Montes Cafe — Restaurant in Seaside Heights

I’m not usually one to knock a restaurant but I had terrible service here. For starters, there’s like 2 vegetarian/vegan options on the whole menu. And secondly, the waitress would seldom pass by our table of 3 to see if we needed anything - there were only 2 other tables in the restaurant to tend to. After finishing my food which was simply a dry bagel w jam, I was still hungry so I ordered guac + chips - which was like 8 bucks by the way. The guac was literally just chunks of tomatoes and maybe a 1/4 of avocado, maybe less. So I went up to the waitress and asked her if that was the correct portion to which she replied yes. Ok, so I asked her to speak to her manager, I believe his name was Seltzer or Celser. I asked him the same question, he said yes. Didn’t even bother to accommodate me or ask me if I would like more. So I asked him how much another portion would be and he replied $4-5, somewhere around that range. I was not going to pay that much for the portion that I was given. If there were actually more avocado, I would have. The avocado at a grocery store sometimes goes for $5 for a WHOLE avocado, sometimes you’ll find a deal like 3 avocadoes for $5. Anyway, I guess my real complaint here is lack of customer service and accommodation for a paying customer, especially from a manager. FYI: Don’t...

I have been coming to Seaside in the summer my entire life. My family orders from other Mexican "inspired" restaurants in the area and for years I have been disappointed with their food. Monte's is a blessing. The moment I stepped foot inside to pick up my food I could tell this place was authentic. The food followed through. My tinga tostadas were one of my favorite meals I have eaten in months. They were absolutely up to the highest quality bar I have for comparison. The quesadillas were also outstanding. The veggie was delicious, though my uncle complained that the shrimp one did not have enough shrimp in it. The tacos all had good tortillas. The carnitas tasted good, it had a full flavor to it. The chicken in the tacos was dry, but the provided sauces were good. You can tell the chips are made in-house. They were very good. The guac was smoother than I expected. My family wanted empanadas. They were fine, but I didn't expect anything special on that front from a Mexican place. On the whole this was not the best Mexican food I have ever eaten, but it so far surpasses its competition and does certain things such as the tostadas, quesadillas, and chips well enough that I am giving it 5 stars. I am ashamed it took me this long to discover...

It was a Friday evening about 7:30 pm and we were looking for a quick place to eat. We chose Montes Cafe for the Mexican food. The place is small but wasn't crowded. The service was very slow but we weren't in a hurry. I ordered the Molcajete entree, which was the most expensive item on the menu. It says "Prepared with the most fresh ingredients, chicken, marinated pork, shrimp, salted sliced thin beef, Mexican cheese." I expected this to be very good, but it was NOT. Basically the only thing that was really edible was the shrimp. The pork and the beef were so dry and overcooked that they reminded me of shoe leather. I ordered a cup of sour cream so I would have something to dip them in - to try to moisten them a little. I couldn't even find the Mexican cheese. The chicken filets were so dry and tough that I couldn't eat them. I left most of the meal uneaten. Our waitress never came back to the table to check on us (she probably knew she had served us very old food). This was one of the worst meals I can...