LE CENTRAL — Restaurant in Montreal

Have been here more than a couple times. To me, this place is a massively scaled down version of Time Out. Everything here seems to be out of order, less focused on the food expertise and more like a university keg party environment. This may be contrary to others especially the younger crowd who does not mind old music, overly crowded environment, average to below average foods, pricing that is without value or relation to what is being served, and without any service. For what is being sold and at these prices without service, it is much more worthwhile going to a proper restaurant where you will receive proper service and much higher quality food and better portions. Where this place may have value is if you’re in a group where everyone can’t agree on what to eat. This being stated, I see the target market between teens and early thirties as its primary audience. I personally do not see the fun aspect nor the quality aspect. What I observed we very young individuals working at these places, some without much care and some who do care. The burger place (I highly doubt NOT recommend) single cook was doing cash, serving clients, and cooking like an octopus and was amazed at his skills. He even repeatedly washed his hands. At the Korean fried chicken place I saw the opposite, the fellow took prepared refrigerated chicken and gather a bunch of pieces in his hand, dropped one, and threw them into the deep-frier - a non-starter for me that’s for sure. The churro place, basically deep fried dough sprinkled with sugar and or cinnamon etc in a cone cup for $9.50 has to be the biggest rip off I have ever seen in foodservice in my life. For this price you can get plenty of amazing sweets and with more food and quality. The Portuguese chicken place was not cooking anything on charcoal and there was a foul oil smell coming from their station. The pizza place look clean and professional but their pizzas were ridiculously small for the price they are charging and with little toppings and lots of dough and crust - but looked lovely. The pasta place was the star as they pasta was fresh, their ingredients and sauces were all freshly cooked “a la minute” and the tiramisu (though stupid small portion for the price) was delicious to and you should she this instead of a fried low quality churro lol - unless you’re lactose intolerant lol. All in all this low brow establishment is certainly not my taste (yes this is a pun) but obviously the place is busy and there are people who appear to like this, though one could argue from afar - so did I and my gust. So who knows if this place lasts but to me, if you want this type of experience go to Tome Out instead as the food quality is exponentially higher and the value proposition is far superior...

Reminds me a bit of Time out market but without being attached to a mall. I like the area and a food court makes a lot of sense since there is always something to do around Place des arts and it adds a lot more options than just the complexe desjardins mall food court. They have a nice mix of options and price ranges are $15-$30 depending on what you order and from where. It can get very packed here on nights with shows or other events so it will become hard to navigate around and finding a seat for a big group will be a hassle. I find the layout of the merchants a bit strange because there are some that are hidden in the far back and there's no one way to do a tour of all the options properly because there can be a lot of people and there are many entrances which just means more people and lots of noise. They don't have a buzzer system either so you kinda have to wait for your food at the counter or sit and walk back to the place you ordered with your receipt within the time frame they told you.

I've tried a handful of the stalls here and nothing has really wowed me so far except Le petit vibe (but they are sadly closed now) and trou de beigne (excellent doughnuts!!). I've also tried Ramen Misoya (a bit too salty and uninteresting broth in my opinion), the mac and cheese bacon poutine from Le gras dur (good but small portion for the price and the mac and cheese nuggets were just frozen ones).

I will say despite how this review might seem, I do enjoy coming here. When it's quiet, it's a nice place to sit with a friend and catch up! There's something guaranteed for every craving and the space itself is nice and inviting. Plus you can walk around Place des arts after and check out the light installations in the winter and the street decorations in the summer (or...

People will always find something to complain about. First of all, do not compare this with Lisbon's Time Out market. Le Central should be unique on its own. You wanna compare with Lisbon? Wait for the one in Eaton Center because that one will be the official Time Out market. Second of all, you wanna eat cheaper foods? What did you expect? Just walk a few steps and there's Complexe Desjardins typical food court along with McDonald's, St-Hubert, Eggspectation, etc. Le Central is meant to reunite different local restaurants into one place, which is perfect when you don't want to go all the way to the main restaurants. Those restaurants in Central are very legit, as I've spotted most of the owners that were there to make sure everything is alright. Why complain about how early they close? For instance, Trou de Beigne's main spot closes at 5pm everyday so complaining about how Central closes at 8pm or 11pm makes us look like crybabies. Might as well complain at every establishment for not being 24/7. Also, 18$ for fried chicken? Yep, that is for 4 pieces of fried chicken, 2 sides of your choice and a drink all included. Oh and if you pick a can of coke as your drink instead of a Sapporo, you're on the losing side of course. A nice beer and a meal that isn't fast food quality = 18$. Kinda expected, right? Alcohol is mostly expensive in every restaurants anyway. Your wallet can't handle? You...