Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cartel





A couple weeks ago, we were celebrating the fact that a friend of ours was back from Kuwait for 6 weeks (yay!) so we were heading to Voro. Turns out, it was all reserved with about a 45 minute wait. I don’t think so. So, we walked along Fairmount and found Cartel in the Mile End.

There weren’t many people in there so we were hesitant at first but still went in (actually, there were about 5 people). The place has a loungy feel to it. It had ‘happenin’ music’ with about 100 seats. Oh and there seemed to be a couch on the ceiling ?! Weird.

The menu was all over the place: quesadillas, lobster rolls, meat, poutine. It was a mix of Mexican/Japanese/Canadian.  I usually don’t tend to appreciate mixed restaurants (I’m SO restaurantIST), but this one turned out to be ok. And their theme was ‘street food’… so the mix of different foods was understandable. 

I had the duck quesadillas. I see duck on a menu, I have duck. It's that simple. The duck turned out to be a tad dry but there were really good flavors in there and amazing guacamole! Careful, the hot sauce (on the side) is damn hot. I was happy with the portion: it was quite big, for my big appetite!

The service was good. The waitress knew what she was talking about and opened the wine very well (I always look at this part of the service, don't ask). She was friendly and knew her shhtuff. On top of it, when we asked for the bill, it took about 3.5 seconds to get it. I guess the fact that there were about 12 people when we left kind of helped!

And now, the scores!!!

Food: a generous 8
Service: 8,5

Don't be fooled by the fact that there's no one in this restaurant. It's worth a try!!!

Cartel Street Food Bar on Urbanspoon

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