Little Louis' Oyster Bar & Fine Cuisine Review
245 Collishaw St, Moncton, NB
Little Louis' in Moncton, NB managed to turn anticipation into a forgettable experience. Our August's 2023 visit was not what we expected from a place that bills itself as a fine dining establishment. A few of our collegues had recommended this place to us (in all fairness they hadn't actually gone...just heard about it).
The restaurant is off the beaten path, and located upstairs in a unassuming building. A short elevator ride up delivers you to the restaurant’s entrance. The decor retains a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that narrowly compensates for its somewhat antiquated appearance.
Starting with a soup that looked more like an afterthought than a starter, we quickly surmised that perhaps this wasn’t our wisest dining decision. It had the taste of a steaming hot Campbell's tomato soup that aspired to be gourmet by taking a brief swim in a pool of 10% cream. I kid you not. I could have replicated that same concotion at home and served it in my own coffee cup, but then again I stopped drinking Campbell's soup when I left grade school.
Moving on to the salad, a simple enough dish that was strewn about our plates as some sort of horticultural remnant. The greens themselves looked as if they'd been yearning for a drop of dressing to bring them to life. Speaking of the dressing, it lacked the tangy-zesty-garlicky balance that was needed to enhance the salad. However, the croutons and bacon did manage to meet expectations.
The scallop dish, was unsubstantial and an ensemble of elements put together in a vain attempt at harmony. The scallops, donning some char marks, sat in a sauce that we couldn't decide was a gravy or a dressing. The corn didn't belong on the plate, neither the capers or the beets, which looked like they were trying to escape.
The main course? We both had the halibut. But the supposed star of the show, has mysteriously left no trace in our minds, on our palate, or in our photo gallery. Therefore, we can't honestly comment on it.
Somewhere in there while we dined, Chef Pierre A. Richard popped out from the kitchen. Weaving between tables, he inquired about the dining experience from chosen patrons. Not us. Fortune favored us that evening, and spared our table from his inquiries.
Overall, Little Louis didn't leave a good, lasting impressions. The aspirations and execution of the chef and the dining experience on the night we went, was a failure, so we're not inclined to go back and give it another chance.