Staff engages in tip fraud. I filed a charge back with my credit card and a police report. Check your credit card charges. Omelettes were yummy though. They can think twice if they think they can break my huevos. read more

George the barkeep is great. Solid location for the not-so LA experience. Commute stinks but we'll worth it to step away from the city. Hotel is nice. I will stay here again no question. read more

Ok, first things first. You can not possibly take seriously the opinion of any one that considers Pasadena as "posh and trendy". Pasadena is much more like that not so gifted Manning brother that can't play football than it is anything, except maybe the arm pit of the San Gabriel Valley. And what's with the Monrovia bashing, anyway??? It's a fine All America City. Slick Willy Clinton came here and said so himself in the brief minute he paused from turning interns into humidors, and not killing Osama Bin Laden, but I digress. The only thing I can agree with from all the other reviews here is that Elements should not consider itself a wine bar. It's simply a great bar! Happy hour from 4-7, half price beer, wine and well drinks, but, well it's all about the call drinks, and the top shelf pours are all there. The bartender is friendly and knows how to mix suburb cocktails. The wait staff is great, they remembered me upon my second visit, and have been nothing short of attentive and pleasant since. Time to be honest. If your idea of 'food' lies along the path of boring over hyped network advertised franchises, those of which can be found at any run of the mill "Restaurant Row", run away from Elements as fast as you can. Your wallet will need CPR and your pallet won't know what to think. This is a place for a certain discerning group who have long passed the infantile finger counting necessary to figure out the price of the meal prior to deciding on an en tree or an appetizer, to be shared no less. So sad! They do have FREE bread, though. The whole point of this wonderful hideaway is that it's menu and it's prices are meant to chase away the lower class like impotent zit-faced freshmen at the Senior prom. The food: The flat iron Wagyu with gnocchi was truly delightful, even better when starting out with the Element's twist on a shrimp taco appetizer. In a word, Perfection. With a couple cold drawn Stellas, the meal was completely satisfying. I saw many other menu items I will be back to sample, but I was served nothing but perfectly cooked and professionally prepared gourmet fare. The digs: Inside is not large, rather intimate with a wonderful bar surrounded by dining tables with adequate room for privacy. The 'backyard' however is a whole different story. A nice little swimming pool with water spouts flowing in from both sides(don't be shy, there are plenty of clean towels to dry off when you get out), a water fall wall complimented with a warm elongated rectangular fire pit, a jacuzzi in a dark corner and private cabanas along with comfortable chairs and recliners adorn this outside playground for adults. ~The pool is open until 11pm, if you need it~ They even provide portable heat stations for those two or three months a year in So Cal when it's a little too brisk to do without. It's also worth mentioning that it's one of the few places left around where one can actually spark up a fine Cigar in public and not be treated like a Republican in San Fransisco. The best part is the worst part: there is never a crowd there, prefect for hard working above average people to glean a glimpse of solace, to let the work week wash away if but for a brief moment. Then you realize, it can't possibly last with this few customers. So, to wrap it up, if you prefer quantity to quality, just keep roiling down Huntington Drive, eventually you'll find a .99 cent meal deal, a Friday night special or even better yet just go home order a pizza and stiff the delivery guy his tip. You won't be missed at Elements! Take that one to heart. See you there! or not. read more

This place is a hidden gem! I recently dropped in here for dinner since I was in the area, and I'm so happy I did. The menu selections all looked delicious and the food was incredible! And it addition to the food and service, you'll want to visit this place just to experience the ambiance. You can sit poolside and enjoy the wonderful cabanas and fire pits. Highly recommend coming here for a nibble and to simply enjoy the atmosphere. Oh..and don't forget to order one of their signature martinis! You won't be disappointed :) read more

Ate here twice while on a business trip. Thought the food was quite good and the service excellent. Tonight I had the chicken grilled, with avocado aioli, red peppers, tomatoes on A grilled chibata roll. With red slaw. All were very good. Bluemoon in a bottle was only four bucks. read more

I went there a few months ago (Sunday buffet) with my family. I was told by the staff person (female) at Elements, we needed reservations, even though I saw a lot of open tables. I was not sure if they were saving the tables for room guests only. I got no problem with that, but the lady there was very rude and made me and the family feel extremely rejected! Been there a few times and never going back.. read more

New menu is phenomenal. Scrumptious comfort food. Martini menu is fab (blueberry is a favorite)

Stayed at the Doubletree (that's a whole different GREAT review!) and had brunch at Elements. Reasonable prices, great food. My friends and I have enjoyed what the Doubletree Monrovia offers in every way, and will definitely be back! read more

I was in town visiting my family and was staying at the double tree hotel. I decided to eat at the element restaurant located inside the hotel. The food was fantastic and Alejandro was very helpfuI, friendly and knowledgeable with their menu. Thank for the awesome service Alejandro. Will be back again.I recommend this hotel to anyone staying in Monrovia. read more

I dont know what these other people are talking about but this place IS BOMB. FIRST of all, the hotel is freaking beautiful. Not only is it the coolest doubletree i've ever been in but its totally modernized with a bomb ass looking pool with gazebos and this fire pit thing that makes it look even cooler. THEN, they just got this new chef whose food is..can anyone say OMG CARNIVAL OF FLAVORS IN YOUR MOUTH?! I remember the last time i went when the doubletree just opened, the food was so not even good but they changed the chef and menu and i was SO surprised how good it was. When i first arrived there, my friend and I were greeted by the freiendly front desk staff who totally went out of their way to recognize me. Then, when i got to the restaurant our server Jimmy sat us right away. After being sat we were offered a drink, and given the menu and bread. The menu had a great variety of fine foods that i've never seen before in my life (this was surprising to me being that i eat at a lot of fine dining restaurants). For an appetizer our server recommended the Sonoma Lamb Wraps. THEY WERE OUT OF THIS WORLD. they came on this long plate and each were exquisitely made and artistically eye pleasing. My friend and I sersiouly felt bad eating them since they were so beautiful. Next for our entree, I decided on the tea infused chicken and my friend picked out the karabuta pork. LET ME TELL YOU...i did NOT expect what i was served. The chicken came out cut into seperate peices so that you can see that it had another layer of something on the inside. I asked the server what it was and he said that it was the ground chicken infused with green tea all laid out on top of the best risotto i've ever had in my whole entire life. The risotto was a miso risotto with shitake and enoki mushrooms and ohmilord it was SO good. My friend (whose a pork lover) had the karabuta pork (which i snagged a few bites of..and then some more after tasting it), was lain down on some chop of sweet potatoe-bacon-corn hash stuff which was so good with the pork. Supposedly this pork is the equivilent of what Kobe beef is in the beef world. My friend raved about the pork as much as i did about the chicken. We were so full with the food but we couldnt resist of getting some dessert. For dessert we decided to get the cookie crumb bread pudding. okay i know i've been saying this during this whole review but if your a bread pudding lover and a doubletree cookie lover you have to try this. This bread pudding was SO good. FIRST it comes out warm with bomb ass caramel sauce that goes so good with the bread pudding and had chocolate chip cookie engrained into every bite. THEN it just melts in your mouth its O so GOOD. like serisously..the person who made this should seriously be prized the bread pudding of the year! ALRIGHT well thats all for me peoples. i highly recommend this restaurant. The service was good, the food was greater than great and I dont even know what else i can say but that if your reading this you have to go try it and dont listen to those other people because they obvsiouly dont know what food is unless youve tried this food. read more

I used to work there and let me tell you a few things about this place. first off, the chef throws NOTHING away! imagine black mold all over the raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries... would you believe he would have me wash them off and use it for a sauce? it gets better! they have a catering venue as well as a dine in restaurant, how would you feel about eating left over chicken and steak from a banquet the night before, or even a few days after in your quesadilla and nachos. well it happens! if meat starts to turn, and give off a funky smell, he would just have us "par-cook" it to prevent it from spoiling rotten, and still serve it in the restaurant! there are no sanitation rules enforced as ive seen people blow their nose with a napkin, not wash their hands, and continue to work. the only time anything fresh was cooked was for the owners when they came in to make it seem like that's the product we had all the time, also, that would be the only time the chef worked to ensure the owners thought he was doing a good job, ohh I forgot, he sauced the proteins for banquets and thats it. everything else was made by his line cooks which are understaffed, underpaid, and overworked! (not to mention unappreciated) there was stuff in the freezer from before he (the chef Jose Romero) started working there that who knows how long its been there, and he would serve it for banquets and in the restaurant. getting back to mold, he would order logs of cheeses for cheese platters, and if they started to get hard and moldy, he would have us "shave it off" then shred it and use it for the quesadillas and nachos, on top of the old meat to boot. if there was left over cheese from a cheese platter that people picked off for banquets, take a wild guess where it went. (ahem. nachos and quesadillas) ever tried the filet mignon? good thing it comes with a sauce because this place is so slow with business compared to a real restaurant that steaks would be in the refrigerator for a week and wouldn't sell, guess where that meat ended up... your beloved stir fry, and once again... say it with me now! nachos and quesadillas... yaaaaay! your favorite cookies are baked by the dishwasher, who does a damn good job at it too, who doesnt get paid enough for what he does. dont let this place fool you, management is terrible to their employees, and act like the lower employees are there to serve them. so many times we would be in the middle of service and have to stop working orders for paying customers, make them wait and push their orders aside to work the general manager and his "executive click" food so they get served first. when customers would complain about the wait, executives would blame the employees for not doing their job right and write them up. if you are a friend of any of the exec's and dine in the restaurant, your guaranteed that your steaks, chicken, and fish were delivered that same day... no "first in, first out" rule applied. the only thing I could say was fresh was the chicken because of the demand for it, until it was cooked and let it sit in a warmer for hours until it dried out. thats when it was shredded and added to your favorite bar foods. guess which ones again. I will be thinking of more things as im sure this post will be deleted, but this is all just the tip of the iceberg. everyone should know about what they eat.... ohhh and if you are vegan and plan a banquet here, the sauce has chicken broth in it even if you specifically order a vegan menu.... bon appetít. read more

Went tonight for dinner because of the good reviews and wanted a change of scenery. We arrived at 5 when it opened so we were the first there. My bf ordered a salad with grilled chicken and I ordered the chicken spaghetti with mushrooms. The food took awhile to arrive but when it finally did, the salad had lettuce that was clearly wilted and not fresh and my spaghetti noodles had the texture of ramen noodles (avg length was a few inches) and they were several clumps of noodles. We informed the waiter and they said they would redo the salad and the manager came out and told me that my noodles were supposed to be like that and that if they remade it, it would turn out the same. Really? So she offered to make something else so I ordered the airline chicken which she said would take about 10 minutes. Fast forward 1 hr 20 min later, empty promises of the food coming out, my boyfriend finally got his salad and and 25 min after that, my chicken arrived. While the taste was pretty decent, the waiting was unacceptable since there was no one else in the restaurant for the majority of the time we were there. Hate to think how much longer it would've been had it been actually busy. The manager and waiter apologized but it just didn't feel sincere and kept making excuses. We didn't even get to enjoy our meal together. Finally, she said she would comp my meal when they should've comp'd my boyfriend's salad too since his had to be remade as well. When we left, there was one couple sitting in the whole dining room. The best part of the whole night? The free cookies from reception. Very disappointed and will not be returning. read more