Montreal - Eat for cheap?

[touraccuracy]

Allo!

I have just driven from Vancouver to Montreal and it's been an awesome road trip. Our budgets are getting a little tight though so we're wondering where we can eat for cheap in this city. I want to try local stuff, not chains, preferably not fast food either. I eat pretty much anything but I'm not a HUGE fan of sea food. We're staying between downtown and chinatown, so near there would be ideal. Any suggestions from locals would be much appreciated!

Merci!

[le calmar]

There is a Russian Buffet on Beaver Hall (near Viger), it's called "Le Kremlin". I know you're looking for local stuff, but this place is original so I thought I could tell you. It's not THAT cheap if you wanna try the buffet though, count a 16$ + tips, but you eat as much as you want.

There's another place on corner René-Lévesque and Sanguinet where you can eat sandwichs and some food from Madagascar for 7$-10$, it's called "Café chez Charly".

[Rico Rommheim]

Montreal's no different than other cities, cheap food is usually fast food. Good fast food in this city are the Lebanese shish taouk joints.

Also, you're in the wrong part of town for cheap food, you'll find that in regular neighborhoods, certainly not in DT or the tourist trap that is Chinatown. Besides, even the places that use to be cheap are now upping their prices due to the global shortage of food and the price of oil!

[big T]

Depends, you can easily find some fairly cheap Vietnamese in Chinatown. $6 will buy you a large bowl of soup. But mostly Rico is right, your cheapest options will be fast food -- if you're willing to try a local chain, you could try Dagwoods, Montreal's own Subway/Quiznos like. One of my favourite burger joints is Patati Patata at Saint Laurent and Rachel -- cheap and tasty.

[elsonic]

in Chinatown, excellent basic viet/thai can be found at Crystal no. 1 on St-Laurent between La Gauchetière and René-Lévesque. best soups NW corner Viger/St-Laurent. best viet submarines on St-Laurent too, west side, between René-Lévesque and La Gauchetière (don't remember the name).

for bistrot-style French food, try Le Grand comptoir on Phillips Sq for lunch - cheap tables d'hôtes.

for the best deals, you better walk east or go up the hill.

seafoods... I don't know. best fish I had was on Duluth, Le Piton de la fournaise 835 rue Duluth (close to St-Hubert). other excellent fish place : Le Poisson rouge 1201 Rachel East in front of Parc Lafontaine. La Mer, close to métro Papineau, René-Lévesque/Papineau. these three places are a bit over your budget.

Portugese restaurants serve good fish! On Marie-Anne and Rachel between St-Denis and the mountain, you may find some of them. the most famous is Doval at 150 Marie-Anne Est. good portugese spots on Ontario and Panet/Plessis too.

personnal cheap recommendations : Frites Alors (local chain with best fries and burgers) on various locations http://www.fritealors.com/site_flash/emplacements.html
and Café Santropol St-Urbain/Duluth, super terrace with mega healthy sandwiches of all kinds.

best strips for food : St-Viateur between St-Laurent and Hutchison, Rachel between the mountain and parc Lafontaine, St-Denis between Laurier and Maisonneuve (and the little stretch of Ontario just West of St-Denis), Little Italy around Jean-Talon Market (métro Jean-Talon), Laurier between Brébeuf and Papineau. there may be many more.

[harls]

There's a chinese place near Guy/St-Catherine that gives you a ton of food for a cheap price, but I forget the name of it. I guess that really helped you out. Sorry.

[The Trooper]

If you like greek food as much as I do, I suggest you try something around Avenue du Parc/Jean-Talon intersection or on Jean-Talon between Acadie and Avenue du Parc. You can find many good greek restaurants at very reasonable prices ($15 or less for a souvlaki meal). This part of the city is often ignored because it's not exactly the nicest nieghbourhood but it's worth the detour for a good greek meal.

If you like real Barbecue chicken, try out this place at the corner of Sherbrooke and Décarie. I haven't been there in many years but that's an institution and if memory serves me well it's called Côte-St-Luc Barbecue. My dad used to go there when he was a kid with my late grandfather.

If you like roast beef, there's obviously no better place than Taverne Chez Magnan in the Pointe-St-Charles nieghbourhood. It's easily accessible by subway. It's right by Charlevoix station.

If you want something really cheap try the Peel Pub downtown. But don't sue me if you die of a stomach bug afterwards!!! Because while it's really cheap, they have the reputation to "recycle" beer and food. Actually their beer is not really beer and their food is of doubtful quality and probably not as fresh as it should be. And don't be surprised if the dishes doesn't seem very clean. Actually, the toilets are probably cleaner than the kitchen. This place is a hangout for broken students.

Other than that you can try Celine Dion's restaurant which are called Nickels. You can eat stuff like pizza, pasta, chicken etc. It's a delicatessen and the food while not great is good and reasonably priced. Try eating a spaghetti smoked-meat, you'll only find it in Québec as far as I know.

If you're a ribs lover than the best place is Bar-B-Barn on Boul des Sources in a town called Dollard des Ormeaux. It's about a 25 minutes drive from downtown depending on how bad the traffic is.

My fellow forumers have all made very good suggestions as well.

Edit: MolsonExport is right. It's Chalet BBQ. He's also right with the downtown location of Bar-B-Barn but I've never been to this location. Thanks for correcting me Molson Ex.

[MolsonExport]

World's greatest BBQ chicken can be found at Chalet BBQ (not CSL BBQ) at the corner of Sherbrooke and Decarie. Fantastic food (very crowded, due to the immense volume of repeat visitors) at very reasonable prices.

Excellent Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) can be found at Pho Bac on St. Laurent below la Gauchetiere (in Chinatown). Very, very cheap with huge portions.

Jade Garden (Chinatown: La Gauchetiere) has very cheap lunch buffets (dinner more pricey). Huge selection, but it is still a buffet, so the quality is so-so.

You have to (of course) check out the legendary Schwartz's deli (Charcuterie Hebraique) for world famous Montreal smoked meat. Found on the Main (St. Laurent Blvd).

As for the Bar-B-Barn, why go out to the Waste Island, when you can enjoy Bar-b-barn's famous ribs/chicken at the original location downtown (Rue Guy, south of Ste. Catherines).

Also, the best croissants in Canada can be had at Le Duc de Lorraine (Rue Cote-des-Neiges, near Queen Mary).

Al-Taib serves up some of the best, cheap pizza slices anywhere (Montreal, and beyond). It is in the Concordia ghetto, on Guy just north of de Maisonneuve Ouest.

[big T]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Also, the best croissants in Canada can be had at Le Duc du Lorraine (Rue Cote-des-Neiges, near Queen Mary).

Whaaaat? I've been living steps from there for all this time and I didn't know that! thanks for the tip
Also, Pho Bac is the one I was thinking of in Chinatown as well. Can't go wrong there.

Somewhat related question -- does anyone know where one could find a good Philly cheesesteak in Montreal? My last time down there was a couple of years ago now, and the craving's only been getting worse. It pains me to say that Subway's is the closest I've found so far.

[elsonic]

Originally Posted by elsonic

best soups NW corner Viger/St-Laurent.

I quote myself, are we talking about the same location?

best croissant à Duc de Lorraine? first news, but yes, maybe. at La Brioche Lyonnaise on St-Denis between Ontario and Maisonneuve, they're excellent.

most diner-type restaurants offer excellent smoked meat - in case of the perpetual line-up at Schwartz.

[big T]

Originally Posted by elsonic

I quote myself, are we talking about the same location?

If you're talking about the one that's right on the corner (used to have a green backlit sign, now has a red one I think), then no. But I think Pho Bac is slightly superior for the same price; plus one of my friends had a bad case of food poisoning most likely from that place you're saying, where I used to go a lot. Anecdotal and could happen anywhere, admittedly, but I've been sort of reluctant to patronize ever since.

Originally Posted by elsonic

most diner-type restaurants offer excellent smoked meat - in case of the perpetual line-up at Schwartz.

The ones that offer Lester's meat are indeed a sure shot. They usually carry a logo.
Of the "independent" ones, Schwartz and the Snowdon Deli (Decarie/Isabella, 5 min from the Snowdon metro) are the best IMO. Snowdon usually has less of a lineup and is definitely worth experiencing -- takes you back 50 years as soon as you step inside.

[PhilippeMtl]

For Portuguese,

Romados is very cheap and chicken is one of the best in Montreal. More for take-out but you will find 1 or 2 tables.
I suggest you to take a 5 minutes walk and eat it in Parc Lafontaine.

I also agree with MolsonExport for Chalet.

Also, Montreal is very well-know for his amount of indepandant Café, you can find some good healty meal for a good price.

Hope you will have great time in our city!