Monarca Cantina — Restaurant in Medina

First let me state that I do not enjoy leaving negative ratings as many of these establishments are independent family owned and with this restaurant I think, owned by persons or individual(s) taking pride in the food and atmosphere they are presenting to their customers. Also I have experienced that even in my most frequented eateries, sometimes they too can miss the mark. Okay, that out of the way. My wife and I both had the chicken chimichanga which was smothered with a white queso(?) Sauce drizzled with a green substance not of recognition so......,the chicken was cut into small strips and very chewy witout flavor. Portions are huge from what we are used to, and pricing is beyond fair considering the portion size. But alas for the taste and texture reasons I would never recommend the Chimichanga. On the positive side(s), I also had Spanish rice which I thought was perfect, refried beans were very good and loved the chips and salsa. Atmosphere is very nice, clean but just a bit loud (reference to the music) for our preference. Our server as well as the rest of the staff were very cordial and attentive so cudos to management on the staffing. All in all, I would give them another go but definitely NOT order the...

What a find! I was looking for something different for dinner, & came across Monarca Cantina (while doing a Google search in the area). I was NOT disappointed. I did not take photos of the food because I try to keep my phone out of my dinner experience. There are plenty of photos in other reviews for reference.

The service was very prompt & very courteous. Conrique was very helpful with providing any information we requested. Always attentive, a glass never went dry & we were never left waiting for anything.

We started off with the Jalapenos Nortenos & they were absolutely wonderful! Jalapenos stuffed with queso fresco, wrapped in bacon with a creamy sauce on the side (what's not to love about that!)

For the entrées, I had the Maduro & my wife had the Cochinta Pibil. Both were very well portioned & nicely plated. All the flavors that popped perfectly on the taste buds! It was so good, it was hard to stop eating even though we both had hit our limit!

The drink selections were vast and quite an interesting variety, even though I don't drink, those that do will not be disappointed.

We will definitely be visiting again & highly recommend for anyone tired of ordinary basic menus.

Thank you...

My husband, daughter, and I were excited to try this new restaurant in Medina for my birthday. It was a Tuesday at 6pm and the restaurant was very busy. Service was very slow for water and drinks. Ordered chips and queso, guacamole and salsa for appetizer but the chips were nothing special. Food arrived after a very long wait and arrived very cold and did not look appetizing at all. I wish I would have taken a pic. Daughters tacos looked terrible and were cold and husbands fajita was not even sizzling. My meal was lukewarm. We offered to pay for our drinks and leave because we did not want to eat cold food. The table next to us offered to pay for our drinks which was so kind. They had also been waiting a very long time and were seated prior to us and I don’t think their food had arrived either. What a disappointment and hope they can get the restaurant better organized because doesn’t seem to be. Hope it was just an off night. Maybe all tables shouldn’t be seated if kitchen cannot keep up. Good luck to this restaurant and not sure I will ever get my husband in there again when so many other awesome restaurants...