Café Humble Lion

I came here fairly often during school and it’s probably what got me into 3^rd wave coffee to start with. Gotta disagree with my friend Offer R. here. This is the best coffee one can get on the block (or two blocks, or three). Consistently good latté and brewed coffee at market prices. If you’ve only had over-​roasted commercial coffee then you will find the brewed coffee here woodsy and peculiar — it’s meant to be. Intelligentsia Black Cat espresso is used the last time I checked, but I remember them also selling 49^th parallel so it might have changed. The coffee is why I come here and boy is it worlds ahead of Second Cup and Van Houtte.
I find Jesse L’s comment about the pretentiousness of staff on point. The baristas who started a year ago do give a very elitist vibe, highly caffeinated and sometimes a little obnoxious, depending on the day. It’s not that they will overtly judge you based on looks but let’s just say that it leans toward the snobbier side of the spectrum. Luckily, that subtle arrogance transcends into excellent craftsmanship which is what I come for.

This is not good coffee. I don’t care for it at all. Prices are way too high for what you get. I realize this is prime location across from mcgill, but this is all this place has going for it.

Café Humble Lion makes a delicious latte. The snacks there are also very good. The only problem is that this place is very packed. It is very hard to get seating and sometimes the line up is out the door.
I would recommend this place to McGill students looking to grab something to go or a place to study (if they went early to grab a spot)

Food ⁴⁄₅ décor ⁴⁄₅ staff&service ³⁄₅
Distressed wood counters, tables and stools. Another typical hipster café. Food looked more appetizing and rustic than say a stabucks or second cup.

Humble Lion est définitivement dans mon top 5 des meilleurs cafés sur l’île. Leur espresso est super bien composé et le lait moussé exactement comme il faut! J’ai eu la chance d’y aller alors que la file n’était pas trop longue mais j’imagine qu’avec McGill juste à côté, il doit arriver que l’endroit soit très achalandé. J’ai aussi eu un service amical et j’aime bien l’ambiance convivial de l’endroit. Bref, selon moi c’est un excellent endroit pour trouver un délicieux café qui vaut bien le prix qu’on nous demande.

Coffee was good, nice spot, but not a good place to get work done.
They say they close at 7pm, but they kicked all patrons out before 6:40. As he was walking over I figured he would ask if I wanted something else before they cleaned up, bc I did. But instead he told me I had to leave. Not leave soon, but leave now. That isn’t the first time this happened here. I’m not from Montréal, maybe that’s normal here? Where I’m from it’s really rude.
Also, as a side note, saw crazy PDA a couple of times I was there. Once again, maybe that’s normal here? Haha lived in nyc my whole life, and I’ve traveled the world. never seen anything at a café like what I’ve seen here. Staff in nyc would’ve said something. But instead I get kicked out. Thanks…

Decent third wave downtown with a rotating variety of roasters (intelligentsia, heart, brown and arrows, etc.) Simple coffee and pastry menu, ok prices, with a pimped out la marzocco strada. Sharp interior but can get packed. Knocking stars due to generally inattentive and unhurried staff-​when you have 2 – 4 people on such a small bar it shouldn’t take so long for to go drinks! An alright spot if you’re in the area but nothing that stands out from the crowd.

During school months, I find this little café so crowded! It can be quite difficult to flag down a table for yourself during the peak/​busy hours, especially since most people are working there from their laptops while they sip on their coffee.
I’ve tried many of their drinks, and for me, the coffee too acidic. Their flat whites and lattes are well done, except the level of acidity in their coffee is too much for me to handle. On another note, their tea and chocolate chip cookies are superb and very much my go-​to favourites at this café.
Because it’s so crowded, it can get quite loud in there, so if you’re looking to study/​work there, bring a pair of earplugs, or at least earphones so that you can concentrate!
They also sell Mast Brothers Chocolate if you’re interested. :)

Good coffee but not great. The place is cozy and welcoming, your cute coffee shop décor standard. The pastries, at least the times I have been there, were not fresh at all. The staff is friendly.
They have a mix of table seats and counter seats. Small coffee shop.

A charming café serving delicious coffee and simple cakes and pastries, Humble Lion was my top pick for coffee while spending time in Montréal. Staff were pleasant and willing to explain menu items that weren’t familiar to two Australian’s — like the latte served with loads of maple syrup (delicious if you like sweet things). My cortado was perfectly made with a solid espresso base and milk steamed to just the right temperature.
The store itself is beautiful, with lots of wood and a pressed metal ceiling. A great spot to sit for a moment with a cup of coffee.

Right in front of McGill university– really convenient and a nice change for all the mediocre chain coffee you can find downtown. A bit expensive but definitely worth it. The coffee is tasty and the chocolate croissant is absolute heaven. Really cute décor too, wi-​fi and plugs in the wall to charge your computer. Go there.

Humble Lion used to serve only Black Cat espresso, which I didn’t like so much because it always taste like chocolate. BUT NOW they switched to mostly Bows and Arrows, which is a TOP roaster.
It’s a great location and there are more tables than it first looks like!
Definitely not «mean» baristas there, they are truly nice!

so that’s what the cowardly lion is up to these days. you’d figure after getting courage, he’d go on some adventures and make more movies but instead, he opened a café in downtown montreal? who knew, hollywood do love us. it does make sense though, one needs balls of steel to open a 3^rd wave coffee in downtown montreal where chains reign supreme ;p
cowardly became humble. and the café reflects that. a pretty modest looking place where sitting at the window counter in –30C weather may not be the wisest of idea (you can still feel the cold air, not from the door but from the window) that serves good coffee with a certain bite to it. it won’t blow your taste buds away but it won’t underwhelm you either. it satisfies the craving.
yes, it can be a bit pretentious but in term of downtown snobbism, its pretty mild.
anyway, its a worthy coffee option if you’re nearby the mcgill campus

I am not a hipster and I loved this place! One of the best mochas and lattes I have had. The atmosphere is great, it does appeal more to college students… But that would make sense because it’s right across the street from McGill university. The baked good ares fresh and delicious.

This little café is amazing! I have gone a few times and I always order the maple latte. I am really not a coffee person but this drink is perfectly sweetend and always well made. I have tried a bunch of their baked goods as well. The croissant is perfectly flaky, their brownie is super rich, and last time I was there they had freshly baked cookies-doesn’t get better than that! I also tried their bacon and cheese scone (might be a biscuit) but either way it was delicious. I definitely recommend checking out Humble Lion!

Je suis allée avec mon chum en fin d’après-midi une fin de semaine. Après avoir marché longuement dans la ville, on avait besoin de quelque chose de chaud pour nous réconforter. Unilocal à la rescousse! On était pas loin de ce petit café assez bien coté et j’aime essayer les cafés indépendants (Second Cup, Starbucks et Tim Horton, ce n’est pas pour moi). Alors on se rend là.
Ni mon chum, ni moi né buvons de café alors je demande un chocolat chaud. La serveuse me répond dans un français cassé, mais compréhensible, désolée, il né reste plus de chocolat. Bön, alors un thé chaï, svp. Désolée pas de thé chaï aujourd’hui… Ouain, ça va pas bien… On finit par commander un thé vert au jasmin (je dois répéter ma commande plusieurs fois parce que bien que moi je comprenne le français de la serveuse, elle né comprend pas le mien).
Le thé n’est pas servi en feuilles mais en poche (quand même des poches «fancy» avec des morceaux de feuilles dedans, pas seulement de la poudre). L’eau était un peu trop chaude pour du thé vert, mais d’habitude, je né m’attends pas à avoir du thé parfait dans un établissement où la spécialité est le café.
Comme on était assez tard en après-​midi, et que le café allait bientôt fermer, on nous a servi des tasses en carton. Il n’y avait pas non plus de petites sucreries à manger. Par contre, on né nous a pas mis dehors, alors on a pu finir notre thé avant de partir.
La déco est belle, dans un style industrio-​chic. Les chaises né sont pas super confortables. Il y avait peu de clients au moment où nous sommes allés alors on n’avait pas le bruit ambiant typique d’un café, on a plutôt eu droit à de la musique assez forte…
Donc, si vous buvez du café, fiez-​vous aux autres critiques pour vous faire une idée de ce café. Si vous cherchez un endroit réconfortant pour a) boire autre chose que du café, b) faire une pause relaxante, ou c) avoir du bon service en français, passez votre tour.

Location: Corner of Sherbrooke West and McGill. The closest subway is McGill, and street parking is available (metered).
The place: This café is not large by any means, but the layout and décor is super cozy and warm. I walked in and immediately envisioned myself all cozied up with a good book and a hot cup of coffee in what will soon be –30 temps. That said, there’s a lot of bar-​type seating so you can’t actually do any curling up!
The goods: The good folk at Myriade II directed me to these guys when I asked for Black Cat Espresso, so that’s why I originally stopped in. However, not one to resist a Macchiato in a cute café such as this one, I decided that I should probably try one out to see how these guys fare in comparison to my favorite coffee place. The Macchiato was OK, but a little too bitter for my taste. While I’m not necessarily a coffee snob, I AM picky. As such, Olimpico remains coffee champion of my world.
Service: The barista was very friendly and chitchatted with me while he rang me up. No complaints here. That said, I did find it a little surprising that he only spoke to me in French even though I addressed him in English.
Price point: Decent — the beans + Macchiato cost me $ 20.50.

Humble Lion is a solidly good café, filling a niche in an otherwise rather dreary stretch of Sherbrooke. I’m always surprised that the neighborhood immediately surrounding McGill is so desolate, but whenever I think I’ll need to schlep myself east, west, or south a good haul (at least 5 minutes walking! as if!) to find caffeine and hipster-​baked-​good sustenance, I remember Humble Lion.
The coffee is good, if tending toward sour, and the baked goods are reliably tasty. The ambiance is great if you need a bright place to sit and work, but seating is often in high demand, and be sure to bring headphones — every time I’m here, my attention is averted from whatever I should be doing onto the loud conversations between the baristas and the owner or their coffee-​drinking friends. The bathrooms are not friendly for anyone with the slightest mobility impairment (or claustrophobia), but there are power outlets galore, and free wifi. All told, a good (if not quite exceptional) café exactly where one needs a good café to be.

It took me over a year of crossing in front of this coffee shop daily (sometimes multiple times in a day!) to finally go in. .. and I’m not sure why I waited so long. Perhaps because I knew I’d get hooked?
So far I have only tried the iced lattes, and they are so good that with this heat, I just keep ordering ‘em! Why try something different when I know that I really enjoy them? They are the perfect combination of rich and slightly bitter, just perfect for replacing my morning (hot) coffee, now that temperatures are nice and steamy early in the morning. Come fall I’ll have to try out the (hot) cappuccinos and lattes, but for now, I think I’ve found my favourite iced coffee.

If I still went to McGill I’d be here all the time… I think. The filter coffee was fresh, and served quick — nice to see a light, buttery, bright «third wave» roast served fast and without pretension. The muffin I had was super fresh and… creamy? almost? it was so moist and good. The owner was there jumping in to tell me about the coffee they were serving, to make sure I knew when the muffins had been made, to say a friendly goodbye, and all this helped counterbalance the gal barista behind the counter talking loudly about how she had been scouted by Paris cafes to go teach them how to proprerly make coffee. Le sigh.
Love the thoughtful décor, especially the study-​friendly touches like the well-​placed outlets. I’d have been happier if they had cream as well as milk, call me indulgent if you must. I dunno, I’m torn between 3 and 4 stars but feeling appreciative and generous and hoping they’ll survive and thrive. Some off notes of coffee snob weirdness aside, Humble Lion is an excellent option in the neighbourhood.

I just tried the Humble Lion today.
I had a regular coffee and my friend tried the Latte erable (Maple Latte) and we were both pleased with our drinks. The coffee had a great flavour and was very fresh.
It was tough to find a spot to sit because the place was so packed and the café doesn’t have much seating. We weren’t particularly impressed with the barista’s attitudes but the great music definitely made up for it.
Over all, nothing too special, great ambience and decent coffee, I would definitely give the place another try.

While I dont mind chains like Starbucks or Second Cup I’m always on the lookout for a new coffee place to try. I ventured to Humble Lion because it is conveniently close to where I work I ordered a latte cookie, both of which were very good. The espresso wasn’t bitter at all like it can be at some places and went down smoothly. It didn’t even require much sugar at all like cheap espresso sometimes does. The chocolate chip cookie was clearly made that day and was very soft and tasty.
The prices here are not that great. Looking at the menu they seem on par with other places however their sizes are also smaller compared to the others. I also find their pastry selection a little limiting. Honestly if it weren’t for the prices I’d have no problem making this my go to coffee place at work however they are a bit of a turn off.

Beau petit café «3e vague» près de McGill, 4,50 $ le latté ! Il était bon. Ça fait changement des autres Second Cup ou Starbucks au centre-​ville. Wi-​fi gratuit. Par contre, le service était correct, même pas un sourire et un merci du jeune proprio, mon latté déposé sur le comptoir sans rien dire et continue sa conversation avec son associé… bof, j’aime un peu moins.