Saloon

On Monday, October 1, 2007, I went to this restaurant called Saloon. This restaurant is one of many in Montreal's gay village.

Now, I am not a fan of dining in the village. A friend of mine told me that the restaurants in the village are overpriced, offer mediocre food, and have bad service. The only two exceptions for me are Resto du village (which is a diner, and not a restaurant), and Tim Horton's (which is a franchise). However, Raoul wanted to try Saloon. And so we go.

First, we got there, and we waited an hour before someone came and took our order. We got two coffees and a sprite, and that was the last thing that was served to us. I asked for more milk for my coffee, and I had to ask twice for it. Finally, Rupert waved a waiter to come and take our order.

After we ordered, we had to wait even more time for our food... Both Raoul and I had burgers (different types of burgers). On the menu, it said that the burger platter comes with fries or salad. Then there were all these prices for extras... For example, extra rodeo was $2.50, extra three pepper sauce was $1.00, extra fries and salad was $1.75. When we read the description in the menu, the Rodeo was a poutine with three pepper sauce, which sounded good. And the regular Rodeo was $5.95. When we got our bill, both Raoul and I were charged $1.75 + $2.50. It was not marked anywhere in the menu that the Rodeo was just the cheese curds and the sauce. For $4.25 each, we both got a really small portion of the Rodeo fries... For an extra $1.70, I would have paid that for a large plate that maybe two people could have shared.

When time came to pay the bill, we did not leave a tip... And the waiter asked if there was something about the service that bugged us? Well, you tell me?

It seems to me that restaurant owners think that because they are in the village, and that they are catering to queers, that it gives them the right to offer bad service, mediocre food and to overcharge. What even bugs me more is that so many gays will fall for that! Why go to a place that overcharges? Why such a need to belong?

All I can say is that I will never return to Saloon. And I will be telling all my gay friends not to eat there as well. For about $60, Saloon lost more than three customers, that's all I will say. I even dare say that for once, I received worse service at this restaurant, than I would at any Chinese restaurant, and Chinese restaurants are not known for service!

I've also had a pretty rough afternoon/evening. I teach my fitness class, again, two people. Raoul says that we should do dinner, which I thought would be a highlight in my evening, and he ends up being thirty minutes late, because Rupert needed to go and exchange some milk at the grocery store. Then, I thought my friend Flavio was going to call me (via Raoul) to go for coffee after dinner. When I got home, I discovered that he was already there having coffee, and that he didn't call me. I thought that after the bad dinner, maybe coffee with my friends Flavio and Roger would cheer me up. I was again disappointed. This evening has just been one big disappointment after another.

Word of advice - Don't dine at Saloon. You would get more enjoyment wiping your ass with your money than dining at Saloon.