The Best New Restaurants in Montreal [June 2025]

Fresh on the heels of the Michelin Guide announcements, the city is abuzz with still more restaurant openings. Newcomers centre around exciting new projects from established names on the scene—couple those with all of the great names that came in the months before, and you've got a lot to get excited about. Who knows, some may be considered among the best restaurants in Montreal in no time.

This edition list spans high-concept tasting menus, counter-service charmers, and buzzy second acts. Whether you’re here for the technique, the vibes, or just a damn good plate of food, these are the spots that earned their place on your radar.

We always keep this list fresh, with no opening more than six months old, so consider this your last chance to check out openings dating back to December 2024.

Take a deeper dive into our picks with our resident restaurant and bar critic Bottomless Pete.

Limousine

639 Victoria Avenue, Saint-Lambert

Laurent Dagenais made his name first through social media. Not long after releasing his cookbook, he’s officially entered the restaurant game with the opening of Limousine, teaming up with Renaud Lambert, Victor Collette, Peter Mant, and Philippe Allard to build something polished and ambitious.

The team assembled behind the bar and the pass is as sharp as the room itself, with a kitchen led by Vincent Monast (Mano Cornuto), Michel Normand (Hiatus), and Pierre Morneau (Cadet, JJacques). Their approach to French cuisine is unfussy but precise: well-aged beef, caviar service, and elevated bistro classics that leave an impression. Drinks get the same treatment, as Jonathan Homier’s cocktail list reworks classic staples with finesse. The space, designed by IVY Studio, hits that rare note between luxe and laid-back: soft leather seating, sculptural lighting, and a bar that feels built for long conversations.

For Dagenais, it’s a long-time dream realized, finally anchored just blocks from where it all began.

3 Pierres 1 Feu

7070 Henri-Julien Avenue

Chef Paul Toussaint brings Haitian fire-cooking and Texas barbecue to Jean-Talon Market in his most personal project yet.

Teaming up with Austin pitmaster Damien M. Brockway and chef Robertho Daphinis, the open-fire smokehouse serves brisket, jerk chicken, sticky ribs, and griot by the pound—all cooked in full view, butcher-style. Sides like pikliz, plantain fries, and cassava root the menu in Caribbean tradition.

Designed by Toussaint himself, the space is filled with nods to his hometown of Jacmel, from the colours and textures to the bar inspired by Hotel Florita. Named after the three-stone cooking method, 3 Pierres 1 Feu is a joyful blend of smoke, spice, and story—where tradition meets bold flavour, and everyone’s invited.

Nouilles Sauvette

43 Beaubien Street East

After a brief hiatus, J’ai Feng has reemerged in a new, more streamlined form. Nouilles Sauvette is the next chapter for Anita Feng, the chef behind some of Montreal’s most soul-warming bowls of Sichuan noodles. With her sister Amy still at the counter and her family now pitching in behind the scenes, Feng has reimagined the format to fit what’s possible during her ongoing cancer treatment.

The premise is straightforward: three styles of sauced noodles—ginger-scallion, sesame-peanut, and a spicy chili oil version—served in takeout cartons through the window. At $8 for a generous 500g portion, it’s both affordable and deeply personal.

Renoir Restaurant

1155 Sherbrooke Street West

After more than two decades as one of Montreal’s go-to French restaurants, Renoir has reopened with a full-scale redesign that goes well beyond cosmetic. This is its next act—and it plays confidently between tradition and reinvention.

Found inside the Sofitel Golden Mile, the reimagined space now includes a sun-drenched dining room, a chef’s table facing the kitchen, and a moodier main room with mirrored ceilings and luxe detailing by local firm 2pir Design. Executive Chef Olivier Perret—Maître Cuisinier de France and a champion of Quebec’s terroir—continues to lead the kitchen, blending classical French technique with local ingredients and seasonal flair.

The updated menu balances staples like foie gras torchon and gravlax with newer dishes such as veal shoulder gratin and black cod mazemen. Desserts by pastry chef Paul Peyrat follow the same elegant logic. Sunday brunch also returns, staged on the terrasse when weather allows.

Bernard Cabaret Gourmand

936 Sainte-Catherine Street East

Dinner and a show gets a maximalist upgrade at Bernard Cabaret Gourmand, the Village’s new burlesque cabaret where the action is constant and the performances happen in every direction—even overhead.

Open Wednesday to Sunday for dinner and weekend brunch, the venue blends high-impact theatricality with a shareable “chaos-style” menu and a sharp wine list of private imports. Produced by the team behind Maison Billing, the experience mixes pole dance, drag, circus arts, and live music in a darkly glamorous setting. Signature nights like Ambiance Burlesque and Folies d’un Soir bring out some of the city’s best artists in rotating acts that unfold between courses. Whether you’re in for the food, the flirtation, or the spectacle, Bernard doesn’t half-commit.

Momiji

5050 De la Côte-de-Liesse Road

With a raw bar, kushiyaki skewers, and a long list of house creations that swing between luxe and experimental, Momiji is the little sister of Bar Otto along the restaurant row of Royalmount.

The menu runs deep, from foie gras-draped salmon nigiri and duck confit mazemen to wagyu-stuffed chicken wings and scallop carpaccio with strawberry vinaigrette. While sushi purists will find omakase and sashimi platters, it’s the hybrid plates—like bluefin tuna “pizza” with truffle aioli or miso-tamago burrata—that signal this is more remix than replica.

Technically still in soft opening, Momiji is already staking its claim as a heavyweight among the growing cluster of high-design restaurants in the area. Whether it leans izakaya, sushi bar, or something more genre-blurring will likely depend on the crowd that finds it.

Limbo

45 Av. Mozart Ouest

Limbo might be the name, but this place is anything but directionless. Taking over the old Marconi address at the corner of Mozart and Clark—a stretch more known for sirens than serenity—this new venture from chef Harrison Shewchuk and a stacked team that includes Jesse Massumi, Jack Zeppetelli, and Xavier Cloutier-Guerard (of Pichai and Pumpui) brings sharp cooking and serious mood to the neighbourhood. The menu draws from French, Italian, and British influences, but with a clear sense of authorship: house-made pastas, scallops with squid ink, endives hiding under folds of jambon blanc, and vegetables from Parcelles, plated like they matter.

The space still features its pressed-tin ceiling and a new open kitchen where the energy hums, backed by a confident cocktail list and a wine program curated by Henri Murray. It’s elegant without posturing, ambitious without overreaching—a restaurant that knows exactly where it’s headed.

Pasta Pooks

6704 Clark Street

The nomadic pasta's gone brick-and-mortar: After years of pop-ups, collabs, and chaos, Pasta Pooks has landed in Little Italy—occupying the former Dinette Triple Crown space with the same irreverent spirit that made it a cult favourite. What started as a pandemic hustle between roommates Luca Vinci and Victor “Coach Vic” Petrenko has evolved into a full-blown operation, with a daily rotating menu of hand-rolled pastas and overstuffed sandwiches that feel more like an event than a lunch.

Vinci, trained at Impasto and raised in a Sardinian-Quebec household, brings the soul and skill. Petrenko, a nightlife lifer with front-of-house finesse, brings the noise. Together with a crew that includes Martin Pariseau, Kai Fox, and “Big Sexy,” they’ve created a spot that’s loud, cramped, and relentlessly fun. There’s room for five to perch inside, more if they like you, and a back room that’ll eventually host dinners and pasta classes. It’s messy, it’s hyped, and the food’s a knockout—just the way they like it.

Phillips Bar

1170 Pl. du Frere Andre

Tucked inside a former bank in downtown Montreal, Phillips Bar reimagines the izakaya as something more fluid: part sushi counter, part lounge, part neighbourhood haunt. The latest project from the team behind Jatoba, it brings together chefs Antonio Park, Olivier Vigneault, and S’Arto Chartier-Otis, who’ve built a menu around makis, hand rolls, and teishoku-inspired plates—think grilled chicken thighs, baby back ribs, and chips made from salmon skin.

The vibe is casual, but everything’s sharp: the hand roll bar doubles as live theatre, and mains rarely cross the $40 mark. The room leans mid-century, with terracotta tones, soft lighting, and a bar that seats 22. There’s also a mezzanine and private dining rooms downstairs for groups, keeping the space versatile without losing intimacy. Drinks cover saké, house cocktails, and low-intervention imports. It’s not trying to be flashy—just fresh, affordable, and very well executed.

Myers

1049 Ave Van Horne

Myers steps into Outremont with a more casual posture than its predecessor Boxermans but has just as much heart. The room has been reimagined for low-key lunches, lively soccer nights, and private parties that stretch into the evening, while the kitchen keeps things dialled into approachable bistro fare with finesse. Gone is the fine-dining edge of its predecessor—what’s here now leans warm, simple, and social, without sacrificing flavour or style.

The vibe? Friendly but not forced. The kind of place where you can sip a glass at the bar during a match or settle into a booth for something a little slower. It’s a new chapter for the team, but the instinct to bring people together around good food and better vibes hasn’t changed.

Sugo

360 Rue Saint-Jean (Longueuil, QC)

Opened by the former team behind Gousto Bistro in the same Vieux-Longueuil space, Sugo sports a 35-seat room that trades in intimacy, warmth, and a tight-knit crew who clearly know how to run a dining room.

Chef Christophe Audet, sous-chef Simon-Pierre Gauthier, and Anna-Julia Pinto bring a kind of low-key precision to the menu: arancini cacio e pepe, rigatoni carbonara, and a standout striploin with borlotti beans and citrus. The pasta’s made in-house, the service is relaxed but sharp, and the decor splits the difference between rustic and refined with olive-green accents and blond wood. The wine list leans into Italian private imports, while the cocktails nod respectfully to tradition—think Grappa Old Fashioned and a fresh take on the Tomatini. It’s not flashy, but it doesn’t need to be—Sugo knows exactly what it’s doing.

Giwa

3780 Wellington Street

Down in Verdun, GIWA offers a version of Korean cuisine that riffs on tradition with precision. Chef Alex Woo brings fine-dining chops to a menu that flips between deeply comforting and sharply inventive. The sot-bap—a rice dish cooked in a stone pot with mushroom-kombu stock and crispy nu-roong-ji at the bottom—comes with seasonal banchan and ferments that feel housemade because they are.

Small plates include yukhwe (beef tartare with pickled pear and seaweed chips) and mulhwe (a spicy cold seafood salad layered with tobiko and Asian pear), both of which show off the kitchen’s ability to balance flavour and texture. Even dessert plays with boundaries, like the Hodumaru, a chocolate mousse-meets-brownie hybrid laced with gochujang and served with maple ice cream.

Pinnacle Wagyu

177 Rue Saint-Paul Est

Pinnacle Wagyu Deli isn’t playing around. Sitting just off the cobblestone in Old Montreal, this counter-style sandwich spot focuses on Wagyu—grilled, pulled, shaved, and smashed into ciabatta and brioche with all the fixings. Think Philly cheesesteak by way of a steakhouse, or a Cubano that’s swapped the pork shoulder for roasted wagyu. There’s a jackfruit option for the meatless crowd as well.

Add-ons like truffle-parmesan fries or animal style sides keep things big, greasy, and proud of it. Drinks lean either classic with Brio and root beer, or house-made with lemonades (mango mint, strawberry basil) that cut through the richness with citrus. Open till 11 p.m. most nights.

La Mecque du Hambourgeois

9007 Rue Hochelaga

La Mecque du Hambourgeois is more about swerving around trends than chasing them: Built by the crew behind Chez Simon Cantine Urbaine, this Tétreaultville newcomer rethinks the burger from the ground up, starting with a 45-day dry-aged patty that lands somewhere between a steakhouse cut and a butcher’s secret. Sourced from Boucherie 3A and cooked rare or medium-rare, it’s a deliberate pivot away from the smash burger wave, dialling into depth over crisp. The team calls it a “steakhouse between two buns,” and that tracks—especially once you factor in the wagyu carpaccio, ribs with mustard fries, and classic sides like aligot and Brussels sprouts.

The 38-seat room, outfitted with salvaged furniture and low lighting, adds a kind of throwback cool, without leaning too hard into nostalgia. Add a few local beers and a tight wine list, and you’ve got a serious contender for one of Quebec’s most thoughtful burger joints.

Le 30 Fevrier

50 Rue Rachel Est

There’s no such thing as February 30, which tells you everything you need to know about this spot: playful, surreal, and slightly out of step with reality—in a good way. Le 30 Février is the latest project from the team behind Café Tordu, and while the brunch is firmly rooted in eggs, toast, and labneh, the execution is anything but expected. French toast comes laced with Nutella and kunafa, the shakshuka gets garnished with pomegranate salsa, and their Benedict sits on croissant-style bread. Most dishes clock in under $30, but the presentation could fool you into thinking you’ve stumbled into a hotel brunch in Beirut. The purple-pink decor and dreamy lighting lean maximalist without crossing into parody.

Molenne

5309 St Laurent Blvd

Some restaurants try to make a splash. Molenne just feels like it’s always been here. Housed in a former hay depot from Montreal’s first racetrack—the same one that gave Mile End its name—this brasserie is built on layers of history. Banquettes salvaged from Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, chimney plaques repurposed as decor, a 32-year-old fridge given a second life—everything about Molenne leans into the past while pushing forward.

But don’t mistake it for a nostalgia act. Chef Louis-Joseph Rochefort is at the helm, turning brasserie staples into something sharper: black cod in shiitake broth, braised cabbage with escargots, white charcutière sauce. The bar, run by Gia Bach Nguyen (Gia), pours cocktails on tap, while a 5,000-bottle wine cellar stocks everything from rare vintages to solid $50 picks.

Molenne isn’t here to chase trends. It’s here to stay.

Siamo Noi

5060 De la Côte-de-Liesse Rd

This latest project from Novantuno Hospitality—the team behind Fiorellino and Stellina—lands in Royalmount with big ambitions: a high-energy dining experience that blends timeless Italian cooking, tableside theatrics, and a dose of effortless cool.

At its core, Siamo Noi is about heritage and hospitality. Co-owner Massimo Lecas describes it as a love letter to Italian culture—one where cicchetti at the bar, handmade pasta, salt-crusted fish carved tableside, and tiramisu assembled before your eyes all come together for a meal meant to be savored, not rushed.

Designed by Kayla Pongrác, the space is polished but warm, the kind of place where you can drop in for an aperitivo or settle in for a long, elegant dinner.

Oncle Lee Kăo

112 McGill St

If Oncle Lee was a statement, Oncle Lee Kǎo is a declaration. The latest project from Andersen Lee and his team, this Old Montreal restaurant takes its name from the Mandarin word for “roast,” and it lives up to it—grilled meats, seafood, and fire-kissed flavours are at the heart of the menu. But Kǎo isn’t just about the heat. It’s about balance, layering street food inspiration with high-end execution.

Expect Sichuan-spiced whole sea bream, cumin-rubbed lamb skewers, and Cornish hen done Hong Kong-style, alongside wok-fried greens, mapo tofu, and seafood-stacked crispy chow mein. The wine list has expanded, the cocktails lean into East Asian influences, and the Baijiu-infused creations aren’t for the faint of heart.

Bigger than Oncle Lee but just as bold, Kǎo is refined without losing its edge—a place where you can grab a snack and a drink or settle in for a feast. Either way, you’ll want to stay awhile.

Sushi Nishinokaze

5400 St Laurent Boulevard

Sushi Nishinokaze strips omakase down to its essence: eight seats, a reverence for Edomae tradition, and a meticulous balance between local wild catches and Japanese imports. Helmed by chef Vincent Gee and co-owner Julian Doan, this Mile End sushiya operates like a living gallery, where centuries-old ceramics share the spotlight with razor-sharp craftsmanship. The menu moves through a 20-course sequence, from otsumami starters to binchotan-grilled bites and precise nigiri, with each dish showcasing the natural expression of its ingredients.

Doan, a longtime advocate for purist sushi, ensures every detail—from the curated ceramics to the jazz soundtrack—adds to an immersive, deeply considered experience. Here, sushi is storytelling, a lesson in restraint, and a showcase of what Canada's wild waters can bring to the omakase counter.

Chez Greenberg

5159 Avenue du Parc

Chez Greenberg is more than just a bagel and smoked fish counter—it’s the start of something bigger. Taking over the former Lustucru space on Avenue du Parc, this project is the brainchild of Jake Greenberg of Zaidie’s smoked salmon and Daniel Feinglos (Agriculture du Coin).

What began as a pandemic-born online business selling smoked salmon has now landed in a physical space, offering bagel sandwiches, latkes, knishes, and homemade cream cheeses. The shop also serves as a first step toward Feinglos’ larger vision—an urban farm on Parc producing herbs, greens, and rainbow trout.

Muni

1750 Rue Saint-Patrick

Muni isn’t just another sports bar with a golf simulator shoved in the back—it’s a full-scale indoor golf club designed for those who take their swings as seriously as their drinks. Set in an 8,000-square-foot space in Pointe-Saint-Charles, this urban take on the fairway offers seven semi-private, lounge-style simulators powered by GOLFZON tech, meaning each shot is tracked, every lie is simulated, and even AI swing analysis is on the table.

The setup caters to both seasoned players and first-timers, but golf isn’t the only draw. The bar program leans into New Orleans-inspired cocktails, while the kitchen turns out Southern-style eats like fried chicken, biscuits, and elevated takes on country club fare. A boutique rounds out the experience, stocking up-and-coming golf brands like Malbon and Forden. Designed by Ivy Studio, the space blends industrial bones with a refined edge, making it a welcome alternative to both traditional country clubs and standard sports bars.

Rôtisserie La Lune

391 Rue Saint-Zotique

Rôtisserie La Lune is a love letter to Québécois rotisserie culture, reimagined by the celebrated team behind Mon Lapin in Little Italy. Merging old-school comfort with the creative flair that made its sister restaurant a Canadian culinary heavyweight, it's where executive chefs Marc-Olivier Frappier and Jessica Noël work their magic on poultry—think tender chicken, duck, and guinea fowl—sourced from trusted local farms.

The dining room, designed by Zebulon Perron, exudes timeless warmth. With nods to the lunar cycle and a commanding wooden owl at the entrance, it’s an inviting space where rotisserie aromas and the noise of a bustling and lively dining room mingle. A curated wine list by Vanya Filipovic and Alex Landry balances French gems with Quebec’s finest. No reservations, no pretension—just quality comfort food done with soul.