Monarca Pasta & Grill

For the price, the seafood pasta is awesome. I love how they put so much seafood for only 10 bucks! The shrimp is never overcooked either. This place beats Viztango hands down.
There’s complimentary warm homemade tortilla chips and salsa as a starter and crispy garlic bread which is delicious when dipped in leftover pasta sauce.
The pasta here never disappoints and is always consistent in flavor unlike viztango which can be super salty/​bland sometimes. The service here is also awesome, they always refill your drinks. If you don’t want to spend a lot on Italian food, this place is a cheap alternative.
Major downside is the parking, its practically non existent in this plaza. Its best to park along the street beside the traffic meters, or along the school if the appropriate time allows it.

Excelente opción para una comida rica y con sabor casero.
Soy fan de este lugar, todo lo que he probado me ha gustado. Regularmente mi platillo es «Pasta Primavera», totalmente recomendable.
El servicio es de primera. Felicidades al Restaurant !!

If you haven’t tried this place yet, don’t think twice Go For It!

This place here is a hidden secret in the neighborhood. The food is full of flavor and always cooked to perfection. Pasta dishes and Mexican food is what they serve. I HIGHLY recommend their Grilled Chicken Sandwich, it is the best friggin chicken sandwich I’ve ever had. Have a carne Asada taco or a burger, you will not be disappointed. Customer service is great. The guy who works there at night seems shy but still so polite and nice! Cant beat that! Looks like it’s a family business which I love to support. I recommend this place for its prices and for their quality of food!

This place really surprised me with its quality, flavor, and cheap price. While I had read other Unilocal reviews before going in, I hadn’t really realized just how good the food would be! When you walk in, it looks like a small, slightly outdated, old restaurant that will have underwhelming food; however, everyone that helped us out was incredibly friendly and nice, and they serve chips and salsa while you wait and give you cheese bread with the meal. I had an incredible chicken burrito that was served with some kind of chipotle mayo and a huge pile of fries with some type of flavoring on them – it was incredible. The burrito was one of the best I’ve had in a while and was full of really flavorful chicken along with cooked onions and other spices (I’m not entirely sure what was in it entirely to be honest). The whole thing cost me $ 6.25, and it was a ton of food. Very inexpensive yet delicious and has a lot of variety – I definitely recommend checking it out!

I got the shrimp spaghetti pasta and it was great. Good proportions and good price. Would come back (:

Have dined on the shrimp primavera and the spaghetti shrimp pasta with mixed sauce. Liked the spaghetti more than the primavera but both were good. Decent prices, great food and fast turnaround.

This place is great for USC students. The food was very good chicken sandwich slammn, pizza good the sauce is the shiznit, hamburger was great and fries had a unique seasoning. Not expensive, quiet and clean. Service was awesome and everytime, o yea, i went back to back. So this is a double review dub double review. Yea i put it in a rap lol.

Found this place on Unilocal and decided to give it a shot for a peaceful dinner after a long day.
As soon as I entered the place I felt comfortable with the home dining sort of ambience. The waitress helped me pick a vegetarian choice.
I ordered the Pasta Primavera vegetarian. I loved the italian/​spice pasta style. The generous sides (chips with sauce and garlic breadsticks) were a pleasant surprise. Also donot miss the Tamarino Jarritos!
Great food. Casual Ambience. Good portion size.

Drove around twice and finally made it in. At first we were iffy bc we didn’t know if we were at the right place. We still walked in. We were greeted by a sweet girl in the front and I immediately began asking her questions. She offered us good service and never hesitated to answer my annoying questions. Haha. She told me I could pretty much ‘invent’ my own pasta, and so I did. Boy was I in for a treat!!! Best pasta everrrrrrrrr!!! My bf got the shrimp scampi and we shared both plates, had too both were just too good. Only thing missing here is the wine!!! We’ll def be driving back from OC for some deliciousnesssss…

The seafood pasta is really the one thing you should get if you come here. Such a good value, with generous portions, copious seafood (squid, mussels, shrimp), and cheesy bread on the side for under $ 10!
Who cares if the spaghetti is not «al dente» or whatnot? I swear if you bought some of this pasta, heated it up at home, and served it in dinnerware, you could impress anyone. Plus, it’s conveniently close to USC and even has a small lot for parking.
(I’ve tried the chicken fettucine alfredo too, and it was a little greasy for my taste. But seriously, the seafood pasta. So worth.)

Just wanted to say this pasta that i had is so good i can say its even better then olive garden. My girl had a shrimp brochetas and is so yummy thanks guys u did great.

A great choice for USC students, cheap and close by campus! Also great for anyone in general who wants some cheap, quality pasta for a quick lunch. Kind of a hole in the wall, not many people know about this place and it’s about $ 8 – 9 on average for a meal here.
Florentina chicken pasta, best dish they have. The spaghetti shrimp pasta was delicious as well, but I liked the Florentina pasta the most! I don’t think I’ve had this good of pasta in a while, it’s probably because Pasta Roma is just mediocre. If you’re not feeling pasta, they also have other types of food like the grilled hamburger. My bf loved the hamburger and the fries come with an amazing sauce! Also, the hamburger came with a drink and we got lemonade, but felt like it was too diluted so if you get a drink, stick with soda.
Service was great, the lady working is so attentive and sweet! In this kind of restaurant (where you pay first at the register), usually employees don’t give you much attention after ordering, but she kept checking up on us and refilling our water. Everything about this place is on point, except the parking. Street parking is almost impossible unless you’re really lucky, and if you want to park in that tiny parking lot, you have to be patient and wait for someone to leave. But since their food is bomb, I won’t dock a star for the terrible parking situation.

Can’t believe I never posted a review on this little hole in the wall really tiny hole. It’s small in there but looks can be deceiving the plates that come out of that kitchen will leave you wanting more. When I went service was ok as I believe the young waiter was on his first day he seemed kind of confused but he wasn’t so bad. Well the menu they serve are or were as if they were just printed they have a bunch of options as for me I love seafood I just went with shrimp I tried the pasta primavera. They give you the choice of Alfredo sauce or Tomato sauce I went with the Alfredo sauce and let me tell u I was not disappointed it was good and they serve a good amount of pasta, very good price too I will definitely have to go again.

Came here with the bf and a friend for lunch!
The parking is in a very small plaza, probably only enough for 20 – 25 cars. There’s street parking on 27^th Street though.
We walked in and the place is fairly small. Everything is so orange lol there are 5 tables on one side of the restaurant seating about 4 people each and then on the other half of the restaurant there are 3 small tables sitting 2 each.
What we ordered:
Pasta Chicken Fetuccini with Crème&Tomato Sauce — very flavorful. The combination with the two sauces were actually really good. Chicken wasn’t dry either.
Pasta Primavera with Crème&Tomato Sauce — again very flavorful. Lots of textures with the vegetables and the pasta itself.
Chicken Ravioli with Tomato&Garlic Sauce — love the cheese and chicken combo in the ravioli. Definitely garlic-​y.
Fries — delicious! Some are crunchy and some are soft, but they are very flavorful! Come with a thousand island type of dip.
Drinks
Total came out to be: $ 37
None of the dishes disappointed us. Great food.

I am personally a fan of hole in the wall dining because the wait is nonexistent. This place looks shabby and none too spectacular but the food is pretty good. And plentiful.
Nevermind that they serve a plethora of culturally different food like italian, mexican, and what not. I got seafood pasta which was pleasantly cheap and pretty yummy. The best part is that they did not skimp out on seafood.
For what you pay, it’s a pretty good deal.

If you’re in the USC area looking for cheap, great food, look no further.
Great italian/​mexican/​american food here at Monarca Pasta & Grill. I highly recommend their shrimp dishes.
The interior is a little torn down, but that’s the area this place is in, so you can’t hold them accountable for that.
A simple, hole in the wall place that you should definitely try if you’re in the area. I’ll definitely be coming back here some time soon!

Ordered the Monarca Chicken Pasta for $ 7.95 with balsamic black sauce that tasted pretty much like teriyaki. As a pasta entrée it came with a side of garlic cheesy bread & choice of red, cream or mixed sauce. Got the mixed sauce over bow tie pasta topped with thinly sliced grilled chicken. Does the job if you’re looking for a pasta fix but nothing special.
Friend got the quesadilla and fries (other plate in picture). Fries were seasoned but she wasn’t a huge fan of the quesadilla veggies.
Complimentary mini chips and (slightly watery) salsa verde. The seating is limited so ideal for smaller groups or takeout. Friendly service. 2.5 stars for home cooking, large portions, unique mix of Italian and Mexican staples.

This place is literally the best kept secret in Los Angeles. ⁵⁄₅. The food is fresh, authentic, and well priced. The only downside is that it does not have the best dining area. But still a ⁵⁄₅ as far as food quality goes. What a shame this is such a hidden gem.
Here is a photo of their chicken burrito.

I was REALLY craving some cheap spaghetti and meatballs that I had recently eaten in Vegas at various food courts. I’m not talking nice basil spaghetti with high quality noodles. I’m talking plain marinara sauce and noodles sitting in garlicky olive oil with 2 big meatballs sold at places specializing in pizza. I called Pasta Roma and Viztango and was told that the total would be $ 11 dollars with extra marinara. THE SAME PRICE AS VEGAS where everything is overpriced.
I then called Monarca and they told me it would be $ 7.95 and wouldn’t charge for extra sauce. (The three dollar difference could get me at least 2 McChickens!) I ordered it for to-​go and they took about 15 minutes to make it. I wanted a plain marinara sauce but the sauce was a meat sauce with a lot of small meatballs. The portion was HUGE and even though I eat a lot, I was able to eat two filling portions. The bread was just okay. It didn’t have much flavor but it’s good to eat with the spaghetti sauce.
Parking was a pain in the butt and it took 10 minutes just to get out because cars were coming in from both sides of the VERY narrow parking lot. Bike/​walk there if you can!

A hole in the wall type of place. I was a little thrown off by the random selection of food they have. Mexican to pizza to pasta.
I ended up trying the chicken fettuccine alfredo pasta. I was very impressed with the flavor of the dish. Everything is made on the spot so your plate is pipping hot. My fiancée tried the chicken veggie pizza and wasn’t let down either.
Not busy at all and service was okay. And the price was low for the amount of good amount of food one receives.
Will definitely be going back.