Eating Out: Restaurant Row in Montrose, California

There is a charming section of Honolulu ave, in Montrose CA that is being called Restaurant Row (for obvious reasons). Some places there are fabulous, trendy, and exciting places to eat. Others are dreary, dismal, and not worth your time. I have eaten at almost every restaurant on this street, and would love to share some of my experiences.

I will start off with my favorite establishment on this street, Portobello's Italian and Mediterranean Cuisine. The concept made me nervous, as neither of these styles seem to mesh with each other. I was proven wrong. The service is some of the best I have received, and the food, simply amazing. I would order anything on this menu, and probably would get another order to take home for the next meal.

My favorite item on the menu is the fillet mignon kebab. By far the most tender beef I have ever tasted, and the most flavorful too! The greek salad is visually stunning (as is most food here) and tastes like it was shipped here from greece! For dessert I never fail to get the creme brulee, which is not ever disappointing. Always done to perfection. This is by far my first choice of restaurants on this street.

Next on my list is the black cow cafe. Charming, quaint, and always delightful. If you are looking for breakfast, without a doubt, this place is a winner. Try the quiche of the day, or an omelette. both are fabulous. My only complaint is that in the afternoons the staff are a little more lackluster than those in the morning.

The Rocky Cola Cafe, is a 50's style diner restaurant, which serves up all the usual diner fare. However, it is more special than say Johnny Rockets, or Bob's Big boy. President Bill Clinton ate there on a campaign stop, and ordered the buffalo burger. He gave this place glowing reviews. I personally love the sweet potato french fries, and chocolate milkshake. There are three waitresses there who are triplets, and sometimes i feel bad about asking for a drink refill or extra napkin, as I dont know exactly who is my waitress (no name tags). This place is always busy, which is a comment on its food and fun atmosphere.

Pepe's Mexican Food, is one of two mexican restaurants on the block (plus a few nearby). This is the best of all of them. Full bar, friendly staff, tasty food. Sometimes the wait is too long as there are not many tables, and it gets loud at times, but this place is fun. Exactly the kind of experience you want from a mexican restaurant on a Friday night, but this is everyday of the week. The only drawback to this place, as I said, is that more often than not there is a wait, not due to the volume of customers, but the lack of table space.

Josalito's is the other Mexican food place on Honolulu ave. I have never once been treated well here. Once I waited for a table for ten minutes at three o clock on a wednesday. Not peak restaurant hours I'm sure. As a joke my 16 year old little brother ordered a margarita, and was not carded. We cancelled the margarita, obviously, and chalked it up to bad serving skills. However I would like to know if this has happened to anyone else here. The tortilla chips are those fun red white and green kind, though, which is always more fun to see than just plain white ones. That is probably the only allure of this place. The floors are sticky, servers are spread too thinly, and apparently the hosts have better things to do than stand up front.

Blue Fish sushi is fun, trendy and delicious. As long as you can get past the "b" rating. I have a firm motto that i stand by "never eat at a fish restaurant with a b rating" which i broke at a friends request to have dinner here. I was delighted by the sushi, fresh, and flavorful, and no fish odor inside ( I hate that about sushi places). The service is extremely slow, and no one with a time crunch should eat here. A dinner for four took two hours, and we had to ask for the check twice. If you want sushi and a show sit at the bar!

Finally, we come to Montrose Cafe. If the owner ever reads this review he should fire anyone working there before the date that this entry was posted. Three times is a substantial amount of time to complete a general assessment of any place in my opinion, and that is the exact number of times I have attempted to eat there. My friend and I were on a one hour lunch break, and decided to try this place. First of all the decor is stunning. This is what my restaurant would look like if I owned one, or wanted to redecorate my kitchen.

My friend and I waited admiring the decor, looking at menus, and chatting for a few minutes. There is a partition that separates the host stand from the seating area, and it was about five minutes before we grew restless and walked into the main seating area. No one was eating at 12:00 noon, peak lunch hour! We called "hello" and no one answered, we called again, and waited. After a few minutes of this we left, checking the hours on the way out to make sure they were not closed (they were not).

The last (and final) visit there I brought my boyfriend on a Friday night. He Loves this kind of decor, and I thought that on a Friday night there was sure to be a hostess of some kind working there. We had no such luck. Although a busboy did say hello on his way upstairs.

Once seated we ordered a bottle of pinot grigio, and were brought pinot noir (two very different kinds of wine). The bottle was brought to us already opened, with no cork to reseal it. Confused, we tried to tell our waiter or someone about the error, but no one made any effort to help us. We poured the wine anyway and it was delicious! However, the food was another story. The chicken satay was rubbery, and beige. I couldn't finish it, and my boyfriend was not happy with his food. We got a little tipsy on our red wine, and decided we could tough it out. A manager came over to us and we asked him about our wine mixup, and dissatisfaction with the food. This was his exact response word for word: "I'm sorry we can't all have palates as sophisticated as yours, there's a Mcdonalds down the road if you'd like some dessert"
We bought a bottle of wine and two entrees! And the staff insulted us for patronizing their restaurants. We left immediately and for the first and only time in my life left no tip (an action reserved only for situations like this, never to be repeated in my lifetime). This was the worst food experience ever, and I am so sad it happened on this charming street.

There are a few more restaurants on this small little block, but these are the ones worth mentioning. I love this neighborhood, and love to find great restaurants and fun things to do along the street. If you are in the area be sure to check this street out!