Girasol Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Monrovia

Great food but has gotten too expensive with some slack in service.

This is easily one of my favorite restaurants. Which is why it hurts to give this rating while trying to be as fair as possible.

The chilaquiles alone are easily worth the entire visit. They're what put this place on the map along with the awesome brunch atmosphere and Mexican food that's just like home and beautiful on a plate.

My gripe however is that the one item I always get went from a reasonable 10.99 to 14.99 in the span of a few weeks since inflation started. Which are the Chilaquiles classic, which started at 8.99 mind you... And that's not including a protein option like the delicious birria portion you get with the order which started at $4 and now it's worth almost a whopping $8!!!

I've seen people order a bit of everything at Girasol, from chilaquiles to pancakes, from molcajetes to enchiladas and stuff. There's plenty to eat but I go specifically for the chilaquiles. I noticed a tiny bit of difference on portion sizes but not enough to affect a full meal, my biggest problem is the meats they're ridiculously overpriced and very small portions.

Let's talk about seating... On the weekend of course it's gonna be hard to find a 4 seater booth with less than an hour wait. If you're going on a Saturday or Sunday, expect a packed house with very little room to move and sit comfortably and a long wait time for a seat.

Here's a couple things missing... When this place started, we used to be sat and have our drink orders taken and welcomed with small bites of a sort to get you started. They started with serving some delicious gorditas made out of potatoes, then they switched over to mini refried bean tacos which were surprisingly delicious, and now... Nothing. It's not a huge deal but enough to notice.

The last few times I've gone here for brunch I've had missing or incorrect items. Last time my favorite server brought me out a sunny side up egg despite not even asking me how I wanted my eggs for my order... It's small things but it's noticable and an issue for each visit.

The service is difficult nowadays, with more people than ever being sat and served, you got about 2-3 servers waiting on about 4-6+ tables each, meanwhile the same servers are running food and drinks AND fulfilling checks at the same time. I can absolutely understand the reason for service falling through but I can't imagine this place lasting this way. Increasing the prices hasn't stopped people from packing the place yet but it's turned my family off a bit where we go somewhere new now that has pretty good chilaquiles too.

I would be nice and give at least a 4 star rating but that wouldn't highlight the need for transparency or giving a heads up to the owners and staff at this fantastic restaurant. This is just me being honest and transparent about things that have changed in quality at this restaurant. I really hope the economy changes and the lady that owns this place has more breathing room because I really do feel for this place which is why I sincerely hope it...

I finally decided to check this place out and see what all the fuss was about.

In all honesty I’m always on the hunt for the best “Mole” and this place advertises it for their famous Tuesday’s Buffet.

I waited 35 minutes to get seated. It was just me. I had already driven 15 minutes to get there and so I decided to wait.

Yes, the line was long. It’s true. There is a line and specially on Tuesdays.

Luckily it’s a very friendly staff. I don’t like waiting but the gentleman at the door was so nice when he checked me in, I made an exception. I waited.

At first glance, very clean restaurant and this includes the restrooms which are all gender restrooms. (Kudos)

The famous “cafe de olla” is too sweet for me. I returned it and swapped for regular coffee. But if you like very sweet coffee with a hint of cinnamon, order it, but I’ll warn you, it’s $7.00

Of course I had the “Mole”” twice. It was my favorite thing. The rice was good, beans I didn’t try.

The chile verde meat was hard and I didn’t eat it.

Scrambled eggs in red sauce were nothing special.

The chile colorado was okay and the meat was a little hard, too. I didn’t eat it, either.

My tab was $32 and I think the appeal is that this place offers a Buffett and it’s all you can eat.

So, for me, $32 is not worth it. If I’m being perfectly honest it’s pricey.

I asked my server to swap my “cafe de olla” for a regular cup of coffee. I thought since “cafe de olla” is their specialty the price justifies it. Only to find out that a regular cup of coffee cost the same.

This doesn’t make sense to me.

But I enjoy going to new places for the first time and experiencing it all for myself.

Again, very friendly staff. I don’t think it’s “worth” the hype and / or the price tag. Specially waiting in line for 35 minutes when you’re only one person.

Just my two...

Where to start? The only con is that this place is so good that the wait can be pretty long, especially if you arrive hungry. My friends and I waited for about 1 hour and 20 minutes on Saturday at about 1130am. However, the restaurant was thoughtful enough to pass around complimentary cafe de olla for their waiting patrons and actually anyone who passed by. Their cafe de olla is by far the best that I've ever had, and its not an exaggeration. It's the perfect amount of sweet and very flavorful. Once we were seated, we ordered more cafe de olla, obviously, and we got complementary potato tortitas with salsa.. so freaken good. Oh, not to mention that while we were being seated, we were greeted by one of the nicest and most genuine people that I've ever met. I believe she was the owner, or if not, she had so much pride in the establishment that she gave off boss b vibes. Such a great human being, and we also found we went to the same high school.

All of the staff was very friendly and attentive. Always a plus :)

Now the food, I ordered eggs with chorizo that was accompanied by house potatoes, pickeled onion, and beans. The portions are very generous, and I was extremely happy with my order. My other two friends ordered the trio of chilaquiles, and lets just say they were so good, one of my friends did a happy dance for the owner. We also ordered the bananas foster pancakes for the table, and they were delicious.

Overall , I highly recommend this place, I even told my folks to go the next day, but they were not able to wait. Will definitely try bringing...