Mixed emotions: Milos 10 p.m. "Late Evening" menu

Let's face it, the days of eating a gourmet meal for $20 or less are about as over as Lindsay Lohan's acting career. Therefore, when a venerable Montreal fine dining institution like Milos offers you a three course late evening menu (10p.m.-12:00a.m.) for $20.11 – you make a run for it, pumps in tow. I have had the good fortune of eating off of Milos' a la carte menu, and the Greek eaterie has repeatedly blown me away with their fresh seafood dishes, many of which have been flown in from Greece, as well as their Greek feta cheese, olive oil, and a baklava that makes me want to break out in song à la Glee. It goes without saying that a meal here can set you back a pretty penny.

Last Saturday, a good friend and I decided it was finally time to suppress our hunger till 10:00p.m. (on the dot) and try Milos' late evening menu. Another friend had warned me one of the problems with eating at Milos at that hour is the atmosphere, since the big crowds begin to fizzle out and there's the sense waiters are trying to rush you so they can finish their shifts. When we first arrived, the restaurant was full, although I will say by the time we were finished at 11:30, it was only about 1/3 empty. Not bad. Our waiter was friendly, swift without making us feel hurried, and all-around professional. I assume the restaurant's reasons for offering this deal are not to give back to the community and feed the "needy", but to make money and attract a young cliental, and therefore waiters should never make late night patrons feel like second class citizens, as was the case in my friend's situation.

Service and atmosphere aside, what left me with mixed emotions was the food. There are three starter options and we chose to share a tomato salad with feta, olives and olive oil (a.k.a. Greek salad) and a meze platter with different "dips", stuffed vine leaves and pita bread. The salad arrived and was 1/3 of the size of their regular priced tomato salad. I took a deep breath and reminded myself my meal was costing $20.11, whereas normally just one tomato salad costs $25. Still, I couldn't help but be annoyed the feta came crumbled and there was so little of it, rather than the sizeable chunks that constitute a traditional Greek salad. Yet, what little there was of it tasted incredible. Meanwhile the meze platter was snooze-worthy, with only the small dollop of tzatziki eliciting any reaction. Should've tried the organic salmon sashimi instead.

Tomato salad, part of Milos' "Late Evening" menu.

Next we chose among four options and ordered a dorade flown in from the Greek island of Kefalonia. The portion size of the flaky white fish was ideal for us girls (we had also loaded up on snacks at my house first), and though it was a little on the dry side, it still ranks as one of the best fish I've eaten in Montreal. Then came the biggest dissapointment: they were out of baklava. In case you missed that, OUT OF BAKLAVA. One more time for dramatic impact: OUT OF BAKLAVA. Our faces were priceless when we heard the news. When your meal consists of three courses and three pretty small courses at that, dessert plays a BIG role. The waiter was nice enough to offer us an almond and pear tarte that's normally not part of the late evening menu because he could sense tears welling up at the thought of settling for ice cream, or worse – sorbet. It was actually quite tasty, but baklava it was not. I found this inexcusable for such a high-end eaterie. They've been in this business a long time and they've had this menu for a couple of years and should know how much baklava to keep around. Cue foot stomping.

The Meze Platter was BORING

With a glass of white wine, tax and tip, my meal cost $41.00 – a measly sum when you consider how much a regular meal costs at Milos and the calibre of ingredients used. That said, if Milos wants this special to draw in crowds of hip young people like Lemeac's 10p.m. special which is $25 for an appetizer and main – they need to ensure service is consistently top-notch, baklava is ALWAYS available and they really ought to add more pizzaz to their appetizers. I would start by serving a "real" chunk of feta, none of this crumbling nonsense.

Pre-meal spread arranged by yours truly.