Macaroni Bar

Their customer service is absolutely CRAP, I have never had such a bad experience ever in my life. we reserved for our graduation dinner and everything was confirmed and when we arrived 1 table was missing and they seated us 1.5 hours after our reservation. the manager was very unprofessional and the waitress had so much attitude. I will make sure I tell everyone about this restaurant cause they dont even deserve 1 star

Where to begin?
We were a table of ~15 people for a birthday party and from start to finish Macaroni Bar was a 100% disaster.
— We ordered a Cucumber Martini pitcher and got a Sour Apple Martini pitcher instead.
— We ordered a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, but they came back to tell us they had none left.
— We ordered a glass of Ruffino instead, but they came back again to tell us they don’t serve it by the glass, despite what the menu says.
— They inexplicably removed our utensils before we were served our meals, and came back later on to replace them.
— We were told by our waitress that the birthday dessert would be free, but it showed up on the bill anyway.
— We were forced to pay on a single bill (for a group of 15!) and told that we could only split the bill on up to 3 credit cards, the rest had to be cash.
— The terrace had very poor lighting, and music that was far too loud for the time we were eating at.
— Service was slow and rude despite the restaurant being less than half full.
Honestly, this is one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. I was taken aback when I was told we had to pay 15 people on a single bill with a maximum of 3 credit cards. It simply does not make any sense, I’ve been in groups of 20+ where they pass each person individually. It takes some extra time, but it is by no means impossible.
All that being said, by the time I finally got my Penne dish (long after I had finished my glass of wine mind you) it was not bad. I don’t feel the value was very good for the money, but the food itself was passable. However, the whole night was marred by the service and experience we had.

read bad stuff about the place (well 2 stars stuff) but this is very close to where i live so we had to try. Not that it was stelar, but the service was good and the staff eager to please.
The food itself was good i really love theirs «porky pop» the pulled pork in it was perfect. The hamburger was good too. My friend loved the pasta.
the only real complain I had was and it may sound a bit conservative is that the girls where on the underdressed side, I know it’s a «bar» but still
we went there on the early side on a saturday.

I have been to Macaroni Bar before, and if memory serves me correctly (because this is going back a few years), I had had the gnocchi, which was pretty darn good. So, with this preconception in mind, I was excited to be going back for the gnocchi. This was an extension of the previously posted bachelorette party, so we had worked up quite an appetite while pole dancing. We had reservations for the 9pm dinner seating, and were promised we would be able to keep our table once it turned into the club afterwards. We had arrived in two groups, and apparently there had been a mix-​up in our seatings, and were offered a round of shots to compensate for the mishap. I was pretty bummed I couldn’t partake in the free shots (because who doesn’t love free shots!), but happily sent it over to the bride-​to-​be. When we were seated at our proper table, the waitress came around to take our drink orders, but I was left out, and had to wait an additional 20 minutes before I could order my diet virgin Cuba Libré (yes, you read that right — it’s my fancy way of ordering a diet coke with lime). They brought out this garlic cornbread-​esque basket for the table, but didn’t seem to provide enough to go around. We each got a very small piece, but what can you do. Looking at the menu, I was saddened to see that the gnocchi I had enjoyed the last time I had been there was nowhere to be seen! Being a huge fan of mac’n’cheese, that was my second choice, but I couldn’t justify spending 25 $ on mac’n’cheese. After toying with the idea of getting the grilled chicken salad, I finally broke down and ordered the 25 $ mac’n’cheese. I figured it would be a decent-​sized portion for the price. It took about 45 minutes before we even got our food, and seeing as how they took almost 45 minutes to actually take our orders, we were pretty starving by this point. When I got my order, I was left wanting more. I got a very small cast-​iron skillet with mac’n’cheese, that I probably could’ve finished in 5 bites, had I not taken my time and eaten one rigatoni at a time. The dish itself was decent, but definitely NOT worth the 15 $ price-​tag; I make mac’n’cheese at home often enough, and what I make is equal or even superior to what I had here. Suffice to say, I was still pretty hungry afterwards. I could’ve ordered dessert, but I didn’t feel it right to hand over even more of my money for what probably would have been a bite-​size 10 $ plate. Going around the table, my fellow party guests were equally as unimpressed with the fare as I was; it was good, but nothing to write home about. And not worth coming back for, especially at the ridiculous prices.
As for the dancing afterwards, it was a good time. I wasn’t aware of this, but it was a throwback Saturday; they played dance and r&b hits from the 90s and made for a great time. The one downside was the spacing; we didn’t have much of it. All in all though, a good night.

First of all, Macaroni is trying to cultivate an image — a supper club where image comes first (more on that later), and food is an afterthought.
That being said, their objectives fail on both accounts — the food is actually much better than you would think and the image they’re trying to create falls totally flat. Classic.
In any case, I’ll start with the ambience. It’s fairly open and the décor is based on black/​white contrasting color schemes. When the lights dim, it looks pretty good, albeit a bit plasticky, which may or may not be the point. To the side of the place, there’s a large terrace, which is really nice in the summer. The service itself is hit or miss. Depends totally on who’s waitressing that night, how good of a mood everyone’s in, and how busy it is. Wild swings in service quality is the hallmark of a waitstaff that’s hired for looks over experience, and it shows at Macaroni.
The food is standard 2009 – 2011 Montréal copycat bistro fare. I can’t even remember what’s on the menu, but I bet I’m probably dead-​on if I randomly guess braised-​lamb ravioli, lobster taco or maybe lobster rolls, probably a macaroni-​cheese dish with a twist (like a thin layer of foie gras on it), etc… etc… The food is fairly well done (suprisingly) and the presentation is excellent. I’ve never had a poorly done dish there — in fact, I would say they’re as good as any quality Plateau resto that does nothing but pride themselves on their chef and the food.
Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, the scene they’re desperately trying to create ranges from casual and acceptable to outright idiotic. I’ve seen lineups nearly going around to block to get in on weekends, and the bouncer is tragically bad at picking quality patrons. The girls range from barely legal scene-​whores that have to pool everyone’s allowance to buy a bottle, to ageing cougars stuffing their flabby bodies in Betsy Johnson dresses, desperately clinging to whatever semblance of youth they have left. As for the guys, forget it — fauxhawks galore, externally stitched dress shirts with double-​button cuffs, jeans with patterns on them, TW Steel watches — a total mess.
You know what? This review seems harsh, but I actually kind of like the place.
Your best bet, if you’re looking to actually eat, is to go on a weeknight (like Monday or Tuesday) and enjoy the excellent food. Skip the weekend.

Horrible pasta, horrible service, and a bouncer for food!?!
Its not the type of supper club! I am insulted that they could call this macaroni.
It taste like plastic, and its not a fun place to party. Going for your b-​day? Well forget it! Its not worth the time to call to make a reservation, because they will make you wait outside even with a reservation.
No Management skills, no customer service skills.

I went here on Saturday 8÷6÷11 for dinner and some dancing. I think we were a bit too early for the dancing but we had a nice dinner at the outside bar. We had a bottle of wine, the pancetta pizza and gnocchi poutine. The only bad part about this place was that they said there were no tables inside– but there def were empty seats. I assume this has to do with wait staff — and they did seat us outside which was very nice– but it would have been nice to stay inside in the AC as well. I want more poutine!

Tagliatone con funghi was superb, as was the S’mores dessert. Service attentive and friendly during dinner on the patio. Be forewarned: this place is Bachelorette Party Central.
The restaurant gets very crowded after dinner (basically, it turns into a club), at which point servers attending to bottle service patrons become aggressive and pushy as they maneuver through the thick crowd. We get it — you have to do your job, but we didn’t come to get shoved around either. I guess that’s why everyone ends up dancing on the tables, to avoid the mosh-​pit.
The outdoor patio had a more casual-​yet-​trendy vibe, but noise by-​laws mean the music can’t be played on the patio after a certain hour.

I don’t understand why people don’t like this place other than attitude — what do you expect for a place trying to be a swanky hip place? First time I ate there, a girlfriend and I walked in without a reservation. After an eye-​roll from the hostesses (all wearing an interesting 6″ heel and mini skirt not really attired to service any food), they found us a small table giving us a 3 hour time window to finish. I guess you better be prepared to expect people taking this restaurant and making it a «to be seen» night scene.
The hostesses try to act a little snotty about reservations, but once you get over the initial scene, things only got better.
The waiter made up for the non-​polite hostess. Our waiter smiled the entire time and made sure to service our every need in a timely fashion. He was so excited about the dishes, had tried a majority of them, and gave great advice. I LOVED loved the gnocchi poutine — something unusual for a Montrealer having tried every fry variety of the dish. The gnocchi oozed as if a crunchy ball of melty cheese instead of a dumpling. And the sauce is not your average gravy. Besides the appetizer, the other dishes were good too — nothing out of this world, but great tasting and satisfying. And unlike a lot of places, the serving size was ample for most dinner plates and had great presentations. I don’t know if maybe there’s variability in the service, but both times I ate there, I had a great time. I would for sure go back there and hopefully you enjoy it just as much!

I went there with 10 people to celebrate my big 3. Food was good. Nothing sensational but good. Waiters were great. Amazing service for dinner.
Around midnight, another 15 people came to join us. Bouncer made them wait way too long, about 45 minutes and the place was half empty… so they just left. Instead, he would let other people go in right in front of their eyes. Go figure: the place offers valet services and is filled with skanky girls. We heard it was a classy place but i would say it looked more as a cracked house with all those yukky girls… So they lost a lot of sales that night because we were planning to really enjoy ourselves. Very disappointed, and they litteraly ruined my birthday. Who would have thought that i was gonna cry of anger on my birthday day? REALLY HOPING THEY ARE GOING TO FIRE THE BOUNCER/​DOORMAN!!! DONT GO PEOPLE! Not worth it.

We went for drinks and dinner on a Thursday evening. The staff were very helpful and the food was excellent. Innovative appetizers and very large portions for the entrees.

Don’t you just hate it when people tell you how good a restaurant is, and how you really have to go check it out, and then when you finally decide to give it a try, you discover it’s absolute crap? Ya, that was my experience with Macaroni Bar.
It was a Friday night, and 10 friends and I headed out to this restaurant to celebrate my birthday. The place is very modern and well decorated, with a very nice bar; this is definitely your typical St-​Laurent Supper Club. The food however, leaves much to be desired.
We all ordered appetizers, and I believe the only decent appetizer were the Tuna Bombs. Nearly all of us ordered a pasta for our main course. With about 5 or 6 different pastas to sample at the table, they were all actually terrible. So bland and tasteless, it was almost like eating cardboard. Not to mention that some people’s noodles were overcooked. It was a few forkfulls into the Penne Arrabiata when one of my friends discovered some hard, wood-​like foreign element in her pasta. This piece of wood was disovered after biting into it. My very favorite though, was sampling the veal ravioli — I swear I thought I was eating dog food!
With the evening going so horribly wrong, I had been drinking vodka for most of the evening, and when I decided to switch to white wine, I ordered a bottle and it ended up being served to me at room temperature. We complained to the manager about the quality of the food, and the piss-​temperature wine, and all he had to say was, «That’s what the ice bucket is for. The wine came out of our refrigerated wine cellar.» Well, somebody clearly forgot to plug in the damn refrigeration unit! He offered to replace our meals, but we all agreed that the food was terrible, and did not want to sample anything further.
We spoke to some other people who had dined there that night, and they said their food was fine. None of them ordered pasta though, so who knows, maybe some of the food is half-​decent, but seriously, if you call your restaurant Macaroni Bar, I would expect you to be able to boil some noodles properly and whip up a half-​decent sauce!

So a group of 6 of us (3 men, 3 women) came to this club dressed to the nines at 2am ready to throw down.
perhaps this would be my american self talking, but in my experience, when you wait in line to go to a bar, they let you into the bar in the order of your arrival.
the way the bouncer was monitoring who did and did not get in was absolutely absurd. of course the single ladies got to go in relatively quickly, a lot of handshaking and name dropping, but there would be droves of people exiting so you knew it had nothing to do with capacity, just the bouncer being douchey. especially since some of the people exiting were not dressed even close to nicely. it’s not like we were dressed like shlubs, we were just clearly out of towners with an even ratio of men to women.
the club looked like it would probably have been fun, but frankly, who wants to deal with any of that shaz. i’d take a pass on this place and hit up a venue that wasn’t so full of plastic people.