The Monk's Cellar — Restaurant in Roseville

I thought the food and service at this restaurant was horrible. My husband and I went in for lunch on our anniversary and we'll never go back. The bench where we were seated was covered in food that I dusted off onto the floor because there was no visible waitstaff anywhere. We were seated and when I turned around, they were gone. It wasn't busy, but we waited quite a while just to get offered drinks and the wait person was gone for a long time just getting two soft drinks. I ended up getting my own straw and napkins because the majority of the time during our visit there was no waitstaff visible to us. Everything we got was overcooked and over-seasoned. We went because they had scotch eggs and fish and chips. I watched another customer get their scotch egg handed to them by a man with a giant beard. My scotch egg had a burnt spot that only showed after I started eating it and it came on the tiniest little plate that made it hard to eat, especially since I was keeping an eye out for beard hair. The egg inside was not bad but the outside was dry and overcooked and tasted strangely of rye bread. I've eaten a fair few scotch eggs and this was not even as good as the mass-produced grocery store ones in England. The fish had a coating on it that was an inch thick, way overdone, kind of like a fried chicken coating, and it was really salty. The fish inside was tasteless and grey and pink in color. I couldn't eat mine. I tried to eat the fries, but they were mostly cold, just warm in the spots where the fish had been sitting. They were the only kind of good thing, but they just tasted like any old fries, nothing special about them. The coleslaw was warm, and I couldn't get past the first bite which tasted watery and bland. One wait person asked if things tasted ok and I said no and they said "great" and left. Another came to take my obviously full plate but did not ask if anything was wrong. They just made an "oh she is going to complain when she gets the check" face when I said yes, please do. I didn't see the point in making a fuss, because it was obvious no one cared. The highlight of my bad experience was when the wait person took my dirty knife and fork from my dirty appetizer plate that had a dirty napkin on it that I used to clean the table and plunked it down in front of me on the bare table as if I were going to use them again. I had to ask for a clean set and the wait person acted like it was a strange request. It didn't help that my polite British husband who never complains just went with it, ate his food stating only to me that it was disgusting, and accepted that he would not be getting clean silverware for the second course because he is too polite. I did not want to wreck our day further by making a scene because it makes my husband uncomfortable, and it was our anniversary. So, we just paid the bill and left. I really did have high hopes for this place. I am always on the lookout for good casual local dining for business lunches, but I'll definitely never go back here and I would not recommend this...

UPDATE: The owner contacted me and invited us back for a better experience! He did not know when we were coming so it was an honest effort to make things right..not just a show of effort. I would up the rating to 4 stars and will go back in the future.

Original Post: Terrible service...Great atmosphere but service was terrible! Arrived after dinner hour (8pm) on a Friday of which the customers were at a minimum. We sat at the isle bar which is only maybe 6 ft from main bar, We placed an order for 2 glasses of wine, a beer and a mixed drink. After 12 minutes we had nothing served. I watched the bartenders who were not busy and even chatting which led me to believe that they had yet to even get our order. We then moved to an outside table (at our request of which the server seated us at) and waited another 5 mins at which the 2 glasses of wine were served but no mention that other drinks were following. Another 5 minutes goes by and the beer is served...but no mention of the mixed drink?? I then walked up to the bar (not busy...2 bartenders one pouring 1 drink the other wiping glasses) and told our server to nix the mixed drink. The server then came out to our table and asked if I canceled the drink due to not having Patron (I opted for another Tequila at time of placing order)or because of timing..I answered timing. I would think that 20+ mins to get to this point is too long to wait in an uncrowded establishment. She told me that the manager would take care of this and would be right out to talk to me. I waited ...no one approached me during the 40 minutes we were there...but the bartender came out to give another at our table a sample of wine. I regret that she (server) even received a tip and probably should have comped us for being totally incompetent at her job!! I am a patient customer but when not a lot of action going on this was unacceptable. I think the timing and way served ( drinks served in phases and/or not at all with nothing said) makes this establishment...

Quick Story: This is my favorite restaurant. I’ve loved this place since I moved to the state of California. I eat here on very special occasions, and casually, it’s always had great atmosphere, and food, although my experience with waiters hasn’t been the best, and for that I’m not sure why.

The reason I’m giving a Two Star Review(when it should be 5):

The last time I came to the monks cellar I walked through the front door, it wasn’t busy at all, the greeters were happily chatting to them selves, didn’t break to acknowledge my presence until they decided they were done chatting. Of course I didn’t interrupt, because I felt it would be disrespectful. Once they were done chatting they then acknowledged me and brought me and my girlfriend to a table right next to the door of the managers office. Great. Our waiter came, took orders for our drinks, and brought them to us. Nothing out of the ordinary. He took our orders and even made a recommendation which I greatly appreciated! Once he left that’s when a few things of which I did not appreciate happened. A staffed member had to enter the managers office or supply room of some sort, of which the door to enter was directly behind my chair, forcing me to move forward and awkwardly apologized for being in the way. After that, our food came! It was awesome and great! We weren’t interrupted again until the same staff member who entered the supply room/managers office decided it was appropriate to place a chair that had “gone missing” at our table, interrupting my girlfriend, and I. Once we had finished eating I called to get the check, I handed my waiter my card, he came back for me to sign, the pen he gave me had no ink. I had to flag down someone else to ask for another pen. I normally give very very generous tips, but this time I did not.

I may seem picky, but that is only because I love this restaurant that’s why I’ve given it two...