Las Monarcas Mexican Restaurant

A very nice Mexican restaurant by the beach for Nick This restaurant is located on the west side of A1A just north of Cassia Boulevard. There is parking around 3 sides of the structure. The evening that we went there the parking lot was full so parking may be a challenge on busy days. The structure is newly painted with pictures of Butterflies along the walls outside following the Monarchas name. There is a beach-like area and deck in front of the restaurant with some seating. The entrance is on the east side closest to the beach. There is a hostess stand where we were greeted and taken to our table. The tables are a mixture of booths, short tables, high tables, and a small bar. They were busy but we were taken care of in a very reasonable amount of time. They have a large menu with many items. Chips and salsa were brought while we waited for our food. I ordered chicken fajitas and my partner ordered a beef taco salad. Both came within about 10 minutes. The taco salad had a large portion of beef and my fajitas came on a skillet still sizzling. The one suggestion to improve the fajita dish would be to provide more shells than the 3 provided when serving the dish. Still, it was a delicious dish. Both meals were excellent and the staff was friendly and professional. The price for 2 dishes (large servings) and drinks was $35. Overall it was a very nice experience and I would recommend this place to...

UPDATE: A year later, we gave Las Monarcas another chance and are happy to report that they've really turned things around! Bar service was excellent, the margaritas were spicy and strong, and the food was great. We're happy to add this back into the regular rotation!

PREVIOUS REVIEW:

We really wanted to like this place as it's right down the street from us.

Our first visit was decent. Drinks took 15 minutes or so to arrive, but the server was attentive +apologetic and the food was good enough.

Our next visit was horrendous. The bartender (short, dark haired lady) was the reason we got up and left.

We asked for a drink menu that we had on our last visit, she replied "I don't know where they are".

Okay...can you tell us about the margaritas you have?

"I don't know them"

Okay...can we get two spicy margaritas?

"I guess"

Returns a few minutes later with two margaritas with giant chunks of GREEN PEPPERS in them instead of jalapeños??

We tried to brush it off and were prepared to order, but she just ignored us for the next 20 minutes. No dinner for us I guess!

I've talked to 2 more parties that have had issues with this bartender specifically. The owner would be wise to replace her with somebody that has the tiniest bit of respect for customers.

We tried, but we won't be...

🧂Atmosphere- 3⭐️ - This is a hard one to rate, the category that is. I felt like there was more that could be done. Maybe murals on the walls with monarchs etc.

🌮 Food - My wife loved her soup. The big burrito I got, was decent. Everyone has their tastes I get that, my wife and I are from California so I feel like we’re spoiled when it comes to Mexican food. This place is prettt decent. Will we come again? Certainly. My semi picky 6 year old ate up his burrito.

🍽️ The service, was probably what lacked the most. There was a party in the back room that had probably 20 people and about 12-16 people eating in the dining area (including my family). We had two waitresses ask us twice each, if we were ready to order. All 4 times we said, “can we get a kids menu?” Later a waitress said they had to print them, ok get that no big deal. But we sat there waiting without anyone bringing a kids menu. It was probably 6 min or so between each time being asked if we were ready and responding with needing a kids menu. Were the waitresses polite? Absolutely. Would this deter us from going back? No. But if the place were to be packed they’d be in serious hurt for servers.

Conclusion. I would rate this at the top of Mexican food joints in the area. I could tell the food wasn’t...