Monsoon Cafe

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1212 3rd St Promenade (at Wilshire Blvd)
Santa Monica, CA 90401

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(310) 576-9996
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Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Monsoon Cafe - Santa Monica, CA
Reviews
( 30 )
( 14 )
( 12 )
( 3 )
( 16 )

Best

this place is awesome

Worst

There is one reason and one reason only that I go there, the scallop dynamite. This is what you should expect when dining at monsoon cafe, at minimum you will be greeted after ten...

Best option on 3rd St 11/18/2006

Very pretty and HUGE interior. It's nice to sit upstairs where you have a nice view of the entire downstairs. There's also a cool lounge area in the back upstairs. Very typical pan-Asian offerings on the menu prepared very well, although nothing will knock your socks off. Great for a large group. more
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Worst Service 9/25/2006

While on vacation, my friends and I went to Monsoon for appetizers and sushi. The food was okay. The service made the experience very undesirable. Our waitress took our order, and someone delivered the food to our table. Our waitress did not come back to refill our glasses or see if everything was okay until she handed us the check at the end of the meal. This was an unacceptable experience. I'd suggest checking elsewhere for great food/service on 3rd Street. Pros: Atmosphere Cons: Service is unacceptable more
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Best of the best! 8/25/2006

This is, in my opinion, the best restaurant in Santa Monica. I haven't had a dish I haven't liked - and my wife and I have been there several times, and go with the recommended tactic of ordering a few appetizers to share and then one entree (portions are of regular size, not the super-American-huge size so many diners are accustomed to). The service is great - attentive, friendly and accomodating - and the wine recommendations always complement the food perfectly! Santa Monica has a lot of restaurants with great Asian cuisine, but Monsoon is the best of the best! If you're looking for a romantic evening, try an upstairs table for privcy! Pros: Amazing food, friendly service, good atmosphere more
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most accomidating 8/21/2006

Back in may, my boyfriend decided to throw me a birthday party at a restaurant a table for 20... only 10 made it and the staff was rude.... Well, this weekend was his birthday, and I wanted to hold his birthday dinner at monsoon... I ran into the opposite problem.. I ordered table for 20 and 27 people attended... Though we had to wait a little bit longer (about 25 minutes), the manager was willing to accomodate us and even gave us our own balcony... it was great... they felt bad about making us wait so long and even gave us 6 appetizers for free... the staff was extremely friendly and accomodating... the waiter was vwery helpful and recommended some delicious dishes.... Everyone loved the ambiance and the food... we were very pleased.... Pros: friendly staff, great food, beautiful atmosphere Cons: the hostess was rude more
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so pretty and not too expensive! 7/20/2006

Anytime a group of friends are in town I take them to Monsoon--the atmospere and decor is impressive and the menu extensive and not costly. Pros: atmosphere, price and ambience, good for groups! Cons: a walk from parking garage more
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Horrible Service 7/13/2006

The food at Monsoon was delicious and the location and atmosphere was great, but the service was the worst i had seen in a very long time. After asking for anything twice, from two different servers, it still arrives in about 10-15 minutes. The food is also prepared very slowly and the waiters do not give the customers enough attention. Pros: Great Food, Great Location Cons: Slow, lazy, all around horrible service more
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For an exotic experience 7/2/2006

You feel like you are in some other country dining here! The restaurant has different levels to eat on (the tables on the balconies have the best view of the restaurant). There is also a big sushi bar. Booths are also available which would be good for a small group of friends or someone special to snuggle up to. The outdoor dining area is great for people watching out on the Promenade. The night I went there was a band duo playing not too far away which may be a good or bad thing depending if you like the music or the volume. As far as the food here, well, I expected the portions to be a bit larger. The food tasted good but not great. Our waiter was hard to find and hard to get his attention (partly due to the noise level in the restaurant). Also it seems there is a strict "No free refills" on soda here. The staff seemed very careful about explaining that to the table next to me. Pros: great decor, booths, sidewalk dining Cons: not very good service, food was so-so more
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The staff ate our cake! 5/4/2006

For a girlfriend's birthday we bought two cakes, both of which were whisked away by staff (undoubtedly for the absurd cake-cutting" fee that restaurants charge). When time came to blow out the candles, we discovered the staff had already sliced one of the cakes w/out our knowledge and we had only one intact cake. Furthermore, the staff did not bother to sing happy birthday with us and chose to only serve the first cake to our group, save for two guests--who were given a small slice of the second one. Upon leaving we had to ask for the remaining portion and were handed a cake with more than a 1/4 missing! When asked about the disproportionate amount, our waiter explained the staff had probably helped themselves to it! It was the absolute height of disrespect. My next stop is with Monsoon's manager. Pros: None Cons: Staff ate our cake! more
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Great for the price 3/21/2006

I am not sure what all these people are complaining about. There food is good when you don't even consider the price but when you think you will only spend about $20 a person for food & drinks it's amazing. The decor is great, drinks are fab, service is good and food is good compare to most restaurants. I wish other restaurants offered this many variety, falvor & quality at this price. Keep up the good work. Pros: Food, service, Decore more
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Don't believe the hype. 2/13/2006

On a recent visit to LA a friend of mine recommended this place as a good place to eat. We went there with a few friends (Party of 7) on a Saturday night. The food was, to say the least, horrible. Of the 7 of us only my friend (Who ordered the korean chicken) came close to finishing their meal. Everyone else just picked at it in a strange uncomfortable silence We coudn't give away the appetizers, about 2/3's of those were uneaten by the time they took them away. And in one final slap they added a $30 tip to the meal even though that's supposed to be for parties of 8 or more. So on a $180 bill we paid a $30 tip. Plus they rushed us through the meal to make room for people paying a cover charge to listen to music. Pros: Prompt seating. Cons: Food. more
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Disappointing, not worth the money 10/27/2005

I was highly disappointed with the service and the food at Monsoon, seeing that it had some great reviews on citysearch. I have dined everywhere, but I have never been treated so rudely from from the hostess to the waitstaff who was arrogant and also really ignorant about the food. Also the plates were miniscule, I am use to small plates being from San Francisco but the plates were ridiculously tiny. I do not recommend going to this place, I'm sure there are other places in Santa Monica that is worth the money. Pros: Decor Cons: SERVICE, FOOD PORTIONS more
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As Enjoyable as a Monsoon 10/1/2005

I like the atmosphere. I love the extensive use of bamboo, and the BIG airy main room, but I think thats where the love ends because I've been to this place twice, and I can't seem to find any particular dish that I like. First of all, every single dish that I had, I seem to have an issue with. The calamari, the Viet inspired dish (mostly vegetables, no meat), etc. had an over-powering use of curry powder. Now, I know this place is a mixture of Korean (kalbi), Japanese (sushi, saikyo miso yuan yaki), and southeast Asian (satay) influence, but they don't do ONE specific cusine JUSTICE. So if your looking for something special, than stick to the typical Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, etc. restaurants. Pros: Use of Bamboo more
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rude customer service over the phone 9/4/2005

We called to make reservation over the phone and one of the customer representative was very rude and unprofessional of letting us make reservation. The person gave us a hard time about it. I truly hope this will change. more
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Salsa Class Review 7/20/2005

I just took Monsoon's weekly Wednesday Salsa Class (8-9pm, $9) last night and I wanted to let those interested know that it is NOT for beginners! The class starts out very basic, but then you partner up & have to learn very long combinations based on the instructors' moves. It is ver difficult to see what is going on and almost impossible to get the footwork down unless you are a regular. If you are intermediate or advanced, this class is perfect for you! Pros: Great Food, Easy Parking Cons: Strange Servers, Advanced Salsa Class more
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Goodness gracious 3/12/2005

Great food, great atmosphere, great drinks & great music. Only thing that wasn't perfect was the almost too fast service. It's the best Asian food I've had any where in whole USA. Sushi is great and their Monsoon roll is to die for. They also have great special fried rice and black cod. Drinks are potent and tasty. When we were there last they had this great R&B band that had a record deal and the place was packed. Even though we had to wait in line for few minutes it was well worth it since there was no cover charge and music was amazing. Pros: Music, great food, great ambience more
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Best of 3/11/2005

Everything at Monsoon is amzing. The decor alone should be worth anyone's time for a visit but the food is authentic, tasty and affordable. I saw Monsoon on TV show about best happy hour places in sothern California. Monsoon was voted as 7th best place but I think they should have been alot higher. They have the best Sushi & drink happy hour. I wasn't expecting this good quality food & drinks for $3.00 and $3.75. I would recommend fish roll, which has 3 different types of fish in a roll, scallop dynamite, calamari and potstickers. We also went back for diner since we were so impressed and they did not disappoint. It was one of the most fun diining experience we has with good food and great service by a waiter named "Matt". You can't go wrong with place. Pros: Service, Happy hour, Food more
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Better than Paris 3/5/2005

I tried Monsoon based on Guide du Routard's review and it was fantastic. Food was superb, the waitress was sexy & friendly. I can't think of any Asian restaurant in Paris that would be comparable to this restaurant. The decor made me think that I was in southeast Asia not La La land, the food brought be back to my last trip to Vietnam and the sexy waiteress made me want to move to US (almost). I would recommend Vietnamese spring roll & Sushi for appetizers and shrimp rendang & fragrant duck for entrees. The Hawaiian sweet bread pudding was the perfect finishing touch to our meal. Who would have thought I would come to LA to have an Asian dining experience. Pros: Every thing Cons: Too far from Paris more
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You won't last 3 rounds 3/4/2005

Great place for drinks & happy hour. You won't last 3 rounds with these great drinks with polysian drinks. We came here for my friends 30th birthday party last year and now we just went back for my 30th. The food has gotten better & more interesting. The service was friendly but since they were busy as anything it was little slow. But the ambience, drinks & value more than made up for the slow service. Pros: Great drinks, Ambience, Happy hour Cons: some times slow servi more
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Waitress is the Worst 2/1/2005

Was there on 1/22, enjoyed the music, food and people. However, the waitress was the most rude person I have ever encountered; if the place had not been crowded my party and I would have moved to another area. Pros: food, music Cons: service, over priced more
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Worst experience ever 1/23/2005

I kept my husband surprise birthday party and had the worst experience. Since we were a large group of 30 people, in order to make the reservation the restaurant made me -Pre-pay for all my friends in advance -Didnt want to collect cash or cards from anyone, said I had to pay upfront,collect the money from my friends -Were most uncompromising,difficult and had a "didnt care a damn" attitude for the amount of business I got them. The service sucked too. An incident which stands out was when one of my friends asked the server to get her some chocolate ice-cream while the desert was being served.In a pe-selected menu,ice-cream was included. The server said "Sorry, only 2 scoops were part of the contract and they've already been served" I had paid around $40 per person for food excluding drinks in advance and didnt get value for money at all. Cons: , Attitude, No value for money more
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Menu for Monsoon Cafe


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Editorial

  • In Short
    Monsoon has cornered the L.A. market on bamboo, featuring a main room evocative of a Shanghai courtyard, complete with a tabled balcony. The upstairs lounge, through a red-velvet curtain, is dark and sultry. The menu offers cuisine spanning Southeast Asia, like Mongolian stir-fried lamb sirloin, Burmese curry beef served in red curry and coconut milk, and a Korean beef wrap with a miso Balinese sauce.

  • 10/3/2004 Provided by Citysearch
Additional information
  • Hours: Mon-Thu 11:30am-10:30pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am-11:30pm; Sun 2pm-9:30pm
  • Payments: American Express, Discover, Visa, Master Card
  • Neighborhoods: Downtown, West LA
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