Kuu Bistro

I live nearby and I’ve been frequenting this restaurant even since it opened. The quality has remained consistent and the prices are very reasonable. The service is really great too. I highly recommend this place. Thanks Kuu! :)

We were served very brown (bad smelling) tuna. For those who don’t know, tuna (if it’s fresh) should be a deep red or a pinkish color if it’s from a fatty (more expensive) part of the fish. So I asked my server what is this, she didn’t even know what fish it was so she asked another server who couldn’t identify the brown smelly raw fish being served either! Finally we were told it was tuna, not just any tuna though, «special» «expensive» tuna they said. Nice try. Don’t waste your time going here. They either don’t know when to throw out bad fish or they don’t care. Pass.

I’m really surprised by all the negative reviews. I came here recently with a friend for dinner and the service was friendly and quick, and the food was great. (My friend is not a sushi/​raw fish fan and she was able to find plenty of options and ultimately left very full and happy.)
We were thrilled to learn they have a la carte items throughout the day (not just buffet), for decent prices (eg: traditional Japanese style bento boxes that come with miso soup, salad, rice, a sushi roll, and two entrees such as chicken teriyaki and tempura for $ 16).
It’s actually quite hard to find a restaurant in Montréal that serves these Japanese-​style «comfort foods» (like ramen, chicken katsu, tempura, chicken teriyaki) for decent prices and decent atmosphere, so this will be my new go-​to place!
Plus, a nice outdoor terrace… What more can you ask for?

The service was great, they’re extremely nice to us! It’s a cozy place to have dinner with friends.

I decided to try a sushi restaurant close to my hotel. The food is good. Some of the rolls are a little heavy on the rice to fill you up. The service is less than desirable. I ordered my appetizer, which came after the main course. You have to continually ask for wasibi and ginger. You have to fill out your order with paper and pen and place on the table until they pick it up. And, you had to remind them to pick it up otherwise it would sit there for a while. Overall the service was poor.

I went here for the half-​price specials on Mother’s day. Sushi rolls were ordinary, and do not look like the pictures on the menu. Sushis are surprisingly small. Teriyaki shrimp and mussels are not bad. Dessert ice creams are very good!

Waited an hour for lunch (bento box) with a colleague who ordered sushi. He got his sushi quickly but my bento box came an hour later, and they used the sushi preparation as an excuse. Then the waiter offered 20% off, and was overruled by the cheapskate owner who only authorized 10%. They were not apologetic, and not customer friendly. I will never return. 1.5 HR lunch on a working Friday is not acceptable.

I would say it is cheap but good /​filling food.
I took the ramen this time, but will be back to try many more of their dishes to make sure my initial assessment is good.
It was not the best ramen I have had (Toronto still beats them), but it was better than in the other izakayas so far in Montréal, the broth was tasty and milky, and the cha shu was delicious although a bit overdone and could have been fattier. Nevertheless, it was delicious.
One star taken off for service, I was ready to order about after 2 minutes but no one came by. WTF?
Also, no Wifi. This is a minus for me.

Sushi has too much rice in them so they make you full very fast.
We ordered a few rolls and they were ok but definitely not great.
Also ordered 2 different ramen and both were below average.
Décor was decent but flavors were lacking. Will not be back unless nothing else to eat around there.

Propreté des salles de bain négligée.
Le deuxième étage né semble pas entretenu du tout.
Pas de permis d’alcool lors de notre visite en février…
Serveuse qui né parle ni né comprend le français. Elle trouve également drôle de voir des clients s’offusquer de né pouvoir obtenir d’alcool qui quittent.
La nourriture est par contre très bien.

A good variety of dishes in this all-​you-​can-​eat style restaurant. My friends and I were very amazed with the speed and food quality we got, based on the price we paid. We specially enjoyed the grilled salmon neck, stir fry beef cubes, white fish sashimi, mackerel sashimi, and oven baked oyster with spinach, cheese and creamy gravy.

A great dinner! Service was excellent. Ambiance is cozy and fun. Food was very good. I am not a sushi expert but it all tasted plenty fresh to me (bento menu) and it was very nicely presented. Tempura very light and crispy. Soups were rich and tasty. The family loved it all.

La bouffe était vraiment bonne pour le prix. J’ai pris une Bento Box — spécial du midi. Le décor est très beau, mais je donne qu’un 3 étoiles car le service était vraiment ordinaire. J’ai posé une question sur le menu et le serveur a quasiment fait un soupir + nos soupes Miso né sont pas toutes arrivés en même temps, et tiède pour la moitié. Ils servent des verres d’eau dans des verres en plastiques jetables ??? Ça devrait être interdit. J’y retournerai peut-​être pour une Bento Box bien rapide, sans trop d’attente pour le service — comme si j’était dans un fast food.

Food 3 out of 5
No happy hour specials? Really? For downtown Montréal
They claim to have specials Saturday night only after 21:30…oh OK
Sake list is good, but no house sake
The place was empty
My vote is keep your no happy hour, no house sake, empty seats, and I’ll simply go to one of the dozen other Japanese pubs in Montréal
Eaters seeking a fun hip place… don’t bother
And the new thing of auto 15% tip on top of the taxes!!!
Nice

We had the sushi sashimi bento box and the spicy chasu ramen. Very romantic atmosphere, good for having a conversation. The ramen was one of the best I’ve ever had, it definitely beats some of the other ramen places in Montréal! I find most ramen places to have extremely salty food, which wasn’t the case here. The bento box was average, but what impressed me was the veggie tempura — it has four different kinds of vegetables, not just yam! The only downside to their food was that the rice for the sushi was under seasoned and ginger or wasabi didn’t come with the meal. TL;DR: try it out!

Our experience here was horrible; however, the food was very good. The Coke we had to drink was past its expiration date, and tasted old. There was one waitress for the entire restaurant so she could not keep up with the orders. The music was so loud we couldn’t hear each other.

Good vegetarian food (had the noodle dishes), great atmosphere, they stay open later than most places AND it’s BYOB! Can’t get better than that.

I thought this place was great. It is more casual and less expensive than most of he other options, and the food was great. Perfect option for when you want easy but good Japanese food.

Came here with a group of friends for dinner and the food was pretty good !
They have a pretty varied menu, with options of house specials such as grilled calamari, many sushi selections, as well as a couple of ramen options and rice bowls.
Service was friendly and helpful with recommendations, such as the Kuu sushi roll and the grilled calamari.
I had the beef ramen, which I enjoyed — normally, I’m not the biggest fan of Japanese ramen because I find the broth too heavy, but this was not the case — the broth was flavourful without being too heavy. However, I thought the beef was too well-​cooked though, and a bit dry. Maybe next time I’ll try the other ramen options. Overall though, pretty tasty with good portions.
I didn’t get to try the sushi rolls or house specials because I was full after the ramen, but hey, another reason to come back right?

I went to Kuu bistro for lunch and the staff and service there was awful. The guys i was with received their food in just over an hour and tables around me were getting the wrong orders with waiters trying to pawn the same dish off on a number of different people. I myself, waited an hour and a half for my food and it never came. Not one, but 2 waiters didnt know where my bento box was (not hard to get right).
Then they said it would be made in 2 minutes and they would give me a 20% discount… then 10% discount and finally 15% because they were not authorized to do any better. Like rabbits from a hat they were pulling numbers from thin air but still unfortunately not any food from the kitchen.
I walked out of there and grabbed a sandwich on my way back to work because I wasnt going to wait any longer.
I will never go there again and I can tell you that most of the people who were sitting on the patio around me are in the same boat!

My friend and I bought this amazing deal for Kuu Bistro located in front of Philips Square (near McGill metro). Hip, young and jazzy, this little izakaya certainly offers a nice suave ambiance.
Interesting items on our menu:
— PEI Oysters: metallic with an added zesty touch from the lemon — these were really fresh and delicious!
— Chicken, beef and pétoncles skewers (our personal favourite was chicken)
— White fish carpaccio
— Green Tea Ice Cream Rolled Pancake
I would definitely go back:
For a drink and some oysters
If I obtained another deal — but even without, I think the overall menu is decently priced or slightly above average
Kuu bistro is best for:
Parties of 2 to 6 friends
A perfectly balanced date or happy hour between classy and casual
Full review:

J’avais peu d’attente pour ce restaurant, car les serveurs du Seoul Chako, dont j’ai une opinion mitigée, m’ont indiqué que c’était les mêmes propriétaires qui avaient ouvert ce Izakaya.
Décor: Ils ont deux étages, l’étage du haut semble mieux. Les bancs de bois sont moyennement confortables… Je né sais pas pourquoi tous les Izakaya à Montréal se donnent le devoir de reproduire des bancs peu confortables… Les toilettes étaient propres. Ils nous ont mis sur le bord de la fenêtre, alors qu’il faisait –30, mais les places réservées n’étaient jamais comblées et finalement, l’étage du haut, que nous avons vu en allant à la salle de bain, était à moitié rempli.
Nourriture: J’ai essayé les sashimis qui m’ont étonné positivement. Le saumon était dans une sauce ponzu et nous l’avons apprécié. J’ai pris de la pieuvre, croyant qu’il allait arriver sous la forme cuite (malgré que ce soit en sashimi) que nous avons dans les restaurants de sushis, mais non c’était crue. Pour l’expérience culinaire, ça valait la peine, mais c’est pas très appétissant du gris gluant de pieuvre. Ils ont une assiette de sashmis aux alentours de 13 $ qui semblait très intéressante.
Mon amie a pris des boules de pieuvre frits et du fromage frit. N’étant pas fan de friture, c’était mangeable selon moi, sans plus. Mon amie a apprécié le fromage, mais n’aimait pas le goût de la pieuvre frite.
Nous avons également pris une soupe udon aux fruits de mer et un genre de bibimbap à l’anguille. Le bibimbap était correct, mais la soupe udon était décevant, car les fruits de mer c’était principalement de la goberge et un poisson frit. J’adore l’anguille, mais le reste de l’assaisonnement était «fade». Le positif, c’est qu’ils sont servis dans des portions généreuses.
Ce qui semble intéressant, c’est qu’il offrait des huîtres que nous n’avons pas essayé ce jour là. Il y avait une promotion d’huître à 1 $ le samedi après 21h30.
Il y a des images pour le menu. Ils offraient des makis sushis, mais né semblaient pas spécialisés en sushis, alors nous n’avons pas essayés.
Leur menu alcool était diversifié (cocktails, saké et bière japonaise). Il n’avait par contre pas la bière Kirin Ichiban offert sur leur menu.
Service: On est allé un samedi soir et le restaurant n’était pas plein. Il y a eu un erreur dans notre commande en raison que le serveur n’a pas bien compris le numéro du plat en français… Sinon, le service était rapide, mais ils nous ont servi des petites entrées après la soupe et le bibimbap qui étaient pourtant des plats consistants.
Prix: Le prix est abordable, mais chaque plat varie approximativement entre 7 – 13 $. Alors la facture monte rapidement si on veut explorer le menu.

I worked down the street from Kuu and for months this place was FULL during lunch time. So when my colleagues and I finally got a seat we were so ready to review this place ourselves.
After 20 – 25 minutes of waiting, the first 2 dishes arrived but the 2 orders of ramen were no where to be seen. 5 Minutes later, our waiter brings us a bowl of free bowl of ramen because they had an extra order and didn’t want to waste it. AWESOME!
5 minutes later he comes to apologize because the second half of the order didn’t make it through (?) and offered us complimentary drinks. I wasn’t even mad because the free bowl of ramen was delicious.
When my ramen came, I already knew what to expect. Perfect noodles, flavourful broth and the portion size was just right. $ 10 for a large bowl of delicious ramen. I’m happy with that.
Though they lost our order, the waiter was courteous, admitted the mistake and offered something in return.
Would definitely come back and try other items on the menu… if I can get a seat.