On Saturday August 26th at 12 noon, I waited in our rental car at the corner of Ave E. Mozart and Ave Casgrain for Sal to meet us. I called Sal at 1 pm from the very popular local Jean Talon market and we arranged to meet at 2 pm. My wife and I parked at the very large pay garage at the Jean Talon market at 12 noon to explore and have lunch. Sal warned others in reviews that American cell phones might not work in Montreal, so I bought an International SIM card before the trip, and my cell phone worked fine. When meeting us, Sal was prompt and led us into his alley and up the tall flight of stairs to his above-the-garage apartment.
After Sal helped us carry our bags up the stairs, he gave me a short tour of the neighborhood and was nice enough to buy me a coffee to go at a neighborhood café. My wife wanted to stay behind and unpack. I didn’t think about how much traffic would be in the neighborhood on a Saturday, at noon, at the popular Jean Talon market, so Sal graciously drove me in the rental car and found free street parking for me. We took his advice and used public transportation, the bus and subway from then on. Both were easy and convenient and we hit all the highlights on our first trip to Montreal. We were able to save time and money by buying a three-day metro pass from the very nice attendant who spoke both French and English at the Jean Talon metro station.
The Jean Talon market is surrounded by small local restaurants, and we had a great time trying different food items- they even had the delicious oven-baked Montreal bagels right there in market. My wife even found her decaf coffee at the local Starbucks.
Overall, our experience at Sal’s three room apartment was positive and we would definitely return in the future. We would even look into NOT renting a car. We are older Americans and this is only a review of what we found useful. We liked turning off the air-conditioning and using the cross-ventilation of the screened-in windows. We liked the queen bed. We were able to find the English speaking channel among the local TV stations. We didn’t use Sal’s coffee, but enjoyed the bottled water he offered when we arrived. It was a nice quiet neighborhood, too. If there was one tip, if you are older, it would be that the tub can get slippery when taking a shower and there is no grab-bar. However, this is minor and, when you read all the other positive things in the other reviews, we say, if you are looking for a local bnb with a good host and atmosphere, this is the place. Bon voyage!