I really enjoy the food at El Monumento and their drinks are delicious as well. I have been here severAL times for brunch and am in love with the Carne Asada con Huevos. I love a good steak and eggs breakfast and this one does not disappoint. The ingredients are fresh and cooked deliciously. The food tends toward being slightly underseasoned. Their guacamole is fresh and beautiful. I also love the spice of their Bloody Marias. The deal breaker here is the service. El Monumento has switched to something they call "quick service" which has proven to be anything but. Basically, you order in a line cafeteria style and wait for everything to come to your table. With the new quick service, it is not uncommon for us to receive our drinks after our meal is halfway over. The key to this place may be sitting in the bar area and ordering your food from there. I will test that and post an update with the results... read more

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Food good. Drinks great!! Service so-so. The service is pretty good most of the time. The bartenders are really friendly. I like the outdoor area but raRely service out there. read more

Incredibly beautiful patio, bar, and restaurant, and the dining outside looking down at the river is exceptional. The food tries to be interesting and different, but it is never really very good. It's mediocre regularly. The service I've had is 100% of the time slow, unresponsive and sort of distant, like they haven't been trained to be customer oriented. I stopped bringing guests here a year ago because it's just frankly a really mediocre experienced all dressed up in nice decor. read more

Once again, service is horrendous. I'm not sure why I keep coming back here. The setting is lovely, the food and drinks are just ok, but the service is truly painful. read more

Fantastic restaurant. Gorgeous place with an excellent Sunday brunch. Staff is friendly. Drinks are delicious. A bit pricey, but I thought worth it for the quality. Am looking forward to returning to try their regular menu and a few more of their specialty drinks! Don't understand why it isn't more busy! read more

El Monumento- one of our very favorite places to go eat here in town!! Queso. Skinny margz. Tortilla soup. Just some of my faves! Great food. Reasonably priced. Great service. Highly recommend! read more

I was about as impressed with this place as I was with the Monument Cafe, their sister restaurant just down the street. Both places have pretty good food. I find them both to be a little spendy for just pretty good food. And the portions aren't all that generous. The El Monument building is the stand out. Very Arizona Frank Lloyd Wright. Open and sprawling. The floors were beautiful and the plants etc made for a lovely atmosphere. We started with Bloody Mary's - very beautifully presented, but very weak. And they dust the rim with that dusty powdered black pepper. Not good. We all commenced to sneezing like maniacs. I had the shrimp relleno which was quite yum. Did not want the rice or beans so they allowed me to substitute brussels sprouts for $2.50, $3.00 something like that which I thought was outrageous. I can't even remember what my friend had, something off the brunch menu perhaps. Not memorable one way or the other. He ate most of it, so it must have been good. No complaining from his end. The service left a lot to be desired. Took forever to get chips and water. Then forever again for drinks. But after we ordered, they wouldn't leave us alone. Checking several times to see if all was well. My daughter goes to university in Georgetown and she's only a freshman. I'm sure we'll be trying it again. They're still relative newbies, so perhaps with some time we'll see improvement. read more

This is one of the most beautiful mid-price restaurants I've been in. The grounds are great, the courtyard is fantastic. The patio area is very nice. They've been open two weeks. Someone greets you when you walk through to tell you where to go (this is an issue in itself). They were pretty full at 5:40 on a Thursday. We got seated fairly quickly. There was a lot of disorganization. Waiters checking what sections they were in we had two different people taking our drink orders, the waitress struggled with entering our order on her mini-tablet. We were brought someone else's queso order. The michelada was OK. The $4 horchata came in a 10 oz or smaller glass. Took awhile to get some water brought to our table. The chips were fantastic, thick, crispy, with nice chunks of kosher salt on them. The red salsa is very watery. The green salsa is interesting but had too much garlic and the second bowl of it was too hot. The queso flameado wasn't much flameado, and stuck badly to the cast iron, would hate to wash dishes here. The duck mole was somewhat sweet, oddly , they put a couple of the bones they took out of the duck on top of the dish. The green rice is very plain as were the black beans. Neither of us ate more than a couple of bites. The shrimp relleno was almost deconstructed, it was more like half a chile, with shrimp and cheese on top of it in a watery red chile sauce. This place has a ton of promise. But they have a hill to climb with the food. read more

This used to be a great place for Sunday brunch with a great buffet. Now it is a disaster. It is there normal menu and the food is lacking in taste and pricey. They will never see me again. There are many much better places for Texmex and brunch. Don't waste your money and time here. read more

ATTENTION OWNERS: You guys need to fix your new lunch set up ASAP. My family and I drive to Georgetown from Austin every couple of weeks, specifically to eat at El Monumento. We have always loved the food and atmosphere, but today was a complete disappointment. First, the limited lunch menu was subpar. The line to order was unorganized and took about fifteen minutes to place our order despite the fact that there were only two small families ahead of us. Drinks took forever to arrive. Had to request chips and salsa. Food arrived, but we had no silverware to eat it with. Asked waitress for silverware and an order of tortillas that never came, and finally had to get up and go to the kitchen area to get the things because we felt 8 minutes was way too long to stare at our food. Food portions seemed small, so I got a brownie after the meal. The brownie was very cold, like it had just been pulled out of the freezer or refrigerator. Won't be back until you guys go back to regular seating for lunch. read more

Had the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten , sat at the bar for over 10 min before somebody ask what we wanted and then did not even fix the drinks lucky the table was ready 6 min later the food have no flavor, and way too expensive , 2 meals and drinks was $120 the place looks very nice but will not go again read more

Had a large party of 35 for wedding rehearsal dinner, which had been set up well in advance. Food was okay, at best. Some had to wait almost an hour. Was charged $100 each for two servers, which equated to a 33% gratuity. Way over the top for performance. One did well, the other... not so much. Cocktails were also extremely slow. Talked to two separate managers due to slow services... needless to say El Monumento; you had the chance to impress, and fell way short. read more

I am super bummed. I used to LOVE love this place. The food was not only excellent but unique. They had lots of amazing menu items including these enchiladas that were vegetarian made with Swiss chars and walnut sauce and they were to die for (and I love meat!) and not only that I loved the ambiance and the service was so fast and he servers were energetic. Tonight none of these hints happened. The menu was not the old menu but it was just as expensive. They had "typical" Mexican menu items which are awesome for places that don't charge as much as el monumento is. The service was TERRIBLE. We had next to no ice in our water and our server didn't take our order from a while. When we finally received our food we got the dinner first and the appetizer second. It was just extremely disappointing. We used to look forward to coming to this spot and now we probably won't return. read more

We have been coming here since they have opened. At first things were great, However the service has tanked the manager is terrible and the menu is very inconsistent. Today we had a large group and had to go give our orders at the kitchen, get our own silverware and and make our own water.... Are you kidding me??? This place is a joke. read more

The drinks are so great here! The margaritas and specialty seasonal drinks are all each AMAZING! The queso is fantastic! Chips and salsa are just as good! read more

I liked the food. The service was excellent.... but dirty, streaked, gross windows in a place surrounded by windows is a real turn-0ff!!

Still the best place in Georgetown. Clean. Good food and drinks in a lovely atmosphere. Glad to they are bravely open. Nothing to be afraid about here! read more

Elisa the bartender was enough of a reason for us to back time and time again. Excellent service great food. She made our date night super fun! We will definitely go back! read more

I feel like 4 stars is too much but 3 isn't enough, so benefit of the doubt, and past experience win out.. 4 stars it is! This review is for the tasty but strange experience I had yesterday. I visit Georgetown semi-frequently because I have family there and we usually end up at El Monumento for lunch or dinner. Usually our experience here is top-notch, but last night was a different story. We arrived at around 3pm on a Sunday, so the place was mostly empty. We requested a table out on the patio in the shade, but they said all those were taken... I thought I could see some free shady tables, but whatever. Then we asked for a table at least by the windows of the patio so we could at least see the view... and we were told those tables were blocked off and no one could sit there. So we settled for a viewless booth in the middle of the empty restaurant. I've never worked in food service, but it seems a little silly that when the place is mostly to ourselves, we couldn't pick the table we wanted. And THEN, to add insult to injury, about 30 minutes into our meal, a party of 4 arrived and got seated at one of the "blocked off" tables by the patio windows. For real? Did we have to pay the hostess off or something? Seriously, wtf. My mom and I tried to order the tacos for our entree and get one of each meat (beef, chicken, and duck) because it comes with three tacos, but they said they couldn't do a variety -- it was one type of taco or no taco at all. Um. Why not? Another rule I didn't understand. It just seemed like there were so many weird rules yesterday. No, you can't sit on the patio. No, you can't sit by the window. No, you can't get one of each type of taco. So many disappointments! Let's move on to the good: The restaurant itself is simply gorgeous. New Mexican-style architecture with a lovely courtyard and eco-friendly landscaping throughout the property, including the parking lot! They also have a lovely patio space that overlooks the river (that's why we wanted to sit out there, or nearby!). The indoor eating area is very open with windows all around for tons of natural light. The chairs at the tables are also big and fairly comfy, which is an extra level of detail that is appreciated. Now the food/drink! I have to say, get a margarita when you eat here. I ordered the prickly pear last night and my aunt got the El Monumento margarita... and both were so good. I think I actually preferred the El Monumento, you can really taste the quality of the tequila. Prickly pear was also delish, a more tangy flavor and that very pretty magenta color. We got our margs frozen which, at El Monumento, means on the rocks, but with shaved ice. No frozen margarita machines here! You can tell the bartenders take drink-making seriously. The queso flameado and guacamole area also must-have appetizers.. I prefer the guac to the queso though if you have to choose one. The guac has grapes in it, which might sound weird but it works! Also the roasted salsa they bring out with tortilla chips is EXCELLENT and free, so you can eat and eat and eat it! For entrees, I'd recommend getting the carne or vegetarian empanadas. They of course come with chimichurri dipping sauce which adds delicious flavor. The empanadas by themselves might be a little bland, but the chimichurri makes all the difference. Also the enchiladas suizas are also great, delicious crema sauce comes with that. The rice and beans that come with the entrees are also good, but nothing spectacular to write home about. As for the dessert, DEFINITELY get the Mexican coffee to go with it. I don't drink coffee, but I would buy this in bulk if I could.. my dad even started taking notes on how to make it at home! We had the coffee with the churro, which was tasty as churro always is! Next time though, I think I'm going to try the tres leches cake. So, El Monumento, I love your atmosphere and your food, just ditch one or all of the weird rules, and you'll be golden! read more

Best patio in town! Great drinks and awesome view of Blue Hole! Great food as well!!!

My husband and I had lunch on the patio with another couple at El Monumento this past Saturday. It was their first time to eat at El Monumento. My husband and I suggested it because we've enjoyed our experiences there. We arrived and waited to be seated. We were the only ones waiting, but the hostess seemed occupied. We had to approach her to be seated. We requested a table on the patio because it was a gorgeous day outside. We waited about 10 minutes for a table. Not bad. After being seated, we were excited to find out they were serving brunch. We called our waiter to our table (his section was busy) to place our brunch order before the 2:00 pm cutoff time. It was 1:45 pm. Our waiter told us brunch time was over, but the menu stated in writing that brunch ends at 2:00 pm. He told us he would check for us. He had a mini handheld digital contraption to place orders and review availability of menu items. It was pretty neat. My friend wanted the Mexican Eggs Benedict. Our waiter checked his contraption and told us they were out of eggs. It was pretty disappointing. He gave us a few more minutes to order since we were all wanting brunch items. I understand they probably had a busy brunch and 15 minutes before brunch time ended was short notice, but how does a restaurant run out of eggs? Not cool. I ordered the usual beef empanadas, my hubby ordered the Carne Tampiqueña with Chimichurri (home run), and our friends ordered the Corazon salad. The salad was topped with fried tortilla strips which I love, but my friend noted it was not stated on the salad description. I looked and she was right. No big deal, she removed them and my hubby munched on them. The beef empanadas come in an order of three. Every time I've ordered them they come with a side of chimichurri sauce. It's not listed on the menu that the sauce is included, but the last three times I ate here they served the empanadas with a side of chimichurri. No chimichurri this time. I asked our waiter three times to bring me a side of chimichurri. Again, no big deal. They were really busy. I think our waiter thought we were upset because of the whole brunch and no eggs thing, but we were totally over it. The manager came over and apologized. He acknowledged the whole egg situation and gave us (each couple) a $25 gift card to enjoy brunch on the house! We weren't expecting this, but it was a thoughtful gesture. Their brunch is popular and the weekend hours are 11-2 pm. I suggest you go early in case they run out of eggs. Oh! Coffee. Their coffee is amazing!!! It's delivered to your table in a French press with a side of thick, sweet cream. Oh, yeah! P.S. I wrote this review in March during spring break. The review was sitting in my drafts and I guess I was too lazy to post it...until today! ;-) read more

Honestly 1 Star cause there can't be less. The chicken tacos and fajitas were over cooked and dry. Manager did remove the tacos from the bill. But overall the food was less than mediocre. The selection is poor and overpriced. Service was awful, amongst the worse I've ever had. read more

We had been here several times in the past, and very much enjoyed it. After a hiatus we went back last week and were sad to see this young restaurant already going downhill. They recently changed their menu--not for the better. Fewer interesting dishes. Service was mediocre. Waiter seemed sympathetic that good dishes being asked about were no longer there and acknowledged that many customers were asking about them. Icing on the cake was when the server handed us our food and we got an up close view of her large "I heart Satan" arm tattoo. Just yuck. A dreary, disappointing evening. read more

Good food though the menu is a bit limited. I love the Corazon salad. There is really not often a wait here, and nice views out over Blue Hole park and swimming hole. This isn't my favorite Mexican food in the area and some of the stuff is outright bad, but they have some really good items as well, and the bar and atmosphere make up the difference. read more

Good food, and lovely building - but that's not enough to compensate. The food's good, but priced at the high end so it should be. The problem is the poor, indifferent service. The last time we ate here I told myself, never again. But this time another couple chose the restaurant, so we met them there. It was our third time, and the lack of service quality has been consistent. For example, on this visit, one of the folks in our party ordered a cocktail when she gave her food choices. The cocktail didn't arrive... the waitress said repeatedly "it's on its way" but the drink didn't show up until we were all nearly done with our entrees. Worse, the staff didn't seem to think this was a problem - no apology, no concern. The table consensus was that while the food is is tasty, it isn't that special, and we'll go elsewhere in the future. read more

It is too bad that a bad/new waiter can dominate my opinion like this. We have eaten here a couple of time and always know that we are going to spend more than usual for dinner when we come here. Waiting for a table was ok with an attentive bartender and the app you can get for your phone to see how long it will be. But after we got to the table things got ugly. Not sure if it was his first Friday night at a busy place or that they gave him too many tables. We wanted to order this and that and try some new things but apparently if you don't order everything at once it throws them off. Finally it was time to call it a night and it took forever to get the bill. Too much effort on our part for overpriced but good Mexican food. read more

I love this Restaurant's Ambience, Decor and Patio. This review is for the Management. The Menu is old and tired. I have not loved anything I have ordered here ever. There is very little flavor at all and not enough variety. Please change it up because I love going here except for the food! read more

Let me first start this review by saying the food is good quality and the service is equally good quality. The food is a bit over priced but the restaurant has a great environment and I'm happy to pay a bit more for good ambiance. That being said, this business has problems; easily fixable problems that are frustrating to deal with because they are so easily fixable. Example 1: I ordered a dish called "El Taco". This dish was part of their main section of their menu and the description listed a variety of ingredients that sounded good in a taco, which is why I ordered it....I got a salad.... nowhere in the description did it even hint that it was a salad. I dont think it's an absurd assumption to expect a taco when you order a dish called "el taco"... the salad was great. I enjoyed it. But it wasn't what I wanted. There are 2 easy solutions that come to mind. 1 being just add the word ensalada to the end of el taco. Boom you know exactly what you're ordering. 2 being move that dish to a separate section of the menu exclusively for salads. It's so frustrating to order something expecting a taco and getting a salad. Especially because of how EASY it is to not be so vague. Secondly, my girlfriend got a dish because it advertised "street corn" in the description...they brought her corn on the cob... that's so lazy. How hard is it to just cut the corn off of the cob? What you presented is not street corn. It's one thing to say hey we do mexican food with our own twist, but it's another to be just blatantly lazy with your presentation of food. We went during happy hour and got a total of 3 HOUSE margaritas which totalled to 18 dollars... THATS HAPPY HOUR???? Jesus christ people. I dont expect myself to go back anytime soon. Additionally the waiter asked if we wanted chips and salsa (the way he asked made it seem like it was free) and of course they charged us for it. The current management will drive the business into the ground if they continue. A trained monkey could run a better restaurant. Again I will say the food, service, and ambiance is good. But there are just so many stupid mistakes that the management has made that can ruin a whole experience. I will end this review by saying, it's one thing to overprice food on your menu, but it's another thing to overprice your menu AND make your menu so vague that you dont even know what you're even ordering. read more

Today was my 2nd visit in 3 years and I thought I would try the Swiss Chard and Sweet Potato Enchiladas for the 2nd time. They were nearly inedible...the sweet potatoes were so salty I tried to pick them out and just eat the swiss chard. The walnut sauce on the enchiladas was good but I will not be ordering them again. The salsas are good but the chips are too thick and greasy. read more

been there a few times more now, and it's becoming a "go to" place. the food has definately improved and comes much fresher to the table. The wait staff generally know what they are recommending, and the bar /lounge area is a great atmosphere with excellent staff. Definately recommend this for any kind of meal or occasion !!!! read more

Been here a few times drinks are amazing. Service always seems to be a bit sketchy. Went in earlier this evening for a family celebration. We were promptly seated and then the wait.. This has happened before but did not want to deal with it this evening. After 10 minutes of no wait staff no acknowledgement we decided it was time to leave. I really want to like this place but they make it hard to keep going back.. read more

I like the fact that you can order a drink from the bar and have it out on the patio as you wait for your table. It makes the wait worthwhile. The margarita was tasty along with the warm chips and flavorful salsas. I ordered the special fish based upon the waiter's recommendation. Very satisfying, The chocolate pie was the best I have ever had. read more

Food is wonderful, ambience is amazing, and the drinks are great! Great place for a date night, happy hour gathering or even a birthday party. Staff is wonderful and food is AMAZING! read more

The building/location is beautiful. The service was OK the night we went there. The menu is odd and unlike any "Mexican" food I've eaten or seen on Food Network. It's like a fusion of Central Mexican food and Garden Food (if that's a category) which equals DISAPPOINTED to me. The most impressive thing to me was the price. I expected to pay a lot to eat there and was pleasantly surprised. So I give 'em an extra star for not making the price match the primo atmosphere. My shrimp relleno was actually better than "good". But the beans and rice were very bland. My wife had something with sweet potatoes and kale in it that was barely cooked (still crunchy). My wife loved the guacamole which had red grapes in it but we were unimpressed by the tortilla chips. I loved the margarita which was served in a mouthwash glass and cost $8. But at least something was 5-star. read more

The food was good, the atmosphere was pleasant, but they just didn't have it covered on the staffing. I know they had to have spent a lot of money getting this place off the ground but don't open until you can staff up to seat on the fabulous patio that should be the selling point of the whole location. I still hold out hope that this will becoame a 5-star review in a few months. read more

Food is really good. The service at the bar, not so much. We waited for our dinner for about 40 min then decided to leave.

Food is alright, nothing special, pricey, and tiny portions. I paid $11 for three tiny tacos that barely filled me up, no rice on side or beans. This was the first Mexican restaurant that I've ever been to that did not provide rice and beans on the side. I was saddened to look at the bill and still feel slightly hungry. read more

My husband & I went on a date night to this " great" Mexican restaurant we had seen & thought it would-be good!!! Nooo...I actually refused to order dinner after getting a margarita in a 4 ounce glass w 2 ounces of ice in it...which took 20 minutes to be delivered!! Then we ordered an appetizer & it was horrible, was watered down queso, literally dripped off the chip!! No taste at all & took 1/2 hour to get to us!!! When r waitress finally came back I did make my feelings clear!! Poor thing...went to her father, the manager, to let him know!! He was gracious, apologized..ect. But that does not make it better!! When u first arrive to the place, y ou have no idea where your going!! We didn't know the bar from the restaurant!! We ended up going somewhere else downtown!! It was a total disappointment!! No stars from us!! read more

I tried the shrimp relleno. It was very good. To drink I had the Mango margarita which was also very good. Portions on both were large, LOL I couldn't finish both When I go back I would definitely order both again. Wish I had taken a pic to share. read more

Had dinner there the other night and the food was fantastic! So was my strawberry margarita