Monterey House Restaurant

The food is ok but very overpriced for the amount of food you get. The waitress staff is lazy. The waitress staff like to sit there and gossip instead of doing their jobs. Plus the owner is rude when you ask her to get something since her staff can’t do it. Horrible service.

Crazy Moment. I called in my order of quesadillas. When I got there. I told the lady (Ana) I placed a Call in order. The 1^st thing she said, Was I told you it will be 15 mins. I looked around the restaurant and it was empty, Didnt relay, she walk to the kitchen said, something to thw kitchen staff than answered her phone. She rudely try to charge me while On the phone. Than took another lady order. She mentioned, She was the manager while she was on the phone. I took my food out of the window, Looked at it than paid. If My family didn’t want Quesadillas, I would have left. Ana was rude and unconnected to her job. I wouldn’t go back, if I have to pay. Theres too many restaurants to receive Bad service.

went to the one on 11^th [original] …been to this location off and on since i was a kid.
i still love their queso and hot sauce.
and over the years ive probably had a taste of everything they make… and, for the $ i’ts good food.

The good: chips and salsa. I love that SE Texas Mexican restaurants serve each person their own salsa. Guacamole is good.
The bad: The smell of bathroom cleaner is overpowering throughout the restaurant. The tired, bland menu matches the wait staff attitude and energy. No lettuce comes with salad. I got more lettuce on an order of nachos than I did a «salad!» But barely any chicken…
The Monterey House near HEB has much better ambiance and more energetic and friendly wait staff. Unfortunately, the margaritas are too sweet for my taste.

Not like it used to be. I remember now why we do not come here. It was not only bad… it was REALLY bad! The food was bland… it tasted old, and the best thing about the meal was the 4 mints we bought as we
much for this tradition…

It was pretty solid TexMex, old Texas ranch style décor, and a clean kitchen. The service was good and the food was quality. It was a bit bland for my taste, I would have enjoyed more flavor and heat in the salsa and queso. The fajita steak and chicken were the real stars of lunch. They were delicious and not greasy at all. I don’t know if it would be a place I would frequent, but I would go back.

We eat at Monterey House on a regular basis. I’ve always liked their food, it was a Friday lunch tradition when they were all over Houston back in the ‘70s. The recipes are the same today as they were back then. It’s not mexican food — it’s TexMex. They can have an off day but it is very rare. We’ve never experienced bland salsa and often like to get chips and salsa to go. Monterey House is what it is; not gourmet, fancy pants food — just consistently good TexMex!

The BEST thing about Monterey House Restaurant: The Guacamole was really good.
The WORST thing about Monterey House Restaurant: The place smelled like a toilet.
My Review:
I had been looking forward to eating lunch at the Monterey House ever since I started working near the restaurant a few months back. The old Baptist Hospital is about a block away and I remember eating there often with my grandparents when I was a child. Basically, anytime a family member was in the hospital, we ate a great deal of Monterey House and I remember is being excellent.
Too bad its not excellent anymore. Talk about bland; the food at Taco Bell has more flavor than the best Monterey House had to offer. The beef fajitas tatsted like something you would buy precooked and frozen at the grocery store. The tamales we tried were about the worst I have ever had. You can get better food at the mexican market located just across College St. (in the old Pancho’s location)
The service wasn’t much better. When we walked in, we were greated by an elderly woman, who was sitting at a table near the door and appeared to be surfing the web on a laptop, and she told us to «sit where ever you want.»
Our waitress was very attentive, for about 3 minutes. She was actually too attentive, almost to the point of annoyance. The food only took about 5 minutes to prepare, the waitress dropped off the bill with the food and she never spoke to us again… until we flagged her down, nearly 20 minutes after completing our meal, to ask for a togo cup.
There appeared to be some people enjoying themselves, but I am not planning on giving this place another chance.

As fresh as it gets in the vast landscape of Tex-​Mex, Monterey House returned after a multi-​decade absence from the Beaumont restaurant scene. Killer marguaritas seal the deal. Fresh, light food with friendly, good looking staff. Bright and airey dining with low key décor.