Cafe Presto - Montréal

Simply proper food. It doesnt seem like much when you walk by but step inside and you will be served authentic simple italian cooking. Small menu, very inexpensive but well very well prepared food.

I went back to this little place for lunch today with my dad. This restaurant is tiny and you could possibly miss it while walking by. OH but it's right beside Chez Parée so, uh, ya, I don't know why that matters. Perhaps go watch a little bit of strippin and then eat some italian? No? Shut up? Mmmmkay. The place has around 30 seats and has a maitre d'/owner that is usually very enthusiastic. Today, I think he was having a bad day.

We had lunch here and the food was prepared fresh and was quite good. Fresh pasta and home made soup that was also good.

It was our first time the city and were in the mood for authentic Italian food. Walked into the first Italian restaurant that happened to be on the way (didn't check the reviews, unfortunately). We ordered meat lasagna, but we were served layers of dough instead. Any attempts to find meat were unsuccessful. I am not even mentioning the taste. The portion was ridiculously small for a $10 meal. The final "surprise " was that the old man did not accept credit cards, which was never mentioned to us. We did not have Canadian $$, and the guy conveniently did not have change in U.S. $$. So we ended up paying a large bill for a crappy meal, walking away hungry. No, I don't recommend. Look elsewhere; there are a lot of nice places in Montreal.

We were looking for a restaurant near the hotel and stumbled upon this tiny little hidden gem. There were several other Italian places on the street and all rather pricey. This cute place listed 10 entrees on a chalkboard for about $10. The charming owner welcomed us like old friends. The wine and the rolls were delicious while we waited for our food. We had the spicy spaghetti and it was also delicious. I don't understand the negative reviews. We enjoyed everything and the desserts looked delicious but too full. The next morning we were looking in the window to see what kind of wine we'd had, and the owner saw us and waved hello. Cute.