When my friend invited me here the first time, I balked at going to an upscale Mexican restaurant. I was dumb then. I have learned. This is a hidden gem, and favorite spot to bring anyone east coast to. They need to know how bad their Mexican food is. It's fresh, it's gorgeous, they've got great variety. I'm not a fan of mole, and that's the only dish I've been disappointed by. But I love coming here just for a bunch of flavored margaritas with friends, a quick bite, or a nice dinner. Monarcha truly does it all and has never been a miss for me. read more

Things have changed at Monarca in the last couple of years. The menu has been completely revamped and not in a good way. It was 5PM on a Saturday and surprisingly empty. Since they closed down and reopened, it didn't seem like the dining area changed much. Place is clean and well-apportioned . Large front windows let in a lot of natural light. Our server was friendly and relatively attentive. No more free chips and salsa apparently though, and value for the money is a big reason why this is a 2 star review. Menu is a single page now, much stripped down from what it used to be, and the prices are somewhat absurdist for what you get. Apps are all $15+, we got the guacamole to share with our table of four and the portion was a bit of a pittance. If we'd had the chips and salsa that were once offered I could have understood, but nah. Just a bit of unsalted guac and a few large chips. All the tacos are $10/taco which is honestly ridiculous. I had the Birria taco plate which was $28 for three tacos. My partner had the enchiladas which were in serious need of some acid or salt or something. Mole was average. Cocktails are fine but $18+ and no beer on the menu is a weird choice. It was about $200 for our party of four, which for tacos and enchiladas seems pretty absurdist. Bougie Mexican food with very little upside. Probably won't be back anytime soon. read more

They changed their menu, and--to my taste--the food was poor: the salmon was flavorless, and the meat was full of fat. We are a family of four, and they added a 20% service charge to our bill without any prior notice on the menu. According to them, they enforce this policy on weekends--regardless of what you order--though it seems to depend more on one's appearance. The service was terrible; the food arrived at different times, and the waitress forgot the wine my husband ordered to accompany the dinner. It was definitely a bad family experience--one where we will never return. read more

Beautiful restaurant downtown with amazing food! Went with a large group and they were super accommodating and everything came out relatively quickly. We tried most of the apps: ceviche, guacamole, elote, and queso (in order of my fave) For the main course: octopus and lobster tacos were both great and came with a side of rice Finished with the flan, cheesecake and the churros which came with ice cream Will definitely return to try the other tacos! read more

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Love the ambiance of this restaurant. It's fun because it's right downtown. The seating area is a little tight and small, but the high ceilings help it not feel too crowded. The enchiladas are some of my favorite in Salt Lake. I wouldn't change anything about them. Love their guacamole, I think they could add a little more to the appetizer bowl. We shared with a few people and one person got a spoonful each, so it wasn't very much. Service was pretty good too. Overall, I'd recommend this place! read more

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The vibe of this restaurant is super cool and unique. Definitely recommend making a reservation since the wait times can get long. Our server was friendly and did a good job overall, but he didn't refill our drinks which would've been nice, though to be fair, it was a busy Saturday night. We went with a group of friends and the food did not disappoint! Half of us got the shrimp tacos and OH MY GOD, they were amazing. The fried cheese, the sauce, the tortillas, the shrimp, everything was so delicious. My husband and a friend had the enchiladas and really enjoyed them too. One friend tried the rib eye tacos and didn't love them as much, but overall everyone was really happy with their meals. It was also great to see they have solid gluten-free options, which made it easy for two of our friends. read more

Monarca Dining - SHRIMP TACOS - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

Ok. I don't know what happened because when I was here 2 years ago it was amazing. This time so disappointed. My server was great but the chips have no flavor, the salsa is so-so. I ordered the pulpo that came with potatoes... zero flavor, I truly mean zero! I will say the pulpo (octopus) was cooked perfectly so I give them credit but.... wow! Im sad to leave a negative review but had to be honest. read more

Monarca is quite the experience! We loved the Birria tacos they had a crunchy shell and the most tender flavorful meat inside. It came with pickled onions and cheese on top which was perfect! Enchiladas were incredible as well! The drinks! Wow! So incredible the detail and decor on each cocktail is spectacular. Definitely order the chocolate cake it comes on this cool stone plate, and has so many gooey layers! Our server kaylie was such a bubbly, fun server so happy we had her. read more

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Bone marrow was so good Peruvian ceviche was so good I got a plate of just bone and lime and let me say it was so good. And then let me tell you about our services Bart he was so helpful with the wines and the meats and he laughed so hard when I said a joke it was so wonderful 10/10 dining experence. The art on the wall is ugly, so make sure you face the outside street. Cool restaurant read more

Monarca Dining - Bart - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

Came here for a work dinner and got to try a bunch of different dishes. Salmon chorizo, ribeye and bone marrow, elote, ceviche, churros, flan, cheesecake, etc. everything tasted great! My favorites were the ceviche, elote, and churros. read more

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Worst service they didn't bring us plates or silverware for 30 minutes .we ordered appetizers.We still had no or plates Our food came out extremely late and cold. I wish we had a better experience . read more

I really wanted to love this place because the vibes are soooo cool! Every time I walk by, there are a lot of people in a lively atmosphere. The building had a really cool open concept and the brick is stunning. I went with a group of friends and we were all really excited. The server asked if we wanted any appetizers and we said no. He then asked if we wanted chips for the table and we said yes and he said great I'll bring two for the table. Chips and salsa are not listed on the menu and the server didn't mention there was a cost. When he brought of the check he let us know he added them on there. I don't mind paying for the chips and salsa but it felt really weird that they offered them and selected how many for us without indicating we would be charged. For the prices they charge, it felt kind of corny to trick us into paying for something rather than just having it on the menu. The shrimp tacos were incredible. I'd give them a big 5/5. The rib eye tacos were good but not great. The bone marrow was delicious. The Diet Coke was just okay, but the guava pisco sour drink was really good! Overall, it is a fun atmosphere and the food is yummy. The service was okay. I probably won't be back, but its def a fun option for upscale Mexican food read more

Monarca Dining - SHRIMP TACOS - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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We were in Salt Lake on business and ended up coming here twice in the same week we liked it that much. The menu had so many interesting options that it was hard to choose, from "basic" or familiar Mexican dishes like chicken enchiladas to the more elevated fare like halibut cooked in a zucchini blossom sauce. I strongly recommend the lamb in mole over rice, or (if you're on a tighter budget) the gooey, drippy birria tacos, omg. Good service, amazingly fresh and flavorful ingredients. I do think it's a bit overly expensive--be prepared that most of the main entrees are above $30 apiece. I wasn't wowed by the house margarita but did very much enjoy their paloma, served in a big ol' terra cotta cup. Seems to fill up on the weekends (understandably) but wasn't very busy on a weeknight Monday. read more

Monarca Dining - Lamb over mole and rice. Amazing. - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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Overpriced Mexican! That alone isn't a bad thing, but the quality wasn't there for what they were trying to be. The chips and salsa they brought out was absolutely flavorless, and everyone dining agreed. I ordered the Halibut which was served on some hot peppers (I think poblanos) which made the Bottom super spicy. The Halibut was also pretty dry with the exception of 1/3 of the middle of it. I picked at it but it wasn't good. If you like your fish well done, then maybe it's your cup of tea. The Queso Fundido was amazing though. I'd totally just get that next time. The guacamole was also pretty good, but again, pricey. Maybe it's because Salt Lake City is far from Mexico (and uphill?). I don't think I'd come here again when in SLC. If I did, I'd stick to appetizers and the basics. read more

Monarca Dining - Halibut was ok. A bit overcooked - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

Monarca was such a fun spot to eat! The atmosphere is lively with welcoming staff and the food definitely doesn't disappoint. The ceviche was really fresh and packed with flavor. Their cocktails are also yummy and pair well with the dishes. We also tried the Cochinita Pibil, which was tender and delicious. There was plenty to eat and we ended up having to take some to go and it was just as good later. The flavors were spot on, and we definitely left satisfied. We're already planning our next visit to try the huitlacoche--it sounds amazing, and after how great everything else was, we're excited to see what else the menu has to offer. read more

Monarca Dining - cochinita pibil - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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Our meal here was just ok. I always wonder about high end Mexican. What are they going to do to elevate what is usually perfect at a much lower price point? Monarca's answer is not much. The food was decent. Granted we didn't try anything outrageous. It just isn't as good as the price point suggests. You want your enchilada to have a little cheese pull with each bite. You can see here that these enchiladas are not such. The sauce looks vibrant but the flavors fell flat. My companion ordered the grilled salad and said it was incredible. read more

Monarca Dining - Grilled salad - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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So. They changed the menu :( no more rice and beans with tacos. NOTE menu says tacoS PLURAL but no it's a singular taco. Just be aware. Amazing taste just be aware. read more

I rarely leave 1-star reviews, but this experience unfortunately "secure" it--not because of the food, but due to how the staff handled a serious incident. I visited this restaurant with a group of 12 colleagues, including coworkers and managers. While parking was a bit of a hassle, I opted for garage parking and looked forward to a good meal. I ordered the Tacos Birria. However, when our food arrived, the server accidentally spilled my entire dish on me. The hot birria sauce drenched my shirt, jeans, socks, and shoes. Thankfully, I was wearing loose jeans and was able to pull the fabric away from my thigh, minimizing the burn, but it was still painful. I had to go to the restroom to clean up, and a coworker helped me wash what we could. I returned to the table soaked and sat through the rest of dinner that way--about two hours--because I didn't want to ruin the rare occasion of our team dining together. The manager did come over to apologize, offering a $25 gift card, which I used to pay for dinner, and a complimentary dessert. While I appreciated the apology, the gesture didn't come close to making up for the damage. My jeans alone cost more than $150, my shirt $50, and my shoes $300--not to mention the inconvenience and discomfort of being soaked and burned in my thigh during the entire meal. I'm also traveling for work, staying at a hotel with no laundry facilities, and I won't have access to laundry until the weekend. This is the only pair of shoes I brought. With $25, I think I can get a new pair of socks. While I understand accidents happen and didn't want to make a scene (not single word or attitude during my diner), I expected a much better response from an upscale restaurant. Some of my coworkers expressed their disappointment with how the situation was handled. The food itself was good and nicely presented, but given the circumstances, won't be returning for sure. read more

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Kylie is an awesome waitress! Cocktails and food are excellent! Tacos and margaritas are great! Had avocado and ceviche apps, so good' read more

Monarca Dining - Ceviche - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

The Monarca has some impressive staff. They worked diligently to provide seamless service. From my visit, it appears this place was a local favorite. Many large parties (12+, such as ours) were gathered for their Mexican American cuisine. I had the halibut, which looked great on the online menu. The white fish was a little tougher than I would like. A coworker who ordered the same thing, also agreed. The fish might have been cooked 2-3 minutes too long. It might have happened when they were trying to get our orders out at the same time, but were a tad unsuccessful. The zucchini flower sauce was a little too mellow for my taste. I think it needed a typical acid. Overall, I still thought the presentation was nice. My espresso martini was delicious. No complaints there! read more

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Ridiculously tasty food and cocktails! Addictive desserts, too. Been here a dozen times and never once disappointed. The tapas are excellent (try the molote, empanadas, and the pulpo a la gallega), all the tacos, and cactus. The salmon al chorizo is really flavorful. The margaritas are great, all the sours, paloma, and the agave old fashioned (tasty mezcal)! Sometimes the place gets loud and crowded, but can't blame them! I am a repeat customer and I am assuming many folks there are too. Keep up the great work! read more

Bart was amazing the food was so good and the service was the best. We love this place. The vibe and atmosphere are top tier too. read more

Monarca Dining - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

Worst queso fundido I have ever had. Don't order it. Came out like soup and had no flavor. Not sure how it is possible to mess up that badly

Excellent service and top quality food considering I'm picky when it comes to Mexican food but Alfonso is a great chef always thriving for the best looking to enhance the Mexican cuisine experience! DE-LI-CIO-SO! read more

Monarca Dining - Abriendo apetito! - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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Lovely ambiance, excellent and friendly service and delicious meal! I got the shrimp tacos upon recommendation from my server and they were fantastic. read more

We dined at Monarca for the first time yesterday and it was great that they take reservations online so we had a reserved table before heading to a show. The place has a lively decor and fun atmosphere and colorful dishes. Personal pet peeve but they still have QR codes on the tables for the menu so you have to scan to get the menu which then focuses your attention on your mobile phone instead of the friends your dining with. I really dislike this. We ordered the guacamole to start. It was fresh, flavorful and colorful with assorted veggies and came with chips in a small cereal bowl. For $14 I was disappointed with the small amount of chips as we had lots of guac left but no more chips. No problem our server gladly brought us more chips and added $3 to our tab for refilling the chips. They also have a full bar so we could enjoy some adult libations with our meal. The menu has a wide variety of items. We ordered the Pollo en Mole, Birria Tacos and the Fish Tacos. They all came out looking amazing and the taste matched the amazing appearance. The portion was satisfying and everything was very fresh. I'd love to go back again and try more items on the menu as it was hard to decide what to try on our first visit. Located downtown so parking can be challenging with either a mix of street parking (paid) or a nearby garage. read more

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I'm not one to typically leave a poor review because I don't think it's fair to business to do so. However, I've dined here twice in the last 4 months and I would say neither experience was great and I know this restaurant has potential. First-- the tables are arranged awkwardly and too close to each other. The space feels like it is not optimized. There are quite a few 2 seater tables that I would hate to be sat at. The tight space is inconvenient for the servers to do their job and for the customers to have a good experience. The menu design is poor, and the dishware is interesting... Second- the food came out at very different times for a table of 6. The first people at our table received their food and waited almost 10 minutes before the last person got their food. Two dishes did not have the tortillas they were supposed to come with, and we waited additionally for those after we had eaten most of the dish without them. Third- we were not served an appetiser that was ordered and had to ask at the time of payment if it was on the bill. Fourth- while our server Miguel was SO nice and gave us wonderful recommendations, I do not feel like we were checked on unless it was to clear a plate. We waited too long for a check. and finally- The food was nothing to write home about. it was under seasoned, small portions, and underwhelming. The entire table felt this way. I know this place has a lot of potential and want to see them thrive! read more

With a heavy heart im changing my review of this place. I am local here and always loved coming here, when my friends asked where to go for good mexican I suggested monarca etc etc. I had family visiting from out of state and wanted to try mexican food and of course i brought them to monarca. Seems like they changed their menu and up their prices. As someone who is in the food business i understand you need to adjust your prices and stuff but changing your taco price from $19 to 24 or charging a single vegetarian taco $10 is ridiculous. This is literally comparable to la jolla upscale mexican restaurant prices. And they dont even offer chips and salsa anymore. Force you to get guacamole so you haveto pay more. My wife is allergic to avocado so not everyone wants chip n salsa bcs it is the cheaper option.. our server was kind enough to just bring it out for her and that is the only reason it is not one star review. Bring back some of your vegetarian friendly options and get a reality check on your prices. Wild.. read more

Monarca Dining - Tacos De Birria - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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Very good food and cocktails. High scale Mexican cuisine. A little pricey but worth it. Service is okay. Server was very quiet and charged me for ice cream then came back to tell me they were out so they brought me something else I didn't want so I didn't eat it. I thought that was a little odd. But overall it was pretty good. Restaurant is cool too. I would go back. read more

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This is My first time here at Monarca and I was very happy and shocked by the way everything looked. The food looked amazing and the portions were a perfect size and the way it was presented amazingly. The Servers are really nice and I love how police and kind they are and the way they are respectful makes it even better. The Ambiance is perfect it feels like your somewhere in a island or at a really fancy restaurant and the way the tables, chairs, and the way the decorations look are amazing and I'm glad I came here. I recommend this place to anyone who's in the mood for delicious food and awesome Drinks 5 Stars Hands Down! read more

Monarca Dining - SALMON AL CHORIZO - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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What happened? I've been here twice before, and both times the food was reasonably good and well presented. (I must say, though, that the chips leave a lot to be desired as they are heavy and tasteless.) Early this past Saturday evening we came in to dine hoping for the items that we had previously ordered, the shrimp tacos. Our waiter said that they were not available that day, so we risked a couple of other entrees: Pollo en Mole and the Chile en Nogada. For the chicken dish, the menu indicated that this was "airplane chicken" (which should have consisted of a breast and a wing attached). Both dishes were to have been served with sides of lime rice and tortillas. To my surprise, when the waiter brought our plates, there were zero sides. The Pollo en Mole consisted of two measly drumsticks in a mole sauce. No breast. No sides. Period. The poblano pepper was a small lump on a very large plate. We were stunned. For the price of $29 per entree, we at least expected sides. We left absolutely famished. I will not be returning to this high-priced, pretentious establishment where you leave hungrier than when you arrived. So much for thinking we had found a new Mexican favorite. read more

Monarca is amazing! From the service, to the food and decor. We've been here 5 times and have loved it so much. We recommend this place over and over again to all of our friends. If you want good yummy food with great service this is the place to check out. Every time our friends want to do birthday dinners we have suggested this place as it is close to everything such as bars after a great dinner. The drinks at Monarca are so delicious. The price is great for the food and service. read more

The food is decent but way overpriced for what it is. They also charge for a small chips and salsa, but fail to mention that when asking if they can bring it for the table. Would not go back. read more

Food was incredible. Table of 11 and our server Angela was attentive and great! Literally no complaints. These are the mole chicken enchiladas with the honey lemon mocktail! read more

Monarca Dining - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

This is bullshit. We got there and our reservation was not honored but that decided to seat us at a table in the corner past the bar. This is not a fucking table. read more

Monarca Dining - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

Alfonso and Bart were amazing! The service was exceptional and the food was amazing. We had a few appetizers, the fish tacos, and fresh guacamole read more

We celebrated our anniversary here yesterday and it was such an incredible experience. The food was AMAZING, i seriously wanted to lick every plate. The service and care was even better. We felt so special and it completely exceeded our expectations . My husband doesn't like flan and he kept eating mine. We will definitely be back. read more

Malcolm was our waiter. If I could import him to St. Louis, I would. His knowledge of the drinks and food menu was second to none. His recommendations were spot on. We were absolutely in awe of the presentation of every item we received, from the margaritas to the main entree. As our friend Chris said "this is not your typical Mexican restaurant". read more

I really wanted this place to be good. Great location and decent service. However, The ribeye and bone marrow tacos were such a let down. Toughest ribeye I have ever had. It came out COVERED in onions. Like a blanket for the dry meat. And the "seasoned" bone marrow lacked flavor. Michelada mix was great! Had a good spice to it. Enchiladas Suiza was good but could've used more sauce. Chicken was kind of bland/dry. Ceviche was decent. I spent $250 for 4 people and I don't think I'll be back. read more

Monarca Dining - Ribeye and Bone marrow tacos. The steak was so over cooked and dry. Crazy for $40 - Mexican Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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Delicious everything! From the awesome ceviche to the fresh fish and wide selection of tasty tacos! They have a great selection of margaritas, beer & wine too. The chefs are CREATIVE and inventive. I love this place and will definitely take my friends and family here. read more