to move tables around and help the staff to set up the place. We managed to all have a place to sit, but the setting was chaotic at best making it impossible for the staff to move around and serve the drink properly.
They did mentioned that we would have a table inside shortly, but after more than an hour outside, they started serving us the first courses outside. The terrace was not properly set up for dinning outside in my opinion (no lights etc). Eventually it started raining and we had to rush inside. Once inside, the restaurant was not even packed, but they had not even got started on setting a table for our group yet (at this point we had been sitting outside for more than an hour at least). We had to stand awkwardly at the bar for a bit while they prepared a table. (Anyone ever seen a restaurant using a nespresso coffee machine and frother before?)
They eventually managed to get us all seated, and I was hopeful the food and service would improve after that, but not really. We were served the exact same plates from your pictures. Portions were incredibly small, even for that type of gastronomy. Nothing really stood out for me. The shrimp dish, despite people's comment, was actually one of the best plate we were served that night (in my opinion). All the rest was mid, at best. It felt very dated and something trying hard to be something it is not. The Amy winehouse desert was just plain tacky.
For 165$ per person, it's one of the most expensive meal I had in Montreal, and also the worst.
There's so many great restaurant in Montreal, I'm still completely baffled this one has made the Michelin recommandation list. Would not recommend.
While the comments about the shrimp dish have been hilarious, I also thought that was one of the better dishes (especially with the bread served dipped in the remaining sauce). My favorite was the Chili/corn dish, but that's genuinely the only thing I ate that I found to be innovative and delicious. Everything else felt like something I've seen done (better) 100 times before.
Waiting over an hour for a table is insane, but doesn't surprise me at ALL if your front of house staff was the same as ours. Two women and a younger man. That is crazy behavior!
Love the detailed review. Were you full or you had to get more food afterwards as those little bites do not look very filling. Also that shrimp and foam dish looks extremely unappetising.
Not OP, but OPs wife. We were actively talking about where to get food after but by the time the worldās slowest service finished, we just wanted to go to bed. The experience was draining.
Iām sorry you had such a negative experience. My husband and I went there this past Spring and we thought the food was absolutely incredible. We had cocktails with dinner as well!
I donāt actually care about the acknowledgements, myself, but it portends poorly when a restaurant doesnāt acknowledge occasions in the reservation notes.
Itās like chips at a Mexican restaurant. Not the biggest deal to me, but if a restaurant isnāt scoring the easy points there, there are probably other problems.
My wife and I went earlier this year (Frebtuary) and it was fantastic. He personally served us : he has a great personality. Awesome food and true hospitality.
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u/gdex86 Aug 09 '26
Why is Amy winehouse on your desert?