Monserrate Restaurant Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Tampa

I USED TO THINK THAT DAVID THE OWNER WAS MY FRIEND, SINCE I MET HIM IN 2007 WHEN HE STARTED THIS RESTAURANT WITH HIS CAUSING AND A PUERTORICAN COOK, AT THE TIME. FOR YEARS I WAS FAITHFULY THERE, NOT ONLY FOR THE PRICES, BUT BECAUSE HE ALWAYS GAVE ME A MILITARY DISCOUNT AND THEY WERE FRIENDLY AND WERE THERE ON MY BAD TIMES WHEN THEY LISTEN TO ME AFTER SEPARATION FROM MY WIFE IN CALI AND RETIRING FROM THE ARMY. THEY WERE ALSO THERE WHEN MY LIFE CHANGED FOR THE BEST, WITH MY NEW WIFE. BUT, THRU THE YEARS HE STOP BEING THERE AND HAD A FEMALE MANAGER THAT REFUSED TO GIVE US MILITARY DISCOUNT OR TO CALL HIM TO GET THIS FOR US, BESIDES THE FACT THAT THE FOOD GOT MORE EXPENSIVE, LESS FOOD ON THE PLATE, BAD TASTE, BAD SERVICE, BUT HE WAS HARDLY EVER THERE ANYMORE, TO LISTEN EVEN TO HIS FAITHFULL CUSTOMERS, THAT EVEN AFTER WE MOVE AN HOUR AWAY, WE CONTINUE TO GO THERE, UNTIL THAT FEMALE MANAGER GOT THE BEST OF ME, HIDING ON THE FACT HE SUPPOSEDLY TOLD HER NOT TO GIVE ANY DISCOUNT OR EVEN ADAPT THE PLATE TO CLIENT DESIRES. THEY HIDE BEHIND THE FACT THAT THE PORK RINGS WERE MORE EXPENSIVE. AFTER COVID, THEY GOT WORST. TODAY MY WIFE WAS THERE, AFTER I TOLD HER THAT WE WOULD NOT PUT A FOOT ON THAT PLACE ANYMORE, BECAUSE HE WAS NOT EVEN THERE FOR HIS FRIENDS. MY WIFE BROUGHT ME SOME FOOD AND IT WAS HORRIBLE AND THE SOUP SHE GOT WAS SUPER EXPENSIVE AND AGAIN, NO MILITARY DISCOUNT BECAUSE THEY GOT A NEW SYSTEM AND THE OWNER WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN GIVE A DISCOUNT, SO I GUESS THE MANAGER IS THERE FOR DECORATION, BESIDES THE FACT THAT 2 YEARS OR MORE AGO, THEY TOLD ME TJE SAME STORY. DAVID, I HATE TO THINK YOU GORGOT YOUR FRIENDS, NOW THAT YOU OWN 2 OR MORE PLACES, BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE ME, GOT...

ATMOSPHERE: There was nothing wrong with the atmosphere. You have that true Columbian feel. It was just that the tables were extremely small, and that was a bit uncomfortable. SERVICE: Waitress was nice, but there was a bit of a language barrier on top of the music being a bit to loud but then it could have been were I chose to sit with music lbeing loud .

THE DRINK: I had asked her what time does happy hour start and she didn't seem to understand so i said do you have any "drink specials" so she said oh yes yes and started naming off some drinks and i went with a Margaritas, Not knowing it alone was $18 🤦🏻‍♀️. I just wanted a traditional stemmed Margaritas glass, NOT the party like it's a friday night for two type of glass.. I couldn't finish it, and I wasn't going to take it with even if i could.. Now, that was a waste of $..

THE FOOD: Got the Seafood Platter - Creole style.. I do believe I made the wrong choice. Now, it was tasty but also a bit salty. I did not like how chewy all the seafood was and I mean chewy as if it wasn't cooked all the way or like they just dumped "frozen" seafood in boiling water or the soup mix and cooked for 1 minute, IJS.. I ate thru as much i could with the fried plantains.. The Meat Pie was good with the vinegar based dipping sauce.

CONCLUSION: After a while, I started getting a bad headache lasting the rest of day and into the night.. Come to find out, my BP was extremely HIGH. I personally will not be back.. I'm not saying all their food is salty or chewy because I don't know. I just know what I had ordered and ate. I just can't take that chance...

I’ve been to many Colombian restaurants and even ordered a beef rib soup from this once before and it was delicious, I can’t lie. Because of this we decided to go in person and had high expectations but we were severely disappointed and will never provide business to them again. It wasn’t extremely busy when we arrived, I’d say moderate because it is a small place, but there were at least 4-5 waitresses. The food was over an hour late, the table was dirty and a girl came and “cleaned” it but it was still visibly dirty. The food was tasteless, just bland. Our waitress would disappear to even be able to ask for salt. We finally gave up and asked for a box for my friend to one of the waitresses and she said sure. She went to the back but my husband and I could see her. She stood for about 3min sipping on a soda and when she came back out she went to tend her tables and upon coming back she acknowledged my friend and told her she’d be back. She disappeared again and about 10min passed. Finally our server came out and we asked for the check. My husband didn’t pay attention that she’d included tip (we were 3). It was $10 and change, and despite the horrific service we gave her $10 because we tend to be good tippers, that was actually “low” for us. My husband decided to go back the next day because he felt we were overcharged and realized tip had been included. That waitress received over $20 of undeserving tip unfortunately. It’s now in the past but I do get upset still when I think about it, guess you can’t...