I give this place 2 stars solely because of the nice beer selection and friendly/helpful staff. If it were based only on the food, it would easily be 1 star at best. Before I continue, I will say that the poutine was tasty; a lot of other places seem to mess it up somehow, but it was good here. That being said, I also ordered the shrimp w/ risotto, crab cakes, Rappourt burger, and moussaka lasagnette (lasagna).
I thought long and hard about it, and I can honestly say that, although pretty to look at, the shrimp w/ risotto is probably the worst dish I have ever eaten at a restaurant, and the first to compel me to leave a review anywhere. The risotto was overcooked and mushy, as were the beans it came with, and the entire dish (shrimp, beans, risotto, sauce) were completely flavorless. Not an ounce of seasoning to be found. The risotto tasted like water (which is almost impressive, considering how risotto is made), except with an unpleasant texture. The only thing that led me to take a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th bite was the hope that that bite would be better than the last. I was repeatedly disappointed.
The crab cakes had the problem of simultaneously having too little and too much. Too little in the sense that there was nothing (herbs, seasoning, vegetables, or other things usually mixed into crab cakes) inside besides crab and bread crumbs, and too much in that there seemed to be more breading than actual crab meat. The result was a very doughy patty with little flavor and a sickly texture. The lime aioli it came with was fine, but the problem there was that it came with only two blobs the size of a penny. For $15, it would also have been nice if there were more than two crab cakes, seeing as they were not large portions.
The moussaka lasagnette, according to the menu, is supposed to come with lamb, fried eggplant, and goat cheese. What we were served tasted fine, but also included only one of those three. Absolutely zero eggplant or goat cheese was to be found. We kept searching the dish for the missing ingredients, thinking maybe there just weren't large pieces. When brought to a staff member's attention, even though we had accidentally eaten much of the dish, he was very kind and took it off our bill in good faith.
Unfortunately, the second best dish we ordered was the burger. It wasn't awful, but it was extremely greasy, and fell apart immediately upon taking the first bites. The bun was very plain, and the only topping that could be tasted was the tomatoes.
I do realize that not every restaurant is intended to be a gourmet dining experience, and that some places do some things better than others. I am also a big advocate of being understanding when mistakes happen in the kitchen, as it is often very long and grueling work. However, there is no excuse for food of this low caliber. I would have been disappointed even if it were half-off. It is possible that today was a very off day for the kitchen at Rappourt, but I am confident when I say that I will not consider coming here for anything other than perhaps a few beers and possibly a side of poutine. read more