Not accessible. I had a very hard time moving around the restaurant with my crutches, especially…read morewith the stairs.
I took my niece from New York City here because La Banquise is supposed to be the "must try" poutine spot in Montreal. We had a great night overall: soccer game, drinks at Mellon Brasserie (none of us were drunk; my wife was 100% sober). Everything was fun and chill. But La Banquise completely ruined the end of that trip, and I'm not okay with letting this go.
We paid for the food and service. But it doesn't matter if you pay $1 or $100: at the end of the day, we were customers, and we deserved to be treated with respect. We waited for our Uber outside. It was cold, and I'm on crutches, so my injuries hurt badly in the cold. After waiting outside for a long time with the Uber not showing up, we went back inside to wait near the door, in the corner, not blocking anyone.
The staff at the door immediately came in and started rudely and aggressively kicking us out. He refused to speak English with me after I clearly said, "I don't speak French, so talk to me in English." He kept talking French and was rude to my wife, my niece, and me. He told the waitress in French that we were "blocking the way," which was 100% false. (My wife speaks French) We were just standing near the entrance, waiting for a few minutes, trying to get out of the cold.
When I went to the cashier and explained, "This guy is kicking me out. I just paid for my meal. But it doesn't matter if you pay $1 or $100: you're still a customer, and you shouldn't be kicked out and treated like trash just because you're waiting for your Uber on crutches. I'm on crutches, it's cold, and my Uber isn't here yet," they called a waitress who also started telling us to leave instead of helping. She didn't try to find a solution; she just said, "No, no, leave, leave."
This is not just bad service. This is disgusting, disrespectful treatment of a paying customer with a mobility issue. My niece, who had a blast all night, ended the trip saying, "What the f....? You bring me here and they treat us like this?" She now has a bad impression of Montreal because of this place.
My niece is from New York City, and she's also posting her own review. That review will be seen by people in New York and by tourists looking for recommendations. If you treat tourists like this, you're not just ruining one night, you're ruining the image of the whole city.
Montreal is supposed to be a welcoming city for tourists and people looking to have fun and be treated with respect. La Banquise failed that completely. The food was okay, but the experience was terrible because of how we were treated. This is unacceptable. You should be ashamed of how you handled this.
