580066 Sun Dec 14 15:58:26 -0800 2008 37 22 Quebec (including Montreal) 0 4246441 Bonjour! I will be heading to your belle provence this upcoming week and would like to find out more about cuisine on the hill. I found some threads, but many of them are older and/or asked for higher-end fare. I am trying to keep within a budget (the snowboarding trip itself is costing me quite a bit already) and therefore am looking to spend less than $15 per person per meal. I browsed through the Tremblant website and they listed a bunch of different eateries. Nothing popped out besides Le Chalet du Smoked Meat because I wanted some poutine. But no one has ever recommended this eatery on the board, or any other boards/forums on the internet. I will not have a car, therefore I will need recommendations for the village itself (walking distance), or something easily accessible by public transportation (within 20 minutes radius) for dinner. Is St. Jovite easy to get to via the $1 bus? If so, what should I eat there for the given budget. I want something very local, and therefore no fast food eateries. Please recommend a place or two for the Pedestrian Village and then another 1 or 2 for any other areas accessible by bus for dinner. We will stay on the mountain during the day, but are willing to leave after the slopes close at 4:30PM. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you in advance! Sun Dec 14 15:58:26 -0800 2008 201877 BokChoi 1 4257582 My husband and I nicknamed Chalet du Smoked Meat Chalet du Shit - $12 for a bad sandwich is no value. Your best best is to get out of the resort, there are great places in Val David, Val Morin, Ste Agathe... However, the one very reasonable and fun - especially considering that you are a snowboarder is a tiny little place in the village that makes really great pizza. We hit it up during happy hour after a long day on the slopes and partook in some cheap beverages and a tasty pizza. Its called Ya'ooo Pizza and from 3-5 the drinks are half priced. The chalet at the summit also has a great chili bar and value for the money its pretty good. Enjoy! Thu Dec 18 13:29:04 -0800 2008 4246441 109002 AnnaFoat 2 4257754 Thank you very much, AnnaFoat. The warning is much appreciated!!! And the suggestion for Ya'oooo is something I would definitely like to check out. I'll report back once I try it all. Cheers! Thu Dec 18 14:21:56 -0800 2008 4257582 201877 BokChoi 3 4257846 I agree completely with AnnaFoat. The best food is not on the mountain. You don't have to go as far as Val David -- there are some good restaurants in the St. Jovite sector of Mont Tremblant. Thu Dec 18 14:54:44 -0800 2008 4257754 21047 profjmm 4 4264837 profjmm, would you be able to suggest something in the st jovite sector? Sun Dec 21 18:33:56 -0800 2008 4257846 16524 agent99 2 4330296 Thanks for the suggestion of avoiding Chalet du SM - I refused to go when a bunch of friends hit it up. I got the review when they returned and found out it was an expensive disaster. Ya'ooo Pizza was a great suggestion - it was one of the ONLY reasonably priced restos on the hill. The rest of them were charging exorbitant prices. Ridiculous, really. I saw a Chinese restaurant there charge $30 an entree. The audacity - especially since there was nothing 'special' about the menu they presented that I could not get in Toronto for $10. The other place we unfortunately stepped foot in was a place called Le Shack. What a disaster. Maybe it was just a factor of the incompetence of our waitress, but you have to hear my experience. We were in a table of 4. My SO and I had eaten early so we just wanted a light snack and to eat with friends. We ordered a poutine and a slice of sugar pie. Simple enough order one would think? The poutine they serve is called "L'avalanche du Shack". I ordered the "L'avalanche du Shack , err, the poutine" and proceeded to point to it on the menu just to make sure she understood. Then we ordered the sugar pie. When the dishes arrived, I was served a burger. I mentioned to the waiter (a different chap) that I had ordered poutine, he said that I would have to order poutine separately and it would be extra. I assumed he was confused to I asked to speak to our waitress. She said she didn't hear what I ordered and thought I ordered "Le Shack" - the burger. OK, innocent enough mistake. She said our pie was on the way. The pie arrives. She places it down and says " here is your sugar pie". I look at it - it's got apple chunks in it. I am thinking - maybe they make their sugar pie differently here? I taste it - yup, apples. I am starting to think it was an apple pie (and apple pie isn't even on the menu). I casually wave her over and ask her if I got sugar pie. She says "yes, that's sugar pie". I say "but it's got apples in it". Then she says "you didn't order apple pie?" - she barely even had time for a breath between her two sentences. It was almost comical. Thankfully she took it away. Got a slice of sugar pie soon afterward. I would have been okay with her if she didn't have such a poor attitude about it all. She made me feel like it was my fault for her messing up the order. If she was nice and apologized sincerely, I would have been in a much better mood. For the rest of the meal she proceeded to ignore our table. Then we asked for the check. It arrived and she charged us for the apple pie instead of the sugar pie. I casually point this out to her as I remembered the price of the sugar pie being less than this imaginary apple pie menu item they tried to serve. She denies this and says that all their pies are the same price. I told her that I doubted this. She said she knows the menu. I don't call her bluff at first, so pay the bill. The bill was about $14 including tax. We leave a $20. She says "is this okay?" - I think she's talking about the mistake on the bill. Later on I realize she means can she keep the $6 as tip since she didn't bring back change. OK, so her service is terrible, but she expects a 40%+ tip? I get a bit peeved and call her bluff about her knowing the menu price. I grab the menu myself and it just so happens I was right and she was wrong. I point it out. She says "so you want a dollar back? Here is a buck". And I am like..."No, I would like my change back". Then she grabs the change, dumps it in my hand and calls out over her shoulder "you know the tip isnt' included in the price". Wow. I have never had such poor service before in my life. Just thought I would point it out on Chowhound as well. Service like this is deplorable. Just make sure you check your bill next time you set foot in there and you get this waitress. She will try to screw up your order as many times as possible before you leave. The food was okay, but seriously. I could not forget this experience. Thanks for the suggestions! This is what happens I guess when I wander into a place my friends suggest. I'll stick to the recommendations from now on. Or at least avoid places called "Le Shack" and expect it to be any good. Thu Jan 15 16:21:59 -0800 2009 4257582 201877 BokChoi 1 4331767 Thank you BokChoi, your Tremblant story is hilarious. Painful for you at the time, I'm sure but I can't help but laugh! I would also say: AVOID THE BREW PUB - Microbrasserie Le Diable. The food was devilishly overpriced and horrible, horrible, horrible. The poutine, which was something like $9, consisted of crappy fries, crappy gravy and shredded cheese...no curds. The beer was very watery and lacked any flavour whatsoever. Why is it Whistler abounds with fantastic restaurants and Tremblant sucks? Even the poutine at Whistler is on par with anything I've had in Quebec (minus Mme Bolduc, of course!) Fri Jan 16 08:24:16 -0800 2009 4246441 224174 foodinspace 2 4334269 foodinspace, I'm glad you enjoyed the story and got a laugh out of it. In retrospect, it was hilarious, but incredibly painful at the time - you are right. I just could not believe how many things went wrong that evening with such a simple order. To top it off, she was so antagonistic about it all and made it seem like it was my fault. A terrible attitude to top off the incompetence. Hope everyone else has a better experience. Cheers! Sat Jan 17 07:57:08 -0800 2009 4331767 201877 BokChoi 3 4398739 BokChoi - were you able to find any yummy food in the end? Any other recommendations besides Ya'ooo pizza? Sun Feb 08 14:11:24 -0800 2009 4334269 264673 nyc foodie 4 4416710 Hi nyc foodie. I would have to say after not getting too many recommendations (and the availability of a full kitchen in my suite), I decided to bring a giant pot of homemade macaroni and cheese to supplement the two meals I ate out. I figured the lack of recommendations meant that there was not much on the hill that was edible - everyone was just too kind and polite to explicitly state that. I wanted to try the crepes at the top of the hill, but they had sample crepes displayed and I doubted it would fill me up and they were about $8-10 each. The poutine at Chalet du Smoked meat (the one Anna Foat called "chalet du sh*t" - and rightly so!) got thumbs down from two of my friends that wandered in even after I warned them about the CH reviews. Good luck in your search, nyc foodie! Do report back. I'll be going every year, so I need to find some gems!! Sat Feb 14 06:20:55 -0800 2009 4398739 201877 BokChoi 4 4418784 nyc foodie, just an FYI - there is a small convenience store on the mountain. Don't rely on it for some basics because it's grossly overpriced. However, they have some emergency items if you forget something at home. There is also one liquor store on the mountain as well. Cheers! Sun Feb 15 06:50:10 -0800 2009 4398739 201877 BokChoi 5 4468342 Thanks for sharing your experience Bok. We're heading out for a week and came here digging around for the same info. Intrawest gives us some free lift passes every year so we always head back, it's a fun mountain to ski but the dining is really limited unless you want to cab it to town. The fondue place and crepe place in the village are always a solid stand by. Looking forward to trying the pizza place this time. We are traveling with a very non-foodie friend that's a super picky eater so probably going to end up cooking up pasta or something back in the condo. We used to always enjoy the beer at the brewpub but had a bad service experience last year. Bartender would misunderstand things, get really nasty when it was pointed out to him. The same round would have a different price each time, when this was pointed out he suddenly accused us of not paying for previous rounds. So won't be going back there. We were trying to get some late night beers on Saturday there and it was hard to do. If you want to get a drink after 1130 or so choices are limited to thumping dance clubs, or an overwhelmed your fave Le Shack where we left after waiting almost a half hour and being ignored by slow bartenders. Made our way down the hill to brewpub and got the world class bitchy service. I'd hoped that something new might have opened up but sounds like more of the same old. Looking forward to the pizza though! Tue Mar 03 02:35:34 -0800 2009 4418784 99681 abigllama 6 4470288 As a Montrealer who snowboards at Tremblant every weekend, it kills me how bad the food, service and prices are at the resort. You simply can't find a good, reasonably priced meal in the resort village. Your best bet is the organic sandwich/smoothie shop near the top hill in the village (can't recall the name), or the pita joint just up from the base of the cabriolet lift. Unless they have the outdoors open for apres ski beers and sunshine, avoid Le Shack. But a 15 minute drive south along the 117 from Tremblant you'll find a casse-croute called "le p'tit stop" (a.k.a. "100% BOEUF" from the giant sign on the roof). It may be home to Quebec's best burgers, fries, poutine and hot dogs. And I challenge you to break the $10 barrier. If 15 mins is too far for you, drive along the same road for about 2 minutes (it's an immediate exit off the highway if you're coming from Tremblant) and try "Benvenue"'s cheeseburgers. Also amazing. Tue Mar 03 14:03:53 -0800 2009 4468342 271449 RicBer 7 4471619 Thanks Ric, the le p'tit stop sounds like a great place to drop in before the drive back! Tue Mar 03 22:38:48 -0800 2009 4470288 99681 abigllama 7 4496397 According to google maps, Le P'tit Stop is 27 mins drive from Mont-Tremblant or 22 km. Restaurant Patate Ben-Venue is 17 mins or 10.5 km from Mont-Tremblant. Wed Mar 11 19:39:31 -0700 2009 4470288 14906 Food Tourist 7 4540896 Le P'tit Stop was indeed wonderful. MUCH better than Patate Ben-Venue. To compare apples to apples, I ordered a cheeseburger and poutine at both. I also took home a yummy sugar cream pie (made by Annette, the mother of the friendly man taking burger orders at Le P'tit Stop) for only $4.99, and a jar of local honey (3 kinds - I picked raspberry) for about $4.50. Le P'tit Stop also had Our Compliments brand "spruce beer" to wash it all down. The bun at Patate Ben-Venue was too crispy/grilled for my liking and the patty too tiny. I noticed that in both places, "the works" always excludes ketchup and tomatoes. Both use processed cheese slices in cheeseburgers. It's easy to miss Le P'tit Stop since you have to turn into their driveway straight from the highway (no exit or off ramp). Thu Mar 26 11:47:46 -0700 2009 4470288 14906 Food Tourist 8 4545491 I'm bummed we ended up skipping this place. It sounds like a gem, will be more of a priority next season! Fri Mar 27 20:38:39 -0700 2009 4540896 99681 abigllama 9 5081280 Made it to Le P'tit Stop finally this afternoon on drive back to Montreal. Thanks for the rec as this will now be a Tremblant tradition. The owner welcomed us and walked us through the menu with his wife. Had a cheeseburger and poutine. Cheeseburger was no frills solid and fresh, poutine was one of the best i'd ever had. Total was around $8 for lunch with a drink. As suspected that place is a gem. It was fairly busy on a Monday afternoon so looks like they have a loyal following. Mon Oct 05 17:53:41 -0700 2009 4545491 99681 abigllama 7 5082278 Thanks for the update about Le P'tit Stop abigllama and the suggestion RicBer. We will probably have access to a car this season up to Tremblant, so we might be able to try it out. Please also let me know if there's anything new and noteworthy in the Village. Thanks in advance. Tue Oct 06 06:50:37 -0700 2009 4470288 201877 BokChoi 8 5083863 Fat Mardi's is a village stand by. Solid pub food with some thought put into seasonings and presentation. The drinks are a bit pricy but the hurrucanes are super tasty and the food is at a decent price point considering the location. You can hop on the new gondola and head over to the casino which offers up small pizzas and pub fare in the lounge. We were told the food was very good but it was expensive. They wanted like $12 for what looked like a smallish 8 inch cheese pizza. The martinis were at a decent price point at around $8 for a 2 ouncer, but draft beer seemed overpriced at around $8 for a pint. Les Artistes in the village was offering a 3 course French menu for around $35. We got a late start and the place looked empty so passed to go to Fat Mardi's. Has anyone been here? Tue Oct 06 15:59:39 -0700 2009 5082278 99681 abigllama 9 5148614 Thanks for the tip, abigllama. I didn't know about the new gondola. I've read good things about Les Artistes, but haven't gone there. I would like to know if anyone has given them a try lately as well. Fat Mardi's sounds great. Thanks abigllama. Mon Nov 02 06:58:15 -0800 2009 5083863 201877 BokChoi 6 4472772 Wonder why these places can get away with such atrocious service? I mean, they survive based on serving tourists. But I guess tourists won't be repeat /regular customers anyway, so I guess they think they can do as they please. So disappointing. Hope you have better luck than we did! Nothing is out of this world on the mountain. Just keep expectations in check. If you have a kitchen, do bring groceries if you can. You'll go broke shopping at the convenience store on the mountain. I made a batch of mac & cheese before I headed up and just popped it in the oven for quick meals. Saved me a bunch of $$ that I could spend better elsewhere. The locals are right, so choose wisely and carefully. Good luck! Wed Mar 04 09:46:38 -0800 2009 4468342 201877 BokChoi 1 4490309 We are going for March break and staying at the Fairmont. We are also on a strict budget (main courses should be under $20) but want delicious local chow and a great pub/bar for evening drinks. We'll have a car and don't mind driving 20 minutes out of the village to eat well. Thanks for this thread and the suggestions - any other ideas? Tue Mar 10 06:39:22 -0700 2009 4246441 14906 Food Tourist 2 4496223 Just back from a week in Tremblant. The creperie and Ya'ooo pizza are both ok, but would be unremarkable here in MTL. Au Petit Poucet (http://www.aupetitpoucet.com/) is worth the detour for traditional Québecois fare. For the most part, we cooked at home after stocking up at the IGA and Rachelle-Béry in St-Jovite. If you're looking for some pre-made dishes, we stumbled upon a caterer in St-Jovite that had a wide range of frozen options that were above average quality (http://delices.ca/). Wed Mar 11 18:41:28 -0700 2009 4490309 57453 FoodNovice 3 4496243 Sadly, we won't have access to a kitchenette. It has to be either eat-in or take-away for us to consider it. http://www.delices.ca/en/reasy-to-eat-meals.php I see that they have ready-to-eat meals, sandwiches and salads. Au Petit Poucet's website says they will reopen in May so I have sent them an email to ask if they are open this month or not. They are 49 km away from Mont-Tremblant. Is the creperie called Creperie Catherine? Wed Mar 11 18:49:56 -0700 2009 4496223 14906 Food Tourist 4 4496467 au petit poucet is opened. it was closed last year due to fire and they probably haven't updated their website. if you want amazing french onion soup, salad, and crepes there is a creperie right next to au petit poucet called creperie tournesol that is the best. enjoy.. Wed Mar 11 20:05:28 -0700 2009 4496243 180940 jarschef 4 4496487 The ready-to-eat meals at Délices were mostly things that needed to be reheated, but weren't frozen, so if you have no kitchenette it won't be of much use, sorry. I think the Au Petit Poucet item about reopening in May must be from last year. We stopped there on the drive home. And yes, it's Creperie Catherine. Wed Mar 11 20:14:38 -0700 2009 4496243 57453 FoodNovice 5 4507735 Just got back from a few days at Tremblant. We did have access to a kitchen so only ate out a couple of nights. La Savoy the fondue/racklet place is super good but bring some fabreeze with you for after. It's not in the budget but most meals are $25 to $40 per person but the food is excellent. Fat Mardis was the suprise of the trip. Had a hurricane craving and decided to grab dinner there on the last night before heading over to Forge to see a band. The hurricane was kinda ho hum and expensive but the food was excellent. Blackened Chicken was a highlight and mains are in the $15 - $20 range. Had a poutine craving after skiing and was lured to the Chalet du Smoked Crack because it was near where we were staying. Really should have heeded the warnings. Ordered a poutine to go and it was $10 and change and was really bad. I'm not picky about poutine, some are better than others but it usually hits the spot...but this was a mess. Overly greasy, and the gravy was flavourless...I actually had to salt it. The poutine at the cafeterias up on the hill was much better and a steal at $5. Ya'hoo pizza as mentioned was pretty good. A bit on the pricy side but leftovers held up for a post ski snack the next day. A heads up on some decent drink deals. Le Petit Caribou on Thursday night has two for one domestic beers which was fun. Casey's had $8 Grey Goose martinis and the bar staff were really great there. Didn't get to try the burger place on the way out, too stuffed from breakfast. But it's on the to-do list for next time! It's a shame that it's a bit of a food wasteland there. Chalet du Smoked Crack was almost empty on Saturday at 4:30 so you'd think that alone would encourage them to serve decent food. I think one of the problems with Tremblant village eats is the captive audience and lack of competition. Whistler village is much, much bigger with lots of choices so compeition doesn't allow crappy food to thrive as much there. Possibly things at Tremblant will pick up with the expansion of the new Soliel village opening this summer. Sun Mar 15 17:25:11 -0700 2009 4496487 99681 abigllama 6 4508174 Thanks! Is that Casey's as in the major chain restaurant? Which night is $8 martini night? I love fondue -- do you think the price was worth it? I haven't had proper or good fondue since Lake Louise years ago. Sun Mar 15 20:20:48 -0700 2009 4507735 14906 Food Tourist 7 4508436 The Casey's thing was every night and yeah it's chain. We ordered a house Vodka martini and it was a steal at $7..then saw this featured drink of the month thing on the bar and it was a Grey Goose martini for around $8. It could be just a march thing but all the drinks were really reasonable there. I think the fondue is worth it. I've had it a couple of times and always good. We actually got the Raclette this time and it was incredible. I love a super cheesy cheese fondue and raclett is just straight up melted cheese with fondue stuff to smother in it. The meals come with salad, meats and veggies and they will replenish salad and bread if needed so it's really hard to finish the whole meal. Service is super friendly and helpful there too. Be sure to make a reservation as it's very small. We were in Banff last month and had one of the worst fodues ever at the Banff Springs hotel. It was more flour and booze than cheese. La Savoie has consistantly been good and that raclette was decadent and delish! Mon Mar 16 00:59:08 -0700 2009 4508174 99681 abigllama 7 4522280 Good luck Food Tourist. If you have better luck, please do report back! I'll probably be heading up again next season. For now, It's just Smugg's and Sunapee this weekend. Cheers! Fri Mar 20 09:17:58 -0700 2009 4508174 201877 BokChoi 6 4540961 Unfortunately, La Savoie is super expensive. There really isn't anything cheaper than $38 per person if you want cheese or meat fondue. We spent way too much, but enjoyed the emmenthal/gruyere (raw milk) fondue with potatoes, gherkins, pearl onions, 3 kinds of cold cuts (prosciutto, salami and a very tasty beef), crusty bread cubes, a complimentary glass of kir, and a nice big green salad. So, for $80 plus wine plus taxes (plus the Intrawest tax) plus gratuity...we wouldn't go back. I tried not to think of all the amazing restaurants we could have eaten at in Montreal or Toronto for the same price. Thu Mar 26 12:01:22 -0700 2009 4507735 14906 Food Tourist 7 4545501 Glad you enjoyed it. Regarding the cost it's pretty much on par with most ski resort fondue places. Based on the quality and amount of food you get, I don't think we've every actually finished everything, we feel it's worth it. We always make an effort to check get fondue when on a ski trip and it's one of the better ones. It's probably not the best choice if trying to find budget eats but also not really fair to compare the dollar value of a kitschy fondue dinner at steps from ski lifts to a meal in a major metropolitan city. Fri Mar 27 20:46:25 -0700 2009 4540961 99681 abigllama 5 4540981 Tried the seafood crepe at Creperie Catherine for lunch. Tasty, but the bechamel was mediocre. At $16.95 it was the most expensive crepe on the menu, but nothing else appealed to me. They also serve gluwein (heated flavoured wine). I enjoyed the kitschy atmosphere. Thu Mar 26 12:05:16 -0700 2009 4496487 14906 Food Tourist 1 4509438 The Casse-croute in St. Jovite is super cheap and real friendly. 995 rue de Saint-Jovite, Mont-Tremblant, QC, J8E3J8 Friday 5-8 they have spaghetti for $5.95. Also fully licensed, which is unusual for a casse-croute. Mon Mar 16 10:19:18 -0700 2009 4246441 265199 mtlalex 1 4515146 Thanks to everyone who chimed in with recent opinions and suggestions. One more big request - where can we find great beer in the Mont-Tremblant area? I'm talking about Dieu du Ciel; St. Ambroise Framboise or Scotch Ale; Unibroue flavours we can't get at the LCBO (e.g. Don de Dieu, Chambly Noire, Ephemere, Seigneuriale, etc.) Pub or depanneur locations please! Anyone been to La Cave a Bieres at 856 rue de St-Jovite? Tue Mar 17 20:46:53 -0700 2009 4246441 14906 Food Tourist 2 4540942 The concierge told us that La Cave a Bieres shut down and was replaced by a health food store! She then sent us to Metro, of all places, to buy good beer. What a farce! Metro doesn't carry any local beers. Luckily, we found IGA which stocks Dieu du Ciel! (including a 4-flavour discovery pack), all Unibroue products (Don de Dieu, Ephemere Pomme, etc.), and other local microbrasserie products such as the St-Arnould next door. IGA was offering $5 off two 6-pack cases of Unibroue (this was last Saturday). We also checked Maxi but they only had a very limited selection of local beer and none of the good stuff. Thu Mar 26 11:55:55 -0700 2009 4515146 14906 Food Tourist 3 5073883 Thanks for the beer tip FT. We're heading up to Tremblant this weekend to check out the soggy folliage. We usually pick up our condo grub and beer at the IGA, and they do seem to have an unusually large selection of microbrews for a grocery store. Thu Oct 01 22:37:46 -0700 2009 4540942 99681 abigllama