Good grief! I try to be understanding about a place, but this was my third time back. Each time, no one acknowledged my existence until I asked “Do I just sit anywhere?”
The first time, some guy was filming his girlfriend or something for social media I guess, he was genuinely pissed because I was, I guess, interrupting. You know, God forbid these people in their twenties and thirties actually exist IRL and live on this planet and not on their narcissistic phones. I mean, close the place down if you don’t want to do your job of running a restaurant.
Each time I visited, I’d ask, “What do you have on draft?” And the server, once a guy and the other two times a woman( the same woman) who seemed to have zero skills in being a restaurant server-and a nonchalant attitude—had no idea and directed me to the QR code. Ok…fine. I order a beer….and ten to fifteen minutes pass. REALLY?
Mind you, I’m only one of FOUR people in there! Today, just THREE for a while. How hard is it to pour a beer? ITS NOT. I did it all through college—and worked in plenty of restaurants as a cook, server, dishwasher, you name it.
So…they come back. “We don’t have Mango Cart”. Ok I pick something else today. Rollertown Big German. Another five minutes. By that time this last visit, I’m the ONLY table. “No, I’m sorry we don’t have that”. What kind of place are they running here? They have NO IDEA what they have? Nobody checks? Does anyone take notes during the week? I literally GET UP and go to the little bar so I I can try and understand what they DO have.
The food. It’s OK. Not worth the $25-40 range I spent each time. No explanation of the menu, no recommendations, no “Have you ever been here? Can I help you pick something?” Zilch!
It took like 25 minutes each time to get my food. What are they doing? Running to Kroger for supplies? Picking up To-Go across town? Meanwhile, god forbid if I wanted another beer these people are nowhere to be found.
I’m really baffled by this restaurant. They run the most inefficient, indifferent to the customers, careless restaurant I’ve ever been in. Like, they couldn’t care less if they keep the doors open. I’ve had no problems at other Indian restaurants, like Briyani Pot (on Independence, for example) or Diwali Point (I forget the exact name) which the both happen to be in Frisco. Wonderful people. Helpful to those of us newer to the cuisine. Kind friendly. In fact, I’m very ingrained in this community. Again, wonderful people.
Now, granted, the guy today told me he was new. Ok fine. But…..No training? Really? No, “Here’s our menu, here’s how you greet people. Here’s how you should present yourself”. None of that. No training for the business. I guess it was, “Ok, you’re hired. Hand them a menu, but don’t be familiar with that. Don’t tuck your shirt in. Be sure you just rolled out of bed.” My god, you have no idea what I had to do for training at the Olive Garden in the 90s. Each visit I had to look up on Google what it was I wanted to eat. No suggestions, just research.
And there’s these Monk’s locations in places around the US? Are they all as poorly run as this one?
This Monk’s is a chain that presents itself as an upscale, classy dining experience. While the interior decor implies this, the discomfort of the seats, the indifference of the service, and the mediocrity of the food says otherwise.
Don’t waste your time or money on this place. This corner of planet Earth has plenty of other restaurants for Indian cuisine that you can go to.