Clever Monkey Craft Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Venice

My son is allergic to beef, and they are one of the only restaurants locally to carry the “Impossible Burger” and we wanted to give it a try!

When we first arrived, there was a musician playing guitar on the patio. The music choice was slow moving love songs and sounded depressing. We decided to sit inside and save as the agony of feeling like we were at a funeral or retirement party.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere inside was just about as gloomy as outside (very odd choice of music here, too - kind of depressing 80s-esque love songs). While there were seemingly many staff members working, there was only one other table with people at it in the dining room. We stood in front for several minutes waiting for a hostess, before finally seating ourselves.

Several minutes later, a waitress came by and took our drink order. One positive here were the extremely inexpensive ($3) margaritas.

The menu has a bit of something for everyone, but I wouldn’t consider it to be “craft” anything. The burgers seemed uninspired. There are so many wonderful craft burger restaurants around the country that I’d really recommend the owners should audit and pull inspiration from for their menu. I decided not to get a burger because they only had 1/2 lb versions available. With the heavy humidity in the air lately, I don’t want such a heavy burger. A 1/3lb option, even as a “skinny” burger, would be a great addition.

My wife and I ended up going heavy anyways with two orders of pasta. We saw pictures online that looked great and thought we’d splurge just a bit. We also ordered an impossible burger to share, and a kids meal with a grilled cheese.

After we ordered, we happened to hear another waitress sharing a list of specials with her table. Ours never said a word about specials - shame as we would have ordered one of them. Oh - and when I hear “craft,” burgers or otherwise, maybe I assume that there would be an awesome beer list somewhere. Maybe there is. I never saw one.

When our food finally came, the alfredo was quite disappointing as it was really a plate of pasta and oil, with little to no flavor at all. It turns out the photos I mentioned before were actually from the previous restaurant in that location, Norma Jeans. The chicken breast had a horrible texture (google “Woody Chicken” and you’ll know what I mean). I think I ate less than half of mine. My wife ordered shrimp with hers that were small but adequate. She ordered them blackened, but I didn’t see any seasoning on them.

The kids meal came out incorrectly as macaroni and cheese. This was odd to me since I had a conversation with the waitress asking not to “burn” the sandwich, but apparently she was confused. When we sent it back and got a grilled cheese - you guessed it, 1/2 the sandwich was burnt to a crisp.

The impossible burger was good. We ordered American cheese and the slice was quite thin and you really couldn’t taste it, but overall this is the one item that might bring us back. I will not that the burger was a bit too salty, as well.

I think this location has so much potential, but the management is clearly not seeing it through. The entire menu should be audited to really fulfill the “craft” experience. PLEASE - Pay attention to your music choice. Today’s options, both inside and out, sucked away any chance of this place being considered fun or hip. “

“Clever Monkey” is a great name. Make sure that your concept fulfills this. Pull your staff together and do extensive training to get them working together and checking off all the boxes - like promptly seating guests, refilling waters, taking orders in a timely manner, and sharing specials. Work on the food, and if an item can’t be the best in the area, then take it off the menu. There are enough reviews on here leaving red flags, that I hope you’ll consider all of this and be proactive now. If you don’t, I think it will be just another Florida mall pub that goes out of business without really being missed by anyone. For today, and $70 gone from my wallet, I feel like I...

My family and I had a great time and enjoyed our meal at The Clever Monkey! It was our first time there, and were hesitant trying something “adventurous “ and tried their burgers.

They were phenomenal! I think at times our standards are high, especially with cuisine, since we very much love to cook and creat meals at home.

We all finished our plates, nearly as clean as if they just came out of the dishwasher.

I would definitely recommend you try it and decide for yourselves.

I don’t think you would be disappointed!

Only after having eaten our meal- the manager introduced themselves and explained to us that every dish and ingredient is made in house; pickled jalapeños, dressings, sauces, sides, etc

To big box or distributor ingredients- and fresh produce and proteins ordered daily; that fact alone will lead us back to the restaurant and has opened up our eagerness to try other specialized dishes they offer.

We had a spinach and Brie burger, triple threat burger (it was awesome and spicy and fresh and juicy and now I am hungry again), regular cheeseburger, and burgers from the children's menu- which were just as great and they are served on spectacular bread, and the size of sliders- you get two per child's menu order.

Save room for sweets - I challenge...

Really wanted to like this place because it is so close to me and would have been a convenient spot to frequent regularly. It was my first time coming here. I had a wild morning/early afternoon, so I was starving and knew I would eat whatever I could grab if I made it home, so I decided to stop here for a late lunch.

I came in around 2pm and had to be home (3 minutes away) by 3pm. The server was pleasant and got me seated, but forgot about the menu. Not a problem; I walked over and got one. I ordered my food within 5 minutes of getting there. I figured fettuccine alfredo with chicken would be quick and easy to make. I waited over 35-40 minutes for my chicken pasta. How long does it take to boil some noodles, throw in some sauce, and add chicken on top?!

I could not wait any longer, because I had a zoom meeting at 3pm at home, so I left. I went to Publix and got a premade sandwich and made it home in time for my meeting.

Not sure what was going on, but it was not busy when I was there. If I knew I would have to wait over 40 minutes for a pasta dish, I would have just gone home and made it myself. The server could have at least checked in with me during this time and updated me on what was going on...