Agrikol

TO MY FOODIES: If you want a cool and trendy experience in a good area, Agrikol is the place for you. Small plates and appetizers and drinks were alright but if you want actually want to eat a good main course DO NOT COME HERE. The food is neither fresh or authentic. They bring out a small plate with a few pieces of meat, we were still hungry afterwards… Go else where for good food. We were highly disappointed in this restaurant.

Found this restaurant on one of the many lists/​blogs/​articles that I read through and I was intrigued by their association with Arcade Fire. We decided to try the place out while visiting Montréal and were not disappointed.
Luckily for us, we came in on the day of their soft opening for the new patio section (see picture). It was an extremely charming back patio that had a very homey feel to it, as if someone invited you over for a BBQ and served up their fresh home cookings. We had the rice and beans, the plantains, short ribs, and pork and goat patty, no complaints about any of it. The plantains were better then I imagined they would be and the meat was cooked to perfection. If I was a resident of Montréal, I would certainly plan on coming back to try the other delicious looking dishes.
The only slight source of confusion was the difference between the patio and the interior restaurant, however since I do not speak the native language and this was the first night they opened, I am not going to hold that against them.
I would definitely recommend this place to any friends and family and make sure to sit in the patio section for that good home cookings feel.

I had a lot of fun at this restaurant, the service was great, the food was delicious. We shared a ceviche, it came with plantains. We had the corn and vegetables as a main dish, I thought it was vegetarian but it has meat in it so if you are vegetarian make sure to clarify with your water. We ordered the potato desert, I was very skeptical about it but it won me over. It is very similar to pain chomeur.

I’d been following the saga surrounding Agrikol’s conception and birth from the outset, each setback and delay only stoking my anticipation.
All I can say is thank goodness it’s finally here! The wait was totally worth it.
We came early on a Saturday evening and managed to squeeze ourselves onto some bar stools upstairs. This was awesome, because we got a great view of the whole place and there is no shortage of things to look at! The décor is as eclectic and fun as you’d expect from a restaurant dreamed up by Arcade Fire.
We ordered a quarter bottle of rum which came with freshly squeezed (!!!) sugar cane juice, sugar cane syrup, and limes. It was perfect. We were also told that we needed to order some plates with our drinks, which was no problem because the menu offers some pretty interesting options! We settled on sharing a few appetizers, all of which were pretty good.
The service was quick and very friendly. All around we had a great time and left pretty happy! We’ll definitely be coming back!
Just a tip– they don’t really take reservations and it started to get pretty packed around 9ish/​10 Saturday night. So plan accordingly if you want a seat!

This is probably the most original restaurant décor I have seen in a while!
The moment you arrive in front of this little White House, you are already in another country, one of the sunny ones. Once I opened the door, the inside confirmed how I felt about the outside appearance of the building, I felt like travelling without leaving town. It is to be noted that this restaurant is very tiny, as we arrived early we were seated very quickly, I ordered a glass of ti Punch, my friend ordered a cocktail with no alcohol. My friend enjoyed her drink, I wasn’t impressed by mine, I felt there was too much ice and not much rum. I then ordered a beer, the choice was made quickly because they only have one, the Jamaican beer Red Stride. I then had the conch and banana meals, my friend had their chicken patty. Unfortunately, once again both of us weren’t impressed by the taste. We then ordered their chicken and cashew dish as well as their accras. It all tasted good but to be honest, I already had much better Haitian food.
Overall, being of Caribbean origins myself (although not Haitian, but our cuisine do have similarities), I was a bit disappointed by their food. I really wanted to get a taste of Caribbean flavours. However, I have to give them major credits for the décor, the service and the atmosphere which was on point. Perhaps, they might want to refocus a little bit on the flavour of their food, then it would be an A+ for me.

This place is really pretty. It’s small, but there are lot of things to look at. They food menu is small, but the food is good. However, they have a good selection of Rum. The service was good and the people were very friendly. My first time to a Haitian restaurant/​bar.

went there for a birthday diner, we were here at the opening hour so had no problem to get a table. it is so beautiful, there is so much stuff to look at! it is a bit small tho. it is a rhum bar so you better like rhum! the staff was amazing, excellent service! i only give 4 stars because of how small the menus is. i wished they had more and more! we tasted everything on it, and everything was good. i wish i had someone at my house to cook me their plantains, so freaking gooooood!

I probably should have given it a 4 star as the goat curry is more on the salty side. However, the most authentic Haiti food probably comes with huge amount of rice & beans rather than a small fun plate with ‘almost only meat’! This place satisfies your guilty pleasure of tasting small plates of authentic flavors with a little extra salt on your food or sugar in your cocktails. Yes, that’s why the cocktails taste so good (besides, it has fresh sugar cane juice machine)!! The service is excellent and the decoration is so creative– many many beautiful objects and quotes in washrooms, staircases and roofs that will inspire you whether you’re artists or lawyers! PS: a huge terrace will open during summer!

Very disappointing. Gorgeous place, and overall very nice staff. However It’s unimaginable to have a haitian restaurant not having griot at 9pm a saturday night… It took us 2h to get our food, one of the reason being that they ran out of rice… Again a haitian restaurant without rice or griot is like a sushi place only serving seaweed salad and tempura shimp… I say the staff was very nice, the waiters did the best of a very embarrassing situation, on the other hand the owner was completely out of it… never once he came to see us during the meal and let the waiters amend for the situation. But when one of my friend when to compliment our main waitress on her service he appeared out of nowhere asking her aggressively what was her problem… He then went on to say that we were very rude to the englishspeaking-​only-​staff, which to me was more a problem of communication rather than rudeness… Anyway: Great décor, Great drinks, food ok if you never tasted REAL haitian food and they need to get organised (have a cook that can cook haitian food, be ready for the amount of client coming on a saturday night, have at least 1 staff that can read the menu…) I had high hopes for this place… I think it need another 6 mo… we’ll see

Ok. Ok. I was expecting a bit more… After reading a couple critics in the net, i had high hopes on coming to this restaurant. Needless to say that i was disappointed. First it is impossible to reserve and they had no way of communication. Perhaps in the near future? So a couple friends of ours, my husband and myself arrived at 7 pm and had been told that they would be a 45 minutes wait but that we could sit upstairs have a drink and an appetizer while we waited. We HAD to order something due to alcohol permits. So far so good! I was expecting a wait because this restaurant has been long awaited! Our friends ordered bananes pesées (fried plantains) and we ordered acras. The plantains were really crispy and good but needed a sauce! The acras came out crispy as well but really dark and tasted bitter. Was is the oil that needed changing?
So after only 25 minutes, we were seated at our table and ordered more drinks. Their cocktails are really good especially the fact that they use Barbancourt! They didn’t have bottled beer though. That was weird because they have been only opened about a week. I guess it takes some adjustments…
Ok, so here is what we ordered: griots, two plates of oxtail with rice and a plate of cashew chicken. They all fell flat! The oxtail were the end parts and we barely had any meat to eat from. The rice was overcooked, watery and pasty. The two tiny pieces of chicken had no flavour and you had to dig for the cashews. I was also expecting the Chef and co-​owner in the kitchen cooking but instead saw him walking around in clean clothes all night! Did i mention that by the time the waitress had came to our table to take our order, we had waited 1 hour for her? We were drunk before even ordering our food
I used to date this Haitian guy (now my best friend) and had a lot of real authentic creole food cooked by him and his family. This place on the other hand fell short on impressing me.
So there you go… My rant about this so called delicious new Arcade Fire-​restaurant-​creole-​food-​long-​waited-​restaurant-​that-​serves-​super-​good-​dishes! A plus side and maybe the only good thing (well three…) great service, great cocktails and great ambiance! I came for the food but left hungry. Not a well 175 $ spent!

Un nouveau venu que je souhaitais découvrir. Sans être une experte de la bouffe haïtienne, ce resto se rapproche beaucoup de la bouffe traditionnelle
Les côtes de porc sont délicieuses, tendres et justes assez relevées, assaisonnées de cannelle, cumin et clou de girofle. L’assiette d’accras est généreuse (5, de mémoiré) avec une sauce et une salade fraîche en bouche.
Le gâteau aux patates douces avec sirop de rhum et raisins m’a réconcilié avec les raisins… c’est tout dire

Slipped in here tonight following their soft launch two nights ago. This beautiful restaurant and bar is finally open and worth the wait, a partnership between Jen Agg and Roland Jean of popular Toronto spots Rhum Corner, the Black Hoof and Cocktail Bar with Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of hometown heroes Arcade Fire. It’s a lovely bit of late night in the Caribbean tucked off Amherst in the Gay Village, with a record player and a box of beautiful Haitian records by the door. The room is gorgeous, we felt comfortable and dreamy immediately. The staff were super welcoming and chill and professional, though still clearly figuring things out, they managed to make everyone around us feel cared for and the Haitian-​inspired food seemed to come out quickly and to much delight around both the main floor and the mezzanine. I tried the potato cake dessert, drench in rhum raisin sauce and topped with lovely whipped cream, alongside a rum sazerac and another twist on a classic cocktail called the Suburban with rye and porto — both really excellently done, and both a relief to see on the menu alongside some fun big dreamy summery sweet drinks. There’s also local Ghost Farm IPA on tap, and Prestige, a Haitian beer in bottles. I can’t wait to come back and try the full fried fish, or any of the totally affordable main meals like the chevre and vegetables and rice at $ 15.
But mostly I can’t wait to see how this place will continue to build and create connections between this neighbourhood and Montréal and Haiti. Plans include a next door café that will also stay open late, and a big terrasse for eating outside, both on track to be open by the Summer.

They just opened 2 days ago but we got the feeling they’ve been around for a while. The service was great and super friendly. The food… Well… Pure Caribbean deliciousness… Do ask for their hot sauce and order the fish by all means. Honest, down to earth food. We felt like in a mini vacation in the middle of the winter. Cocktails were fabulous but we found them a bit pricey. I know they’re starting, so I guess their Menu (which needs to be printed in a bigger font desperately) will grow in mixology. Try the plantains and the rice and beans as appetizers… Really delish. Music was exquisite. Kudos to the selector. The atmosphere was relaxed and laid back. No pretentiousness (although you can tell they spared no expenses… The place is really pretty)