Mundo Trattoria | 17003, Rte Trans-Canada Kirkland QC H9H 5J1 | 514.783.1941 | www.mundotrattoria.com
This Kirkland resto has been on the list of places to try since I first read Lesley Chesterman's rave review of it a couple of years back. We finally had a babysitter, and no destination in mind, and decided to give it a shot. Fine dining in the West Island is pretty rare so we were optimistic, hoping this might be a good go-to spot for future dinners...
Unforetunately the night got of to a bad start, and it's hard to bounce back from that. We arrived early for our 7h30 reservation, and offered to have a drink at the bar until our table was ready. Big mistake. The small bar, situated right at the front door, has the feel of a service bar rather than a sit-and-enjoy-a-cocktail bar, and while we did sit and enjoy a well mixed cocktail, we watched the hostesses seat every table in the house - including ours. At 7h30 we let her know we were ready to eat, only to be told that there were no tables and that we could enjoy some complimentary olives for "just a few more minutes". Well, when they finally sat us it was after 8 and we were starving and frankly, a little grumpy. I get that Friday night is busy, and that you want to max out every seating - but why bother to take reservations if you are not going to honour them? Moreover while the olives were an acceptable peace offering, it would have been more appreciated if they had comped a round of drinks or brought a more substantial dish once they realized we would be sitting for at least another half hour....
From there the evening went fine, but overall left us feeling like we didn't quite "get it" somehow. They have a good thing going - they are packed with an older crowd of well-heeled local diners, many of whom were clearly regulars. Even though we're not exactly spring chickens we were by far the youngest people in the house, with the exception of the busboys and hostesses, and everything from the live, roaming music trio, to the slightly dated menu and plate presentations, and pricey wine list all seemed to highlight that fact. Other details which left us feeling a little out-of-our-element were the big screen tv playing the food network (in a fine dining restaurant??), the bread basket of thickly sliced cold baguette with little plastic butter cups (just weird, especially in an Italian resto), and the size of our table - we were so far away from one another we spent the night yelling across the expanse of white tablecloth.
We started with the beef carpaccio and grilled octopus. Both were excellent, although we had to dig through the bed of mixed greens to find the succulent octopus morsels which could have been doled out with a heavier hand. Our mains were both solid too - a heaping portion of lobster ravioli, and a perfectly cooked piece of halibut, from the table d'hote; no complaints at all. The service throughout the night was friendly, professional and timely.
All in all, Mundo Trattoria is a really good West Island restaurant, with good solid food and good service (reservation snafu aside...). We won't likely give it a second try though, just because it isn't quite our kind of place, maybe because there were too many reminders that after all, we were still in the West Island.
