El Mono | Fresh Flavors of Peru — Restaurant in El Cerrito

I debated whether if I should give a review or just not but I decided I should because as a Peruvian former family restaurant owner in Surquillo, Peru I have a responsibility and pride in our finest and quality of food. I’ve tried to really liked el Mono and came in many different times with friends and family because of the location. I came the night before to arranged a reservation ( which Tuti accommodated me very last minute for Mother’s Day) she was nice! Saturday I order a ceviche that was probably been made earlier, onions and fish was over cooked. flavor wise was ok I did not had the fresh quality as the advertisement said… sorry but that pisco sour was full of foam and for the price it was a not worth it. Sunday on Mother’s Day I brought my party of 5 including my 93 yr old mother in a wheelchair and sisters who were expecting not the greatest of food quality due to long ago experiences but we were going to give another try since there opening another location in Berkeley. Well, the male hosts welcome me challenging that they did not had a table for me when I had a confirmation in my hands. Very rude and poor customer to start. We came a little bit earlier because I wanted to make sure they seat us by 7pm but they took so long to clean my table that was empty for 15 minutes but cleaned the next table first for a walk in of three people that were behind us. It was ridiculous because I was standing staring at the 6 servers that were coming and going… my mother in a wheelchair had to watched people in and out servers and not had any handicap preferences but that’s okay. We thought well maybe at the end food could be better this time. When we finally sat 7:17 pm, the menu was changed to a menu that the waiters said to facilitate the “speed of the kitchen” and or else we had to wait 45 minutes for a dish because they were “full capacity” for Mother’s Day , something they did not disclosed on the advertisement online. The menu was very limited and expensive but they had empty tables out side.. so they weren’t really full capacity. I brought up the issue that the pisco sour were really bad the day before and she told me… oh yeah… is because we have a new bartender that’s knew but I’ll have my sister or I are better to prepare drinks? Well, why not training him better before making my drinks specially lf is going to cost me the same? that’s not okay. The sister made my drink this time that was ok but I’ve tried better pisco sours I’m sorry… lomo saltado was dry and the meat hard and cold, fries were salty and old that was not okay either… the salty causa rellena of tuna and ceviche over was the same old. Over all I said the service and food was poor and ruined my Mother’s Day dinner. I’m in the business of customer service for more than 30 years and I wouldn’t recommended neither for food or service that guy was rude the ladies were nicer but if I have to pay almost 270 dollars I expect better food. please trained your male host and kitchen personnel with real fresh Peruvian food!

A disappointed...

I’m a REALLY good cook. Even my big brother thinks so. I have a spice cabinet taller than I. I’m 5’3. I’ve can cook and replicate anything I like. I’m an adventurous and curious eater. I don’t go to restaurants often because while they are often good, they’re not often great. My recently single, handsome, badass attorney, top 5 world-ranked for accuracy fly fisherman brother took me to dinner last night. I’m his younger sister, my mother looking down from Beyond would feel a sting if I didn’t go. So I went. Having spent the day in Santa Cruz with my Ayurvedic doctor, I jumped into big brother’s car, and we made our way from Alameda to El Cerrito. El Cerrito? We met a friend who picked this restaurant. Russian attorney. Never made it to Russia on my travels, but ok, this better be good. It was cold and I had just driven 2 hours in traffic from Santa Cruz. The restaurant was full, so we sat outside under a fantastic heater, set up just for us. The owner came and gave us recommendations. His service was impeccable. We’re Mexicans raised in Alameda, so my brother decided to tease the owner at a Peruvian restaurant — he asked him for tortillas. Jokes ensued; great vibe. Our food arrived and EVERY SINGLE BITE WAS SPECTACULAR. Their use of spices was BRILLIANT. Although I have a mystical Peruvian jeweler, I’d never had the food. This food even tasted like it was full of love! Something you often only get at home.

Anyway, for appetizers, we had the ceviche (as good or better than any Mexican ceviche I’ve had. Maybe, I should say different, to be more accurate. The spices were perfect; the fish shined.) Beef hearts on a skewer - tasted like a delicious steak. Served with slices of potato - The spices in this dish were delicious, too.

Our entrees were a lomo salad (brother), Arroz tapado a lo pobre (lawyer friend) and I had the chupe de camarones (a shrimp chowder that will make you wonder why you ever ate clam chowder, when there was THIS.) served with rice in the middle. Nice. Our dishes were so good, we insisted on sharing. I didn’t really want to share my plate, but I made a quick calculation and determined that the payoff would be greater than my loss. Hahaha

Took the leftovers home to my daughter. Half Jewish Half Mexican; she can make tamales from scratch, like her ancestors high in the Central Mexican mountains.She has high food standards, too. She ate every single bite, and wondered why her portion was so wanting! She can’t wait to go! I’m Team Mexico, we have some of the most complex and delicious food on the planet. But, tasting this food, I felt a deep connection with our Peruvian cousins. ¡Viva Peru! El Cerrito, and big brothers and their friends, too!

P.S. I’m sorry I didn’t take pictures. It was only after we had eaten our way most of our food, that I realized I had to write a review, to inspire...

hoping to get an authentic response here. seems as though the manager/founder copies and pastes the same generic response for all unfavorable reviews. matt, please reach out to me directly

this was my second (and last) time at el mono. the first was pre covid and the food and service were decent (a solid 3-4 stars). however, i recently took my family here and i could not have been more disappointed in the service. i appreciate that they are open for patio dining in addition to their indoor options. unfortunately, the server we had appeared to only attend to the indoor tables. i literally had to walk inside after 15 minutes in order to ask for some water for our table. i thought maybe the person who sat us didn't inform our server that they had a new table.

we received our water from a busser (who was super friendly), but then waited another few minutes for a server to come over and actually ask if we wanted to order any beverages. we ordered a carafe of sangria for the table. the sangria was actually pretty good.

the problem was the food, not necessarily the kitchen. our server let the food die at the pass for way too long. from where i was sitting, i could see food at the line in the kitchen and wondered if it was aging, waiting for a server or food runner to bring it to a table. we ordered 4 dishes and this was the case for half of them.

when food did start to arrive at our table, we did not have silverware. i asked the server for some, and she apologized and went inside. i assumed she went to get us silverware but she did not return. after five minutes of our food getting even colder than when it arrived, i went inside and found our server who was standing around on her phone. i asked her for silverware and she stated "oh i am sorry, no one brought it to you?". i am not sure who she thought was going to bring it. perhaps she asked one of her colleagues and they forgot. regardless, i think she should have followed up. she handed me the silverware and plates that we needed to eat and i essentially set the table myself.

hard to judge the food because at this point it had been sitting for 5-10 minutes at the pass and 5+ minutes on the table.

from the time we ordered to the time we actually got to eat was 55 minutes (add the 15 minutes before we ordered and we are at over an hour wait). they were not busy, dining room 30-40% occupied.

while i don't believe this to be a reflection on the average experience at a place so highly regarded by the yelp community, i was disgusted by our servers neglect, disinterest in turning around our experience, and general...