Rotisserie Romados

115 Rue Rachel Est.
Montreal, ON 

514-849-1803

In her opinion:
I had been dreaming about this chicken since the last time I had it in 2011...yes, it really is that good. When we planned this trip to Montreal, I honestly looked at other Portuguese Rotisserie places but my taste buds kept reminding me just how good it had been and in the end they won out. 

Just like in 2011, we began our culinary adventure by starting at Rotisserie Romados. There was a huge line by the time we got there at 12:30pm but the efficient kitchen staff got orders done in a quick and precise order. When I got up to the order window, I knew exactly what I wanted too! It was a 1/2 chicken meal for this girl with a bottle of diet coke.  The half chicken meal consisted of half a chicken of fresh, well seasoned rotisserie chicken, French fries and salad. And it too was handed over in record time to go to the counter to pay. At the pay counter they give you the remained of the meal deal consisting of a bun and a pasteis de nata.

Well, it did not disappoint at all. This was just excellent as always. I had opted for the spicy sauce and I'm glad that I did. It was just hot enough...not too hot but had just the right amount of kick. The French fries were yummy just like I remembered and were great for sopping up the chicken juices and sauce. This was a lot of food. Enough that I used half the breast to make my son a chicken salad sandwich and I was still quite full that I couldn't finish the pasteis de nata. The pasteis de nata still tasted great when we had them two days later.

I love love Rotisserie Romados. I was actually pretty bummed when I had heard they had closed down due to a fire a few months back. I was so happy and excited that they had opened back up within months of closing down. They did a great job with the remodel and reconstruction and most importantly, they kept their chicken the same.  If you live in Montreal or are visiting Montreal. Visit this wonderful little Portuguese treasure in the heart of Montreal. Even as I wrote this post, my mouth was watering just thinking about how good this chicken is and the next time I will be able to have it!

In his opinion:

We have all been in the situation where everyone around you tells you that you must try a restaurant because they love it, they go there every chance possible and the food is amazing. Romados is that type of place...the type of place that you can expect line-ups at any time of the day because it is that popular and good. It isn't a "I should try", more like a "must try".

Located in Montreal, on the corner of Rue Rachel E and Rue de Bullion this place is an institution and brought many tears to the locals when it was gutted by a fire in January, 2013. There are many BBQ and Portuguese chicken places in Montreal but ultimately none match up to Romado's. It was an incredible loss that would take a little longer than expected to come back to life. It did and in my opinion, better than ever.

The concept is simple at Romados, give you amazing food, in crazy portions for an insane low price. Portuguese BBQ chicken is in some parts an unknown food item and that is a shame for so many reasons. The famous Piri-Piri sauce is a staple in this cuisine and does wonders to chicken in particular.

Romados takes advantage of this recipe better than anyone that I have ever seen, outside of Portugal that is.

We opted for take-out (which is a huge part of Romado's business) and stood momentarily in the famous line-up to get our order in. I must highlight that the line-ups go quickly due to the highly efficient ordering system set-up.

Since it was still early in the day, I chose to "just" get the Romado's Chicken Poutine for myself. In this poutine, they take the famous BBQ chicken and shredded it on top of fresh cut fries and drown it with yummy gravy and Quebec's famous cheese curds until the point of melting it. Every single bite of this deliciousness was a "foodgasm" to me. Bite after bite I was reminded that I was combining some of the best of Montreal with Poutine and Portuguese BBQ Chicken. If there was smoked meat on the side it would have completed the circle.

I paired my poutine with my favourite juice drink, Sumol which is a Portuguese fizzy drink available in many fruit flavours (my favourite being pineapple). I also got to have some chicken given that my other half couldn't finish her 1/2 chicken dinner.

The Good: Great BBQ chicken, amazing prices and portions to serve a few people for next to nothing in price. The highlight of every single Montreal trip that I take.
The Bad: it's 6 hours away from my house....
The Verdict: This is undoubtedly a gem that for the people that know it, can't live without it and for the people that will try it for the first time, oh what i would give to experience that feeling again.

I give it 4 out of 5 Olives as rating