Monarca's Authentic Mexican Cuisine Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Cape Coral

NOTE: If you read nothing else, they charge a 20% tip immediately to ANY bill. No disclosure or sign , you get that lovely surprise at the end of the meal. Pity and I hope the owners read this, I usually tip 25-30% as I was a server for years. I won't do that if you decide the tip is 20% for me.

Our family of 4 went to Monarca's in Cape Coral on 3/2 as it's always been our favorite Mexican restaurant locally.

Upon entering and waiting in line, we witnessed ATROCIOUS service from the hostess who was flat out rude to everyone she seated. I mean just rude. I watched an elderly woman that was part of a group in front of us actually get hip-checked out of the way by an employee talking with speaker enabled on a cell phone. No "excuse me", just a push that put her off balance and he kept walking. The hostess looked at the party for a long moment and started walking away...no, "please follow me" or anything. We were never greeted, either...she just raised her eyebrows at which point I assumed she wanted our party size and I also took the oppty to ask if we could sit by the water. No response, she just picked up 4 menus and walked away so we just followed. Really bizarre. You should not place a rude person who won't speak as your 1st part of a dining experience.

The hostess put down the menus in a pile (did not bother to place them at each setting, that's okay we got this)...LOL. I was happy we just got silverware. We sat canal side for the first time, which was great and the light breeze provided a zero mosquito experience the entire time. The little tikis won't protect against rain but I'm sure provide shade during the day. It was the only nice thing I can really say about this visit.

Drinks. Total disaster. One guest ordered a vodka with lemonade and got a disaster of a drink with a few ice cubes, watered down lemonade and no vodka. The margarita's by the other guests tasted off and fake. My sweet tea was just tea they did not bother to even stir the sugar they dumped on the top of the lemon. Just ridiculous. A second round of drinks during dinner were equally disappointing. My tea and the waters were ignored.

We figured the food was always good so we're looking forward to that. Total Disaster.

The signature salsa is no longer. It was obvious it was pre-made, pre-purchased salsa from a jar...we make better salsa at home. I ordered Queso and it was congealed and watery...they clearly had added water to extend the life. Gringos won't know, I guess? Gross.

My tamales were these dog feces shaped cornmeal with hardly any pork filler. I guess they figured again gringos won't know the difference. Wrong. These were either cheap mass produced or somebody just doesn't care. I'm guessing they just don't care. A shameful dish.

The fajita proteins were also overcooked and the tacos were passionless. We've had better meals at Taco Bell (Our family hates Taco Bell LOL).

The server was new it appeared but to be honest, he was efficient but never smiled and we felt we were imposing upon him to ask the smallest of things like hot sauce (which was never brought).

I hate writing bad reviews about local places, they have enough problems with the chain restaurants moving in, but after spending $200 on poor service and equally poor food, I felt it necessary. The 20% tip forced on me was what I pay anyway for poor food & service, so at least we can agree the food and service sucks and is not worth a penny more.

Luckily, there are plenty of other mexican and latin places we can go where we are appreciated. Find another place, this place would be out of business if it wasn't propped up by visitors during high season.

IF YOU OWN THIS RESTAURANT and are reading this. You have some SERIOUS problems front of house and in the kitchen. You lost a LOCAL customer as I've been taking guests to both the Fort Myers & Cape Coral locations for many years. You should be ashamed at the way the restaurant...

Monarca's. So we had watched this restaurant being put in for a long time. We really wanted to see if it was as good as the chain "iguana mia" or possibly better. First off, inside the decor is spectacular, it looks like they spared no expense while decorating. With hand carved chairs, tall booths for privacy, ornate pictures and deviations all over. A full bar inside and outside seating overlooking a canal. Now let's get to the food. They start you off with the traditional chips and salsa, the salsa was very fresh and chips good. We then had the beef and potato empanadas ( there were no potatoes in the empanadas, although it said there were in the description on the menu), they were good, but didn't knock our socks off, needing some extra seasoning or sauce to come with it to compliment it( it came with a salsa Verdi sauce that was rather vinigary. Next we ordered mahi mahi fish tacos and a chicken chimichanga, covered in a cheese sauce. Both came with beans and rice. First the fish tacos, they seemed to be lacking "something" just not enough spice, sauce or zing. There was no garnish, not even any citrus like lemon or lime to squeeze over the fish to give it that lift. The sauce was a very small amount, not enough to have with each bite, they were good, but if you were to order then be Prepared to ask for lemon and lime and extras sauce. Perhaps some diced onions and tomatoes and some guacamole would have put the flavor of the fish tacos over the top! The chicken chimichanga, the portion size was LARGE, the chesse sauce on top made it dense, it came with beans and rice, sour cream and guacamole. It was delicious, i can't say it was the best I ever had, but certainly good, especially if you like chimichangas. The pure beauty of the furniture inside gave us allot to look at and talk about while waiting for the food ( which came fairly fast) the servers were very nice and attentive to our needs. It was a pleasant dining experience, the food didn't knock our socks off, lacking that authentic seasoning and garnish you might expect. It wasn't disappointing it just wasn't...

Where do I even start...will never come back unless it's under new Ownership! First off this has nothing to with our sweet server and everything to do with Ownership, Management, cooks and bartenders. We ordered 2 JUMBO drinks, both unfortunately with NO LIQUOR and mine supposedly had an extra shot that came with it. Yeah right?! I had almost finished my drink with absolutely no buzz! Mind you...I ordered a JUMBO! We ordered an Molcajete and I noticed that it didn't have the cheese like most do so we asked to add it. When we received out dinner not only was it Luke warm (Molcajete's should be steaming hot) they added mozzarella cheese on top. Really!?! You are NOT serving authentic Mexican food!!!!! To top it off Our tortillas were COLD!!! We expressed our concerns with our waitress and in turn she went to the Supervisor Carina on duty and told her what happened. Apparently Carina sends a gentleman over to pick up our check and he says...I hope you give us another chance. SERIOUSLY!!!! We paid for our full price meal and drinks, left most of our food as you can see in photo and off we went. Shame on you Carina for not addressing our concerns personally. You are a SUPERVISOR for crying out loud! Shame on the Owner for not properly training his employees from Supervisor , to cooks and bartenders. I have sent several people here but NOT anymore! Glad I can back to see what's really going on and how they have let it go. ALSO...there is another one in Fort Myers that is awesome! No comparison what's so ever! Different Owners! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS ONE!!!!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! Btw.... Don't let the pic of the...