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Mona Lisa Gourmet Cafe & Fondue
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
11 reviews for Mona Lisa Gourmet Cafe & Fondue
It seems to me, after having been a several "chain" fondue places, that someone used to work for a Chain fondue place and said, "You know what? I think I can do this better." And they did.
The staff was amazing. Our drinks never ran out, they were informative, and they were friendly, but they didn't stick around to chat. It was a graceful in and out.
The cheese fondue was different than I've had before. It's like they got creative with some of the flavoring (strawberry salsa in the cheddar fondue!) and it worked! It was all very good. They gave us the typical fruits, and veggies and 3 types of bread and tortilla chips.
Meat was grilled as opposed to cooked in oil, which I felt took longer, but it was probably healthier and was able to put a "crust" on the meat as opposed to boiling it. The "traditional" platter contained steak, chicken, shrimp, salmon, teriyaki beef, and a few veggies.
Dessert was pretty fantastic and you can tell that this is really where this place shines. The dessert options allow for the basics in chocolate and then adding whichever type of liquor you might like to your chocolate. (If you want any at all) Then they had specialized fondues with different things in them as well. (Carmel, etc) The dipping platter with the dessert fondue was probably the most crammed full plate of the evening. Marshmellows, brownies, graham crackers, 3 or 4 different kinds of fruit, and other great dipping materials.
This is a great place to take someone on a special event as, lets face it, it's incredibly hard to do this much work for a dinner at home, and even if you did, you'd have to clean it all up. Skip trying this all at home and do it as a special event.
We found this place after trying to eat at Adam's Mountain Cafe (only to discover it was CLOSED at 3 p.m. on a Sunday! Closed to serve the customers better?! ODD).
At any rate... this was an ok fondue experience. We sat outside. The cheese fondue was good. The meat/veg fondue was ... different. The meat was tasty, but cooking it on a big electric tray was different. The huge and rather unsafe looking electric cords were a bit disconcerting. We were both full after the meal and opted to skip the rather pricey chocolate fondue for dessert. With wine, the cheese and meat fondues, it was more than I'd expect to pay for an average dining experience. Though I have to say I think I like grilling my food better than frying it in grease like at some fondue places. It was a nice change and service was above average.
Value for price: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 (outside nice except for LOUD motorcycles up and down main drag)
Will probably try it again just for the chocolate dessert fondue (sounded yummy).
I really wanted to like Mona Lisa. Really. I'm fond of a good local restaurant over a chain any day of the week, but this time... This time I have to say that The Melting Pot just does it better - I want to say they do it better for a little cheaper too. There were elements of Mona Lisa that I really liked. Grilling the meats was neat and the trout was very good. I also liked the wedge of Mozzarella they give you to heat up with your main course. The Melting Pot just does each piece perfectly. The salads at Mona Lisa were really boring and tasteless and the MP salads are so incredible you could order one as your meal alone and be quite happy. I also think the MP cheese course is a bit more upscale. And the dessert course. I'm glad I tried Mona Lisa, but the Melting Pot is definitely my go-to!
The Mona Lisa is a beautiful little fondue joint in Manitou Springs. The location couldn't be more perfect, nestled into a little mountain town. Ambiance and romance are key here. The building is an old house and you can tell when you walk in. Each room has about 3 little tables for 2 in each with dim lighting and sweet twinkle lights surrounding empty bottles of wine, each with little notes from the drinkers celebrating an anniversary or holiday or baby written on the labels.
If you like a full meal you reserve a table upstairs. Do it in advance to guarantee a table. If you'd like just a wine tasting you can go down to the wine cellar with no reservation. They also will do the fondue dessert down there.
Back upstairs, your first course consists of a delish salad with homemade dressings. The vinaigrette is to die for. Next you get a choice of three different cheeses for the appetizer. MMMM, I forget which one is beer based but it doesn't get much better than that. It's served with raw veggies/fruits and bread bits.
The main course consists of 3 different meat plates you can choose from. They are served raw with a little grill placed it the middle of your table. You get to cook them yourself! Don't worry, they tell you how if you're lost. Also this course is served with a plate of rosemary potatoes (mmmm), cheese, an onion, a pickle, and a mushroom to season or grill AND then a little tray with 7 different sauces for each meat. Try the alligator sausage!
Last and certainly not least, the dessert. Chocolate fondue, order any of them and you can expect an orgasm in your mouth. 'Nuff said.
Dress well, spend well, eat well.
This is my favorite fondue restaurant. This is the kind of place that you need to make reservations months in advance...for a reason! I highly recommend this place if you are looking for something with a romantic ambiance. It's very intimate with only a few tables in each room. They offer a wonderful and varied menu of cheese fondue, meats and chocolate fondues. It isn't a cheap dinner, but you are also paying for the experience and surroundings. I think it's all worth it.
The food is really good and also really expensive. It's about $50/person for a salad, fondue, entree, and dessert. The salad was one of the best I've ever had. It was just a simple spinach/tangerine/blue cheese with red wine dressing, but it was super good. We got the Greek fondue. It was excellent. We had the game entree which comes with was elk, buffalo, trout, and duck that you grill at your table. Everythign was tasty and came with a bunch of different dipping saues. The dark chocolate fondue at the end was soooo good and came with a bunch of different stuff to dip in it. My favorite was the pretzels.
A bit on the pricey side; my wife and I paid $140 together for the four-course meal and a bottle of white wine (after tip). My pet peeves were that they charged an additional 3 dollars for the seasonal salad...come on...we're already paying so much as it is...they shouldn't, in good conscience, charge us more to "upgrade" our salad. This took a bit of class out of the whole experience. Also, additional charges to upgrade the chocolate fondue proved to be a nuisance.
Salad came first...typical Caesar salad, my wife had the seasonal salad...a house salad with additional strawberries and almonds? The cheese fondue was VERY tasty...and there was an abundance of cheese...we tried the "old world" cheese selection and it was truly delicious. We didn't run out of bread and veggies to dip.
The main course was interesting. I was expecting a bowl of heated broth or oil to dip our meat in, but the waitress gave us an electric "grill" and we cooked our own meat...the beef was very tender, but the rest of the meat was not to our taste...no seasonings on the chicken breast...just lumps of chicken. It was more of a nuisance to cook our own food in this manner...constant monitoring of the doneness of the meat, etc. as opposed to being able to set the meat in a prong and let it sit in broth (like at The Melting Pot).
The chocolate was out of this world...and we had a variety of things to dip into it including brownie bites and cheesecake.
Service was average...we were turned off by our waitress when she snapped at my wife for using her fork instead of her prong to stir some veggies on the electric grill...not cool.
We'll go back if we happen to be in the area and would just get the cheese and chocolate next time...I wouldn't make reservations to go there again for the four-course meal...the price isn't quite worth it.
Now, this is not exactly some sort of culinary masterpiece, but the experience was so awesome. We had so much fun cooking our own food, and the pace kept our tummies empty enough so we weren't stuffed until the dessert course came. There is no comparison to the Melting Pot, seriously. Boiling my food in something that smells funny is not nearly as good as the sizzling action we had going on here. Overall, it's expensive, but well worth it. The ambiance, as I said was great, but the decor was a little weird. We felt somewhat left out that we didn't get to sign a wine bottle and put it on one of the surfaces that were literally covered with cheap wine bottles. Overall, this was hands down the most romantic meal we had on our honeymoon, and I won't be able to deal with Melting Pot after this. A tip: a reservation is a big bonus, and they aren't open for lunch.
The hubs and I got a babysitter for this paticular meal, boy, I'm glad we did... this is NOT a place that you want to go with small kids in-tow. I would wait until they were teenagers to take them. We got the four-course meal for two, with a cheese fondue appetizer, a salad each, out "traditional" main course and the dark chocolate dessert fondue. Everything was really tasty and fresh, the quality of the meats and veggies was superb. The dark chocolate fondue with the wide selection of goodies to dip was mouth watering. It was quite expensive (our bill was $94. and we didn't even get drinks) but it would be a great place for a rehearsal dinner or anniverary dinner, or any other special occasion.
Mona Lisa is a fixture of West-Side Colorado Springs cuisine. The restaurant is in an old building with small rooms, creaky, crooked floors and steep stairs. Old, signed wine bottles from previous guests spangle the walls.
The food is magnificent. The full fondue set includes salad, cheese, and chocolate fondues, but replaces an oil main course with a hot-plate and raclette dishes. It's a departure from the fondue formula, but to me a welcome one.
Mona Lisa is expensive, and it's cramped, but it's atmosphere is utterly charismatic and romantic to the core.
This is a cozy little cafe/restaurant nestled deep inside Colorado Springs... a nice, but pricey, romantic getaway that's filled with so much warm, gooey yumminess that you're guaranteed to fall asleep when you get home. Beautifully decorated, the tender and charming ambiance matches the romantic allure of its exquisite yet simple menu.
