The food is always good. Trying to get a refill on your drink just won't happen. Not even the nice lady refilling my water glass I didn't want was qualified to refill my soda. Server took my order and other then bringing our food flat ignored us. Even when we tried to flag her down she pretended not to notice. I don't care how good your food is I won't tolerate that crap. Community tables suck as well.

I worked a few blocks away until recently. Ate here almost every day they were open for lunch (closed Mondays for lunch). $5 lunch special was always good, but it just jumped to $5.95 because hey, they had to be losing money on it. Buttermilk catfish for lunch, that was awesome. Especially since I don't lean towards catfish at all.

It's a hectic atmosphere and tons of people coming through the door each night. Imagine how many of the servers encounter patron(s) who are less than friendly themselves. The patron gets to leave but the server has to stay all night and still deal with hecticness. Everyone has a bad day, but yes, some servers can be rude. Anywhere though. I wouldn't NOT go because of bad service reports. The food is great and I lost 15 pounds in 3 months eating there almost every weekday.

***.5 out of 4

The Montage may have great service for lunch. Maybe even in the evening. But if you're looking for late night spicy mac (cannot be beat) the hostess is always a jerk, especially if you're not "hipster" or "beautiful." The wait staff is usually pretty chic, but the hostess is always impatient, stretched thin with ordering the large group of high school kids to "WAIT OUTSIDE", and will often leave you waiting in the cold for 45 minutes. But really. Oyster shoots and spicy mac. They ARE the best in town.

Was visiting my mom for thanksgiving and we all went there with my family on the following saturday last weekend, mainly because my sister is the Artist of the 2 main paintings in there and wanted to show us since not being back to Portland since she moved to San francisco 12 years ago, I was impressed with the "last Supper" painting. But wow, I had the rock Shrimp Jumbalaya and it was sooo damn good. best I've ever had. With 8 of us and a bill well over $200 the staff and the whole experience was great. the food was phenominal! I can't wait to go back to Portland to eat there again!!

Are you people kidding me? I Loved the place. I thought the food was awesome, the service was awesome, and the tin foil creatures were the best! My experience was excellent and I plan on going back. I have only heard great things from all my friends as well. Until I experience otherwise, it makes me think either some of you are too dang picky or you just have bad attitudes and outlooks on life.

went with a couple girlfriends and had fun. i like the ornery (but on-it) service and the group seating, that is what makes it better than Olive Garden. even though the food is nothing like europe - i think the experience is similar to eating at a mom and pop trattoria in Italy ~ affordable great wine, servers who are only there to serve you (not kiss ass) and sitting family style.

i love the spicy mac. i have never had bad service at the M. but i did have a very irish waiter tell me he would not serve me shrimp cocktail because it wasnt that great. i thought it was kind wierd, but then again, whatever...good food.

the food is great, huge portions and awesome catfish. The waitress was a meanie though which kind of kills the desire to go back.

Took the fam including 5-yr old son to early dinner this week. Had a good time: Waiter was pleasant, fun and attentive. Boy had frog leg linguine which he enjoyed. I liked how chewy the gator was in the Jamba. Got cool tin at the end. Wish you could take a 5-yr old in a lounge. Can't understand all the bad reviews.

I had the worst service possible in this place. My server, after being rude, and argumentative snatched my credit card from my hand. She is lucky I already went through anger management because I woud have slapped the hell out of her. I had to breathe and count to ten. I think their servers need anger management as well, they are mean! I understand serving people may suck but if you hate it Quit!

I got my chicken blackened

I'm saddened to see so many unhappy remarks about this restaurant. I'm not debating them--it can happen anywhere. But it's never happened to me at the Montage. I never have a problem with the food (five kinds of jumbalaya offered should be mentioned, it's not just mac 'n cheese). I've been a bartender in or around Portland for a decade now, and I'm still impressed with the staff here. We've invaded this joint late at night on a weekend with as many as 20 people in our group--a nightmarish prospect for even the most seasoned server. Not only did our server NOT greet us with the "deer in the headlights" expression, he was able to correctly take food/cocktail/bottle wine orders for a 20-top without writing down a thing. There's also a groovy little lounge behind the main restaurant, past the restrooms. Check it out...

This is the worst restaurant in the world. The service was awful. So awful, I barely want to call it service. My sever flipped me off on the way out. I will never go back to that place. I refuse to be treated like crap especially by a place whose specialty is mac n cheese! I am a server as well, so I understand that people get stressed when it's busy and might not be able to to go above and beyond, but they were just straight up rude and it wasn't even busy! Flipping your customers off, telling them you don't need their patronage should never happen in any establishment, not even a lowly fast food joint.

I used to love this place...never had bad service, always loved the food. The last time I was there I was told I couldnt get my chicken blackened. Not because they didnt want to...but because "they dont have the blackened seasonings anymore". Are you fucking kidding me? A Cajun restaurant that doesnt blacken anything? I have to say that the waiter was great and he was pretty embarressed that they couldnt do it. God, I'll miss that chicken.

I eat at the Montage quite frequently, and the staff have never been anything but super nice and often very entertaining. A couple of months ago, I went out with two friends and one of my friends had a problem with his entree: it came way, way, later than the other two entrees in our party. We flagged down the waiter; he got my friend his entree, apologized profusely, and made the food tab for our entire party disappear. Also, if you can't handle "the freaks of Portland," piercings, tattoos and cleavage, you might want to relocate to another city.

I went here for the first time and thought the place was great. I had no problems with the staff rushing me and my friends for more money or the service being poor. They were pretty much right on top of everything, including the tin-foil designs.

try working there! I guess my attitude wasn't shitty enough for them, because they practically ran me out the door!

I went to the Montage with a few friends in the early evening and the food was great (I suggest the mac and cheese) but the wiater was non-existant. We were done eating and waited 25 minutes dor our male waiter to finally pack our left-overs. I was excited because I heard they package them in designs. Not our waiter... it took him 15 more minutes to get back to us (that was with me finally saying something). The best part... I wasn't too excited about leaving a tip (worst service ever) and so I told my friend.. you can tip I am not (and I ALWAYS tip good). Well I walked out and I guess he didn't leave a tip either. We were across the street in the decayed parking lot and the waiter comes running out yelling. I thought we had left something. He then runs up and haggles us for not leaving a tip. I told him to stick it... almost punched him... and left. I will never go back.. no matter how good the food is.

Other than busy as hell, it's been a great spot whenever I went there.

I agree with the first one. If by "aloof" and "quirky", you mean "rude" and "unhelpful", then yes, they are aloof and quirky. Sure, go to Montage if you want to be treated like a total a-hole for wanting to eat. If that's what makes you happy, go for it. You'll get pretty good food, and get to sit in a cool place. But don't expect it to be a feel-good experience.

And what does "stiffness" mean in this rating system? I can think of situations where stiffness is a bad thing AND a good thing.

that'd be 'doth,' but good try.

I think the montage actually prides itself on aloof/quirky waiting. I like it, it's part of its charm.

why dost thou service sucketh so? Where do you find so many bitter, angry, surly food service lifers? Do you import them?

I am a waitress, and I leave good tips when the service is adequate, and GREAT tips when the service is good. I leave mediocre tips for excruciatingly painful service. The last time I ate there (and the last time I ever WILL eat there), the service was unbelievably bad. This guy was inattentive, rude, condescending and combative. I was with a group of other food service folk, and we were not demanding, rude, drunk or otherwise deserving of the foul crap this server had to dish out.

We left about 12%, which I thought was quite generous, given the fact that our meal was a complete disaster, thanks to this guy. He then had the nerve to follow us out and demand more money. DEMAND. I was already gone, but, like the weak antelope, he managed to catch the most docile member of our group and proceeded to bully her into giving him more money. What?!?! It's gratuity, dude. A "thank you" for good service, which is not even close to what we got.

I called the manager to let him know that his waitstaff was chasing down customers on the streets and harassing them, and he didn't seem to think that was a problem.

I will never go back there, and I will always tell people to avoid it like the plague.

Oh, the alligator bites are tough and chewy, and the jambalaya very salty. I did, at one point, have a waiter turn my leftovers into a perfect tin-foil replica of female genitalia. Now THAT'S worth a tip!

We now take credit cards.

The lunch food is a great as dinner, yet it doesn't have the way out feel that you come to expect from Montage's after hours aura. The good thing about lunch is that there is room for you to eat and it's quiet enough to hear your friends. After hours is the time to go if you want to watch the freaks of portland with thier piercings, tatoos and cleavage.