Estéban Restaurant, Locals' Favorite — Restaurant in Monterey

We had a reservation for Mother’s Day brunch. Our party arrived 15 minutes early, checked in and were told they just needed to set the table. 15 minutes later when the entire party had arrived we checked in at the desk again. 20 min after that I checked with the host about how much longer the wait would be. He told me AGAIN they just needed to set the table. I said “you told me that 30 minutes ago.” The host then changed his answer to the table is set for 8 and we just need 2 more chairs. We were a party of 10 and completely understand as a larger party we may have to wait, but be honest. Tell us we’re waiting for tables to get up. But tables were constantly leaving and being sat the entire time we stood in the lobby waiting the 45 min for our table for the “two chairs.” One of us walked the whole patio and could see exactly what table they planned to sit us at and it was not set at all and we didn’t care if the chairs matched. After finally being sat at our table we sat and waited as a waitress walked by us and shot us the dirtiest look. We can only assume she was pissed she had gotten another table. That waitress walked by us and ignored us multiple times before we finally stopped her and said we’re ready to order. We had not even been greeted by anyone.We timed it at 20 min before another server finally came over. She was extremely pleasant so it felt like the experience would turn around. It did not! We ordered all drinks, food and a pitcher of water at once because this large group was visiting family here from out of state and had plans following the brunch to see sites before our flights. We had waited 45 min to sit and another 20 to even be greeted. We then started to place bets on what would come first: the water, drinks or food. It took 15 minutes for the water, 10 minutes after that for drinks. Not all of the drinks came out and we had to remind them what we were missing. We had to continuously find employees to ask for water as no one would bring us a pitcher to leave at the table. And then it wouldn’t come. We had to wait for absolutely EVERYTHING for an unreasonable amount of time. I’ve worked in the industry and worked every Mother’s Day at a place that was absolutely PACKED all day on that holiday. With the number of empty tables when they sat us and continued to empty out as we sat there, there was absolutely no excuse for the service not to get better and faster if they were understaffed or something. The food and drinks were subpar and not well-seasoned. At the end we had to hunt down employees for the check and then physically bring it inside to pay. We weren’t asked if we wanted dessert nor did we want any. We wanted to leave as we had been there almost 4 hours. As we were trying to pay the waitress said “wait, I have something for you.” When we sat she had asked who the mothers were and we mentioned in passing that it was the birthday of two of the people in party. None of us asked for dessert or to sing. We just wanted to pay and get on the road. Our server brought out two scoops of vanilla ice cream with candles when the birthday girl and boy were already heading to the car. No one sang or ate the ice cream. We noticed when signing the receipt that we were charged $14 for those scoops we didn’t ask for. We just wanted out of there and couldn’t find another employee to complain so we just ate the cost and left. This experience was absolutely horrendous! I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone. For what yo pay it is not worth the hassle. From the pics online you’d think this was a high end establishment but our experience was anything...

Having dinner at Esteban restaurant tonight was so perfect for what I needed. A nice relaxing night to eat great Tapas and have a wonderful night out without feeling rushed. We decided to eat outside which was so nice. The weather was wonderful and it was great to have different options for seating. You can sit inside or sit at one one the tables outside with or without the umbrella to shade you from the sun, or ask to sit at one if the round glass fire pits. They also have heat lamps next to many tables once it gets chilly you can ask them to turn it on. Atmosphere inside is intimate and seating well spaced from each other for privacy. We asked our waiter for some suggestions on which tapas we should try. There was several we couldn't decide on. He suggested Conchinillo which is a crispy skin pork belly tapas with a little taste of honey! It was soooooo delicious! The outside pork skin was just crispy enough and the pork was so tender and full of flavor! I chose the crispy mushrooms with Burratta cheese tapas. I thought it was delicious but the mushrooms were not Krispy at all. But either way I definitely would order it again! The mushrooms were cooked to my perfection....where the mushroom is still firm without being stiff and tender once you bite into it. The flavors of the mushroom was so delicious and with the slightly warm Burratta cheese it just took ot to a next level. We tried the small plate Datiles. Dates stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped with Jamon Serrano. I liked it but it wasn't my favorite...the jamon Serrano was a little over cooked for me. Last tapas we tried was the white bean hummus with carrots called, Zanahorias. My husband LOVES hummus so I was curious on how he would like it. I was expecting the hummus to be white but it showed up the same color as the carrots. Soooo...unfortunately my husband didn't like it. His reason was he felt the hummus was too heavily seasoned with harissa and he thought it had too much oil in it and the carrots were undercooked for our liking. We shared a main dish, Westhome Wagyu Bavette medium rare is how we ordered it. The Wagyu is layered over some really delicious veggies and the blue cheese gave the dish just enough punch to add to the flavor of the meat! I really enjoyed it. The tenderness of the meat melts in your mouth, the veggies had a delicious pickled taste to it, the blue cheese enhanced the flavor of the Wagyu and overall it was a perfect dish to share with all the tapas we had. Last course was dessert and coffee. Once again we asked our waiter for his suggestion he said bread pudding which is one if my FAVORITE desserts but I wanted to step out of my comfort level and I ordered the Blueberry Cobbler with vanilla ice cream. The reason why I ordered that was because the waiter told us it takes 15 minutes to make cause they make it to order. Well I'm glad I ordered it cause it was a perfect dessert to go with the meal. Light, fluffy, just sweet enough and the warm blueberries was so delicious and the way it melted the ice cream was just the perfect dessert to end a perfect night! I really had a wonderful meal. So I hope you...

This is a really nice place that locals and tourist can both enjoy. I'm a local and have been coming here for years. A few years back they got a new chef and it really transformed into something wonderful. the ambiance is lovely, and the service is really really good usually - it used to be really terrible, but their staff and training has noticeably improved from years back. And a couple years go, when the new menu debuted, it was a real memorable experience (like, we still talk about that dinner!). the food was amazing. But, recently I spent a birthday dinner there the food was underwhelming. Maybe it was a bad day for the kitchen and a different chef. But, the food was like DRENCHED in sauces - like way too much.....pretty much every dish. The beauty and flavor of the brussel sprouts was completely buried under the weight of the heavy balsamic - it was so heavy and sweet and hard to eat. honestly, they could have put pieces of wood in there and I wouldn't have been able to tell the differences with how much sauce they put on it! And the octopus, which - when we first had it a couple years back - was a truly "wow" experience, was sad and overcooked and the potatoes were just drenched in sauce again. All the finesse and fine flavors are gone and buried. The shrimp, though delicious, were SWIMMING in grease sauce. Like not even sauce per se, just GREASE underneath. I hope we just came on a bad night (everyone has them, even kitchens), but actually it's the second time in a couple months that I've come and had a similar experience. I hope the chef and kitchen take a look at things again and bring back the fresh flavors and perfectly cooked everything we had that first time. It was clearly a technique issue - I feel safe in saying their food products are all good and high quality.

Nevertheless, the place has charm and is good for happy hour. Just don't expect too much maybe.

I would say don't order the Sangria, it's sadly always been disappointing (which sucks for a Spanish menu place). I've had better home made sangrias....they just seemed to pour wine in a glass with ice and added water or something. No thank you. but their wine list is decent otherwise.

I have a hospitality background, so I hope the team there takes this review with the constructive feedback it's intended with. I really love the place, but if this declining quality keeps up, I'll be telling my networks and visiting friends to avoid it. But, I think it's just slight adjustments in the kitchen that are...