Réservation Restaurant Laval L'essentiel

Xuelan Sun

2 years ago

4

Food is beautiful and good, service and baguettes have room to be improved 🙂

Harry Holtzman

2 years ago

3

I visit Laval often. And have eaten at l'Essentiel twice before. This third time something was off. The others in my party were more than satisfied. I was much less than... My main course cod with shrimp and risotto was overcooked and served luke warm. The shrimp were mushy; the cod had no taste; the risotto, mush. (Had to use "mush" twice as it was all the same consistency and ... bland) Bistro food should rely heavily on the freshness of the ingredients. Everything seemed to be there in the bowl they served to make something delightful: fresh- seeming vegetables, prosciutto, pesto.... It felt like a frozen meal rewarmed served in an ostentatious heavy ceramic bowl with a substantial lip that curved inward that made it uncomfortable to get at your food and a rough surface... that, when you got down to the bottom, your fork scraped in a really annoying way. (I should have sent it all back...) I was hoping that dessert would make up for it. The chocolate chip cookie I had was dry. What they call here an "étouffe chrétien" (which literally translates to "stuff a Christian") Like many French bakers, this one didn't seem to know that the essential ingredients of a chocolate chip cookie are a mixture of white and dark brown sugar ("sucre vergeoise") and high-quality vanilla extract. I hope this was just an off-night for them! Voir plus

Christine Guillaume-Wellfare

5 years ago

4

Nice restaurant. Food not to everyone's taste but if you are slightly adventurous then give it a go. Nice ambiance. Service very slow though