La Monarca Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Pico Rivera

The various cakes and pastries are delicious. My problem with this location is the customer service. A few months ago we placed an online order for a plate of 2 specific styles of cookies and an order of pan de Muertos. When we arrived they did not have our order ready. They said they can't do our order of cookies because they only do it one way. If that's the case then why do we have that option online? And the order of pan de Muertos had to be done last minute because they sold our order to a walk in customer ahead of us. We let that incident slide and recently ordered a guava cake and a large rosca for a birthday party 3 days in advance. When we arrived to pick up our order, there were no cakes in the bakery. They told us they didn't have the cake, which was obvious, and didn't offer up any explanation. They didn't even have the courtesy to call earlier in the day to let us know they didn't have our cake. They said all they could do was to give us a refund. Well of course you're going to give us a refund. The cashier, Guiliana, who was helping us was very rude. She couldn't look us in the eye. She tried giving us a medium size rosca when we ordered a large and she said with attitude, "your receipt says meduim" which was a lie, we quickly pulled out the reciept and showed another employee where it says large. The other employee, I don't know his name, and told Guiliana to hand us the large. My whole thing is, if you messed up someone's order try and make it right somehow. Let's say we had ordered a medium rosca, then to make up for the error why wouldn't you give us a large instead. Why are you antagonistic with us...

This morning 10/19/24, I visited the Monarca Bakery in Pico Rivera. I visit this establishment frequently for drinks and sometimes pastries.

As I was waiting for my drink to be prepared, I saw employee Wendy blowing her nose as she was touching the tools to prepare my drink. I approached her and told her I had seen her blowing her nose and that it was unsanitary. She responded defensively that she used tissue to blow her nose. I told her that it didn’t matter what she used. She needs to wash her hands. The on-site manager Alexa was witnessing everything and stepped in and offered to prepare my drink. Meanwhile, Wendy went to wash her hands and said, “ There I washed my hands!”She was clearly upset because I spoke up. I told Alexa the on-site manager that instead of getting defensive, Wendy should have apologized and washed her hands immediately without any further remarks.

I went on to express my disappointment with Wendy’s rude and aggressive attitude towards me. Alexa just stood quiet as she prepared my drink. At no point did either employees apologize for their unsanitary practices. Unbelievable!!!

I suggested that if an employee is sick they should not handle food or at least wear a mask when working. Wendy stated she was not sick. I told her it was just a suggestion. Wendy was also the employee who rang me up at the register. Unbelievable what I witnessed today and how the employee reacted! Before I walked out I asked for their names and that’s when I learned that Alexa was the...

I've been wanting to try this place for a good while and today found the time before heading to work.

The place inside is nice and clean with great music playing. You get that friendly warm feeling walking inside.

The staff is friendly. I was greeted when I walked inside and customer service was on point.

I walked over to the bread section and and picked out the guayaba with cheese croissant and guayaba and cream danish. I love trying guayaba pastires and I definitely wasn't disappointed . The danish was my favorite of the two.

For coffee i tried the Cafe Oaxaca (espresso + Mexican chocolate + steamed milk) and I loved it it had just the right amount of Mexican chocolate that I prefer in my drinks. I want to try the Cafe De Olla next when i come back. I heard a lot about that coffee from friends.

I didn't know this when walking in but they have breakfast Tortas and thought why not try it out. I ordered the Chipotle beef machaca. It comes with a salsa which is good. It's not a large portion of meat so if your starving you might not get full. Its just right of your feeling a bit hungry. Overall it was good, the salsa added the extra good flavor to it.

Overall it was a great experience and will be returning I came in with the idea of only getting coffee and came out with...