Restaurant Recommendations in Old Quebec

It's been a few years for me so the places I know may be gone. However, the website https://www.restoquebec.ca/?lang=en

is useful. It organizes restaurants by location, style of cuisine, bring-your-own-wine (AVV in French) etc. There is some readership feedback.

My wife and I have been to Quebec 6-7 times, it's one of our absolute favorite places. Our two favorite restaurants that we always go to are: Le Lapin Saute - a reservation for dinner is a must, it's small and pretty intimate. Cassoulets, lots of duck and rabbit on the menu, but other stuff too. Lots of Quebecois ingredients. And second, L'Affaire Est Ketchup - a little away from the old city, really spartan decorations, but incredible food at very reasonable prices given the quality. These are all chefs who used to work at 5 star kitchens, got tired of corporate restaurants, and opened their own spot. It's awesome.

Other spots we've enjoyed: Le Casse-Crepe Breton (for breakfast/lunch - crepes are awesome, expect a wait); Patente et Machin (not in the old city); Buffet de l'Antiquaire (a legit Quebecois diner); Le Cochon Dingue; le Café du Monde (a little fancier/dressier, great seafood); Les Freres de la Cote. Also, Aux Anciens Canadiens has a great early bird prix-fixe menu, and they serve traditional Quebecois cuisine. It's a little touristy in my opinion, but we enjoyed the meal.

For beers (they don't serve food): La Barberie (a brewery). We have often made a lunch by going to Marche du Vieux Port, getting some bread, cheese, pate, and fruits/veggies, and then heading over to La Barberie

For fancy drinks: the bar at the Chateau Frontenac (get a window seat; stunning views of the river)

The one place I caution folks to avoid is Pub St. Alexandre. It's right on the main Rue St. Jean, and is, in my opinion, a tourist trap. Food is mediocre, and while the beer list is impressive, everything is crazy expensive.

We live in VT USA and travel to QC very frequently because is easy and quick trip.
We are booked for another week in June 2019.
We have been going to Chez Boulay ever since he opened several years ago. Always a top notch meal! In fact, in all of our world travels, Chez Boulay is in our top 5 favorite restaurants.

Here’s a few hints about this and other high end restaurants in QC.
- - - We already made our dinner reservations for June. (I’m writing this in March.) Most of the top QC restaurants book tables 3-4 months in advanced. And, they often charge a No Show fee (generally between $60-$90 American dollars).

- - - If you are not budgeting hundreds of Americans dollars for a once in a lifetime evening meal then try any of the good restaurants at lunch. You can get the same menu items in smaller servings for roughly half or even a third of the price. Again, try to book in advanced if the restaurant has that option OR call them the day you arrive to ask if they accept lunch reservations.

Let us know where you end up! That feedback is always appreciated!

We are headed back to Quebec in August for another quick visit. We liked Cafe du Monde and Le Cochin Dingue also. Another place we love for the pastry is Paillard on rue St.Jean. Best croissants, napoleons, custard filled doughnuts. They also have sandwiches if you want a quick lunch. Maybe not quick because even in April there was a big crowd. Will check out Chez Boulay.

PS. Have you been there for the New France Festival? By coincidence it will be going on when we are there.

I will second Steve's recommendation for Le Lapin Saute, we had a really wonderful dinner there our first night in Quebec. However, the absolute worst meal of our entire trip was at Aux Anciens Canadiens, I could only recommend that you steer clear of this restaurant however charming it may look.

Oh, I was just reading back through my notes on Quebec, and the highlight of our trip was Chez Boulay, also recommended by Explorer. First (and so far only) time I've ever had Nordic cuisine, the menu was quite interesting and everything was very well prepared.

I have been to Quebec City one other time, about 3 years ago, with my daughter who is a French teacher. We ate at Le Lapin Saute and loved it. We also ate at Casse-Crepe Briton, Le Petit Coin Latin, Paillards (a couple of times), Chez Ashton and an Italian place on Rue St Jean that I can't remember the name of but didn't really care for (the students picked it). I'm looking forward to trying some of your suggestions as well as repeating a meal at Le Lapin Saute and possibly Le Petit Coin Latin. Thanks everyone.

Hi everyone. Our trip to Quebec City was wonderful. We loved our hotel, Hotel Champlain, in Old Quebec. The location was perfect for walking everywhere yet off a couple of blocks off Rue St Jean so very quiet and peaceful too. The staff there are wonderful. I highly recommend it. Here's a recap of where we ate while we were there...

Breakfast at our hotel was okay & we had it there a couple of days. We had crepes one morning at Casse-Crepe Breton, which were very good. We had breakfast at La Petit Coin Latin one morning as well. Breakfast there was very tasty and the bol of cafe au lait was the best.

Lunches - Most days we would get something and split it, which we always do & it works out well for us. The best lunch we had was at Lapin Saute, rabbit poutine, it was amazing! The wine was good too. On our way to the Musee des Beaux Arts we found an Irish pub called Pub Galway on Rue Cartier & had fish and chips, beers and a shot of Teeling whiskey (we toured their factory in Dublin & I haven't ever seen it served anywhere so had to go there. LOL). We had a picnic lunch in our hotel room one day of a baguette from Paillards, cheese & duck terrine from a local market. Another good lunch was at L'Entrecote St Jean. We shared a croque monsieur. Delicieux.

Dinners - Our first dinner there was not good at all. My husband asked our taxi driver from the airport where they had a happy hour and he mentioned Pub St Patrick so then of course my DH wanted to go there for dinner. We got our drinks just fine but our food took over 40 minutes and we only ordered appetizers - French Onion soup for me & poutine for my husband. The food was fine when we got it but it took way too long!

The next night we went to Restaurant Pub D'Orsay and shared a 16oz Maple Crusted Pork Chop with scalloped potatoes & vegetables. It was one of the best meals we had there. So good. Next night we went to Chez Jules which was recommended by our hotel. We had duck confit and escargot. Both very good.

The next night we attempted to go to Chez Boulet Bistro Boreal because of all your recommendations. I checked their menu on Trip Advisor and found something we would like but when we got to the restaurant, their menu had changed and nothing really sounded that good to us. I forget what we wanted to order but it wasn't on the menu anymore. We ended up enjoying our wine there & went across the street for dinner to Pub St Alexander for their Lamb Shank dinner, which was very good. I also enjoyed a piece of Maple Syrup pie there. Yum.

Our last dinner was at Le Petite Coin Latin (where we enjoyed breakfast one day). We shared the Elk Tortierre dinner and maple ice cream for dessert. It was also tres delicieux.

I like L'affaire est ketchup.
They constantly changing menu using local in season ingredients. A good mix of Quebec and French style. Lots of duck, Riz de veau, etc. And, btw, hands down one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at.