Monte Carlo Bar

I came here during the day and had a great time! bartender was very nice and sweet. great jukebox! I will come again for a good time. has a pool table and the bartender will open it for u on request.

I hate to sound like a jerk but this is not a «cool» dive bar. It’s just a wretched, smelly place that looks like a glorified living room. 25 years ago a friend of mine from USC (not a frat boy!) lived around the corner and I went to this place with him a few times. It seemed better then. I went to it in January of this year with him and man, it’s seen better days (though my friend thinks the bar tender might be the same). A real depressing, sad place. If you want to see a cool dive bar there are many others not too far away. Avoid.

This place is quiet, kinda off the grid and has a great staff. Awesome little dive bar to just relax and hang out.

Drinks under $ 5 is nice but the place is a bit TOO dirty for my liking there is «dive bar dirty» than there is just dirty non-​the less it is a true DIVE. The pool table is in very poor condition and it’s nearly impossible to play a game on it because of spacing in the back. The juke box has great selection and the bartenders is very friendly and makes you feel very welcome!
CASH BAR ONLY!

Went here because Anthony Burdain had it in his show. Not impressed. Parkimg is a nightmare. Place is ugly and shady. To be fair, went there too early on a Friday, but it seemed packed with landscapers on a break. Bartender was super nice but to no avail. Left after a couple of drinks. You’re better off going to Frank N’ Hanks if you’re in the mood for a dive bar. This place sucked.

Very ducked off, wedged between convenience stores and a barber shop, it can easily be overlooked. There’s nothing fancy about it, yet prices aren’t exactly super cheap either. Just an unpretentious spot to grab a drink when you’re thirsty.

What happens when dive bars hit rock bottom… which I say as a compliment! As authentic as they come. Jukebox with a completely batshit nonsensical collection. A pool table that looks like it’s seen things it’s been traumatized by. Stiff, cheap drinks poured by the ever lovely Mari. Cash only, but a little goes a long way. The clientele certainly would not be described as young and upwardly mobile, but isn’t that the point? The barstools at this spot have more character than entire blocks in WeHo or DTLA have.

Cash only. That sucked, but a good place to go to escape from lock and key. I was short on cash, so we left and spent $ 60 in drinks at the bowling alley.

This is just a follow up to April’s review. I still love Monte Carlo with all of my heart. Cheap booze, great jukebox and the best bartenders ever! The old lady that bar tends during the day found out it was my birthday and she made me a birthday cake out do a lime and straws and made the whole bar sing me happy birthday. It was amazing! But now my baby is over run by hipsters my neighbor and I went last week on a Saturday night and it was packed with hipsters. I just about gagged. Why is LA losing all of its great dive bars. First king Eddys and now I fear Monte Carlo. Don’t let the influx of hipsters keep u away from this great bar but just be prepared. Maybe they will find another bar to take over!

I live down the street and have only been a few times. I was intimidated when I first moved to the neighborhood because it’s so sketchy looking, but it’s a great dive bar. Strong and cheap drinks (a shot of whiskey here is more like 2) and tons of other alcoholics. WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM, THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. Also, I wouldn’t recommend this place to women, especially if you’re going alone! Also they have the most amazing jukebox selections (if you’re into Swing music (Benny Goodman, etc), 80s music (Rod Stewart, Madonna, etc) or Latin music (Celia Cruz, etc).

If you like dive bars (real dive bars — not dive theme bars like King Eddy has become) then this is possibly the best in LA. Drinks are cheap and strong, the bartender is really nice, and you might not get in a fight with a homeless guy.

Dear Monte Carlo, you are quite the dive bar… I think I’ve been dosed (ghb & rophenol) multiple times, er… which sucks. Who blacks out from Budwiser? Generally not the experienced drinker (look at my check ins and reviews — I’m by no means a teetotaler). But, seriously, WTF! Never going back. The bartender is nice and the jukebox is rockin’, but the crowd is freaking shady. There’s a reason you never see chicks at this bar.

Man, this place is depressing… and I’m one of those people that inherently appreciates dive bars. Imagine a huge selection of drunken degenerates, the prematurely aged 30 year old (or well preserved 50 year old) Japanese bartender with cleavage hanging out, the thin layer of soapy scum on the bar… at least I’m hoping it’s soap scum.
Like most dive bars, drinks are poured with a heavy hand, but I just couldn’t get into the vibe of Monte Carlo Bar. Perhaps I only have it in my heart to reserve Frank n Hanks on Western as my dive bar of choice in Ktown.

Absolutely Amazing! The bartender is so sweet and chill. When I went in there I felt like I was in an episode of Cheers. Drinks are cheep and STRONG, I’ll be going back for sure.

Mari on weekend evenings is awesome. She is so cool and so hot! She is the reason why this hole in the wall dive bar is so nice to hang out at. Mari’s positive energy really balances out the place so that one drink or ten drinks plus Mari the bartender will bring you into a Zen state of being.

Cozy sausage fest dive bar with room for about 20. Ordered a Jack N Coke from what appeared to be an ex-​asian massage parlor escort. It feels as if its a dive bar/​massage parlor all in one. Now wouldn’t that be ideal! Ordered a Jack N Coke $ 6. Pool table for a buck, TV’s and the local inebriated fare.
I just couldn’t get over the feeling of waiting for the asian bartender lady to offer me a rub and tug, the notion of the AMP experience was only enhanced when I observed an elderly asian lady come out from a dark back room, mamasan?
Great little watering hole with all sorts of possibilities minus the table shower.

The dive of all dives! Yes, you heard it first. This is like if the Drawing Room met the Goldroom — and they had a baby. Meanwhile, if King Eddy Saloon met Frank N Hanks and they had a baby. And by some miracle, those two babies met and fucked — this would be the product of the shit they birthed.
Nestled between a beauty salon & barbershop (at the border of K-​Town) this cash only spot is a manifestation of all that is good and bad with the L.A. dive scene. The joint looks a bit run-​down (but it only adds to it’s charm). Aside from the bar area, a few stools are scattered about for your seating convenience. For entertainment, a trio of TV’s allows you to take-​in any Lakers, Dodgers or Mexican Primera División game.
If professional sports are not your thing, well first off… whats wrong with you? Second, seriously? In any event, the Monte Carlo offers a pool table to sooth that billiards itch and a vending machine to sooth that «I don’t need to go on a diet» presumption (chips, cookies, etc.)
No real ventilation indoors; so the front door remains closed during winter hours (and likely open come summer). As for the soundtrack, an assortment of genre’s overplay from the jukebox at any given moment. From Chente to Bowie.
The bartender, a voluptuous-​Japanese Elvira lookin’ gal is very welcoming and can communicate with you in English, Spanish, her native tongue or drunken bar slur. Beers offered include: Modelo Especial, Tecate, Bud and Stella at $ 4 apiece. Well-​drinks are generously poured at $ 6 a glass. Clientele is a mixture of neighborhood borrachos, futbol enthusiast & local «businessmen». Not a hipster in-​sight, but I have a feeling that one will eventually stumble in here & mistake the joint for a café or art gallery (just like roaches — where there is one, there are always more).
If you wish to get plastered on a budget, this is the place to be. Sure the joint may not have the luxury and lore of it’s Las Vegas counterpart of the same name, but at least this Monte Carlo has… nevermind. Just mind you Ps & Qs and take-​in a ballgame.
On a side note; a McDonalds, Jack N’ Crack, Taco Truck & a Phở Restaurant are all within walking distance to subdue the munchie monster from within.

Fugly and real. Refreshing in a land of douchebag/​shallow bitch drink mills. Fuck you corporatization, you suck LA dry but nature will find a way to survive.

Last February my friend and I stumbled into the Monte Carlo. It was my second visit and I was little bummed that the fly tape was absent from the bathroom. I took a seat next to this guy who, though he lacked a drink, was inexplicably, completely wrecked. I think he mumbled that his name was Miguel, which worked out ’cause my limited Spanish sounds like mumbles anyway, so it’s possible that we understood each other really well.
Anyway, I had no problem having a little too much to drink and I made the mistake of standing next to the pool table. This group of girls show up and challenge me and my friend to game. The bad news is that I am awful at pool and I only get worse as I drink, the good news is that my friend is the exact opposite. We play for drinks, the girls end up losing and then claim that they don’t have any money. Oh well.
This is where it gets fuzzy.
I guess this girl walked in and she was already out-​of-​her-​fucking-​mind wasted. Unfortunately this kind of thing attracts problems, but what a trooper, she kept ordering drinks until…
A few minutes pass and one of the pool-​playing girls comes out of the bathroom and informs my friend that there’s this unconscious girl with her head resting in the sink in pool of her own vomit (wonder who it could be). She assured us that this girl was her friend and that we had to do the right thing.
After digging through her ‘friends’ purse, she finds a set of car keys and a piece of addressed mail while my friend and I carry the girl outside. One beep of the key-​less entry remote helps us find the girls Pontiac.
30 minutes later we show up at her apartment. The pool girl, who was driving, seemingly couldn’t park the car and scraped the it against the garage. By this point I figured out that she was not ‘friends’ with drunky and the vehicle she just damaged, she didn’t really have permission to be driving.
I got out, went and knocked on the apartment door to find the drunk girl’s mother and brother sleeping together on a hide-​a-​bed in the living room. They came outside and collected the girl from the backseat of the car, while I tried to explain to the mother in bad, mumbly Spanish about how we pretty much saved her daughter’s life. Apparently, I was a little too mumbly ’cause she couldn’t understand and kept threatening to call the police.
Eventually we managed to explain everything (I think) and they were sorta grateful (I think). On the long walk home, I promised myself that I would never go back to the Monte Carlo again. It’s that kinda place. You could go there a hundred times and have a hundred different, stupid, semi-​illegal experiences and still love it.

The Monte Carlo is the place I head to after a long day at work. I look forward to seeing Mari (the cute, friendly Japanese bartender) pour me a drink. She’s always super sweet and easy to talk to and the drinks are cheap and good. You’ll find lots of old regulars here sitting at the bar and there’s always somebody playing pool. The jukebox is great because it’s so bad! It doesn’t play anything past the year 2000.
I’m almost afraid of writing this review because I don’t want to share this dive bar with anyone else.
I love the Monte Carlo!