It’s 5:01 p.m., you have your bag on your shoulder, briefcase in hand, you’re almost in the elevator. Happy Hour is doing roll call and you answer “present”. Why not turn one beer into two and visit a Montreal bar or pub that serves excellent food? Here are some great ideas to help you choose.
If you’re looking to get some good grub while you sip on a pint of Guinness, grab your friends and head to McKibbins on St-Laurent. They have tasty classic pub fare and offer a buffet of finger foods to those enjoying the happy hour specials. They also offer a discount on a special meal most nights. Sit back and relax, as happy hour at McKibbins lasts until 8 p.m.
Reservoir is a popular microbrewery restaurant on Duluth. It’s a small cozy place that serves gourmet bites along with its brews. Starting at 5 p.m., enjoy a tasty and well-priced snack menu that includes fries to go with your seasonal beers. Reservoir offers a chalkboard menu of their made-on-site brews as well as their eats. It’s the perfect spot for a romantic 5 à 7.
If you’re looking to do your 5 à 7 in style, then Méchant Boeuf is the place for you. The restaurant is in full swing as the DJ keeps the party going all the way through the night. Their happy hour drink are free-poured, and their 5 à 7 menu which includes oysters and tartars. Méchant Boeuf is popular is the trendy professionals working in the area. Reservations are recommended.
On Thursdays, BEVO Bar may be the most happening bar in the area due to their “Bières, bulles et bouchées” soirée. Enjoy specials on beers and Prosecco, and munch on free Italian canapés and pizza bites. The décor is chic and the crowd is trendy, but this place remains unpretentious, and a great place for fine Italian cuisine and wood fire oven pizza.
This loft pool bar has everything you need to enjoy a very long happy hour: original cocktails, pool tables, foosball, arcade games, and more. You can also enjoy a lovely selection of scotches and get caught up in the salmon tartare, salads, sandwiches and tacos.
Head to this Plateau resto-bar and salivate over the long line of microbrewery beers offered on tap – only the best. Here, you can even try Trou du diable on tap, which is something to talk about! As for food, you'll be on your knees begging for more of the taco trio or the Boston Flank Steak, a marinated flank steak lettuce wrap served with sticky rice and spicy mayonnaise.
A wine bar worthy of this designation must offer a beautiful menu. Cocktails, port, wine, beer and spirits accompany your trays of cold cuts and cheeses, mini bison burgers, plates of seafood, lobster rolls or hanger steak. Why do things simply when you can do them like this?
Chez Simone, we drink good wine so take the time to choose well. But we don't drink alone; we accompany it with delicious house meats, cheeses, fish or meat dishes, or salads.
House beers, microbrewery beers on tap and a good quantity of whiskeys await you, and if you can only go there once, you MUST taste the poutiflette, a poutine-tartiflette made of bacon, caramelized onions, leeks, cream sauce, Pied-De-Vent cheese and cheese curd.
This bistro-tavern in Old Montreal – with another location in Trois-Rivières – offers a beautiful list of house beers on tap (glass, pint or giant size), as well as bourbons and scotches. You can treat yourself to tapas, canapés or more complete dishes like the pulled pork sandwich, falafel pita, house-smoked meat, gravlax, or trout and shrimp burger.
This friendly Griffintown pub offers whiskey, bourbon and rum, plus a selection of imported and domestic beers. The pub-style food is sure to keep you content. Oysters, quesadillas, chicken wings, nacho plates, and fish n’ chips are all waiting for you, but there’s also tartare, grilled salmon, a lamb burger, and fish tacos.
Both an English pub and sports bar, it’s the ideal place for a group gathering after your tough day (let’s say) at the office. Here whiskey is honoured but beer certainly holds its own. You can eat all day long here. Enhance your happy hour with typical dishes like Lancashire Pot (braised lamb with vegetables), Georgia's Catch (grilled salmon and mashed parsnips) or the Bangers & Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes).
Beer and gin are the pride of this establishment located behind (or in front) of the Jean-Talon Market. The small kitchen prepares little wonders like the excellent mac n’ cheese, the fish n’ chips, the flank steak, and red meat tartare, not to mention the classic poutine and their “skouik skouik cheese”. Check back on the weekend to feast on their breakfast brunch that’ll keep you fed until Tuesday
This “little Vieux-Rosemont brewery” offers more than a dozen house beers, from the red to the IPA, through to the barley wine and the imperial stout. It’s also worth going to share the charcuterie platter, smoked salmon with maple, or the generous plate of nachos.
Etoh has quickly become one of the flagship spots in the Villeray neighbourhood. Located a block from Jarry Metro station, they have beautiful beers – their own and an excellent selection of microbrews (Trois mousquetaires, Trou du diable, Dieu du ciel, etc.). In terms of food, you can share the planks of cheeses, meats or fish, or go for a sandwich or nachos. The choice of salad is very interesting, but since you only have one life to live, you have to try the smoked duck salad with berries and almonds.
Cocktails and wines will enhance your happy hour in this Montreal institution, as will the food. Several entrées are on the menu (corn fritters, salads, platters of meat or cheese, and so on). For those with a big appetite, choose between two “workers plates”: the fish (salmon gravlax, fish terrine, salad and devilled egg), or the meat (duck, pork rillettes and sausage, cheddar and devilled eggs). Other dishes are also available.