Auberge Willow

Change of owners and team in the last couple years seem to have made a huge difference because we had a wonderful time here this weekend! We stayed in their Anchorage House, a beautiful heritage home rented out by the room BnB style across the street from the Inn but owned and operated by the same folks. We ate in the Pub at the Auberge a couple of times and had the pleasure of the continental breakfast served in the Inn in the mornings. Everywhere I went in both buildings was immaculately clean, and tasteful in their cozy décor. The bed in the room we stayed in was super comfy and the room was big and cool and bright. I was so pleased with the Anchorage house I’m thinking of renting out the whole thing for an upcoming family reunion — you get a big lovely kitchen, back deck, BBQ, dining room table and 5 bedrooms, plus access to the eats across the street.
About those eats: like I mentioned, we didn’t eat in the fancy restaurant, and didn’t eat on the huge lovely decks either (we enjoyed our coffee there during the day and left them to the crowds and mosquitos for dinner.) Our meals in the pub were great though! Big windows, comfortable tables, super friendly quick staff, and the burger, fish and chips, salads, fries, all were super fresh, tasty, made with local ingredients, fairly priced. The beer selection could be a little more interesting, I’d love to see more local microbrews on there and for me that would make this a spot I’d venture back to just for dinner and drinks. As it is though, I look forward to coming back. The huge rolling lawn is beautifully maintained and there are tons of huge red comfy chairs to sit on and watch the ferries go by while you enjoy a beverage and wait for your table. On a sunny Saturday the place was full of locals and everyone seemed so happy and relaxed, it was a great vibe, definitely recommended. I also noticed and really loved the art in the lobby — there is so much bad art out there, good art makes my heart happy and deserves notice.
A couple of suggestions: one of the bathrooms in the Anchorage House didn’t have a lock on the door, this is kind of important I think in shared accommodations. The burger was served medium rare, which I like, but I’d suggest the server check in with customers about this when ordering since some people (eg: anyone who has recently had a serious abdominal surgery) legit can’t eat anything remotely uncooked. The room we stayed in wasn’t cleaned while we were there, but I’m not sure this is actually a service offered in the BnB (but there were signs provided to hang on the door? Not an issue, just confusing.) The continental breakfast could be bumped up a notch with fresh local baked goods, but the coffee was quite good and everything was plentiful and tasty.
Anyway, I’m a fan. I love seeing professional adults on a staff who really love their job and take it seriously and are sharing what they know with young new staff, I have good feelings about the future here and wish them all the luck!

Their Oka salad is BOMB. Auberge Willow is cute and chic, it’s a great place for a fancy night out or to enjoy a nice summer day on the terrace. The pub is cozy and intimate and feels clean compared to other pub-​style restaurants. It’s not somewhere you’d go every weekend but something everyone should try it once.

The site is gorgeous and the terrace offers outstanding views: the river, the Hudson-​Oka Ferry, the village of Oka across. We so much wanted to love the place!
We stopped at Happy Hour time on Friday and wanted to have a drink and small bites. There was no happy hour prices so we had to settle for regular price. $ 24 for a sangria pitcher… well, they call it sangria, it was a strange mixed that tasted like those cheap pops that you can find in discount stores… the mixed appetizer plate was overpriced and barely passable.
The patio is filled with cheap furniture and service was basic.
Overhyped, pretentious, pricy and uninteresting. It’s a shame because there is not many sites on the water in Montréal area and the place have so much potential!

Really good food and excellent service. We arrived on a Saturday evening at 6 without reservations and even though they were busy and full, they managed to make an extra table for us. We will definitely be back.

The Willow is BACK! Food is wonderful, service was great, come back and come back often!!!

Il y a de ces restos qui sont surévalués.
Il y en a d’autre qui se surévalue eux-​mêmes.
Si j’avais à discerner lequel de ces deux cas de figure s’appliqué à l’auberge Willow, je dirais sans contredit le deuxième.
Pourquoi «surévalué «, me demanderez-​vous? Si tout comme moi, vous croyez que débourser 75 $ pour un brunch du dimanche pour 2 personnes est abusif, alors poursuivez votre lecture.
Donc, j’ai dû débourser 75 $ (pourboire et taxes inclus) pour un buffet à déjeuner correcte, sans plus. À ce prix, je m’attendais à du haut de gamme. Oubliez ça ! Du choix et de la quantité, il y en a. Mais pour le reste, ça frôle la banalité. Il y a bien une petite table à fromage du Québec et du saumon frais pour se faire des bagels, mais pour le reste, rien d’autre ici né vaut le prix épouvantable de 30 $ par personne. Sans blague, c’est le prix d’un expresso et d’une pâtisserie au café Holt Renfrew (oui, j’ironise un peu).
Points positifs; je dirais que le service est rapide et très courtois. Le décor est charmant, surtout si vous choisissez une table côté taverne, et s’inscrit dans la pure tradition des pubs anglais. La quantité de nourriture est abondante. J’adore l’emplacement avec une vue sur le Lac des Deux-​Montagnes et le parc d’Oka de l’autre côté. Après le repas, je vous suggère un arrêt dans la pittoresque municipalité d’Hudson.
Vous l’aurez compris, je me suis senti détrousser à la suite de mon brunch dominical au Willow. Dommage. L’endroit pourrait offrir beaucoup mieux. Le potentiel est là.

As others mentioned in their reviews, this place has gone down in quality and service over the years. I have been going there for many years because of the patio/​garden with the lake view. You can take your beer or sangria pitcher and sit by the lake and watch the sailboats while the kids can run around the large green area. The food used to be fair. The fish n’ chips is a good plate usually.
However, the last time I was there on a Saturday afternoon/​evening, it was just impossible to get any good service (useless waitress), could not get the food, and when it finally arrived (almost 1h late) it was mediocre. I complained to the manager, a young fellow looking quite inexperienced. After some apologies, they knocked a couple off beers of my tab (cheep). My table neighbors agrees with me that the whole meal should have been free. At he end, it was an expensive and frustrating experience
It is sad because it is a really beautiful place to enjoy a nice summer afternoon or evening. I may try again but I cannot recommend this place anymore

The food was generally very poor. Hamburgers were awful and massively overpriced for the quality. All the dishes we ordered were bland and poorly seasoned. The menu is from the 80’s (or a bad chain restaurant), they could do so much more with this great location but are not. Also service was so slow… won’t be going back.

Have been going to the Willows for many years. Something has changed. New owner or manager? don’t know for sure. However, my friend and I went there recently to celebrate a special occasion and we were very disappointed — first time ever!
The appetizers and salad were very good. The main course was overpriced for what we received and the quality of that part of the meal was not satisfactory.
We will probably give the Willows another chance in the future, but if it is not up to the standards of the past I will definitely speak with the Manager before leaving and mention why I am not satisfied and that I will probably not return again or refer anyone else to dine there.
We dined in the bar area which I think could use some sprucing up and maybe some new placemats — the small brown ones are looking worn and tired.

Remember Twin Peaks? If David Lynch owned a shorefront bar in Quebec this would be the one.
Willow Inn claims to be more than 100 years old, though only the fireplace dates from before the mid-​1960s. Décor is pretty «rural Canada bar» style, except for the gorgeous view of the Ottawa river and the Oka ferry going back and forth (back and forth, etc.). They also have a lawn/​terrace where you can have drinks but no food.
Hudson is a charming town about halfway between Ottawa and Montréal. Even if you’ve never been there you’ve seen it before times. It is often the location for tv shows and movies that purport to be set in small town New England.
The customers at the Willow are just, well, quirky. Like a lot of failed reality show performers got together in one place to drink and dine. (Think of Dog the Bounty Hunter, his lovely wife Beth, any Jersey Shore cast member, and the touring cast of Bön Cop, Bad Cop.) Downtown Hudson tends to be a lot more buttoned-​down. Out here on the fringes, no so much.
Some of the appeal might be the weekend wine deal? (Liquor store cost plus $ 5 per bottle).
So enough snobbery. The food was really good. The french fries were excellent (and this is perhaps the toughest pommes frites crowd in the world outside of Belgium). I had a carrot cheddar soup that sounds weird but was weird in a delicious way… and the burger was really, really excellent — thick, juicy and a perfect 10.