What I ate: Montreal - Schwartz's deli

One of the reasons for our road trip to Montreal was to eat and specifically at Schwartz's deli. My friends were raving about eating smoked meat again. I had some pretty horrible food experiences eating at deli restaurants so I was skeptical and frankly I wanted to skip eating here altogether but my friends convinced me to try it at least. 

I have heard that people line up for hours just to eat at the restaurant so I was dreading it already. When we arrived, there was a small line forming outside the restaurant already. We waited for about 15 minutes before getting a table inside. By the time we got our table, the line up was getting longer and longer. 

The restaurant is really small but thankfully they added a take-out store next door which offers ready-made food and vacuum sealed smoked meat packages. If you want to avoid the line up at the restaurant and want a quick bite then head straight there. 

I was starving by the time we were seated. The wait was not long but it felt like eternity for me.  I made a mistake of ordering pastrami sandwich (who does that at a smoked meat resturant!?!? the horrror!!!) but thankfully our very helpful server made a deal with me. He told me he will bring me a smoked meat sandwich and if I don't like it, he can bring me a pastrami sandwich for no extra charge. I agreed! and oh boy the smoked meat sandwich was heavenly! I was so happy after taking my first bite that my crankiness went away. 

My friends of course ordered the largest size meat plate to devour. I cannot compete with their appetites.

We we're all smiling after our meal. It was definitely worth the wait. The service was fantastic! The servers were very very helpful. I would go back to Schwartz's every time I go to Montreal.

photos by me and G