Ryu

Final Meal Stop on the 1100 mile Jon Batiste, Uneasy Tour, Toronto/Montreal Stops Road Trip!! I drove into Montreal the afternoon before from Toronto see Jon Batiste at MTelus (YIKES! I was pretty sure that place might collapse on our heads during the concert…). Spent the night and (of course!) I decided to have lunch in Montreal before heading back south to Vermont. So I looked for a sushi/Japanese spot. Because thats my fave. And Montreal did seem to have a Japanese “presence.”… “Seemed” being the operative word here…. Look. I’m that person who spends actual TIME doing all my due diligence/online research regarding everywhere I’m going to be dining out and I did all that for Montreal and I chose Ryu. I looked at photos and menus online. Place seemed legit. But, then again, this would be my first foray into Montreal sushi… And I should say that Ryu is my ONLY foray into Montreal Sushi. But I am here to say that Ryu is NOT legit. I don’t know if Ryu is representative of the Montreal sushi scene ?? I hope not. Because that would not be a good situation. Ryu is located right in the beautiful downtown area near the Cathedral etc. Gorgeous. Street full of restaurants full of business people on their lunch. It was given Upper East Side… So my expectations were kinda high. They should not have been. Ryu is GORGEOUS. Beautifully designed interior! Except for the bathroom?? That was fine entering - since the door pushed in. But the space is tiny and then you need to figure out how to pull that door in AND somehow fit yourself beside the sink…??? This is NOT a “larger bodied” safe space and that is NOT OKAY…DO BETTER QUEBEC. #eyeroll The thing is they’ve expended all their energy/capital on the gorgeous design of this spot and they’re cutting corners on the food. Which is super not cool. BECAUSE it was such a beautiful looking place I ordered Avocado Tacos. Because I “assumed” they were using legit, fresh ingredients. They are not. I took one bite and realized they’d used “pre-smashed” avocado and some sort of horrible, premade taco shell. Awful. That was the only bite I took. I set them aside. They deleted them from my bill. Bar food. For drunk people. Yuck. I pressed on. As on does. Got the seaweed salad. Because it had so many “additional ingredients” I didn’t think it would be predominantly store bought seaweed salad. It was predominantly store bought seaweed salad… They denote the type of salmon on their menu for each item. So I asked what kind of salmon was in the handroll. “Atlantic” Which means that they’re using the most basic, terrible, factory farmed Salmon from Chile for most of their dishes and I just cannot stress how GROSS that is. The worst quality fish. In this spot passing itself off as super fancy. They told me I could get the good salmon on a handroll. I also got a Shiitake handroll. Which may have been the best thing I had at Ryu. DELICIOUS. I cannot recommend Rye. All show. No substance. Typical chain type restaurant just trying to turn a profit and cut corners wherever possible. Those tacos tho. SHOCKINGLY HORRENDOUS. Sports stadium type snacks…NO.

Lovely place! Sushi was delicious. The waiter was super nice and attentive. Highly recommend

Super expérience ! Merci encore au gérant pour ce délicieux moment passé en famille. Nous reviendrons.

Ryù is one of the safest Sushi restaurants in Montreal, quality is very High, products are fresh. They are offering a real experience! The last time I went the service was a bit slow.

Fantastic food, servers were very helpful and easy to talk to. Perfect date spot.

There isn’t a lot of places that deserve this praise but quality is truly A1! The nigiri’s were amazing, staff were nice and gave very good recommendations.

I made a reservation for an omakase on Friday and decided to order a drink as well. It was pretty pricy, 227$ after tax and tip. But I think it was generally a worthwhile experience, and I enjoyed everything I ate. It came in 6 parts: 1. Miso Soup & Edamame 2. Sashimi platter 3. Marinated Seabass with greens 4. Plate of Mushroom and Scallop Maki 5. Nigiri Platter 6. Miso Ice Cream with Chocolate Mousse Cake For the most part, I enjoyed everything that was served to me. All the fish tasted fresh, and the presentation was pleasing. The waiter explained to me in detail what every plate contained clearly. I think the only part I was slightly disappointed in was the mushroom and scallop Maki. Not because it was bad, but it was odd that every other platter had so much variety or uniqueness, while I was just served 6 exact same rolls for this specific platter.