Montreal is known for many things such as its great variety of restaurants and happening bar scene. Mad Hatter is one of the city’s most well known bars having been around for 26 years. One of the managers, Eunice, mentioned that it is a friendly local bar that caters mostly to students and tourists. They also have pool tables and jenga games for those who would like to play.
Mad Hatter has an affordable lunch and dinner menu that offers burgers, wraps, salads and poutines. Their lunch specials include desserts and are offered from 11am to 3pm daily. Also, they have a meal size soup of the day which are made fresh. They also make the food daily with fresh ingredients and their sauces are homemade.
My dinner guest and I had the opportunity to try some interesting drinks from their vast array of alcoholic beverages on the menu. We tried the Pimm’s Cup that is made from Pimm’s liquor, ginger beer, cucumber, lemon and mint. It is a refreshing drink that has a spicy ginger taste. The Peach Cosmo is also one of their popular drinks. It has Finlandia vodka, Peach Schnapps, cranberry and lemon juice. It is a sweet drink and a bit tart.
They also have a variety of bottled beers, draft beers and mixed drinks. Madhatters features one of the most reasonably priced drink specials in the downtown area. At 6.50$ a pint and 14$ a pitcher, it is a good value if you want to have some drinks with friends.
Our waitress Yanna was great at answering questions about the menu as there are numerous items to select from. I am always on the lookout for good veggie burgers so we sampled their Not a Burger (veggie burger), made with chickpeas, spicy mayo, jalapeno pepper and red onions. At 5$ with a side order of fries, it is a good value. I should mention though that the veggie patty is tasty but it is a soft patty though so if you like that type of burger, you should give it a try. You can also upgrade your side order of fries for a bit extra and can try the poutine. For me, the sauce of a poutine really makes a difference in this dish. We were really impressed with the quality of the lightly spiced gravy and the cheese was not too salty. The fries were well done so it worked well with the sauce.
Yanna also mentioned that one of the popular side dishes is the Veggie Wangs made with cauliflower and covered with a crispy beer batter. This entree has a simple taste as it is steamed cauliflower with a crispy batter but is great with one of their homemade dipping sauces. We tried it with a mild honey garlic sauce and a tangy bbq sauce.
We also sampled the Nacho Libre entree that consists of
corn chips topped with melted cheese and a home made salsa.
The Fish and Chips dish is also a good option to try. It consists of fresh haddock with a tangy tartare sauce. It was a fair sized portion and lightly seasoned. We ordered it with a salad that had cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and lettuce with a spicy dressing.
There are only a few desserts on the menu but their most popular one is a chocolate cake served with a fried mars bar, vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup. It is a heavy dessert so it is great for sharing. If you prefer to try something lighter, you can sample the Hungry Hungry Hippo dessert that consists of 5 ice cream profiteroles covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The chocolate sauce in particular is notable as it is a bit more bitter, so it has more cocoa.
They also have coffee or a selection of green or black teas which goes perfectly with dessert.
Mad Hatter’s Pub is a fun place to have drinks with friends and some good pub food to enjoy as well. The staff is friendly as well so check it out next time you are looking for a place to go out with friends.
