Popular downtown Montreal restaurant finds out about eviction through online listing

Nov 8 2022, 9:21 pm

A gem of a restaurant in downtown Montreal — especially for students — is being forced out of its lease.

Restaurant Nilufar, which has been a fixture on Ste. Catherine in between Fort and Saint-Marc is being forced out after almost three decades.

In a social media post, Nilufar says they’ve been on a month-to-month lease with its landlord for more than 15 years. On Tuesday, they found their landlord has listed the unit for rent online at $3,170 per month.

“After almost three decades of being their tenants, you’d think our landlord would give us some sort of notice so that we wouldn’t find out through a listing,” reads the post.

Nilufar, which opened in 1994, specializes in delicious and affordable Middle Eastern food, most of which is vegan.

The cozy downtown spot is very popular with students thanks to its inexpensive menu — like getting falafel wraps for under $3 or shawarma combos for less than $7.

“If you’re wondering, no we didn’t know about this,” says the restaurant. Nilufar says it will continue to function out of its catering location where the restaurant produces its popular Falafel Royale and make big catering orders.

The restaurant also acknowledged that it isn’t illegal to list a unit when tenants are on month-to-month.

Customers immediately threw their virtual support behind the restaurant on Instagram and lamented they would follow Nilufar wherever it goes.

Nilufar didn’t provide any further details but left a phone number to be reached at and for catering inquiries. You can find the phone number on the restaurant’s Instagram page right here.

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