Cube

On the misguided recommendation of a local, I went to Cube for dinner last night. The restaurant is in one of a gaggle of new boutique hotels that have sprung up in the Old Montreal/Downtown area. As soon as I walked in, I knew I should have turned around and walked out — the place was loud and chock full of women who looked like they didn’t eat at all. But it was already late and I was starving, so I stuck it out.

The meal and service were both instantly forgetable, although they did have a decent selection of interesting wines by the glass, including an excellent white Sicilian meritage. But the highlight of the meal was learning that the restaurant had been hoisted on its own hipster petard.

The place had clearly been Designed. After sitting at my table for a while, I noticed that a strip of wood that ran down the center of the table, which at first appeared to be an inlay, was actually removable. You could lift this patchwork of dark wooden squares, each about 1”x1”, straight out of the table.

When I asked the waiter about this, he explained the tables actually had a light embedded inside of them. The light was designed to shine up through small holes in between the wooden squares and create, in his words, “a nice ambience”. He went on to explain that many of the plates in the restaurant had been designed to take advantage of this light — transparent or translucent affairs that would reflect and refract the light around the food.

Unfortunately, no one had bothered to make sure that the batteries that powered the lights could last an entire dinner service. Immediately after opening, the wait staff discovered they were changing batteries in the tables twice or three times a night. Eventually it descended into finger pointing (Waiter A: “You were supposed to change the battery!” Waiter B: “No, I did it yesterday, it’s your turn!!” Customer: “Excuse me, could I get something to eat?”). So, now the tables at Cube are dark.

What’s the moral of this story? I’m not sure. But spare yourself a trip to Cube if you are ever in Montreal.

Posted by pmk at October 29, 2004 7:07 PM | TrackBack