Restaurant Douro

Been here many times and every plate I’ve tried has been delicious! The service is also impeccable!

À midi. pres de la petite Italie, recommandé par des amis portugais. cadre aéré, service professionnel, nappes immaculées, nourriture d’inspiration portugaise, choix de vins idem. pour finir prix (menu à midi) très correct. on y va de temps en temps.

Excellence. The service was impeccable, serve and waited by the owner himself, conversing with him about the wonders of Portugal wont be a problem, the cod is fresh highly recommended in any of its presentations. Great selection of wines, nice family ambiance. Its definitely worth the detour…

Étant d’origine portugaise, je peux confirmer que Douro est le meilleur restaurant portugais de Montréal. Le service est impeccable, la décoration est typique, sans être kitch, et le vin… très bon.
Nous avons commencé par les «tapas mista», un mélange de différents tapas dont les gambas, fraîches, bien grillées, les sardines grillées (gouteuses), quelques croquettes de morue (bonnes), croquettes de crevettes (délicieuses) avant de passer au plat principal.
Le steak du bitoque est tendre, le lapin très bien cuit accompagné d’une sauce très bonne et de légumes cuits à la perfection. La paella est aussi excellente, les fruits de mers frais!
Au niveau dessert, les pasteis de nata né sont pas maison mais sont tout aussi bons, la mousse au chocolat onctueuse et l’espresso excellent.
Et il faut finir avec un verre du meilleur porto, vieilli de 10 ans, un must.

I went here for a weekday lunch on a cold January day — by cold, I mean like –20C wind chill. Despite the bad weather, this place was open, warm and great food. There were lots of other patrons enjoying themselves.
For lunch, there was a very limited menu: basically three starters and three entrees. Three of us had the tomato soup, which was my favorite part of the meal. It was not creamy, almost like a gazpacho, but warm. A perfect choice for a cold day! Our entrée choices were grilled mahi mahi over mashed potatoes with veggies in them, charbroiled beef, and paella with seafood and chicken. Two of our group had the paella and two of us (including me) had the mahi. I am not a big paella fan and judging by the looks of the two entrees, I picked well. The fish was grilled perfectly and the mashed potatoes were unique with assorted veggies mixed into them.
Service was good and I would definitely come back for dinner.

There are restaurants that, for some reason, become family favorites. Be it for a specific food item, the wine list, the décor or even the service, these are places that you will go back to time and time again because you enjoy it and are in the mood to go back. They become staple of the rotation when the family seeks a nice place to enjoy a nice weekend meal. For my family, Douro is one such place. Given we recently went back for a nice Saturday evening meal, I figure now would be a good opportunity to talk about it.
For the uninitiated, Douro is a Portuguese restaurant located of the fringes of Little Italy here in Montréal. They serve tapas style dishes or you can stick to the classic appetizer/​main course format if you’d like. Each time I’ve gone, I have stuck to the tapas menu. Amongst the tapas options on this evening, we went for chorizo sausage, grilled squid, grilled calamari, garlic shrimp and cod cakes. Every item is cooked very nicely without overdoing the ingredients — simply allowing the natural favors of each items shine through with some slight enhancements. The grilled squid is of particular note here.
The next serving brought forth some delicious mussels as well as 2^nd helpings of squid and cod cakes. The mussels were rather small but they were still delicious as was the garlic and white wine broth.
To top off the evening, a deliciously fresh pastry. Nice flaky crust and a buttery smooth filling.
Add to this delicious food a nice bottle of Portuguese white wine and you have yourself a very nice meal to enjoy. The service is outstanding and personable. I have some minor quips about the décor of the restaurant (although I seem to be the only one who feels that way) but they do not distract for the great food you will enjoy. If you are looking for a nice enjoyable Portuguese meal, I highly recommend giving Douro a shot. Maybe your family will enjoy it as much as mine.
Cheers!

We went with a group of 12 people for dinner and everyone ordered something different. The Restaurant has very nice art work and a contemporary modern décor throughout.
We ordered two plates of calamari and although it was very simple, it tasted good. They also served us three bread baskets served with side appetizers of olives, proscuintto, olive oil, slices of white goat cheese, and Portuguese beans.
All of the dinner meals were large portions, with plenty of food served on the plate.
I ordered the reasonably priced acorda de marisco (a seafood dish served with wet bread), and was pleasantly surprised with the abundant amount of seafood that was in my dish. It had garlicly clams, mussels, shrimp, and two very large prawns. There was more seafood than bread, which is the main reason I was surprised. Acorda is an aquired Portuguese taste. So if you don’t like eating wet bread, then you may not enjoy this meal, but to be honest this was the very best acorda de marisco that I have ever eaten.
For dessert I had the pear marinated in Porto wine, and it was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend this for dessert.
Douro is probably the best kept Portuguese restaurant secret on St Laurent. We were very lucky to have the restaurant owner Mr Alves serve us personally, because he truly made our dinner a fantastic culinary experience.