Monark Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Riverside

I don’t say this lightly: the food at Monark Asian Bistro is inedible. My girlfriend and I recently moved to the area and were excited to try some of the local restaurants. Monark was one of the first we tried… big mistake.

The food was tasteless with a rubbery texture and the service was unprofessional.

We ordered two entrees from the “Thai” menu: Pad Thai and Yellow Curry. While we were trying to order our food, our server, Danny, didn’t look at us because he was busy swatting at flies in the air. This should have been the first red flag.

The curry had no flavor or seasoning and appeared to have a film over the top of it as if it was sitting in a vat for a few hours. The Pad Thai used fettuccini-style noodles, very little sauce/seasoning, and the meat was chewy.

Between the two of us, we’ve eaten at nearly 30 Thai restaurants in half a dozen states. Monark is BY FAR the worst. We took two bites of our food and sent back full plates. When our server asked if we wanted boxes we said, “No, thank you.” He asked if everything was okay and we hesitated at first. Immediately, he responded, “It was horrible, wasn’t it?” almost as if he’d heard it many times before.

He explained that we still needed to pay for the meals that we didn’t eat—totaling just over $40. He went on to say that if we call back after 6pm, the manager will be back and will refund the charge.

Of course, I call back at 6:30 and speak with Karen, the manager. She explains, “It’s in the computer” and there’s nothing she can do about it. However, if we wanted to come back she would give us a “food credit” (read: more terrible food for free). I said we didn’t want more food and just wanted a refund. She refused.

If this happens to you, don’t let them charge your card. They don’t have to charge you for food you don’t eat. If they do charge you, they CAN refund it…...

I waited to leave a review until my annoyance and anger calmed down, but even after sleeping on it, I still feel that the restaurant's staff behavior was way out of line. After reading some other reviews, I understand the situation even better. What makes this review bittersweet is that some of their food was pretty good. However, when I had some problems with one of the dishes tasting a bit off/the ingredients tasting old, the waiter went to the kitchen and came back explaining that there was nothing wrong with the dish. Then after some back and forth explaining that there was definitely something wrong with the dish as I've had the same dish at other restaurants with no issues, the lady manager came over and proceeded to lecture my table about how the food should taste and that there is no problem. I was taken aback by the sheer balls of this woman, but The Lion, The Witch, and the audacity of this Bit-- coming to our table and implying that we were the ones that had no sense of taste left a sour taste in our mouths literally and figuratively. Luckily after a little more back and forth they finally decided to not charge us for the item, but just the whole experience was condescending and crazy to see in the modern restaurant scene.

In short, the lady manager has a huge pride problem that needs to be checked. Treat your customers better; it's not a hard concept as...

I was very disappointed because I had high expectations but they had terrible customer service. The workers here were very rude and disrespectful even when you are trying to be understanding and respectful to them. I brought my parents, but the owner (the lady manager) treated us very poorly. The food they served was rotten and I spoke to the server about this matter but he didnt apologize and said it was supposed to taste like rotten. -Also they added that because we were vegetarian and refused to add fish sauce, it was the reasoned why the food was tasting rotten. It made no sense to me. Then the old lady manager came over and tried to do a long lecture with very angry/loud tone about their food and that they taste fine. I had to stop her many times. Very disrespectful in front of my parents. I don't want anyone to experience what I did. This restaurants may have some good dishes which I also thought before all this happened. But their mindset of customer service is completely wrong and they look down on customers. I hope in the near future resturants like this will not be allowed to open. It was a good experience to acknowledge that restaurants like this...