The Best New Restaurants in Montreal [April 2025]

Spring in this city arrives somewhat slowly, quietly—but the best new restaurants in Montreal definitely don't. April’s newcomers hit the ground running, from long-anticipated openings with stacked teams behind them to low-key counters already drawing serious crowds. Some are the product of years in the making, others feel like they were willed into existence overnight—but each one reflects the city’s restless appetite for what’s next.

This month’s 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 October 2024: Hoshi, Chez Maman Jeanne, DADA, Zama, Star Bar, Mémo, and Bar Les Cousins.

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

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.

Tête de Pierogi

3814 Rue Masson

Tête de Pierogi (Pierogi Head) brings old-world comforts to Rosemont with a Polish takeout counter on rue Masson serving handmade pierogi packed with rotating seasonal fillings—like sun-dried tomato, basil, potato, and parmesan—alongside traditional toppings like crispy onions, sour cream, and herbs. Everything’s made in-house from the dough to the garnishes, with flavours that balance nostalgia and invention. Expect other Eastern European staples too, like tomato-based cabbage soup with ground beef and rice or wild mushroom broths loaded with shiitake, oyster, and button mushrooms. Open Thursday to Sunday until they sell out (and they usually do), this small counter is quietly building a loyal following for good reason.

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.

Taglio

1889 Centre St

If you care about Montreal smoked meat done right, the butcher shop and sandwich counter at Taglio is worth the trip. This Pointe-Saint-Charles butcher shop and deli doesn’t take shortcuts—whole briskets are cured, smoked for 13 hours over cherry and hickory wood, then sliced fresh to order. No pre-sliced steam trays, no mass production, just deep, peppery, melt-in-your-mouth perfection.

But Taglio isn’t just a smoked meat joint. The sandwiches alone justify the visit—porchetta with eggplant and red pepper sauce, mortadella with pistachio cream, house-cured salmon, roast beef with spicy aioli—all made with the same obsessive attention to detail. The butcher counter stocks dry-aged beef, house-made sausages, and specialty cuts, and soon, they’ll be baking their own bread.

With only five seats at the counter, this isn’t a place to linger—it’s a place to grab something exceptional and go. In a city where smoked meat is either fading or factory-made, Taglio is keeping it real.

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.

Leila

5439 Saint-Laurent Boulevard

Leila carves out a niche in the Mile End with its unapologetic homage to Southern Mediterranean flavours. Spearheaded by chef Amine Laabi and a team of longtime collaborators, the restaurant combines rustic charm with a dash of urban sophistication. Inside, earthy hues and a tucked-away lounge outfitted with vintage rugs offer a setting that feels equal parts relaxed and intentional. Drinks are as unfussy as the vibe, with classic cocktails and a tight list of wines from Spain, Italy, and beyond.

The menu? Straightforward, sunny, and made to share. Highlights include Moroccan sardines on brioche, lamb merguez, fusilli with lamb flank and chanterelles, and braised beef cheek—and that's just to start with its winter opening date in December 2024.

Éléonore

2804 Ontario Street East

Following the opening of Junco in September 2024 (see below), its sister operation Éléonore blends French charm with a laid-back edge, making it the go-to spot in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve for indulgences in the evening. The menu leans into the classics with a modern twist, serving up dishes that comfort and impress in equal measure.

Whether it’s the honeyed depth of a Lune de Miel cocktail or a bottle of natural wine selected to complement your mood, the space is meant for intimate evenings with soft lighting and a welcoming vibe that encourages lingering.

La Courtepointe

220 Rue Villeray

La Courtepointe steps into the heart of Villeray with big shoes to fill, taking over the beloved Miss Villeray spot and transforming it into a warm, unpretentious hub for the neighbourhood. The space, now a vibrant bar and bistro, blends the old and new, keeping the iconic Miss Villeray sign while introducing a fresh identity rooted in community and conviviality.

Helmed by a group of friends—Simon Bilodeau, Cédric Drouillard, Gabriel Marcouillier, Maxime d’Amore Fongaro, and Maxime Duquette—the concept focuses on affordable microbrews, natural wines, and a seasonal menu crafted by Maxime acting as chef. Plates like miso-glazed mushrooms or fennel salad showcase local ingredients with finesse, pairing beautifully with house-brewed collaborations and thoughtfully selected wines.

La Scacciata

2660 Notre-Dame Street West

La Scacciata is rewriting Italian dining in Montreal its own way. Specializing in scacciata—a Sicilian focaccia ideal for sandwiches and pizzas—this spot near Atwater Market has a menu centred on quality, with all key ingredients imported directly from Sicily to capture the authentic taste of the region. The team sources fresh, seasonal produce from local organic farms to complement their imported offerings.

It’s a philosophy that pairs Sicilian soul with Montréal’s agricultural spirit—and then there’s the showstopper: a six-foot pizza designed for sharing, perfect for families, gatherings, or anyone craving an unforgettable slice of communal dining.

Tacos Montreal

6720 Saint-Laurent Boulevard

Tacos Montreal in Little Italy serves authentic Mexican dishes served in portions big enough to satisfy any appetite. This opened spot is already making waves with its standout tacos al pastor, featuring tender, marinated pork topped with real pineapple, onions, and cilantro—all served on your choice of tortilla. Beyond tacos, the menu includes cheesy alambre, hearty tortas, loaded nachos, and gringas packed with chorizo. It includes halal and vegan options, as well.

Birbante

5386 St Laurent Blvd

Birbante's about the essence of 1970s Milan. The brainchild of brothers Pierpaolo and Davide—who also helm La Panzeria—this Italian spot in the Mile End touches on aperitivo culture with bold dishes. It's a versatile spot where you can dig into apericena—Italy’s laid-back blend of small bites and drinks—or a full meal:

Start an evening with antipasti like the Crudo di Capesante made with fresh scallops, blood orange and mint, or the Doppia Bruschetta, balancing spicy ’nduja with stracciatella and pistachios. Other dishes are more substantial, like the Creste di Gallo alla Bolognese, Risotto alla Milanese with saffron and guanciale slices, Pesce Spada—swordfish with tomato confit and toasted almonds—or the smoky Controfiletto sirloin, paired with roasted potatoes and mushrooms.

Bowie

457 Sainte Hélène St

Found beneath Dorsia and crafted by WITH Hospitality, Bowie's a subterranean enclave channelling the spirit of the world’s elite private clubs. Its dim lighting, plush surroundings, and unwavering dress code set the stage for a late-night menu that pairs upscaled bites with classic and signature cocktails, all for a refined way to cap off a night.