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3627 Saint-Laurent Blvd. Saint-Laurent metro. Bus 55
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Tel. 282-4996 Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to midnight. Closed Sunday. $65 for two before wine, taxes and tip. Table d'hôte : $9—$12 (noon); $20—$24 (evening).Date of visit: April 18, 2004
 Saturday night on the main, a front row table by the street window, the waiter all to ourselves, a magnificent off-yellow tone decor, a great-looking bar, and an open kitchen surrounded by wine bottles, between which we could just make out the head of the female chef. That was the backdrop for our visit to this popular Italian restaurant, which was founded in 1992.
Often described as a restaurant with lots of atmosphere, Il Sole let us down in that department.
We had reservations at 6, and were alone for the first thirty minutes. The other pre-8pm diners were mostly older couples. The air was thick with Paolo Conti style music, which is a genre reserved for hoarse Italian guys, their vocals long ago destroyed by cigarettes and grappa, who soft-throat Italian words from under the sheets on their side of the bed.
 The service was smooth and friendly, occasionally interrupted by our nosy waiter from Cannes.
When we checked the menu at the reception desk after our dessert, our film festival reject zipped over and wanted to know on behalf of the French Secret Service (known to us insiders as "les fesses") why we were doing this.
The appetizers ($7 to $15) include calamari fritti, tuna tartar with arugula salad ($15), scallops, ham with figs and gorgonzola-filled dates, beef carpaccio, various salads, and mozzarella di buffola (no relationship with buffaloes, bisons or buffones).
 My tuna tartar was really a tuna cubcub, because it arrived in die-sized cubes. Also, the tuna meat was grey-colored and tasted a bit vinegary and fishy.
The bread and olive oil dip were excellent. From the interesting Italian wine menu, we ordered an excellent Pinot Grigio Terrazza Lune ($38 on the menu, $41 on the tab).
The main courses include home-made fresh-egg pastas ($18-$24), risottos ($22-$24), and meats and fish ($22-$34), with choices such as veal ossobucco, fish of the day, lamb, and beef.
The risottos (nano rice with asparagus and ham, and nano rice with wild mushrooms and white wine) sounded great, but my companion makes the best risotto in town herself, and is rarely impressed by a public risotto. So we both opted for a pasta.
I had a strangled priest, a strozzapreti, soon to be renamed a strozzapaoloconti. The twisted neck-shaped stringlets were served up in a rabbit ragu ($18), a specialty of the Emilia Romagna and Tuscany regions.
My partner had the tagliatelle with wild mushrooms served in an oil-tomato-cheese sauce ($22).
Other offerings that tempted us included the mezzalune filled with foie gras with white truffle oil sauce, and the gnocchi with ricotta.
We had our dessert during the annual holiday of the French Secret Service. I had a heavenly lemon-grappa sorbet. My companion's strawberries sat on a bed of balsamic vinegar sauce that soaked through the strawberries and discolored them.
So, we quickly finished the Pinot Grigio, and left.
Dinner for two, before tax and tip, was 110$.
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