I had a very rough time during my month-long stay here. I think this place could be great but it requires more work and thought put into it (and a bit of love wouldn't hurt). I do feel that Paul (manager) tried to help solve many of these issues (even if some of them were only bandaids), but I think overall it lacks too many things that you actually need to live somewhere for more than a few days, especially for the price.
I'll start with the pros:
- Location, location, location. Great spot very close to most things you'd need, especially plenty of bars and restaurants. The flip side is that it can be loud on the weekends and from traffic but how loud depends on which room you're in.
- Desk and chair was provided so I could work from the AirBnB. The chair wasn't very comfortable for long periods but it's better than a couch.
- The wifi speed is good but the ping is horribly inconsistent. If that doesn't make sense to you then it likely won't affect you, but for my work as a software engineer it did affect me.
Cons:
- No toilet paper anywhere in the apartment when I arrived at 2am. I couldn't go anywhere to get some due to how late it was, and I won't explain in more detail how that was a large inconvenience.
- There was a lot of trash in the hallway when I entered the apartment, though I was told that it was the cleaner's fault and Paul would talk to them to make sure it didn't happen again
- Washer and Dryer didn't work at all, so Paul and his wife washed my clothes. Better than going to a laundromat but still a large reason why I picked this place was to be able to have everything I needed including washing my own clothes.
- I got locked out for about 45 minutes at one point due to the owner locking the door to the staircase which I didn't have the key to. It could've been fine but I had a meeting to get to and was unable to make it due to the delay.
- I was unable to access the balcony for the first few days because I didn't receive a key for the lock and had to wait until Paul could come and grind the lock off since he also didn't have a key. The inner door still locked so it was safe but unusual and disappointing since those first days were the nicest of the time I spent in Montreal.
- The kitchen is a makeshift kitchen, so there's no oven. I was aware of this but was told there were induction burners that I could use but those didn't work with the pans in the apartment so I was unable to cook at all for the first week or so. After he gave me some pans from his place, two of them worked but the surge protector hooked up to them blew so I had to buy a new one. Then the pans I was given were not very good and somehow all of my food burnt quickly (could be my fault here, the induction stovetops are difficult to learn how to use properly). I ended up ordering all of my meals in for the month since cooking became too much of a hassle.
- There was only one fork and one (bent) spoon provided, but maybe 7 or 8 knives. I was there alone but had a friend over for dinner and had to give him a set of plastic utensils since there was only one set. There's also one bowl that's big enough for a meal, which again worked but not for more than one person. A cheap dish and silverware set could fix this.
- There's a (somewhat dirty) toaster oven but no mitts to use with it so you have to use the towels or something else to get the food in and out safely.
- The shower is not a real shower but just some PVC pipe holding up a shower curtain and the shower head coming from the bathtub was held up by a shoestring. It worked but I won't pretend it was reassuring to see or that it didn't slide around and be a pain sometimes. Overall the shower did work but just not what I would expect for the price.
- One of the two beds was broken in one corner so the mattress was at a sharp incline. Thankfully I was alone so I simply used the other bed which was better anyways and further from the noisy street. But for larger groups I don't think it would work to use that bed.
- As noted before, the street outside is noisy but it didn't bother me as I was in the other room. It's basically downtown so you have to expect a level of noise and sirens throughout some nights
- I woke up startled one morning to two men talking on the balcony outside of my room. I wasn't aware others had access to it and was put off especially since the door leading to the balcony has a big window in which they can see into the hallway and part of the kitchen inside the apartment. So I stayed in my room until I thought they had left.
- The ping on the wifi is horrible. It spikes from 60ms to 1300ms every few seconds which makes certain things requiring a stable and consistent connection almost unusable. This likely won't affect most people but it did affect my work so I switched to using my phone as a hotspot.
- The listing is weirdly inaccurate with the amenities. I wouldn't say that there is a backyard since the apartment is two floors above street level. There's a parking lot in the back that I believe belongs to someone