February 25, 2011 Presse Cafe, Metro Guy, corner St. Mathieu and Maisonneuve
Hey everyone! You’ll only be getting 2 reviews this week unfortunately. I was finally able to find some time to study this week, but I’m only able to put together two reviews for you. I’ll try and make it up to you next week by putting out four (4!!!!!) new reviews. I plan on visiting some libraries next week as well (because why should coffee shops have all the fun?) so I can look forward to a nice amount of studying, and you can look forward to some (hopefully) good reviews.
With that being said let’s move on to this weeks second review. Today I got up nice and early and worked my way over to another Presse Cafe, but this time near Concordia University instead of McGill. Right next to the Guy/Concordia St. Mathieu metro exit, this café is just barely far enough away from the main intersection of Guy/Maisonneuve that it isn’t hit by the massive bustle and hustle that plagues that corner. It doesn’t have quite the same amount of room as it’s predecessor, but it still have a pretty good amount of room. In addition, it also has some nice opportunities for group work; there are 2 larger circle tables that can comfortably accommodate 2 people, and in middle of the establishment there are two long tables that can hold 6 people each with decent elbow room. A word of warning though that if you do sit at the middle, you won’t be close to any outlets.
Thankfully the internet didn’t die a painful black knight death on me while I was here. It did require a passcode (which was provided by the employees), but it worked reliably through the 5 hours that I was here. It certainly came in handy as I was researching alternative explanations for how molecular orbital hybridization works.
Walking away from the Presse Cafe a few things stick out in my mind
The place was never full which was nice from my perspective. I always prefer a slightly quieter area where I don’t feel like I’m competing for space nor do I have to put in my earplugs to ignore the conversation about Justin Biebers death in CSI. There was a comfortable medium of people coming in and out with a cute well-behaved schnauzer dog to mix up the group. Even though we weren’t right in the middle of the rush crowd, I was pleasantly surprised by the low volume.
Something I’ve noticed is that if I’m reading something, I prefer to not hear music with lyrics. Whereas if I’m working on an assignment or problem solving I prefer music with lyrics. In this case I was doing a mix of both, but PC provided me with a nice constant dose of ambient music. If you prefer this style of background noise because you might get distracted by lyrics or don’t want to be bothered by the months top 40 hits, then you may enjoy this location.
High ceiling, lots of windows with a ton of natural light, white walls with a dash of wood flooring gives a very open feel which I appreciate and love. In addition, even though they have a lot of windows, the temperature was quite comfortable and the double doors at the front prevented any cold drafts from freezing my hands or feet.
The first location in my search that actually provides computer use for customers. There are two computers set aside that clients that park themselves on if they need to. I’m pleased to see this because while we don’t all have laptops/iphones/ipads/blackberries/androids/etc... I do think we should all have access to technology and all the utility it has to offer, especially the internet.
I was hungry and I didn’t want to leave, so sue me.
.....the potato salad was pretty good though. Not epic, but pretty good....that is all.
So all in all I was quite pleased, if I were to have any complaints it would be the lack of outlets near the island tables, the presences of only 1 bathroom (wasn’t a problem though since there weren’t many people) and the fact that when I ask the employee what their “classic sandwiches” were, they didn’t have the faintest idea. Interestingly, the classic sandwich is advertised as being the lowest cost sandwich there, but all they had on display where their premium “Presswiches”. I wasn’t too impressed when she said she had no idea, and didn’t seem particularly inclined to find out. As a result, if you did want a sandwich, you were forced to buy the more expensive one.
Despite that, I would definitely come back here and I’ll give them a solid 8/10 stars. They’re almost at 9, but they didn’t particularly wow me with anything. As I said though, still a solid 8.
On a side note, I'm thinking of making a more categorical method for rating study spots, suggestions?
