Every need anticipated at La Belle Province

A classy establishment always goes the extra mile for its patrons, and La Belle Province on St-Jacques is hard to forget in this respect.

Featuring exceptionally attentive staff and friendly, diverse clientele eager to extol, unbidden, the virtues of the establishment at astounding length, this popular institution is swollen to the point of bursting on a Saturday afternoon with eager patrons fond of the gigantic portions and bottomless coffees for which it’s known. The table service is snappy and responsive, while the atmosphere is relaxed and busy enough to have a good belly laugh without disturbing anyone.

Tommy, a hardworking hands-on kind of boss, when probed as to what inspires such profound loyalty in diners who keep coming again year in and year out, is quick to credit the family-friendly ambience – notably complimented by a widescreen tuned to the latest sports updates and surrounded by personal touches, movie posters and sporting collectibles. At his prompting I tried the Chef’s Special, with two eggs, three meats, French toast, home fries, baked beans, fruit and coffee, and my guest tried the spinach omelette plus, at my insistence, the poutine, since no review would be complete without it. The verdict, verbatim: “Best. Poutine. Ever.” I kid you not.

The special showed up in a flash and was done exactly as requested. It’s definitely worth a try. After diving into our saucy dishes with heady abandon, the coffee came fast and furious, without the service ever feeling rushed nor anything less than exemplary, as we sat, chins dribbling with syrupy excess, satiated and happy.

Equally worthy of recommending for either a family outing or a morning bounce after a hard night, La Belle Province is found at 6752 St-Jacques W, just west of Cavendish (bus 90 from metro Vendôme).