El Monstruo Louisville — Restaurant in Louisville

We went to El Monstruo last night and were pleasantly surprised on our first visit. We thought it was a Mexican restaurant but found out it was Colombian, which was nice because we hadn't been to a Colombian restaurant before. I was familiar with certain items on the menu like empanadas and arepas but there were several items that were new to me. The server in charge, Liz, was extremely helpful in explaining the dishes and even showed us pictures. I ordered the chicken empanada, tasty, and a chicken arepa, very good, and a side of beans, very tasty with little chunks of meat. My brother order the maicito with steak, a dish with corn, meat, cheese, and potato sticks, and it came out steaming and was very good. The portions are generous, he took half of his home for another meal. I would definitely suggest a visit if you want to check out Colombian food and get a tasty meal for a very...

Service was horrendous. Obviously they weren’t ready for the TikTok boom. We had to track down our waitress for just about everything—placing our order, getting silverware, and even getting our drinks, which still hadn’t arrived by the time our appetizers got to the table. Despite the restaurant being small, the waitress seemed to be avoiding us and everyone else and you could definitely feel the tension coming from other tables. Only two employees—the waitress and the host—were running the entire dining area, handling seating, cleaning tables, and packing to-go orders. The waitress didn’t seem to know the menu well. I don’t blame the two women working—they were clearly doing their best under the circumstances but the owner needs to hire more staff or come in his or her self to help..especially on weekends. Food was delicious, which makes the whole experience...

Seasoned foodie and Yelper here to tell you this place won't make it. Reasons why:

1. Location - Hidden. Lifelong Louisvillian had a hard time finding. Not visible from road.
2. Language Barrier - Menu in spanish. The server spoke minimal English. Thankfully, I had my Colombian wife with me.
3. Website domain is expired.
4. 5:PM on a Saturday and only 3 4-top tables occupied. Only one full.
5. Food - Too heavy and way too rich. I could only eat 25%, and my Colombian wife (remember, Colombian/Venezuelan fare) could only eat half. We brought home leftovers only to throw away because we could not bring ourselves to eating it again. The wife stated she won't be back.
6. Review of reviews: Outside seating? Yeah, but it's 2 tables on a sidewalk with parked cars 3 feet from your table. The table server was top notch, I will give...