Amir

Service was slow. Food took a long time to come. Good was not worth the wait and quality was terrible. You can probably find much nicer places for similar pricing. Waiters seemed inexperienced and all over the place. The chefs omelette was supposed to come with a side of fruit. The side of fruit came with two pieces and that’s all. Definitely won’t come here again.

We did not know that this was Amir. There was no name on the outside. We only found out through Unilocal,so maybe they lost the franchise rights.
We were greeted by a nice lady at the entrance offering us free appetizer (soup or salad) and dessert with the purchase of the entrees.
Since every other restaurant on the strip was packed, and we had a group of 14, it seemed like a a good deal. They had a cool mist coming from under the patio canopy which created a nice visual effect, and gave a nice perception of cooling on a hot Montréal day, but it made the tables sticky and dank. The tables on the patio were worn and mismatched giving the impression that the patio was an afterthought. The tables were filthy, and the hostess brought us napkins to open and place on the tables. Why not have place mats then?
The food: Artichoke salad was a huge bowl of cut artichokes with a dressing. That is, open the can, pour artichokes into a bowl, toss with dressing and serve. My guests could not eat it all. The Fish for the fish and chips were the deep fried cheap stuff. The middle-​eastern specialties which I have ordered in other places were chicken kebabs (mine) and beef Kabobs, (no lamb, huh?) served with what might have been McCain’s Seasoned hashbrown potatoes; little diced potato cubes with a seasoning coating, deep fried. We had to asked for Naan, or pita which I usually get in other places.
The beverages: Typically an operation’s gold-​mine. We were hosting our family from abroad, so we were a social group. aka, keep offering us drinks, and you will make a mint! We ordered drinks, and well, the food came before the drinks. She did bring us a (singular) pitcher of water to share with the table (60 oz divided by 14 people= 4.28 oz per person) and plastic glasses. 40 minutes in, we had our food, I offered to make the drinks for them, but was assured that they had it under control. No refills were offered. Did I mention that it was a hot day, and we had a social group?
The Service: I can only describe it this way. This is a fast-​food concept trying to be full service. It doesn’t work. There is no service standard. The staff has not been trained to be waitstaff, and have no sense of urgency, or focus towards guest satisfaction. They do apologize lots though. It feels like they are in business to make money, not make their guests happy. Which, being in a tourist trap probably works, but is such a waste of opportunity. BTW, we came back to Old Montréal the next day, and avoided the place like the plague (lost opportunity?). We went next door instead (Wow)
The place lacks love. The menu is pedestrian, and is printed as cheaply as possible. There is no brand identity, nor really a concept (outside of being fast food, trying to be full service). The place is filthy and disorganized; tables on the inside not setup properly, kegs and debris against the wall beside the bar. Bathrooms were dirty. I told the owner he can get toilet paper dispensers from his supplier for free, instead of having a broken, non-​functioning one on the wall.
The staff were nice and tried their best. It is sad to see such a beautiful location not maximize their potential. And, they do nothing to support the tourist trade and the wow factor that is Old Montréal. Thank goodness we went to the restaurant next door on our following visit, or my guests would have said that they «went to Old Montréal, which was great, but the food sucked!».

Spotty service, plenty of patio space — and over 2 for 1 happy hour scam 2 glasses of beer was 13.08. Complete tourist trap. Should have known better.

Its in the middle of the Old Montréal tourist trap, but when you need something to eat it works. Among the restaurants on Place Jacques-​Cartier, Amir had the only dishes that were cheap and they had a decent patio. We had two sangrias & linguine poulets. The food was good, but it was kind of confusing since we thought we were ordering the special (linguine primavera). Oh well.
But they do get stars off for the constant waiting. The food took a while and wrapping up leftovers/​getting the check took forever!!!

We passed by Amir twice so far, and its a great location, great patio. Just like any city in the world, the touristy areas usually aren’t the most sophisticated. And you always expect a bit of up’s and downs. We tried several restaurants during our week stay and amir was our favourite!

Jacques-​Cartier Place is to Montréal what Pier 39 is to my San Francisco… a tourist trap. Nevertheless, it’s very scenic and my wife and I were on our first trip to Montréal, so we stopped in our last day at Amir, lured by the «2 for 1» drink offer on a sign out front. We didn’t eat anything (my wife at crepes next door) but just wanted the two beers for the listed $ 6.75. The server came with one beer, about 20 oz., and said, «See, two for one.» Even my wife, who doesn’t drink, knew what a rip that was. THEN, when the bill came, it said $ 11.89 or so. I called the manager over. I said, sure, I was an American tourist, but $ 11.89 for one 20-​oz beer was ridiculous. The manager called the waiter over who said, «Oh, sorry, my mistake.» Yeah. This is a tourist trap. Avoid.

I’d never been to an Amir, didn’t realize it was a chain. The servers were really confused (I’m hoping it was because they hadn’t used the patio in a while). It too FOREVER for the food to come. The only plus — the potatoes, they were yummy (and I don’t even like potatoes). Go for the patio, not for the service. One guy near us got smart, and went through the take out section and served himself. He got his food faster and saved on the tip!