InsideLongBeach.com

Monterey Californian Cuisine restaurant opened this week, where Corbin and Reynolds was. I'm looking foward to try it.
I heard it's beautiful looking.

Let's start with the positive...
The atmosphere is beautful. The service was excellent. There is where my positive review ends.

Serious room for improvements:
1) The menu was very limited. It was more Pub like than a fine restaurant as it appears tp be from it's looks.
2) Whatever we ordered (all 4 of us) and we ordered a lot, was, far from grear... It was either tough, or bland, or tasteless, not at all satisfying. I ate two bites, knew it was not going to be to my liking. The tortillas were hard and dry the calamari was dry, the Guacamole was runny, the desert was the best part.
Perhaps we should have given them more time before we tried them.

We also found it strange that the place was very empty of customers. Generally when a new place opens up they are crowded.

I just posted a big review on Monterey, it's also going to be on lbfoodie.com

check it out: http://longbeach-ny.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... html#links

I just read your review and with all due respect, I didn't find anything in it to rave about.

I was also just in there..I was there with my husband a 2 grown children. First off, we did NOT receive any homemade hummus, as you did... And we did not have the Mgr. greet us either..Our waiter was nice but the food left a lot to be desired. And our wait was even longer than yours and the place was 3/4 empty.
Would I go back again. Maybe, but not for a long time.
Also by your review it sounded to me as it your meal was far from being desirable also.

I didn't say it was the best place in the world and I didn't say it was the worst. I merely said that the food was a little bland. That is coming from somebody who eats steamed veggies and brown rice all the time. If it was bland for me, it would be extremely bland for somebody who doesn't eat healthy. I also said to give them a chance because they're a brand new restaurant.

The owner told me they're still working on the menu and that it will be a "healthy" menu. Monterey had a sign on the window before they opened that said "Healthy California cuisine" or something to that effect. That is why in my review I keep bringing up the "healthy food" aspect. Maybe the food is far from being desirable to those who eat breaded fish and french fries all the time. Monterey isn't trying to be that type of place. They are going for something different. Eat some steamed broccoli once in a while and you will know what I mean.

Here is a summary of my review:
1. Hummus - good
2. Southern Asian Fusion - they were fine, but not too many choices for non-seafood eaters
3. Fllet mignon - good meat. cooked perfectly, but bland
4. Seabass - cooked perfectly, but too sweet. too much sugar.
5. no dessert.
6. As far as being "healthy" that is what the owner told me. So I assumed everything on the menu was supposed to be "healthy" because it wasn't.

After the long wait and all the talk, hype, etc, I tried this restaurant Tuesday night.
Here is my personal review.
I ordered duck...The duck was as small as it could have possibly have been, and it was only fair, but it was so small I had to share part of my wifes dish.
As others have said, the wait for everything was very long.
As for the service, it was polite but so long it just about killed the whole night.
Hopefully they will get their act together. Because the room was really nice.

The good part ends with the beautiful looking place. The food was very mediocre. Nothing special.

I guess that these people (reviewers) were right on target.
This Place Is Out Of Business!

Monterey is or should I say "WAS" a beautiful restaurant, too bad the food really didn't live up to the environment. For an appetizer we ordered the braised veal ravioli with brown butter and sage sauce. What we got was braised veal ravioli caked in butter with fried sage leaves on top. The veal was tasty but the pasta and butter crust left a lot to be desired. This dish would have been fantastic had there actually been a "sauce" and not a brown butter crust.

Monterey suffers from an identity crisis. The decor is amazing, very light and airy and it feels like you are sitting somewhere on the French Riviera, until you get their food and deal with their service, thats when the let down begins, and it never ends until you leave.

I had the sea bass and my husband ordered the skirt steak. My sea bass was great although the asparagus was a little tough. Unfortunately the menu description of the skirt steak was again less than accurate - served with spinach chimichurri actually means drops of chimichurri sauce, not spinach and chimichurri.

All in all the food was blaah. The beautiful space and the FANTASTIC band make it a nice place for drinks at the bar. We probably won't ever eat here again.