Lola Rosa

Lola Rosa Vegetarian Bistro

545 Milton

Montreal, QC

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7 1/2 out of 10

I'm convinced this is the best, most affordable restaurant around McGill. It serves real food using good quality products and a whole lot of care. The owner has no idea who I am but I think he's about the best restaurant owner ever. Good guy, down to earth, reasonable and efficient, but also laid back enough to create a casual vibe in the resto. You can tell he's in the business because he loves it. He respects every customer and I assume he respects every employee the same way.

Then there's the food. You know, I'm not really blown away by it, but I blame this on my lactose-intolerance. When you skip the cheese on the burrito you miss out on a complete, savoury dimension of an otherwise hot and sticky mess called a burrito ($11), nachos ($12, or $7 for half), lasagna ($12), polenta ($11 - cornmeal topped with ratatouille, cheese and salsa) or a quesadilla ($11). Then there are the ragouts, the chili ($11) where more tomato takes over and runs amok without being tempered by cooling cheese. When mozzarella isn't involved, there's feta to pick up the torch, as it does in the tomato pie ($12) or the Tunisian ragout ($11) of cabbage, tomatoes (again), bulgur, chickpeas and roasted almonds. Fortunately there remain a few good cheese-less options. The curry ($11.50) is made with coconut milk, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, raisins, and chickpeas, and come winter it's the kind of thing you crave. In summer, however, you're better off sticking with the hemp burger ($11.50). Skip the "Veggie Burger" ($9.50), the only thing not made in-house. The hemp burger is a Lola Rosa creation. A patty of mostly tofu and hemp seeds gets slathered with barbecue sauce and melted brie, to give you sweet and spicy flavours from the sauce, and a melty, oozing, tongue-cooling brie on a surprisingly convincing patty. I'm really tough on veggie burgers, but when you dress them up this pretty it's hard not to like them. Kind of like dousing your broccoli in cheese sauce. I hear kids are more likely to eat it when it's served like that. What do I know about kids? They're all crazy to me. Maybe it's just cheese that makes everything better. They certainly seem to think so here at Lola Rosa, and for the food they make, they're probably right. I wish there were a few more vegan options, and I wish everything wasn't tomato-based, but to be honest, one of the best thing I've had here was the salad ($11, or $7 for half). Black bean burrito was fine, but nothing to write home about, but the salad?

The salad was wonderful. I'm not the type to dance a jig over a salad, but good quality, fresh romaine lettuce was the base for chickpeas, amazingly freshly grated carrots, a few pieces of green pepper, tons of green onion, pickled hot peppers (the only questionable addition), crisp purple cabbage wonderful kalamata olives and two slices of sweet orange for garnish. This was all well and good, but the salad dressing made the dish. Maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and a delicious grainy dijon mustard. It's true, I'm a little obsessed with dijon, but the dressing wasn't too sweet, it wasn't too vinegar-y, and it wasn't too oily. You could taste it on every bite and for awhile I was convinced it was raspberry, that's how fruity the balsamic was. Maybe they should do more with balsamic and less with cheese.

Then there's dessert. They do have a vegan chocolate cake ($4) but it's dry and certainly not the best in the world. if you're not vegan or lactose-intolerant you're going to want to go with the key lime pie ($4.75) or the cheesecake ($4.75) if you like pineapple. The really nice thing about the menu is it tells you right there what's vegan, vegetarian or can be made vegan (unfortunately that usually just means leaving out the trouble-making ingredient, thus making the dish less complete, kind of like cutting off a hand. You probably need that hand.



Expect To Pay: $12.50-$19 including tax and tip
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am-9:30pm, Fri 11:30am-10pm, Sat noon-10pm, Sun noon-9:30pm
514-287-9337