El Monumento

Reviews 4

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Tricia McCullers

My husband and I just moved here from CA and we were told by so many people to go to Dos Salsa and so we did. (The service was great only when you were lucky enough to get Juan and the margaritas do not even compare to this place!!) OK, so about El Monumento: A neighbor said, "Hey, you have to try El Monumento", and boy are we glad we listened and here is why-- Upon our first visit we happily bellied up to the bar to have the following experience: 1st: We immediately felt we were in the Napa, CA, (gorgeous wine country) which is one of our favorite places because of all of the windows, wood, beautiful architecture--its just so open and flowing! 2nd: Hunter and Grant were professional/classy, friendly and well...awesome!! They recommended items that would appeal to us and they served us with genuine kindness.!! 3rd: THEIR MARGARITAS ARE THE VERY BEST!!! The price is perfect too during happy hour--I think they are ONLY $4 each!! The glasses are not huge but they pack a punch, so look out my driving friends!! We ordered our cocktails with salt and on the rocks and good grief...three margaritas later I was ready to buy the place!!! 4th: We had their happy hour smashed avocados (wording it that way because it was the straight-real-deal/not a lot of fillers) and it was delicious and more than we expected for the price!! NOTE: We mixed the two salsas that we ordered with their chips and it was pretty good; our go to is spicy-hot and their salsa is more on the mild side but it works especially with the awesome cocktails. The second time we went we sat at a table in the bar and Heather was our waitress and man...she was terrific; warm, sincere and on the ball. What was very impressive and unexpected was that before we even warmed up our chairs in the corner of the bar Hunter smiled at us and then came right over to us and welcomed us back with a huge smile and said, "If there is anything you need just let him know!? My goodness...who ever owns this fantastic restaurant needs to know they get an A+ in the hiring department! WOW! My hubby, Walt, and I now have named El Monumento our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Georgetown area. We will continue to order up their menu and compare...of course! We cant wait to take friends there because we know they will love it!!! NOTE: The courtyard is amazing and has beautiful, tranquil fountains. We will enjoy this area once it cools off some. They also have a deck that overlooks the river--my husband scoped that out while I was downing my first, awesome margarita! It seems they know exactly what people need and want in all areas!! (If I have to mention a down side...well, for some it could be the prices on some items, but you have to go and weed thru the menu at different times and decide for yourselves.)

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Monica Ceniceros

Ive been to this place a few times since its convenient to one of my clients locations. The food is always OK (or average for the price), and the service has never been great but also not bad. The atmosphere of the place makes up for it. I was in the service industry for years, and while I expect and appreciate good service it also takes a LOT for me to complain, much less write a bad review about service. This complaint goes to their lazy and unattentive MANAGEMENT, who after I called for the second time to kindly request a copy of my $100 lunch receipt to expense tells me, annoyed, that he is aware that I had called earlier (even though I was promised a call back and no one did). He proceeds to tell me that no one has called beacuse its hard to provide a copy of the receipt, since the request has to go through corparate (unless you have 20 yr old computers, this is hard to believe). He tells me that this takes them a long time, and that even though I provided them with the date of my visit, time of my lunch, exact amount of my receipt, etc. they just dont have enough information to pull it. FIVE years ago, we had the technology to pull recepits by date and time, or amount of the check. STILL thiking this is pure laziness. Yes, I understand this is an annoying request, but I also expect to that you do what you can to help a customer whos trying to expense a $100 client lunch. This is also not the first $100-$300 lunch Ive had there, but consider it my last. If you are a manager in the service industry and act annoyed at the fact that a customer is kindly asking for your help, then you are in the wrong business. And truly, I dont trust a restaurant with poor management skills.

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Emily Porter

3 years later and their service is still absolutely horrendous. Beautiful building, mediocre food and absolutely terrible service. I guess the only way they stay in business is lack of competition. Love the Monument Cafe. Pricey? Yes. But the food is good and the service is always wonderful. Not sure how 3 years after opening El Monumento continues to have the worst servers of anywhere around. Ive eaten there 5 times. Each and every time Ive had issues with the service. Usually its either forgetting my appetizer or worse yet, bringing it with my food. Never can get a drink refilled. Always searching for someone to bring the check. I was very disappointed when my colleague booked El Mon for our Christmas party on December 4--which I was contributing to financially. As expected, service was terrible. I asked for an appetizer which I never received. My colleague ordered a "Crown and Diet Coke" and was brought a bottle of Corona, yet the server never clarified any of our order. There were about 20 of us and only 2 servers dedicated to us despite the reservation. I ordered the blackened drumfish--very dry and tasteless, and they brought it out a full 10 minutes before bringing the rest of the food to the table of 10 (we were split into 2 tables). When I told them it was rude to bring food out so spread out, the server tried to blame the other guests saying "Well, they ordered steak (it was shredded flank steak) and it takes longer so you should go ahead and eat." I also had a hell of a time getting a refill on my soda. As usual, the service ruined it for me here and I cant imagine ever returning unless forced. Get it together, El Monumento!

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Michael J

My wife and I keep wanting to like his place, but cant. We go every other year or so, and are always disappointed. We went on a Friday, about 5:30. Parking is always a hassle. Service is by people who think theyre still operating a diner, not a fine establishment like El Monumento pretends to be. Food is only OK and presentation is terrible. The mole on my enchiladas was good, but the chicken inside was dry (come to think of it, I now remembering ordering beef...hey!) Here is a picture of what was my escovitche looked like, yes, thats an onion stem and a half of a green bean. After they brought our appetizers and left, I had to go steal some small appetizer plates from an empty table (the place was about 60% full at the time). Wife ordered barracho beans as one of her choices that came with the dinner; black beans came, with a side ordered bowl of barracho beans (huh?). Manager came by to ask how things were, I told him, nicely, and showed him -- he offered to buy us a dessert. We declined saying we have a cake to celebrate our anniversary with at home. He left. They ended up not comping *anything* or even saying "happy anniversary". Theres too many places around with fantastic food and great service to deal with this. My hope for this place is that management will change someday and/or itll go out of business, then people that actually *want* to be there will move into the wonderful space they have...