St-Viateur Bagel Cafe
St Viateur Bagel Cafe – A Montreal legend since 1957
The 411
After a grueling 18k morning run followed by 90 minutes of trying to survive 52 degrees of a hot yoga session, we made our way to NDG for some much needed refueling. I had not eaten a single thing since the night before and was physically exhausted which usually make for a bad combo. There are only a few places in NDG left that I have not reviewed and St Viateur Bagels & Cafe is one of them. You may know St Viateur as the same people who make Montreal’s best bagels, but did you know they opened up a two cafes? One on 127 Mont. Royal East and this one at 5629 Monkland Avenue.
At 1st glance
Once you walk up to ST-Viateur Cafe you will notice a nice shelter in front of the door in winter and a terrace seating area in the summer. The winter enclosure door is placed on the side and the pathway is long enough so as to ensure that you do not get a wicked draft once you get on the inside. The pathway and entrance door are also wheelchair accessible although the bathroom is not and getting around inside may be challenging depending on where you wish to seat. The wait time was very short; for a group of four we waited five minutes and we were also there at around 1:00 which is a busy time. The good thing is that most patrons eat quickly and go, so you will see a lot of turnover and not too many people camping out with a newspaper for hours on end hogging up a seat while others wait.
Food
Bagels are an important item of this menu and not just any bagel, fresh St Viateur bagels, the best bagels in Montreal; that alone brings a smile to my face. The menu is a short one but pretty broad in its scope.There is an omelette section with 6 choices starting at $8.95 and going until $9.95 with each omelette consisting of 3 eggs and comes with a choice of home style potatoes & fruit or a bagel. For an extra $1.50 you can go the healthy route and make it an egg white omelette. There is a classic egg section that is well priced with dishes at $3.95 going up to $8.95 and each plate also comes with choice of bagel or potatoes and fruit. There are two house specialties ($8.25-$8.95) and not to mention some healthy options like fruit salad, yogourt, bagels and cereal ($3.50-7.00). The menu has other “lunchy” items that can translate to a morning meal depending on your mood: bagel sandwiches comes with 15 choices ($7.25 -$10.95) and salads come with 6 choices ($8.95 -$12.95).
We were a group of four, each with different moods and appetites so we covered most of the menu with our choices. My friend ordered the large yogourt fruit and granola ($7.00) which was a large bowl jammed with fruit in a plain yogourt mix, covered with a generous amount of granola. The portion was very large and filling, the taste was good, although if they would have prepared it with honey it would have been better since the extra sweetness would have paired perfectly with the rest of it. I should note there is honey on the table as well so one could add it to the dish. My second friend ordered the Florentine omelette ($8.95), which is a spinach omelette with cheddar, provolone and Swiss cheese inside. The taste was excellent and not one ingredient overpowered any of the other ones so having that balance was appreciated. My third friend had the one egg dish ($3.95) with a bagel and fruit, which, for less than four dollars, is pretty good deal if you think about it. Lastly, I had the Smile ($8.95) which is a bagel sliced in two with an egg in each hole and a choice of sausage, ham, bacon, baked beans & cretons. I had melted cheddar on top for an extra $2. I really liked this variation of an egg in window. The dish was very filling and by the end I was smiling on account of my stomach being fully satisfied. The extra cheese on top was nice but the dish stands on its own and doesn’t really need it.
Poatatoes
Now comes the special feature where I have my buddy Batàta give us his review on the potatoes on the menu. These are chunky diced potatoes (with skin left on) that are spiced to perfection. Healthy portions are provided for the price as a side dish or as an accompaniment in a dish. I believe that it is possible that they would be even tastier if they were oven-baked instead of fried (A suggestion to the chefs). These were great fries that kept me looking for more on my friends, plates. I give it a 4 out of 5.
Service
Service was great and our waitress was nice. The coffee refills were frequent; in fact, I never saw the bottom of my cup. Our food and bills also came right when they were supposed to: it was impeccable timing.
Vegetarian
The menu has some good vegetarian options as well as other healthy options. Also, if you want to order something other that the breakfast menu , they have a salad section so vegans will be safe and be able to order stuff.
Wrap up
The fact that almost each dish has a bagel component to them guarantees you will not leave hungry. The prices as well are quite decent and you get a tasty full plate for a fair price. Interestingly, lots of other places in the area charge a dollar or 2 more and offer less in terms of quantity and quality. I like the fact that there are vegetarian options that people can chose from.
| 5629 avenue De Monkland Montreal, Qc H4A 1E2 (514) 487-8051 Mon-Fri 6:30-14:00 |
| MAP |
View St-Viateur Bagel & Café in a larger map
| Bottomless Cup Of Coffee | YES |
| Credit Cards | YES |
| Web Site | YES |
| Debit Card | YES |
| Kid Menu | NO |
| Vegetarian Friendly | YES |
| Price | $$ | $10 |
| Overall |    |
3.5/5 |
| Wheelchair Access |   |
1/3 |
 Parking |
Street & Parking Meter |
Medium |
 BUS |
||
 Metro |
3 minute |
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
First, I really enjoy reading your blog and it helps a lot to pick a place for brunch on Sundays. Unfortunately, I have just come back from breakfast at St-Viateur Bagel with a couple of friends and we were very disappointed. I expected a bit more on the menu, such as eggs benny but still, there is enough to pick from. Two of us had “2 eggs” and my eggs were not very cooked (still lots of jiggly white), the bottom of my plate was somehow watery and the potatoes were way too seasoned – too salty. There was a lot of staff working yet, our service was not very good – forgetting things…
I will certainly not go back there for breakfast. Our experience seem very different from another. I just thought I’d share mine. Maybe service and food varies depending on the working staff.