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Le Saint-Amour
Categories: Restaurants French Restaurants Modern European French, Modern European [Edit]
48 rue Sainte-UrsuleQuébec, QC G1R 4E2
(418) 694-0667
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 2 pm
Mon-Sun 6 pm - 11 pm
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Valet
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Classy
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
25 reviews for Le Saint-Amour
Review Highlights
"I order foie gras a lot, and this was truly unique."
(in 11 reviews)
"Hubby really enjoyed his red deer and his soup as well."
(in 5 reviews)
"Cooked to a medium-rare perfection, to be expected."
(in 3 reviews)
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24 reviews in English
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Review from Mariana R.
8/25/2011 Seated via OpenTable
I chose this restaurant based on the reviews, but sincerely it exceeded my expectations!!!... Everything was Awesome! The Foie Gras was delicious!!... The other appetizer we ask was the artichokes, and its was excellent too!!... My main dish was the deer and it was the best I've ever tried!!!.... Also, you can find a lot of different wines!!... They have a good variety of wines. Additionally the service is really really good!! ... And the decoration is really beautiful!!.... For me this should be the best restaurant in Quebec city.. It is good to call for reservations, because the restaurant is full...
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Review from Kevin T.
8/21/2011
Came to Quebec City for a brief visit. Had a great meal here. One of the locals states this was "a must, not to be missed." It was great. Service was very slow though. 3 hours for 3 courses.
Would rank it just below Panache and just above Laurie Raphael where we also ate. -
Review from Leeor J.
3/7/2011
Hmm, can you give a place 6 stars? This place fits into the 'all time best meals of my life' category. Every dish was a flavour explosion and complete wonder.
The foie gras brought us here. We had the assorted plate of 7 different preparations. I don't remember all the specifics, but they were all total food experiences in themselves. It took 37 minutes (thanks to time-lapsed photography) to finish this dish. I haven't timed how long it took me to finish a dish before (I usually literally inhale my food I eat so fast - its quite disturbing) but every bite seemed to merit so much appreciation and reflection, it was necessary. AMAZING. worth the price of admission alone.
This was all paired with a great red wine. We asked for a recommendation of something that was unique, not too bold, not crazy expensive (50-60ish), and with a nice finish. The waiter 'had an idea'. The unique part was satisfied by the following characterization: a french winery, grown in California, using an italian grape. worked for us. The wine was just as we had asked. A subtle taste of fruit, a tinge of spice, and very smooth finish without a hint of extra edge at the end.
Now the main. I ordered the red deer. Cooked to a medium-rare perfection, to be expected. The au jus was one of the best sauces i've ever had accompany a meat. ever. that good. somehow they worked blueberries and beets into it.
Finally came dessert. A creme brule with a few twists. A serious flambe presentation (it was on fire for about 1 minute at the table) with marsh-mellows on the side for toasting! The waiter explained the dish's other unique trait. it somehow had a special kind of local mushroom in it! sounds crazy and i forget the mushrooms exact function in the dish (the mushroom taste wasn't really discernable) but it was super tasty!
This was a truly special experience. Not cheap. $300 after all was said and done. But if you're going to get out to QC for a weekend, pamper yourself with this place. Eat baked beans next week (or the next 6). then its a wash!
And make reservations.. -
Review from Chris B.
7/15/2011 2 photos
What can I add that has not been already written? Well, our dinner here was exceptional above and beyond previous comments because:
We came in as a party of 3 (including a 7 year old) with no reservation at 5:40 on a Thursday night (Bastille Day no less). The staff not only found us a table by the bar, they then moved tables around in the main dining room (a big job for several people) so we could sit in a fantastic spot right in the middle of the action!
They created an entree for our picky 7 year old (Salmon on Pasta) that she loved, and made special fruit cocktails for her.
We went with the price fix menu (the fancier one) and although I usually pick the wines myself I talked to the sommelier (who was also our waiter) and we decided to take a glass by glass matched approach to the courses. Great choice, as the pairings were excellent!
After most courses were complete, the waiter gave us complimentary glasses of an Icewine (our second of the meal!) that was top shelf and a sublime conclusion to the meal.
The wine list (book) is not the largest I have ever seen (Burn's Steak House is the only bigger in my experience) but is beautifully prepared with detail maps of all regions, bottle labels and a very thoughtful selection. Heavy on France, but still enough from other areas to amuse you.
The bill was breathtaking, but for the 4 hours of heaven well worth it. If you have a special occasion to celebrate, this is a great place to go. -
Review from Ron C.
White Rock, BC
8/22/2011 Seated via OpenTable
Absolutely beautiful restaurant, service was a wee bit too formal as they took forever to take our order, I think they wanted us to peruse the menu to be impressed. It is expensive. All in all a nice expensive evening out.
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Review from Chad T.
10/21/2010
Venturing down into the walled-off old city of Quebec is always a treat, and there are so many great places to eat. It feels to me like what it would have felt like to walk around Paris hundreds of years ago.... except without all the poverty and wars happening.
Anyway, Le Saint Amour is a restaurant trying to figure out if they want to serve traditional french cuisine, or new-style Gourmand French cuisine. I was super impressed of my first course, Foie Gras 7 Ways (see the photos). I order foie gras a lot, and this was truly unique. Foie Gras macaroons, foie gras with blueberry dust, foie gras pyramids, etc. I really enjoyed it, and it set the tone for what I thought would be an amazing meal. My server suggested a pairing with a Cabernet Ice Wine, which was really really a good pairing.
Unfortunately, the sweet bread course and the deer course followed the traditional french mechanism of "take a great piece of meat and coat it with some sort of reduction sauce, then surround it with a vegetable and some mushrooms". The deer meat was truly delectable, but compared to the imagination that went into the foie gras dish these two courses were just downright boring.
Dessert was better, seared pineapple tataki, on top of an almond crust, on top of coconut ice cream and drizzled with spiced caramel sauce. Yum!
So you could say that I had a good meal bookended by amazing appetizer and dessert. Not enough to get 5 courses in my opinion, but maybe they're about to break out of their shell and start doing some really crazy stuff! -
Review from Lisa C.
11/28/2010
Let's just say that this place was beautiful with a very well-trained waitstaff....but extremely expensive for the dinner experience, including waiting almost an hour on an off-season Saturday night for our end-of-evening cab ride that had to be summoned several times by the maitre'd before one actually showed up -- to one of the most EXPENSIVE restaurants in town.
Now don't get me wrong. The ambience is lively, the decor extravagant, and the wine cellar upstairs is to be envied. I'd like one in my own house.
There are a few different rooms in the restaurant in which to dine. We waited a few minutes for our 7PM reservation and were soon escorted to a lovely corner table in the Winter Garden. The room was almost full. The setting was well-appointed.
A professional and attentive staff made the evening for us, as well as the taste of the quality food. The menu has a number of exciting selections, and we did not feel rushed to order. We lingered a bit - I over my $29 glass of French Champagne and my husband over his $20 light pouring of single malt scotch (of which the list of single malts was not readily known to the wait staff...something odd in a restaurant of this caliber). Now my husband is not a heavy drinker but does expect something more than a splash in the scotch glass.... And since the US dollar and Canadian dollar are almost one-for-one....
I ordered an appetizer of Fantasy Foie Gras served Seven Ways which is something I could eat daily. Just a lovely presentation, and something I will remember for a long time. My husband ordered the seared foie gras and was just as happy.
For my main course, I ordered the Escolar which is a lovely whitefish. The presentation included a very inventive meat jus rather than the usual seafood stock which really was out of this world and very unique. My husband ordered the red deer which he enjoyed as something we cannot order in our local area.
For dessert, we each ordered a cheese plate which had some very good selections -- so be sure to order it if you like cheese! I just remember the wonderful bleu selections as those are my favorites.
The damper on the evening was the lack of reliable cab service to the restaurant. Maybe previous patrons spent the contents of their wallets on dinner and cabbies were stiffed, but certainly that was not the case for us. Next time, we would set up our own car service for reliable pick-up.
I think we would dine here again. -
Review from theresa f.
8/20/2011
This is the BEST restaurant I have ever freqented. The food was amazing, the service the best. An experience you will never forget. I had the foie gras, the sea bass and the cognac sorbet. I wish I lived nearby so I could go more often. It is expensive though
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Review from David H.
7/26/2010
This place is SLOOooow. I guess that's OK if you are in a large group who haven't seen each other for a while and have lots of things to talk about (there were several of these types of table in the dining room). However if you are a couple who are tired and hungry after a long day of walking and cycling it is less than ideal.
Expect at least an hour between the entrée and the main course (I think they do this to boost the wine sales).
The food was excellent (when it arrived) and the rack of lamb was extremely good. However I ordered a side of Foie Gras which the kitchen forgot to put it on the plate, so we had to wait an additional 15mins for that to arrive.
The seared Foie Gras was pretty amazing when it arrived.
The dining room is very pretty with an indoor-outdoor feel due to the glass roof, murals and plants. -
Review from John S.
7/19/2010
Stopped at Le Saint-Amour for a nice lunch on our final day in Quebec City. As previous reviewers have stated, the food is outstanding, so I won't rehash the obvious. However I'd like to add my two cents on how welcoming the staff were to us despite the fact that we had our 5-year-old in tow. I know lots of parents of young kids forego nicer meals for fear of the dreaded meltdown, but everyone from the staff to fellow patrons made us feel very welcome. They even went so far as to make up a special meal for our son, complete with all of his favorites.
Kudos to Le Saint-Amour for delivering a top-notch dining experience that's also family friendly! -
Review from Holly T.
10/8/2008 2 photos
Overall, I think this was my favorite restaurant in Québec City. It's in Vieux-Québec (Haute-Ville), but it's away from the main drag and unlikely to be found unless you already know about it.
The first time we went was for lunch, and it was absolutely lovely. The dining area is like an indoor garden with skylights letting the sunshine through. The decor was elegant and comfortable, and the clientele at lunch appeared to be mostly businesspeople. Due to the excellent lighting conditions, I was able to get some nice photos.
The lunchtime menu was an excellent value for such high quality cuisine, about $20-25 per person if I recall correctly, including an appetizer, main course, dessert and coffee. For my appetizer I chose duck saucissons served with pea tendrils, cloudberry sauce and a blueberry drizzle. Vince had asparagus served with local cheese, prosciutto and tomato. Both were as delicious as they sound. For our main courses, Vince got filet mignon and I got cerf (red deer). I thought Vince's filet was excellent, but I thought the sauce on my deer obscured the flavor of the meat a little too much; it was still very good, though. For dessert we got a chocolate-blueberry mousse, garnished with groundcherry. This was my first encounter with the wonderful fruit of groundcherry (amour en cage), which I really enjoyed. We had all of this with a bottle of locally made sparkling water and a Chambolle Musigny.
We enjoyed our lunch so much that we decided to come back another night for dinner and do the tasting menu. I'll try to remember what we ate:
Amuse: Zucchini purée with parmesan mousse
Hors d'œvres: risotto with caviar, oysters with foam, smoked trout
Foie gras 2 ways: torchon and au naturale, served with toast and sauces of cassis, cloudberry, and zinfandel
Lobster bisque
"Surprise from the ocean": wild shrimp, scallops stuffed with truffle & mushroom, tuna with orange and vanilla sauce, all served on a bed of crunchy cauliflower
Palate cleanser: frozen sweet wine served with strawberry & mint
Caribou steak with fresh wild blueberries
Cheese course served with splayed apple, dried fruit, nuts & honey
Dessert: spice cake stuffed with goat cheese, covered with cloudberry liqueur and then set on fire. Served with cloudberry sorbet and stuffed groundcherry.
Espresso and macaroons
Unfortunately at night the restaurant was much more crowded and we found it too dark, too warm, and too loud. At night you miss out on how lovely the dining room is during the day. But the food and service were still excellent. Our caribou steak was a perfect medium rare, the seafood was excellent, and the cheese course was especially divine. They didn't have a pre-set wine pairing with the discovery menu, but our server was able to improvise with some different wines to pair with our courses, which worked out OK.
At both lunch and dinner, we enjoyed the inventiveness of the menu as well as the strong emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. The wine list was excellent, and we enjoyed getting a peek at their cellar upstairs.
I would certainly return and would recommend it highly to anyone visiting the city looking for fine dining. Their specialty is foie gras, so next time I'll definitely have to order the "foie gras 7 ways." -
Review from Jef S.
9/7/2008
Superior dining in a classy setting, Le Saint Amour should not be missed when in QC. The best part is that is not overly touristy like so many other places in the city. Unobtrusive on the outside, the restaurant has a small, but welcoming front hall and reception area that seems more like a traditional inn than a restaurant. Several dining rooms take up the space (including smaller and more intimate rooms upstairs decorated in a...well, I'm not up on my French historical stylistics. Baroque? Neo-classical? It will come to me. Anyway, whatever it is decor-wise, it's very traditional-French- cute inside. The "main" dining room is bigger and a bit more in the crush.
Service is exemplary. I'm not talking just plain great. It's AMAZING. Le Saint Amour was able to easily handle the allergy of my dairy=death wife without any hesitation or mess-ups. American tourists that are used to Applebee's may be put off by the highly experienced and uber-Quebequois waitstaff, but below the polish and tuxedo, Jean Claude will be the best waiter you've ever had.
Food presentation is a synthesis of French and Quebequois with an emphasis on fresh local ingredients. The menu is either a price fixe or you can opt for some a la carte choices. Appetizers are to die for: they do a great salmon tartare and, though I've never been one for foie gras, my dining companions said it was the best they'd ever had. A nice assortment of Quebec cheeses complimented the scarily abundant and excellent wine list (from which several expensive bottles of local vineyards were quaffed con much gusto).
The main dish was caribou steak. YES, I SAID CARIBOU. And it was amazing, cooked to perfect medium rare with some sort of winter berry coulis that complimented the natural juniper berry spicing of the meat. I have to be honest and say that I've never tried any other main dish than the caribou steak here because that's how damn good it is. Dessert is great as well: once I had wonderful sorbet with lychees (ok, so it's not all local foods), as well as some chocolate thing that was set on fire before it arrived on the table.
Good times ain't cheap at the Saint-Amour; one can expect to pay at least $100 per person, and that's before the wine and drinks get tacked on. But if you have to do one uber-splurge in Quebec, this is the place to do it in. Romantic, tasty, and all around impeccable from start to finish, Le Saint Amour delivers one of the best dining experiences you'll ever have.
Dress nicely; they don't throw you out for wearing jeans and a polo, but you'll feel awfully out of place if you are not at least a bit fancied up.Listed in: Canada!
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Review from Jen W.
Toronto, ON
5/14/2011
I was told this was the best restaurant in Old Quebec. Nestled in a building on a side street in Old Quebec City, it was quaint and lovely. After reading a couple of reviews, we decided to have the foie gras seven ways. It was fantastic. Foie gras truffle, foie gras maccaroon, foie gras creme brulee...amazing. I also ordered the deer (cerf), which was also well done and very filling.
The wait staff were super friendly. The only thing is that it can be a little slow between courses, so it's definitely a place where you need time to enjoy your meal and your wine.
I'd definitely come again. -
Review from Amy J.
8/11/2009
Our hotel concierge said this is the best french restaurant in all of Quebec. He went on to describe some meals he's had there. Lovely chap!
It would be hard for me to compare this restaurant to others in Quebec since I was only there a week but I can compare it to other meals I've had here in the bay area. The dinner we had here was fantastic. It would do really well in highly competitive foodie arena of San Francisco. My lamb was so tender, more tender than any other lamb I've ever had - and I've had many many lamb chops. The gazpacho soup with avocado mousse was absolutely perfect. Hubby really enjoyed his red deer and his soup as well.
Service was good as was the atmosphere.
If I ever went back to Quebec, I'm definitely going back to this place. -
Review from Gaby B.
Ottawa, ON
4/29/2010
Great restaurant.
Food is inventive, generally local, prepared with precision and passion. I had a salmon carpaccio with snow crab salad, which was lovely. Roe topped it off nicely. For main I ate a filet of red deer, which was perfectly done, set off with sour red berries and blueberries; sauteed mushrooms and truffled potato mash were very tasty accompaniments. My wife ate a tuna dish with Yukon Gold potato pancakes with white truffle oil, vegetables and a sauce which she loved.
Beautiful Beaujolais wine recommended by the waiter/sommelier which we both thoroughly enjoyed.
The setting is a little odd in the atrium with an eclectic design element, but did not detract from the meal. Service was perfect. Prices, as expected, are very high.
I would ignore the comment suggesting you must dress to the nines to fit it - people were dressed very casually when we were there, as were we!
Go, damn it go! -
Review from Sandra W.
7/3/2011
This place is picture perfect. Portions are just right, the food is nothing short of delicious, the ambiance and service are wonderful. I had read about this on Chowhound and had very high expectations - it exceeded them all. A special shout out for our waitress - she was just wonderful. Expensive and worth every penny.
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Review from John C.
7/31/2010
Unbelievably good experience. We went with two young kids and they could not of been more accommodating. I had the consomme made with a Parmesan and truffle emulsion with duck confit ravioli and foie gras cubes. This was one of the best dishes I have ever had. The rest of the meal was great. A must if you are looking to splurge in Quebec.
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Review from matt g.
8/7/2010
Over rated. Food was good, not great. It is a very nice place, but given the price and the other ratings I expected more. My wife and I went there for our 10 year wedding anniversary and we were looking forward to a top notch dinner, unfortunately we it was just a good dinner for a very expensive price.
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Review from Farheen K.
Toronto, ON
9/16/2009
Since there are already such true to heart reviews on this place, I'm just gonna say that the Inspiration Menu is the way to go! This place is awesome all around.
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Review from s. h.
Etobicoke, ON
8/3/2010
C'est magnifique! One of the best meals my husband an I have had anywhere in the world. We both ordered the tasting menu and asked the waiter to suggest wines for each course. He brought glasses of wine and twice brought us each 2 half-glasses to compare. We often find when ordering tasting menus that some courses are very good while others are just... ehh... but not here. Each and every part of all courses were spectacular. Truly memorable meal.
I take issue with the column above listing the attire as 'dressy.' Québec City is a tourist town. We saw everything from a dinner jacket to shorts, long dresses to jeans. No one looked like they just hopped off the tourist bus, everyone tried, but do not miss this restaurant because you think you didn't bring 'dressy' enough duds... Go. Now. -
Review from Eric S.
Ottawa, ON
3/15/2010 1 Check-in Here
We had the seared Foie Gras to start based on the waiter's advice. Didn't really know what it was until afterwards.. but I can say it was the best tasting thing I've ever had. We also had the Lamb Rack, Scallops and Sea Bass. All were fantastic.
All and all it was an amazing meal and an amazing two and a half hour experience. Will definitely go back next time I'm in QC -
Review from Che C.
7/10/2010
this place is elegant with old world charm as you might expect to find in a fine european restaurant. on shorts and sneakers, went there for lunch with husband and 20 yr old son based on reviews from fellow yelpers. we enjoyed our food so much from the appetizers to desserts. i chose the raspberry dessert and it was fabulous. we had the deer steak, fillet mignon and scallops for our main entree.
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Review from Joy R.
8/31/2008
Magnificent in every way. The most beautiful Belle-Epoque dining room, superb service and sublime food. I especially recommend their "six ways to enjoy foie gras."
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Review from Bob H.
1/3/2010
Another 5 Star review. I ordered from the "Inspiration" menu and it was outstanding.
Read more reviews for this business:
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