Monsoon & Fine Cuisine-India

My wife and I wanted to treat ourselves to a fancy meal out so, partly on the basis of the good reviews on the web, we went to Monsoon. The decor and atmosphere of the place are well up to par, and the menu full of tempting dishes. Service was good too. Unfortunately the whole point of the restaurant, the food, was way below standard.

When our main dishes came out we thought it was a joke - the portions are tiny here. At almost $20 a dish you expect more than six small cubes of chicken. The taste was pretty mediocre too, like it came from a jar. Our chicken tika hadn't been marinated at all either, and was very bland - particularly disappointing. The lamb dish tasted like tomato puree, and had barely any lamb (which chewed more like mutton anyway).

The biggest shock was the price of the beer though - they come in the smallest glasses I have ever seen but cost $7 each! Yes, $7 for a few oz of Kingfisher!

I have absolutely no qualms paying top dollar for food, but I expect it to be good. Sadly Monsoon just isn't and I certainly would never eat there again.

Pros: Decor

Cons: The food

chicken tikka masala is like tomato paste -- it was the worst Indian food ever.

Pros: Decor - water design

Cons: Anything with food

have been following the Monsoon Group Restaurants for over twenty years now.

I went to their first location when they opened Kool Korner cuisine in Hillcrest.

After that I followed the Monsoon Vegetarian restaurant, Bombay, Masala, the new Monsoon and I recently dined at your latest Mexican restaurant ..Casa De Madera.

I told all of my family and friends and they are all true loyal customers too.

Not only is the food excellent but your design and decor is incredibly beautiful.

Keep up the good work guys.

Will be in tonight and keep a booth for me.
Jamie Johnson.

We came to your Taste of Hillcrest event and just loved it...your Theatre is great in the back.
After that we came to try Monsoon and Masala and were blown away.
Please open in London as we have no classy restaurants like this.

Ugly step sisters Bombay, Monsoon and Masala are waste of money. I tried Bombay for Lunch buffet and thefood was totally garbage. Did not like the rubbery nan bread and the bland food was totally tasteless,
Then I received coupon in a magazine and tried Monsoon in down town I think that is totally ignored restaurant they have high chairs so you can not tell if the restaurant has any customers or not and would make it dark like a hounted house. The food is same quality when I complained about my food the manager who had no idea what Indian food is , he just appologized and said they are making some changes and next time it will be better and said we should try their other restaurant Masala on fifth avenue. While talking to my friends I asked them about masala and my friends told me if I wanted to have good Indian food I should try Royal India in down town and others are just waste of money.
I am going to try Royal India soon and cant wait to get some good Indian food.

Pros: What?

Cons: All

I am super proud to be an Indian.
We win all the Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire and now Monsoon Group wins all the restaurant awards for being the best in San Diego.

This place has changed a lot. It use to be my favorite Indian restaurant. But lately, every time I go it has been going down. My friend and I went there last Friday. We were seated promptly but nobody came to our table for at least 25 minutes and our food did not come for another 45 minutes. No wonder the restaurant was almost empty. I was really disappointed with the service and the worst thing is nobody cares about it. Sorry but I will never go back to this restaurant again.

Pros: x

Cons: Disappointing service

I am just amazed at what super value The Monsoon Restaurant Group offers.
I should not say this but for offering such high class restaurants in excellent locations, I would be willing to pay alot more but I do love the value for money I get.
The service needs polishing up but apart from that, I give ten out of ten.

The first time I went there was with my employer which happence to be Indian and its one of his favorite indian restaurants. The service was great food was great also. This was the first time I had Indian food and I love it. Second time my wife and I went, I thought service might not be as great but we went for the food. The waitress remembered our faces from two months before and the food ones again did not disappoint.

We had a blast and now I feel good to have discovered my new favourite Indian restaurant. I used to to dine at Royal India but was always disappointed with their food and service. I could not find any faults at Monsoon and I am a very picky person. Loved the Tandoori Lettuce wraps.

Pros: so nice thats its hard to leave

Cons: parking

I went to a nearby competitor that claims to be a Royal Indian restaurant. Baloney. The restaurant was ugly with a bagel store awning. Monsoon is the real Royalty restaurant with its Maharajah chairs and ambiance not to mention the great cuisine. I was also amazed at the prices for such a beautiful Indian restaurant in a prime location. Reserve early as they were packed to the max.
I appreciate you bringing the laptop to my table so I can write this review.

Pros: So comfortable

Cons: none

Monsoon manages to deliver good food but fails on the service!

Although the Naan bread was dry, the food was above average overall. However, the wait time between ordering our food and receiving it was excruciatingly long and service overall was painfully slow.

Servers seemed to be way too immature, poorly trained, ill informed and indifferent in their attitudes to the food they were suggesting and serving. Most of the staff seemed like college kids or amateurs working for the summer at TGIF's rather than professional waiters that you'd hope to find at an upscale Indian restaurant.

While our server was friendly, he lacked the knowledge or desire to adequately describe or suggest dishes to us. When we asked what the fish Tandoori dish was like, our waiter responded with a shrug, "I don't know, I don't like fish!"

Service was so bad it was actually entertaining! We watched the table next to us have their food served before they had plates to put it on. A waiter across from us hovered over a table of 3 attractive young ladies, trying his best pick-up-chit-chat while they were more interested in texting their friends than making any eye contact with him. The waiter seemed unphased, offering up comments like, "...I, like, so don't want to be a boss anymore." and, "..thank you ladies for putting up with me. Where can I find you on the internet?"

It wasn't until the end of our meal that we were told the reason for the slow wait was because the kitchen was understaffed. This little bit of information would have been far more useful to us before we sat down!!!!

Overall, my underage Fianc'ee and I enjoyed the food but unless you have 3 hours to spend for dinner, you're better off avoiding Monsoon like a hurricane!

Pros: Above average food, ambiance, cool music

Cons: incredibly slow service, ill informed, poorly trained staff.

Ok... I did not use to like this place... but I have to say they have really changed it around. The new chef is really good and authentic. She had come to our table after the main entree just to say "HI"... I thought that was a nice touch.

Also, they lowered the prices on a lot of things. It is hard to find a good place for a good price in the gaslamp.

The servers were young and hip... not stuffy, but real and they knew their stuff.

Chocolate samosas for dessert! Great!

Good Job Monsoon... I am glad you are listening to your guests these days!!!

Pros: The ambience was great... good date place

Cons: My coffee was a little cold in the end... :(

Not authentic, Food is very bland. The decor is nice, but the food is not. I would not recommend it to people who know exactly what Indian food tastes like. Tandoori chicken was probably old and was very dry. We went there based on the ratings but according to all of us, it might be rated by non-Indians who are not familiar with Indian taste.

Pros: None

Cons: Bad Bad food