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Montreal is a city filled with restaurants. There are a ton of new ones that open and just as many that close every year. But there are also some legendary Montreal restaurants that have been around for decades.
With so many places to eat, it's no wonder we see a few "doubles".
There is of course the infamous bagel rivalry between Saint-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount, the smoked meat rivalry between Schwartz's and The Main. And then there's the battle of the old Steakhouses:
Moishes Steakhouse VS Gibbys.
In the last 2 weeks I visited both these restaurants and ordered the exact same thing to see how they compare. The meal I ordered was a simple house salad, a filet mignon, fries and peppercorn sauce.
Here's how each restaurant scored.
1. Location
Moishes: 8/10 - Gibbys: 9/10
Moishes has the better location, but Gibbys offers free valet parking. Point Gibbys
2. Ambiance
Moishes: 8/10 - Gibbys: 6/10
Gibbys may be nice on the upper floor, but there's a chance you might get seated in the basement which has a very depressing vibe. Moishes looks clean and modern while retaining that vintage feel and there's no crappy basement.
3. Staff Uniform
Moishes: 8/10 - Gibbys: 5/10
Moishes wins this one hands down. If you've ever seen the weird, brown Gibbys uniforms, then you know I'm right.
4. Service
Moishes: 5/10 - Gibbys: 9/10
Moishes staff made us wait a long time, they seated us practically in the middle of the hallway near the waiter's station, so every 2 seconds one of them would run passed our table. The food took nearly an hour to come and the staff barely acknowledged us during the meal.
Gibbys staff was extremely welcoming, they were very attentive to our needs and they even came outside to warn us that our food had arrived when we went out for a cigarette.
5. Pickles
Moishes: 9/10 - Gibbys: 8/10
Both places have their own signature pickles and although this was a close battle, I have to give this round to Moishes. The tie breaker was the fact that I can't eat more than 1 Gibbys pickle (gotta save room for the actual meal) but at Moishes I couldn't even help myself and scarfed down 3 of them before the salad even came.
6. Salad
Moishes: 5/10 - Gibbys: 8/10
Both meals came with a house salad. Moishes gave us what looked like one of those mixed greens bags of leafy crap you find a grocery stores with a vinaigrette that tasted like syrup. Gibbys gave us a real salad with actual vegetables, the vinaigrette was amazing and after loading it with some bacon bits, I actually had to stop myself from finishing it to save room for the actual meal.
7. Freebies
Moishes: 6/10 - Gibbys: 9/10
Let's start with the bread: Gibbys bread is so fresh and warm that I almost considered stealing the first loaf and asking for another one. Moishes gave us a cold basket of thin Challah bread that ripped apart when you tried to butter it.
Both restaurants gave us a few extra freebies. Moishes had a coleslaw that tasted like someone mistakenly put sugar in it instead of salt. Gibbys however had a bowl of real bacon bits and if you ask the waiter, they also bring you homemade cottage cheese, and it's fantastic! (Bonus: Gibbys also included free tiny mint chocolates shaped like their signature front gate.)
8. Steak
Moishes: 7/10 - Gibbys: 9/10
Here's the round you've all been waiting for, the meat.
Cooking: Both are tied when it comes to cooking the meat (perfect medium rare).
Presentation: Gibbys steak came on a plate loaded with the fries I ordered as well as a few little goodies like steamed asparagus. Moishes dropped a huge empty plate in front of me with a lonely piece of meat in the middle, then another plate came with my fries which seemed completely useless and took up a lot of unnecessary room on the table.
Taste: Moishes steak had a few extremely salty patches which nearly made me send the whole thing back. Gibbys was nearly perfect.
9. Crowd
Moishes: 7/10 - Gibbys: 8/10
At Gibbys we could actually hear ourselves talk but at Moishes we were surrounded by not 1, not 2, but 3 tables filled with overly excited screaming individuals who acted like this was their first time in a restaurant. Calm the fuck down guys, it's only steak!
10. Price
Moishes: 8/10 - Gibbys: 7/10
The prices are very close at both restaurants so I can't give a point to either side. However, Moishes offers special discount prices after 9 o'clock (The filet mignon which normally costs 60$ will only cost you 35$).
Final Score
Moishes: 71/100
Gibbys: 78/100
And the winner is ... Gibbys!