If you’re hungry in Montreal, don’t bother making a restaurant reservation. There’s a table waiting for you.

The city boasts about 6,500 restaurants – more eateries per capita than any other North American jurisdiction, according to Montreal’s tourism bureau. The numbers speak for themselves: Montreal has 373 people per restaurant. Gastronomic mecca New York City? 457.

Montreal’s situation isn’t necessarily a good thing. The overflowing food scene has caused many casualties of late, including some long-lived landmarks. The shuttered dining rooms cover the gamut of culinary choices, from casual roast-beef joint Magnan’s Tavern to upscale Italian dining spot Le Latini.

The oversupply of eateries is causing a lot of grumbling among surviving restaurateurs. One is so embittered, he’s calling for a quota on the number of restaurants. “Good restaurants have to be protected,” Carlos Ferreira, owner of Ferreira Café, a downtown fixture for 18 years, told Le Journal de Montréal. “Even I’m in danger if nothing is done.”

It’s a misguided idea. Limiting competition this way rarely serves the greater good. In this case, quotas, even if they were feasible, surely would reduce the quality of the offerings, stifle innovation and probably block newcomers from entering the market.

But the chorus of complaining from Ferreira and his confrères has had some positive effects at least. Their complaints have put the spotlight on the problem of profitability for restaurants, as well as on the fact that the industry itself is worried about the future.

Revenue fell by 4.2% for full-service Montreal restaurants in 2013. The profit margin for the average restaurant that year was just 2.6%, according to Quebec’s biggest restaurant association.

Restaurant owners cite a long list of woes. High taxes. Red tape. Endless roadwork. Lack of parking. Shoddy snow-clearing. Staff shortages. A stagnant economy. A drop in high-end tourists. The allure of suburban dining.

Montreal thinks of itself as a foodie destination and, in recent years, has tried to promote its love of food to visiting tourists via events such as Restaurant Week, during which visitors can try the wares of the city’s best chefs by ordering affordable, three-course, set-price meals.

But Tourism Montreal could be doing more to help high-end restaurants attract wealthy tourists. Why not send celebrated chefs abroad to show off their skills – in embassies, say?

It’s unclear how seriously Montreal mayor Denis Coderre is taking the issue. The mayor, a populist who often jokes about his ample girth, probably would be more comfortable at the city’s poutine and hot-dog festivals than in a fine restaurant.

When Coderre was asked recently why he has never eaten at Joe Beef, one of Montreal’s most popular restaurants, he said the last time he was in the neighbourhood, he was in a rush and opted for a burger at a fast-food restaurant instead.

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