Monte Alban — Restaurant in Town of Penfield

So my wife and I decided to go here on New Year's Eve for a quick bite to eat. We have been here many times in the past and the food quality has been up for a few times and then down...Well, this time it was absolutely terrible and we will never visit this location again. We have been to other Monte Alban locations throughout Rochester and they have all been very good. So we each ordered a side of guacamole which came in the smallest dish we have ever gotten when we ordered it which was the size you would feed a baby, baby food in which was a ridiculous, to say the least. They have changed their chips because they just didn't taste that good at all anymore. My wife ordered a margarita.. which tasted more like a watered down mix with no alcohol in it than anything else. She couldn't even finish it that's how bad it tasted. She ordered a burrito and so did I. When we got our burrito's her's had a lump of sour cream in one end and was barely warm at all. They didn't make the burrito the way it should be with equal amounts of everything everywhere. Plus we were told the habenero burrito is supposed to be cold and we were like um, no! When I go my burrito I cut it open and all of the pork and beans were ice cold throughout the entire burrito. Our waitress couldn't believe it. She took the food back and was able to make us new on's to go which was nice as well as take the cost of one of the burritos off the bill. We had said if they could make us new hot burritos to go that would be good. We decided to order a side of flan while we waited for our new burritos to be made...when it came out, the flan was hard which it is actually supposed to be very soft, and the whipped cream out of a can...also hard. We felt extremely bad because our waitress Yanny B was terribly sick and as to why they would have her serving food when she was so sick and or working is beyond us, but anyway's she was great. She was the only thing that made that night tolerable, but we will never go back to this location again. All I have to say is how can you screw up making signature drinks and...

Came here on a weeknight after snow-tubing over in Walworth. Had a large party and were able to be seated together. This is our 2nd visit to this particular location. Our server MOURA made the evening completely worthwhile. [Let me just say, some of the youngsters (i say that liberally) today in the service industry sometimes don't understand how to make customers feel comfortable, welcome, special, etc] You ever been on a cruise and get the best treatment? Like that's kinda how it was with her. She was absolutely fantastic!!

One of our kids asked her for a weird drink order, and without missing a beat, she knew exactly what he wanted and made it to his liking. We were THOROUGHLY impressed with her - start to finish. Kept refilling our chips and beverages, kept checking up on us. This was also towards closing -so this was towards the end of her shift - who knows how long she had been working - and she was still chipper, polite, and attentive!!

FOOD: great portion sizes, good value, everything we had tasted great. I had so many chips at the onset, i couldn't finish my meal - so of course, I took it home, which was excellent the next day. (Those chips are deadly addicting!!!)

In short, if we were picky, we still couldn't find anything wrong with our visit - nothing glaring that stood out. Instead, it was just the opposite. When you go, hope that you have MOURA serving you - you will understand...

Come for the endless chips stay for the margaritas. Over the years Monte Alban has grown well in the Rochester area. We've been going here since the first location opened in West Irondequoit, now there are three locations. MA's formula has worked well for them.

A couple weeks ago we wanted Margaritas and a kid friendly environment, Monte Alban checked both boxes. The service is always pleasant and fairly quick considering the normal density of patrons visiting at peak hours. The free chips and salsa always seem delicious and fresh, which are hard not to fill up on. SALT almost overpowered our enjoyable experience as a family, unacceptable. Maybe we've just had bad luck? But our last two visits here has been the same story. Please Monte Alban dial back the salt and allow people to add salt with either hot sauces and shakers.

I would have given this place 3 stars, but we eaten here countless times before without any complaints. I really am giving them the benefit of the doubt, and I will lower my score if over salting continues. It saddens us because this place was a fun place to eat and we always found ourselves coming...