"We were staying at the St-Martin Hotel in downtown Montreal and decided to try the house restaurant L'Aromate for its special Tuesday night tartare event (all you can eat of various tartare dishes for just $27pp). We were a little hesitant because of the mixed signals on the Internet: on the one hand, it has a distinguished chef, Jean-Francois Plante, who has published at least five books (in French) on fine cooking; on the other hand, this restaurant is rated only 3.5 on TA, number 533 or so in Montreal. Well, on the basis of our experience at tartare night, I can tell you that there is true greatness here. We were each served four small tartare portions, which vary from week to week. This night it was fine beef, tuna, scallop, and salmon (the salmon was actually smoked). Each is a mince with various other ingredients and flavors, prepared according to a recipe in the chef's 2016 book on tartare. Because we do not eat beef, we received two portions of the tuna and one each of the others, along with pommes frites. The salmon did not impress us, though it was not at all bad, but the tuna and scallop were both positively brilliant, and the potatoes were also quite good. After finishing, we ordered another plate of the tuna and scallop. It was a five-star feast, and there is no way one could get anything approaching this quality and quantity of tartare at this price anywhere else. So my advice is to go on a Tuesday evening if you like tartare. That said, there was one serious flaw which others have mentioned too: the service. We waited so long for our order to be taken that we almost left. But if you go with the understanding that the food will make up for the service, you will be more than gratified."
