Monte Alban — Restaurant in Town of Gates

We went there 4 days before they officially opened, spoke with their catering/party manager who indicated a party of 10-30 would not be a problem, showed us around and even offered to close off the back room if need be. Monday we called to make the official reservation, yesterday we gave them a head count. Today was the retirement party. We arrived, the hostess knew nothing about it. We ended up being seated in the common area, spare of the moment. The waitress was completely incompetent. Served us steaks without knives, would NOT accommodate a request to have 2 steak burritos instead of one steak and one chicken, brought dishes to the wrong people, and was generally scatter-brained, seemingly doing her best to refuse ANY special requests we made (straws, spoon, knives!), as if she never served a party of 9 before. Then she started clearing our plates, asking for dessert, basically doing her best to get our party out of there. Her demeanor and performance was totally unacceptable. We felt rushed and ill-treated. Icing on the cake, they put 18% tip on the bill themselves, then had the gall of adding a line for an additional tip. We love the Penfield location. This one hopefully will turn around. I am definitively Not impressed with the bubbly yet lazy, inattentive service we received. The lack of communication between employees is also a turn-down. If you accept a reservation, especially for a special occasion, honor it and have a table ready for us. We will not go back for some time. Hopefully by then they will have straightened out their staff and given them...

We recently tried Monte Albán in Gates, and overall it was a really enjoyable meal. I’d give the food 4 stars — mostly because we were hoping for a little more heat in the spice level — but the flavors were great and the portions more than made up for it.

We started with the Queso Fundido appetizer and oh man… SO GOOD. Cheesy, melty, and packed with flavor — it disappeared from the table way too fast! Definitely something I’d order again.

For entrées, we had the Baja Tacos — one order with shrimp and one with tilapia. We could not believe how huge these tacos were. Packed full of fresh ingredients, perfectly cooked seafood, and bursting with flavor, they were honestly some of the most satisfying tacos I’ve had in a long time. Even though the spice level could have been a notch higher, the overall taste was fantastic and left us really impressed.

On top of the food, the staff was incredibly friendly and made the whole experience welcoming and relaxed. Service was prompt and attentive without ever feeling rushed, which gave the evening a nice, easygoing vibe. Prices were also very reasonable, especially when you consider how generous the portions are — you absolutely get your money’s worth here.

All in all, Monte Albán is a great choice if you’re craving hearty, flavorful Mexican food in Gates. With friendly service, huge portions, and dishes like that Queso Fundido and Baja Tacos, it’s a spot worth revisiting. A solid...

The atmosphere was the same as the other locations, nice and colorful. The place was clean. Went with a friend for lunch at 12:45ish. Only 2 other booths had customers there. 2 servers on duty. We waited about 8 minutes before 1 server came and brought us chips and salsa. she told us our server would be over in a minute. 10 minutes later she finally takes our drink order, we told her we were ready to order and she said she’d be right back. We ordered simple lunch order and 2 little plates so we could use it for the salsa for each of us. Never saw the plates. Salsa was good, chips were stale and we didn’t eat more than the bites. Lunch came out and the red sure was tomato sauce and oily. The green sauce was sour. The food was bland. I ate 2 bites of my lunch burrito and left the rest. Nothing like the other Monte Albans. Poor service, no...