Alas, people were listening, as a flood of restaurants, have - sadly - closed since then.
They include: The Roi de l'Inde on St. Denis, Asean Garden on Sherbrooke W in NDG, Pacini on St. Denis, Scores on St. Catherine W. (& in Valleyfield I'm told), Arem a middle eastern place on William, Itacate on the Plateau, Booster Juice on Sherbrooke near McGill College, Racines at 444 McGill. I Sensi on Belanger near the Main,
I feel bad for these restaurants, as they all have employees who were left out of work and owners who took a hit.
There's no real way of telling whether there is a significant leap in restaurants closing because not all restaurants declare bankruptcy when they close so the Quebec Restaurant Association isn't sure of the numbers.
There are surely many others and, of course, other newbs are hitting the market with high hopes.
It's not unusual for a spate of restaurants to all close at once, so it's likely cyclical but I suspect the loss of about 20,000 jobs in the Montreal area since last year at this time might have something to do with the dip, which has also been reflected in a slight downturn in the real estate market.
Others point to the supposed ongoing effect of a recent law that makes it impossible not to claim all earnings.
Montreal joints that closed last year BU, Cafe Melies, Aix Cuisine du terroir Laurier BBQ Le Hangar Le Murphy Les Cavistes Mas Cuisine Projet 67, Euro Deli, (bars: Time Supper Club, Bains Douche, Radio Lounge)
For some, it's the increases in rent and taxes that no longer make it feasable to operate a business.
ReplyDeleteSeems like the Dorval Deli in the Dorval Shopping Centre has closed down for the second time in a year; Bistro Burger Plus (the former Harvey's) on St-Jacques in NDG; the Topaze in Pointe-Claire cut its space in half and has a much more limited menu...
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Asean Garden, it was indeed Montreal's rents and taxes that forced them to close (that, despite a successful business and loyal clientele!).
ReplyDeleteThey told me the landlord was raising their rent to $10,000 per month. Taxes in this city and province (highest in North America!) are also a major problem.
Chalk this up with the 11 major hotel closures in Montreal (mention in another Coolopolis article), and it paints you a clear picture of where Montreal is headed.
How many opened during the same period?
ReplyDeleteI seriously doubt the total number of restaurants in the city is going down. My wife and I eat out a lot and we have rarely eaten at the same restaurant twice. There always seems to be a list of new places we want to try.
Some of the places you mentioned that went under, really deserved to go under. Scores pretty much offers St Hubert's menu at even higher prices than St Hubert charges. I have been walking past Jugo Juice daily for years and have never once seen a customer in there. I have no idea how they lasted as long as they did. Must have been a great place to work if you like to read.
You can expect the artisinal hamburger segment to crash hard soon just like the cupcake joints did a few years ago. This will be a good thing. You can't throw a rock in this town without hitting an MBurger clone. I for one have purchased my last $25.00 hamburger.
Montreal has some serious problems but lack of restaurants isn't one of them.
The Frites Alors on Lacombe Avenue in Cote des Neiges had closed for several months before recently re-opening.
ReplyDeleteThe popularity of food courts over individual restaurants has probably contributed to the decline of individual restaurants which are not always easily accessible by public transit.
Since about 1970, the cost of eating out has become increasingly prohibitive.
It's too bad about that Asean location, nothing seems to last too long there, although it is a great spot with two floors to be creative with...
ReplyDeleteRestaurants are a notorious industry for a boom-bust economy that has many excellent restaurants close-up and many other hangers-on live for years in infamy.
ReplyDeleteCanada doesn't really have a shortage of restaurants, what I would be fascinated to read would be about the Hotel closures in the MTL area -- supposedly 11 have shuttered.
I don't think this article is so much about the *quantity* of restaurants in Montreal being at risk. No, it's more about the disappearance of our UNIQUE and QUALITY restaurants vanishing. It's those restaurants that make Montreal UNIQUE that are an endangered species.
ReplyDeleteI can think of so many once famous eaters in this city that have either permanently closed or just living off past fame and serve pure dreck now (e.g. Laurier BBQ, Schwartz's, Yangtze, Orange Julep). Montreal was once world renowned for its restaurants, but that title is quickly slipping away like everything else here.
And this city and province punish those who do well and are successful, it's just not a business friendly climate in Montreal. Asean Garden was a very profitable business, well liked and a long established restaurant (at least 12-15 years old). Yet it was killed by obscene rent hikes and high taxes. Language laws, excessively bureaucratic rules and regulations, insanely high taxes, removal of parking spaces for Bixie or bus lanes, street construction blocking the front of businesses that instead of lasting a few weeks takes months or years, etc. It's like the city's goal is to kill businesses! I even saw restaurants in the news in the past month, put out of business because of endless (i.e. corrupt) construction by the city!
As for hotels, here is the Coolopolis link:
http://coolopolis.blogspot.ca/2013/12/nine-major-montreal-hotels-that-have.html
(note several more hotels have closed since it was published)
There was a lebanese place on Monkland called Taboule that opened and closed really fast. Antico Martini on Somerled has been vacant and dark for a year, apparently the owner wants to retire and sell it. Sometimes these places open and close really fast, like this cupcake place on Sherbrooke W, now Mandy's salads. Sometimes it's the rents, like Jardin Asean, or other weird stuff going on, if they open and close in a short time.
ReplyDeleteEven the Red Line fast food joint near the southeast corner of Jean Talon and St. Denis has gone downhill.
ReplyDeleteTheir souvlaki used to be excellent (in my opinion, anyway) despite their refusal to offer a souvlaki plate with ONE stick which the majority of their competitors actually do.
Some of the Red Line staff members would give you one stick if you asked them while other servers patently refused to do so, suggesting you could take the second stick home.
Look, that's NOT why I go to a restaurant!
The last straw was when I recently ordered a souvlaki pita and realized I'd gotten a doner instead once I'd bitten into it!
Furthermore, it was gritty! Yeck!
Sure, restaurant workers can and do get burned out working all of those hours, but hey!
Bye bye, Red Line! :-(
Itacate is at Beaubien/Saint-Dominique. Hardly in the Plateau.
ReplyDelete