Sparrow / Le Moineau

Attention: i’m reviewing this as a cocktail bar rather than a brunch place. The waitress was chatting with friends for over 45 min before serving us. No one seems to care about our existence despite the fact that the place was almost empty at 11pm on a saturday night. Another place that ‘lives up’ its stereotype of plateau mile-​end ;) It proves truly that «putting a bird on it» really works! #portlandia

The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is cause the service is meh. I always get the same girl and she is isn’t very friendly!!! Not a good look for a waitress at an otherwise lovely bar/​restaurant. Oysters are always lovely and fresh, but if you like them spicy ask for hot sauce when you order! The salads and huge and amazing, the grilled cheese… to die for, channa masala. tasty! Drinks? Top notch and the bartenders are usually pretty hot

My friend and I were looking for a brunch place that neither of us had been to. We decided to go to sparrow eventually. The environment was great. I especially liked the sparrow logo that appeared basically everywhere. They do not have a huge list of food there, but all the people seemed to enjoy the food. I ordered fried eggs with sage, which was awesome. The baked tomato was the best tomato I’ve ever had. One only thing was that since there were people waiting, the waitress kind of pushing us to leave even though my friend and I were still talking.

Good service, good atmosphere, solid food, mediocre drinks. I would come back but certainly not the top of my list.

Came here for brunch on a Sunday, and while it was packed, it didn’t take that long to be seated– and immediately we were served coffee and water, which was nice (as it was a chilly day and we needed a warm beverage to warm up). And the food? AMAZING! I still think back to it sometimes! And will definitely visit again when I am in town next time!

Came for Sunday brunch with my boyfriend. Around around 10:30am and had no problem finding a seat. Noticed the place getting full around 11ish but still, people only waited about 10 minutes for a table. Service was fast and our 2 waitresses were attentive. Have no complaints there. I ordered the blood orange mimosa! Highly recommend if you are a mimosa person, I unfortunately am not. Champagne doesn’t do it for me so I ordered a good old fashion Bloody Mary. Now before I begin on the Bloody Mary, please note that it takes a lot to impress me on bloody Mary’s. I’ve gone to place that «specialize» in bloody Mary’s and they were horrible!!!
This one however is perfect!!! Just the right amount of spice, tomato and vodka!!! Definitely try the bloody Mary’s!!!
Now for food. Ordered the peanut butter donut, the Nutella donut an the lemon zest donut. Got one of each because I saw other reviews state you had to try. I don’t feel it necessary to get all 3. The Nutella was amazing but I’ve had Nutella before so next time I wouldn’t get it. I personally didn’t like the lemon one. Now, the peanut hitter and jelly was to die for!!! Definitely get that one.
For our meals, my boyfriend got the steak and eggs. He of course finished the whole plate. I ordered the yogurt and granola cuz my tummy is in an uproar from all the yummy food Montréal had to offer. Plate was good. Granola, pomegranate, Apple and Greek yogurt!
Highly recommend the sparrow. Cute old time rustic bar atmosphere with amazing brunch and staff!

Best brunch in the city!
Eggs with sage are ridiculously good, and if you don’t want the bacon (which you do!) there’s also an option to get tomatoes instead. The juices are so delicious too!
The Turkish breakfast is light and tasty and the shakshouka is pretty good too! I also love the salmon gravlax dish.
Good service, cute décor.

LOVED this place, maybe it was the ambiance, maybe it was the amazing company, maybe it was the friendly and efficient service, or maybe it was the fantastic food, but I have nothing but good things to say about this brunch place!
We arrived here around 11am in the afternoon, and were lucky enough to be seated right away. They don’t take reservations, so I highly recommend coming before the brunch rush (which starts flooding in around 12pm). Our server came over with menus and water right away, and we were soon happily mulling over what we wanted to order. I ordered coffee, which comes with unlimited refills ($ 2), and you can ask for soy milk instead of the usual milk or cream. The coffee was fantastic, and the unlimited refills satisfied my early morning need for caffeine.
My friend had been here in the past and recommended the house-​smoked trout ($ 16). I was trying to decide between this dish and the Shakshuka ($ 13), which contains two poached eggs in a Morrocan spiced tomato sauce and sourdough toast. Both sounded amazing, but with the reverent reviews of the trout, I had to try it for myself.
Once we ordered, our food arrived pretty quickly, in under 15 min. The house-​smoked trout comes with a hefty portion of delicious smoked trout, on top of savoury and fluffy green onion pancakes, a soft boiled egg, side of beets and crème fraîche to complement. It was a huge portion for $ 16, and I was completely satisfied after. I was so glad I ordered this, and if given the choice, would hands down order it again. The lightness of the crème fraîche and green onion pancakes went perfectly with the saltier, more dense texture of the trout.
Service was amazing throughout, food was fantastic, and I loved the hip, quiet and homey environment. I’ll definitely be back the next time I visit Montréal!

Nous y allions pour boire seulement.
(alors ce n’est pas un review de la bouffe ;))
L’ambiance était bonne pour un jeudi soir tard,
Nos 2 drinks: Frenck 75 et Basil Gimlet étaient vraiment savoureux.
Lorsqu’on a commandé 2 bières cream ale, on nous a servit 2 IPA (qu’on a gardés parce qu’on n’aime pas le gaspillage mais on était pas mal déçues).
Le service était super inéfficace… heureusement on était pas mal relax nous aussi.
Finalement, on y retournera, mais on né le recommande pas TANT QUE Ça…
Né pas faire un détour… mais s’y arrêter si on est dans le coin.

Been there twice despite the amazing reviews, simply wasn’t wowed by it.
Coffee taste burnt and the dishes were just ok. Had an egg and steak: steak was tasteless.
Décor is hipster.

Très ambiance Mile-​End, l’espace est grand et agréable!
La carte des cocktails est tout aussi plaisante. On sent un vrai travail de recherché pour ceux-​ci, on a d’ailleurs eu du mal à fixer nos choix.
La déception nous est venue de la quantité, les cocktails étaient servis dans des coupes de petites contenances. Mêmes si les associations d’alcool étaient bonnes, nous avons trouvés dommage de né pas avoir des quantités plus adéquates.

La première chose qui sauté aux yeux est la décoration du lieu. Un mélange de rétro, bobo. La bibliothèque avec les livres aux grosses relieures rouges, la caisse enregistreuse qui émet un petit «ding» quand elle s’ouvre, le comptoir, la vaisselle style ancienne. Bref de ce côté là, cet endroit est une petite merveille.
Le personnel est aimable et accueillant.
La carte n’est pas bien grande ce qui assure une bonne qualité et une fraîcheur des produits. Le plat de truitefumé sur pancakes et vraiment très bon et très copieux (alors qu’au premier coup d’oeil je me demandai si je n’allais pas rester sur ma faim… et bien non!). Les raisons pour lesquelles je n’ai pas mis 5 étoiles sont le prix qui est un peu élevé (16 $ pour mon plat ce qui réduit l’envie de prendre un dessert ou une entrée) et le brouhaha ambiant (c’était un dimanche à 13h). Ce n’est pas vraiment vers chez moi mais je né serai pas contre le fait d’y retourner.

Good cocktails! Chill space. Loved the basil gimlet and the sazerac. Good deal on raw oysters too! Sat at the bar, and bartender was awesome. Good place! Will come again to actually have dinner!

Went here for brunch with a friend after reading reviews and yum yum! I ordered the sunny side eggs, bacon, sourdough bread, and potatoes which were delicious! The granola and yogurt drizzled with honey and a side of fresh fruit was a nonstop yumfest.
I’d advise getting there early since it fills up quickly for brunch, but it is well worth it. Next time I’m going to try the breakfast donuts with lemon curd cause they looked good!

We had a reservation for a Saturday morning brunch at 10:00AM. We arrived early, and waited outside, but the restaurant never opened! Several other groups were waiting outside until almost 11:00 when we gave up. Some people called with no answer, there was no sign, and no notice that brunch would not be served. At least put up a sign!
There is now a message on their facebook that they will not be serving brunch until August 1.

Nous étions bien excités d’essayer ce resto pour le brunch…
Nous arrivons devant la porte à 10h45 (ouverture à 10h); tout est fermé. Aucune affiche sur la porte né disant que c’est fermé. Aucun avis sur leur boîte vocale. Aucune mention sur leur site Web. Aucune mention sur leur page Facebook. Rien.
C’est inacceptable et non professionnel, surtout que nous nous sommes déplacés expressément pour ce resto.
Dommage…

Amazing for weekend brunch. I’ve been a few times and I always forget just how good it is and how unique the choices are. It also changes relatively often which is super cool.
They have some standard brunch items like eggs, bacon and toast as well as yogurt and cereal if you want to keep it classic. They also have really neat egg creations such as benedicts, scrambles, and shakshuka. Last time I was there, I got a Turkish breakfast which was a bunch of extremely fresh unique ingredients that included fig jam, pita, a variety of nuts, soft boiled eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, fruit, etc. The plate was beautifully assembled (see picture) and it tasted just as good. I also had a latte which was also tasty. They serve their hot drinks in these antique tea cups which is a little detail I really enjoy.
I keep meaning to come back here for a night out because I’m sure it’s great.

Great food, great vibe, great location, bad service.
Went there for a birthday brunch on a Saturday, we (group of 7) didn’t mind the 30 minutes wait to get a table. Beside sitting on highly uncomfortable low stools we were looking forward to get our foody on and ordered all different plates. Œufs à la sauge, buckweat pancakes, granola yogurt, steak and eggs, ice tea, home made OJ and 2 of us ordered their famous donuts.
They have 3 flavors available:
Nutella
Peanut butter and jam
And Lemon.
My friend ordered 3 Nutella (they come as serve of 3) and my other friend ordered the mixed 3 which is one of each flavors.
So, I was amazed, we were a group and the waitress took zero note. We waited a long time, and the ice tea was forgotten, the OJs were tiny and the donuts: my friend who ordered the mixed ones got 3 lemons, the one who ordered 3 Nutella got the mixed ones. So clearly the Nutella was mixed up and they gave us lemons and then the waitress got mixed up on who ordered what so we politely told her and showed her it was yellow lemon cream (delicious by the way but oh so lemons) and she started to argue with us that she was gonna credit these but that the order was right and that we ordered jam and the lemons were jam! We were like «are u effing kidding me» ?! To make a mistake is fine but don’t Bs us !
Other then the rudest waitress ever who wouldn’t admit a mistake like EVER, the food was delicious, live up to expectations, and everybody LOVE what they ate. Cool hipster place, we will be back (and will have a different waitress. When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. ;)

I will be honest. I had a bad experience at The Lawrence, a restaurant that had been started by several previous employees. That bad experience actually kept me far away from this place until I visited this restaurant with family.
I have to say after all my apprehension it was a pretty darn good experience!
I enjoyed the entré of olives and nuts and I know my company enjoyed the cheese and cracker entré as well!
We also had some oysters, and I will admit I’m new to oysters from about a year and a half ago, but these were really good and I wished we had ordered more.
The main course, butter chicken curry was actually very good. I would say it lacked just a bit of seasoning but the flavors were powerful yet subtle and the accompanying rice and salads were just delicious!
I need to take a moment to say I tried to order the butter chicken and a full salad. He waitress wisely advised me that would be too much food, and was very accommodating when I asked for a side sized salad instead. It was a delicious arugula salad. I definitely suggest you try it or share it!
Personally I stayed away from this place for a couple years but I feel like I missed out during that time ! Check it out ! Good ambience and nice waiters and delicious food. Can’t go wrong with that !

High five!
Sparrow’s food + interior + drinks = happiness mathematics.
Brunch
Excellent. Its not often I want to try almost everything off a single menu. The steak and eggs is fantastic. My guy ordered the apple pancakes which were massive with applesauce on top and nice walnuts plus fresh cream. The coffee is delicious.
Cocktails
Wonderful.
The Space
Vintage vibe with low lighting that makes for a cozy cool date spot or night with friends.

Loved Sparrow.
Their space is fun and they really take advantage of the space.
I took my family out from Sunday brunch and none of us were disappointed.
Two of us started off with coffee, my mother and I opted for the fresh pressed beet juice. Yum.
My mother and sister got the thyme fried eggs. Looked very good, and the bacon was thick and meaty. The eggs are free range and organic, the yolks where a beautiful rich orange. I really appreciate places that advertise it on their menu and decide to use organic ingredients. It can be surprisingly rare to see in Montréal.
My dad decided on the granola and yogurt. It looked amazing. A mound of thick delicious yogurt covered in fruit and homemade granola.
I went for the Shakshuka with merguez sausage. It was delicious.
I will be back to check out their upstairs tea room.

I’ve heard many good things about this resto/​bar so I decided to check it out with my friend one Sunday. The place itself is cute and cozy. We had to wait roughly 10 mins for our table, but the hostess was kind enough to offer us a coffee while we waited.
We finally got a seat at the bar. We ordered the beet and carrot juice small format. Let’s just say it was REALLY SMALL. It costed 5 $. Total ripoff. I had to sip it slowly to make sure I could enjoy it with my meal. Let’s just say I ended up drinking water with my meal, which I had to ask the busboy for because my waitress was too pretentious to serve us. Coffee isn’t even included with your meal. It’s is overly priced as well.
I ordered the shashuka with merguez sausages. It was delicious but not satisfying. I was still hungry after my meal. My friend ordered the Turkish breakfast which he seemed to really enjoy.
For me, Sunday brunch is all about filling up your stomach to the brim with hearty food. This place just didn’t cut it

Très beau décor, ambiance sympa genre famille/​lendemain de fête/​entre potes/​en amoureux. Un peu de tout donc, qui fait un chouette mix.
Côté nourriture, on retiendra les oeufs pochés avec les tomates épicées (et les grosses tranches de pain grillées… mmmm !), mais un peu moins le déjeuner turc (qui ressemble à je-mets-plein-de-choses-dans-l’assiette-mais-sans-cuisiner).
Et le truc le plus surprenant a été le jus betterave-​pommes-​ingrédient mystère, un vrai régal !

Location: On the main, around the corner from Olimpico. Street parking only.
The place: Loved the décor and the funky wallpaper. To me, the place was a cross between country meets British pub. Good vibrations all around.
The food: Back in March or April, one of the staff told me a new chef would be taking over. When I took a look at the menu yesterday, I felt that the choices were limited — there were maybe 5 – 6 options. Gone were the Red Velvet waffles and no Polenta fries in sight. Anyway, I decided to go with the fried eggs with sage, roasted potatoes, bacon and sourdough toast, served on a board, a skillet for my eggs and all. It was a good breakfast — the eggs were tasty, though I couldn’t taste the sage. The potatoes were perfectly roasted, if lacking in flavour, the bacon was super thin which I like, but a bit too oily for me. The bread was fresh as can be and damn good to boot. My date had the Turkish breakfast and it was OK but nothing to write home about.
Service: Good. The only hiccup was when our food was brought to us. My date is allergic to gluten so when the waitress took our order, she offered a green salad as a substitute for the pancakes. No mention of extra costs. The person who brought our plates over gave my date attitude when she asked for the salad and started saying there would be an extra charge for this. She wasn’t accommodating at all and frankly, a little rude. Pay attention when we try to explain why a substitute was requested, and that this was offered by your colleague. The person who took our order came to sort this out which we appreciated but I mean, a little common courtesy from the other chick would have been nice. It’s not like one chooses to have Celiac disease.
Price point: Pretty decent — my plate was about $ 10. However. Coffee wasn’t included.

Style bobo-​hipster, deco vieillot et menu original! Attention par contre, ils né prennent pas interac ni crédit donc prévoir le tout
ca$h !

I had the squash enchiladas with pulled pork. Magnificent! The portion was just right with some scrambled eggs and baked beans on the side. My favourite brunch so far. I also tried the red velvet waffle. Very interesting dish with poached pears and chocolate mousse, but couldn’t taste the red velvet at all.
My boyfriend had today’s special, deep fried egg and some deep fried toast, he said they were average.

Pour ce qui est de la déco, je suis totalement tombé sous le charme, bibliothèque avec les vieux livres à bordures rouges dorées etc, ça ressemble aux vieilles bibliothèques/​salon de thé où la bourgeoisie se retrouvait à l’époque victorienne.
Ils proposent des brunchs, cafés, thés.
Ils ont aussi plusieurs cocktails et autres drinks, vraiment pas cher. Pour ma part j’en ai pris un à base d’Absinthe, je n’ai pas été déçu.
Ils ont aussi une carte intéressante, pas mal de chose sont bonnes, mais dans le lots on a eu une surprise … on a voulut goûté à la polenta frite et ben c’est vraiment gras, presque comme une éponge à huile.
D’où le ⁴⁄₅.
J’aime cet endroit et j’y retournerai quand je reviendrai à Montréal.

D’abord, signifions que l’endroit me plait. J’aime l’ambiance style Brooklyn, chose trop rare dans la métropole québécoise. Je m’assieds au bar. Le barman est visiblement en training. Se passé quelques minutes avant qu’il soit disponible à prendre ma commande. Je lui demande une Saint-​Ambroise, arrive une griffon. Je peux vivre avec cela. Bowie chante Velvet Goldmine. Nice. Je choisis le BLT. Je remarque que sur le menu seul le cash est accepté (youhou, en 2013!). Je demande au Waiter en training: avec vous une guichet automatique. Il me répond non, juste un ATM (louche) au 2e. MDR vs LOL. Bowie chante Modern love. Cool. Le BLT arrive avec les frites en accompagnement pour 3.50 $ de plus. Les frites sont molasses et mal cuites. Consternation. Le BLT est immensément gras. La mayo mal montée n’aidant pas la cause, ni le bacon mal cuit.
À côté, au bar, un couple de hipster. La fille, à la drôle de coupe de cheveux, prend des photos de la barbe de son mec, avec son nikon reflex digital doté d’un objectif haut de gamme. Leur assiette arrive: un grilled cheese avec des frites. Le hipster annonce au serveur qu’il n’a pas commandé de frites (bonne idée). Le Waiter lui dit pas de soucis, on né te chargera pas les frites. Le hipster et sa copine mangent évidemment toutes les frites. C’est bien manger des frites gratis, non? Ils trempent même leur grllled cheese dans la mayo grasse et insipide. Yark. Frustrant de penser que je vais payer mes frites (que j’ai peu mangées) ainsi qu’un frais de ATM banditos de 2 $. Evidemment, personne né m’a demandé si le plat était à mon gout. Les beatles chantent I Wanna hold my hand. Pas mal moins drole. Mérite 2 étoiles plus une 3e en bonus pour l’ambiance générale. Moins une étoile pour le mode de paiement frustrant. On termine à 2?

Bonne musique pour prendre un verre le soir, légèrement Hipster… Les plats passent et même si je n’y suis pas pour manger, ça à l’air très tentant…

Si je pouvais, j’aimerais bien donner un 4.5 en fait. Ça été un excellent brunch! La formule 3 services, dont on choisi un plat principal mais le reste est le même m’a bien plu même si je n’étais pas certaine au départ. Habituée d’avoir dix milles options pour le brunch à plusieurs autres endroits, ça m’a un peu déboussolé, mais pour une personne qui a souvent de la difficulté à décider quoi prendre, 3 options, c’est un nombre parfait. Ça m’a pris moins de 5 minutes à me décider et donc j’ai eu plus de temps pour jaser, siroter mon café et mon César. Je né suis pas allée au Moineau pour un cocktail en soirée, mais celui du matin était très bien fait. D’autres options de style mimosa sont aussi disponible tôt en journée. Pour le repas comme tel, c’était délicieux. J’ai pris les oeufs rancheros, et si j’avais eu un peu plus de place dans mon estomac, j’aurais demandé une deuxième assiette, surtout parce qu’ici, si vous en voulez plus (pour le brunch), ça fait parti du service (et du même prix.) Un bon resto pour prendre son temps et manger un brunch en bonne compagnie avant d’aller flâner sur la rue Saint-​Laurent, ou bien au marché Jean Talon.

Incomprénsible!
Nous sommes arrivés à l’ouverture pour le lunch et après plus d’une heure 2 personnes n’étaient pas servi !!!
Ils attendaient un burger avec frites. La serveuse s’excuse et se confond en excuse, offre même une consommation (refusé car c’est le lunch).
Quelques minutes plus tard, des gens arrivés 30 minutes après nous (5 personnes) reçoivent chacun leur burger. La serveuse qui s’excusait avec énergie préalablement, passé à côté de notre table avec le sourire pour leur apporter leur burger. Il semble que ce n’était pas possible de faire le lien, il y a 2 personnes pas encore servies (je pourrai leur apporter avant de servir les autres!!!).
Allo, allo, allo il y a quelqu’un?
Pour l’ensemble de l’oeuvre je né peux que dire aller visiter les autres restaurants qui sauront vous servir!