Restaurant l'Académie

A dozen of us went to this restaurant and I ordered a seafood linguine, ate the 3 mussels, the 2 small prawns and the single piece of calamari before starting on the pasta. It was very garlicky, which normally I would love, but this was overwhelmingly bitter and uncooked. The waiter sailed by while I was eating the seafood, so there was no chance of commenting on the pasta as I hadn't even got to it when he muttered into the space above our heads, everything OK? I had had one mouth full, my husband had tried another and I left the remainder, which he whisked away, ignoring my explanation as to why. When the bill came I queried why I had been charged the full amount for that inedible course and was told there was nothing he could do as I had eaten so much of it. I asked to see the manager who said he had seen the plate and it had only one shrimp left on it. My fellow diners loudly confirmed I had left an almost full plate and one claimed it must have been hers as she had the same dish and it was fine. The waiter claimed he had offered me something else, which was totally untrue and when I started to comment that was what I would have liked, he said he was busy and ran off. A cash deduction was made to my husband but that would never make me return. I have been here many times with friends, family, visitors and clients as well to others in the chain on the South Shore and downtown. Never again and I will make sure no one I know ever does either. I was disappointed at the rude offhand treatment we received and appalled that our comments on the bad food were dismissed and that we were lied to. If I treated my clients like this, I wouldn't have a business and I hope someone takes this in hand and I could look forward to what used to be a fun and exciting culinary experience.

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We had gone to L'Academie on Boul. St Jean a few years ago and had found the food to be extremely underwhelming. Jump ahead a few years: My sister's surprise party was held there on June 2nd. The food was outstanding, and the service was great. Paul was really looking forward to going back. We returned tonight on one of our rare dates. The food was exactly as bad as our first meal there. My veal didn't taste fresh, the side vegetables were doused in some salty spices and the pasta was DRY. Seriously. It was supposed to be pasta aglio e olio, except they were just dry lol. Someone forgot something. My husband ordered the same dish he had ordered last week: veal tortellini with rosé sauce, but it didn't taste the same at all. It tasted like frozen noodles...Let's be honest. I can understand the food being a miss. No big deal I suppose. It happens. However how it's dealt with makes all the difference in the world. I told the waiter the quality wasn't even close to what it had been for my sister's party and that it was unfortunate, especially after it had been so great last week! He replied that he'd speak to the manager. The waiter came back a while later and said, "I spoke to the manager. There's not much we can do. I guess we'll keep an eye on it. But that's about it". I just said, "ok". But what I was really thinking was, " seriously?!". I'm FLOORED. I will never go back, and I will always let people know about this experience. #lacademie #westisland #nopride #badbusiness #restaurantfail

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We came for a late lunch and initially I attributed some of the disarray and dirt to the fact that no one had had time to tidy up from the noon rush. But as I looked around I think this was just one symptom of a restaurant heading downhill and needing some TLC. Various decorative elements had broken off walls and furniture (there was a large piece of laminate from a pillar lying on the floor). Tables and menus were a bit sticky. The food was mostly average; the soup of the day was, surprisingly, the highlight.

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Came here for lunch and was pleasantly surprised! The decor is bright, clean, modern and yet we had a cozy nook all to ourselves. The service was friendly, attentive and helpful. We ordered mussels and the catch of the day. The servings were generous and full-flavoured: the mussels and frites were with blue cheese and the cod came with an avocado salsa and veggies. It is a BYOB, so don't forget the bottle. We did. We left with a very positive feeling about the whole experience!

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Service was great, fast and accurate..however, the duck I ordered was over cooked and a tad dry...and the veggies were under cooked and hard. But it was all very tasty!

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