eric g.
Yelp
I am a regular visitor to Montreal, and over the years I've been to Philinos at least a dozen times, on visits ranging from dates with my Greek Montrealer better half, to an after-work dinner with ten hungry colleagues on a business trip, to a special-occasion family lunch for 30. And I've never had anything less than an excellent meal.
The best way to eat at Philinos is to order a bunch of hot and cold pikilia (appetizers) for the table, and one main course to share. My favourite dishes (confirmed on a visit with friends earlier this week): grilled octopus (tender, not at all tough or greasy, lightly charred), fried zucchini and eggplant, and the most amazing lamb chops (served by the pound). And of course the loukoumades - best described as Greek timbits, balls of dough lightly fried and dipped in honey. They are light, fluffy, sweet but not overly so, and always made to order.
I can't say whether Philinos is the best Greek restaurant in Montreal, because I never get around to trying the rest. But it's certainly the best Greek restaurant I've been to in North America. Toronto's famed Greektown, where I have been pretty much everywhere, doesn't have anything that even comes close.