Montrio — Restaurant in Monterey

Calle Principal is the proverbial Silk Road connecting Monterey's resorts and working class districts to storied Cannery Row. Each one has its charms, but even the most charming ones still have their rough edges. Honestly, this keeps things interesting.

Of course, Monterey is mercifully nothing at all like San Francisco, which has rough edges at nearly every turn, and can at times be a little too interesting. Sometimes, what one desires is peace and quiet; and despite the river of cars crawling along, Calle Principal remains comparatively calm and oddly reassuring.

This leads us to Montrio, an elegant, if slightly twee, bistro that specializes in seafood. Occupying a building that appears as if it were once a carriage house, Montrio's tall windows allow soft, diffused light to smooth out even the roughest edges. It's a beautiful dining room, with inviting banquettes and cozy tables swathed in crisp, white tablecloths. My companion and I immediately felt welcome.

We began with Lobster Bisque and French Onion soup, both of which were equally exquisite: the restrained refinement of the bisque contrasted by the appealingly sloppy onion soup.

The bisque was rich, velvety and complex, and thankfully kept reminding me that actual lobster was in evidence. An edible ginkgo leaf was added as a garnish, and played nicely with the tomato, white wine and smoky paprika notes. Montrio's warm, comforting interpretation of this classic dish featured a deep, mysterious vermillion color that invited exploration.

The French Onion soup featured a sharp cheese topping that, when opened, rewarded the diner with a round crust of bread toasted so perfectly, that it's crunch persisted against the deep, tangy, soup in which it was immersed. Montrio's flavor profile for their version of this soup emphasized the sweetness of its caramelized onions, whose crispness accompanied the suppleness of the soup.

Our mains were equally exquisite: my companion ordered the Seared Scallops, and I chose the Cioppino.

The scallops featured subtly charred edges and silky, substantial interiors, accompanied by the distinct and mildly astringent artichoke and grana padano notes. The only caveat here was the bed of risotto, which was slightly too glutinous where it should have been rich and pliable to the bite. But make no mistake: this main was sublime.

The Cioppino delivered a wonderfully bold and piquant flavor redolent of the sea and its inhabitants. Served with the same, toasted sourdough bread as the onion soup, the broth met the moment with its own, saliferous tang; and the variety of shellfish and fish was sumptuous and satisfying.

But here is where we at last encountered the aforementioned "rough edge": the dessert menu was uninspired and antiquated, relying too heavily on dessicated treats as bread pudding and creme brulée to round out the menu. Because I like to try as many items as possible, I chose the one thing that appeared unusual and was unfamiliar: Butterscotch Budino. Briefly, it was cloying. Its sum turned out to be much less than its parts.

As an aside, there is a reason why dessert chefs in fine dining restaurants are worth the risk. They are an oasis of peace amidst the din of service; and if their Zen remove provides the right inspiration, their legacy sometimes results in a spectacular and memorable finish to a splendid meal. People may clamor for the swordfish, but secretly wish for the sweet work of art to rival Willie Wonka's wildest creations. But times for restaurants are difficult, and adding specialist staff and ingredients for their offerings can strain the bottom line, so perhaps it can be understood if dessert is an afterthought. That said, if dessert can't be done well, then don't offer it at all.

Montrio exists in that liminal space in Monterey that still tries to reconcile its blue collar past with its soigné present. Montrio accomplishes this Sisyphean task remarkably, putting an intriguing spin on familiar recipes. Here's hoping they continue to evolve...

Great ambience and service for a date night visit. Attractive decor and beautiful people populate this place, but if you want quiet romantic conversation, choose an outdoor table.

Food was certainly not what I expected after reading long term reviews, especially for the price. Our bill (without alcohol) was $350; for 4 glasses of juice and iced tea, an appetizer, a salad, and a shared entree.

We don't drink but wanted to celebrate, so ordered mocktails. It's so easy and inexpensive to make them shine but they were lacking in flavor, mostly ice, so we switched to iced tea.

The more recent reviews of the changes in cuisine are spot on:

The risotto appetizer was good, but we've had much better. The salad with Buratta, stone fruit, fresh greens and flowers was beautiful, but the stone fruit was unripe, still hard (I would not have served it at home), and the dressing was barely discernible.

Bread, yes you have to ask for it, and was the same quality and texture as what you get at Safeway. There was no butter, so I asked for a side of olive oil and added salt and pepper from the table.

The most expensive chance we took was sharing the 32 oz Kobe steak with spinach and potato sides, which is pictured accurately here. The steak, while cooked as requested had no trace of grilled flavor,as though it was cooked on a flat closed-top frying grill instead, and was at least 30% unrendered fat (so 11 oz of that 32 oz steak was inedible). The sauce/gravy was bland but the mushrooms were flavorful. The yukon gold potatoes were an attractive large cut but tasted like basic home fries, and the creamed spinach had absolutely no flavor; It was literally just spinach sauteed in cream. We rarely spend so much on a single entree and expected to be wowed by a $150 steak dinner and were very underwhelmed.

Our server was awesome and should consider doing stand-up.

This was our first visit, and no matter how witty the wait staff or trendy it might be, there are so many great culinary experiences here we will be patronizing other...

Not worth the money. The food was decent but not worth what they charge and the service is rather poor.

I had the new York steak with broccoli spears and polenta which was one of the special, the steak was cooked spot on but was a little on the bland side could have used at least a little salt and pepper, the broccoli spears had no flavor at all they were basically tossed on the grill and chard no seasoning at all not even some olive oil or butter, the polenta was good however this was one of the first times I have had.

My wife had the boneless short rib with garlic mashed potatoes, Peas and pearl onion. The short rib had good flavor in my opinion had better then the new York steak and it was prepared well. The garlic mashed potatoes had good flavor and texture but all in all nothing special, however the peas and onions were very poor in flavor and cooked poorly taking away from the meal as a whole.

The service was not the best our waitress was very abrupt and not very personable, she gave off the impression that we were an inconvenience. I only had water with dinner, however my wife ordered a glass of wine which didn't show up till after the food was served and was awkwardly placed on the table as she reached by my wife to place the glass as she ran by.

All together the two meals with the one Glass of wine cost $88 less the tip. Which in our minds was rather expensive given the quality of the food and service. The food was not bad just was not worth the price. The meal would have been good for a $55-$60 price point and the wine which they charged $13 a glass was more like $8 glass. The meal total with tip and all came to within ten dollars of the meal we had at the restaurant 1833 for less then a quarter of the quality. If your looking for a great dinner worth your time and money skip this place and head...