Monarch Restaurant — Restaurant in Omaha

An overpriced disappointment.  My husband and I were really looking forward to our Christmas eve date night.  When we arrived we were a bit confused about where to go. The hostess area was actually around a corner so we hung out awkwardly until a server and not the hostess asked us what we needed.  We were quickly seated at after we actually found the hostess. Our table was dark. I'm talking cannot read my menu dark or see the face of my husband dark. I'm sure it was part of the mood, but if I have to use the table candle to read the menu perhaps your definition of mood is off.  More disappointment was to follow. One of the reasons I actually choose the location was because of the 5 course tasting menu. It turns out that there was a special tasting menu as it was Christmas eve which would have been great, but actually only consisted of 4 courses and one was an amuse bouche and another was a dessert.  It would have been nice for the website to have let us know this beforehand as 4 courses is hardly a "tasting" menu. We decided to order from the regular menu. We each ordered a first, a main course and a cocktail. We also ordered a side and bread and butter. Nothing ticks me off more than having to pay for bread and butter at a nice restaurant.  I feel that is one of the things that should be included. So our cocktails arrive and they are pretty disappointing. Don't get me wrong, they were strong, but mine tastes just like tequila and nothing else and my husbands was basically a margarita. Our first courses arrived and they are nothing special, and if being honest a little bland. The bread and butter we had to pay for was served right in the middle of our first course Which made it very hard to really enjoy it warm as we were currently eating something else.  My main course was scallops and this was the most expensively disappointing serving of food I've had in some time. Two of my three scallops had not been cleaned properly and had consider amounts of grit. They were cooked correctly but paired with steamed squash. The dish lacked seasoning and flavor and tasted like baby food. The plating was nice, but it was hard to fully appreciate it as it was so dark I couldn't really tell the color of the food I was eating. My husband's bolognese was just mush. He said he couldn't discern the gnocchi from the sauce most bites and that it was rather unappealing to look at.  Our service was prompt but rather unprofessional and didn't seem overly versed in the actual food. She had to look up simple questions like what was on the tasting menu. My husband complimented her tattoos which prompted a bit to much information about playing a game with her mom about all the locations of her numerous tattoos. At the end of the meal we were so disappointed me left without even looking at the dessert menu. We just wanted to pay the over 300 dollar bill and go. I think my husband's statement as we got back into our car was fitting. We had lunch as a taco shop that day and the food was flavorful, the service impeccable, and the price tag was 9 dollars.  He said that the meal at Monarch was the second most satisfying...

UPDATE: I did just want to share an update that the manager got to me very quickly and offered to cover a dinner for my husband and I to come in again (haven't take him up on it yet - hard to get out of the house!) but I really appreciated this!

I was hoping to contact the restaurant directly, but I don’t see a way to email them from their website. My husband and I dined here tonight for our anniversary. We have eaten at Monarch a few times - it is a special place for us because we got married at Hotel Deco in 2017 (when Monarch was under construction). It is a beautiful hotel and beautiful restaurant.

Previous times, service hasn’t been great but I’ve blamed it on them being busy. However, tonight was a Monday night and not at all busy (maybe 4 other seated tables).

First, we have a reservation and no one is at the hostess stand to take us, so we have to wait for the bartender (okay, no biggie, maybe it’s a staffing issue and they aren’t super busy). We then get seated and our waiter was super nice, but service in general was slow. But, it’s okay, whatever. The real issue, however, was when there was a A LIVE MOVING SPIDER IN MY WATER GLASS. Thankfully I hadn’t drank it yet.

As someone terrified of insects and spiders, this really set me on edge the rest of the evening. The waitress was quick to move us to a new table and get me a new water, but if you’re anything like me, this environment is tough because it’s dark and corners everywhere and potential for my spiders 😩

Anyway, I order the lemon risotto with steak and my husband gets the chicken Marsala - I would say it was 6/10 for both dishes, so the food wasn’t stellar tonight. The wine the waitress recommended was excellent (maybe bc I really needed it for my nerves 🥴).

I’m not one to complain, but the waitress brings us the bill and they didn’t offer a free dessert or to comp anything after the spider! I just assumed they would offer something given how much that affected my evening - for some it’s just a spider, but that really negatively affected my experience (where again, we are celebrating our anniversary). It would have even been nice for the waitress to ask if we were celebrating just to say “happy anniversary!” For a ~$130 meal and a place where the atmosphere is such a big part of experience, it just puts a bad taste in my mouth and I don’t see us going again 😞

(And again, the waitress was very kind and I totally know the spider is out of their control and likely a...

I have seen the business respond to recent negative comments that they are under new management and to come back and try the restaurant again, but I can confirm that new management isn't doing any better.

We visited this past Saturday for my birthday. Let's start with the most important part: the food. Awful, abysmal, horrible are a few words that come to mind. We ordered the calamari for the appetizer. The calamari itself was ok. There were parts that were overly crispy because the calamari pieces were so small that there was so much breading it was overcooked/crisped. The chili aioli sauce was not an aioli at all. It was pureed chilis. That's all. The most interesting parts of the calamari app were not calamari at all. There were a couple rogue french fries in it; I tried one, and I'm so glad I didn't order an item with fries as they were AWFUL. Then my husband bit into an oddly shaped calamari piece (he thought it was the breading), but it was instead a deep fried slice of lemon? How does that happen?

My entree was the duck entree for $54 that was to come with an orange bourbon sauce. The duck itself was nicely cooked, however, it was plain. There was no sauce on it. The only thing on that duck were maybe some sprinkles of salt and pepper. It came with a side of lemon parmesan risotto and cooked spinach. The risotto was the worst part. It tasted as if the grain was cooked in tap water and then sprinkled with lemon juice before it was served. That's all. No cheese. No seasoning. No nothing. My husband considered ordering that as his entree (it's an entree on the menu), and I'm so glad he didn't. It would have all gone in the trash. The spinach wasn't much better. I think it was supposed to be cooked in broth or butter? It was just a wet slop with no flavor or seasoning. I didn't finish that or the risotto.

My husband got the chicken marsala. He said it was alright. Maybe a 5 or 6 out of 10.

They seemed to be understaffed from a host and server perspective. People were waiting to be seated with no one at the host stand. Our server was very nice, but she seemed very busy as there were only maybe two servers for the whole restaurant.

The interior decor and atmosphere are great. It's beautiful inside. But who wants to sit in a beautiful building with the worst food you've ever had for the highest price you could pay? I would have rather paid $20 for a mcchicken sandwich than the $60...