Universe

The best restaurant in town !!
Good ambiance
Delicious breakfast
Very good food
Lots of varieties

Reading the Unilocal reviews I had high hopes. Finding a family owned restaraunt with great food is one of the best experiences ever. My hopes began to quickly erode when I first opened the door.
First the atmosphere:
The atmosphere is remenecisent of a typical Vietnamese restaraunt that you would find in a strip mall, rectangular with a bar in one corner. As the front door opens the front of the restaraunt gets cold. Smell, tables and chairs also reminded me of this. In the corner sat people who I believe to be the owners. They would move from the dining room to the kitchen while wearing winter jackets between cigarettes outside. We dined on a Wednesday night and there were 6 other people in the restaraunt outside the staff.
Service:
The waitress was attentive and I belive she’s likely the reason for many of the regulars coming in. Although the waitress seemed eager to please I don’t recall her coming around to ask if everything was to our liking (as it was not).
Food:
I had the French onion soup and my partner had the calamari to start. The French onion soup was ⁴⁄₁₀. It’s not that it was bad per se, but I have had better from a pack from costco. The calamari was your typical from a frozen bag variety, which was over cooked and quite rubbery. Might had been the bottom of the bag.
For mains, I had the Spaghetti and meatballs and my partner had a fetuchinni carbonara with a side of their garlic cheese toast (3 massive slices of toasted bread coated in garlic butter and cheese)
The Spaghetti was from a box (which isn’t necessarily horrible) and was overcooked to somewhat mushy. The sauce was a pale comparison to catelli meat sauce from a can. The meat balls were the best part and maybe a ⁶⁄₁₀.
For the fetuchinni, the sauce was described as ‘greasy’ and within 10 minutes had congealed to a solid lump in the bowl.
On the plus, I can say that the portion sizes were humongous but 90% went to waste.
The cheese garlic toast was ok (⁵⁄₁₀), however there was something oddly tangy flavored under the cheese. The garlic toast was probably the highlight of the meal if I had to choose one.
Menu:
There was certainly a very wide selection of dishes to choose from, almost too many. Choices are all over the map from chicken skewers, pizza, submarine sandwiches, montreal smoked meat, seafood, steak and so on.
Lowdown:
I will not return. If you are still reading this and do decide to go, I would recommend taking a chance with one of the more authentic Montréal style dishes as they may do these better. Our bill total for 2 with no alcohol was just over $ 70 (including tip). Happy hunting.

Just ate at Universe and enjoyed it. It was my first time eating here and it will not be my last.
I asked the owner to prepare his best dish to which he responded by preparing a beautiful tender lamb shank meal. The lamb was so tender that I could eat it easily with just a fork.
The portion for lunch was just perfect. I am not leaving hungry at all.
The service was very friendly. The waitress is a very friendly, genuine Mexican.
A pleasureable experience.

Couldn’t love Universe more. The service is excellent and the food is even better. The menu is very impressive with lots of selection for breakfast/​brunch, lunch and dinner. We’ve eaten here regularly since they opened and have never been disappointed – as delicious and generous as the portions appear in the menu, they are even more beautiful and huge in person.
My favorite order is the breakfast Ménage a trois – two eggs, sausage or bacon, and a french crêpe with custard, served with potatoes, fruit and toast. I usual say no to the toast because it’s such a large portion. And always impeccable! And the eggs – so beautiful; golden orange and rich in flavor. Can’t stop gushing about Universe. I’ve taken everyone to this place, including parents and inlaws and the consensus is, more-​or-​less, «Like Cora but better!» I’ve never been to Cora but I don’t need to to know Universe is amazing.
Their pizza is tasty, but this isn’t primarily a pizza joint so if you’re looking for something on the level of most pizzerias in town, Universe’s pizza is yummy, but will be a bit disappointing. The burgers, though, are fantastic! Huge and homemade with so much for sides I always take half the meal home. For &12. I love this place and will continue to frequent it often.

Universe staff is extremely friendly and personable. The food is typical Montréal food with smoke meat in a whole lot of things. Their menu is quite vast. It’s more of a comfort food kind of place and a relaxed place with a lot of French Canadians which I think reminds a lot of their home. As a guy that spent 10 months in Montréal I quite enjoyed it. If you’re an organic all salad type this may not be the place for you lol.

Great little spot! Massive portions, excellent coffee. It would have been great if they had vegan options, but there were plenty of vegetarian menu items. Hubby got the breakfast poutine (whoa. Massive) and I got French toast with fruit. The custard was a little runny, but still good.
No waiting line, and our food came fairly quickly. We will be coming back!

Saw this place before, walked in. Empty at the time I went, but I like that. Had the Simulant 11, ham and eggs. Eggs are free run and have a great colour and taste! The side of fruit was awesome, fresh, visually appealing with a nice variety. I haven’t had a banana in over a year! $ 11 + 3 coffee it is a good deal. The Misses will like the 4 egg omelettes!!! I usually don’t pay attention, but music selection was nice. Wait staff and cooks, friendly! I’ll be back!

This place completely caught me by surprise. I was not a fan of the original business that was here prior (some pizza joint), and therefore I didn’t think to come poke my head in and sample the food fare. The more I drove by and walked by, the more curious I became as I was watching the clientele slowly grow, and the presentation of the restaurant to become more inviting. While the interior is sparse, I

I’m pretty sure Universe is called universe because they have everything on their menu. Eat ALL the things!!!
They’re a classy looking, modern-​styled rather minimalist loungey looking spot with a really nice lady working there serving diner breakfast, steaks, shrimp, chicken, pasta dishes, pizza, Montréal smoked meat, poutine… the menu goes on and on but it’s all really standard. I hate to say it, but it reminded of a less inspired Denny’s menu. Had I been cruising along the Trans-​Canada and come across Universe as the one place to eat in a hundred kilometres, the menu would have made sense to me and I would have welcomed it with arms wide open. But in such a densely packed area along 17^th Ave, I was left uncertain what would make me choose Universe over any of the other places along the strip.
I got the Menage a Trois breakfast to go and was happy I had someone to share it with because it was definitely enough for two people. It was big, but yet again, I thought it was entirely standard. Eggs, hashbrowns, some run of the mill ham slices, breakfast sausages, bacon and some mixed fruit. It was exactly what I would expect and would have enjoyed at a highway-​side diner. But in a busy, downtown area I just feel like if you want breakfast, there are better breakfast spots, if you want smoked meat, there are better smoked meat spots, if you want steak… it just goes on and on.
You’re AOK, Universe, but I had trouble understanding just what it is that you want to do.