On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Categories: Asian Fusion, Dance Clubs [Edit]
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Loading...
From the outside, it looks like a tiny, touristy cafe, inside it's like being on a pirate ship, nautical motifs, lots of blues and turquoise, dim lighting, high ceiling (which is kind of nice).
They have a decent selection of pan-Asian dishes, but the food is just alright.
Best sushi on Earth.
Well, not true. But goddamn fine.
Order custom rolls.
Went her this past Sunday in the afternoon and it was peaceful. Sat outside and listened to a street musician perform classic oldies. Great place to go to during nice weather.
The food was good. The Mango Prawn was by far the best. The tofu Chinese lettuce cups were good too. The edamame and spicy tuna roll was average, decent.
Came for Dine LA last week, and the portions for the price were amazing! The service was great and the Monsoon Roll was my favorite of the course! My girlfriend has gone back for happy hour since and now demands I go too. Great experience!
I had dinner with some friends here for DineLA restaurant week and was largely unimpressed. This is just another overpriced mediocre restaurant preying on the stupid and uninformed tourist masses.
Ambiance was nice though, and the Tom Kha Gai was not bad at all. Also not a bad place for a date. Still, there are much better restaurants for your money. Go somewhere else.
Was there for the first time for a special engagement, my sister's wedding. Great spot for a reception. Lots of room (we had a dance floor, poker room, karaoke room, and enough space for well over 100 to sit). Food was catered by the restaurant and it was pretty good. The appetizers, sushi included, were very good. Entrees were good as well, but nothing out of this world. Restaurant staff was very nice and accommodating. Overall, a great place to have a big party, especially since there are 2 bars :)
Went here earlier this week for lunch. It was terrible. Old rubbery sushi that we had to constantly brush flies away from. There were flies everywhere (and no, we weren't outside, we were in the inner dining area.) We complained to the waiter who seemed stoned and could only respond with "Oh, guess I'll close the outside door" which I don't think he ever did because on our way out, there was a pigeon walking nonchalantly through the bar area.
Don't know what happened to this place, used to be good but it really was abysmal. When the waiter asked us if we wanted anything else, all we could reply was "No, I think we'll cut our losses and get out of here." His only reply was a stoned out stare.
Skip this place. Not worth the money but more importantly, the time.
Service: Very friendly and welcoming. Professional and well-groomed.
Food: Two stars. Fake Asian food! haha I ordered a Thai soup, tom kai or tom yum, I can't remember, but it was so plain. It wasn't even that hot, just luke warm! The presentation was nice, but it puts Thai food to shame. Sushi was OK as well.
Drinks: Nice selection of drinks, with generous portions.
Next time, I'm thinking of just stopping in for an appetizer and drinks as a shopping break. With so many restaurants to choose from at the Promenade, I'd rather eat somewhere else! :)
Atmosphere: This is what you are paying for! Really nice, good for a romantic date, because of the dim lighting.
Cute place to go to, clean restrooms, OK food, good location. The end!
This is absolutely my favorite restaurant for many reasons.
The first being that I can never choose if I want Japanese or Thai and Monsoon serves both amazingly.
I love the atmosphere but sometimes the downstairs is too loud or crowded so my boyfriend and I love sitting upstairs where its always quiet and romantic and you can look down at the sushi bar and watch them prepare the sushi!
The food is INCREDIBLE! I've tried almost all the sushi restaurants in Santa Monica and Monsoon is the best! The salmon sushi is so delicious and just melts in your mouth and the spicy tuna roll is amazinnggg. I also always order veggie pad thai with tofu. It's a huge portion with lots of fresh veggies. My boyfriend is in love with the orange chicken which has a great flavor and lots of yummy broccoli.
A review for happy hour only -
The patio is nice for people watching and the beers are cheap. Those are the positives. The sushi was not good - we couldn't finish a couple of the rolls because the fish was just bad. It was about 2 notches below supermarket sushi. The other food was very mediocre. Service is slow.
Honestly, there are SO many better happy hours with in walking distance of this place - I would skip it.
My boyfriend and I went to this restaurant on our first date. It's always our first choice whenever we are in the area. On our anniversary we asked to sit at the same table, and the host was very happy to accommodate us and seemed charmed by the request. The service is always good; fast, attentive, and friendly. The food is great- I've had things I liked better than others, but never anything bad or even mediocre. The sushi is an excellent price, and I've enjoyed the drinks I have had there. I LOVE the ambiance; the decor is beautiful!
Say WHAT!...Happy Hour ALL DAY Sunday and Monday!!!! The upstairs bar is the perfect spot to hang out with the gang and enjoy Sunday Night Football! It's in a great location an my favorite bartender is Aimee, not just because she is cute but because she really knows how to make a drink. I recommend this place - yes I do!
Solid Asian fusion restaurant on the 3rd Street Promenade strip in Santa Monica, California. Nice ambiance, good food. I will come back again.
From the streets and even when you first enter the restaurant, this place looks tiny. There's a small seating area outside and a few tables and a bar squished in on the inside... or so I thought. My family was interested in the menu, so we decided to eat here despite the supposed cramped-ness. Once we were seated, I was definitely proven wrong, as there was a HUGE room in the back. The bottom floor filled with tables and a cooking area that looked a lot like a sushi bar, and the top floor open in the middle with tables placed on the sides. We were seated on the top floor, and there were walls made of bamboo sticks for privacy between each booth. Overall, It's a very pretty look :)
The food is a little pricey (10-20), but for good reason. I tried the calamari tempura and the spider roll, both of which were pretty good and beautifully presented. The servers were also pretty friendly.
I think they have a pretty good happy hour, thought I didn't experience it myself. I only say this because it was RIDICULOUSLY busy in the bar area when we came in...maybe I'll come back and try the bar area next time :)
I came here earlier today. I loved the decor, the prompt refills, the every now & then, "are you still doing okay?" and the lovely tables under the cloth. Haha.
Pineapple fried rice: pretty good. A little soggy but it was edible. Nothing to complain about.
Vietnamese spring rolls: Um, I loved that they gave me 3 pieces...(LOOK IN THE PICTURES) where's the other one? if they cut half of two spring rolls.....where's the other??
Lamb: really heavy on the sauce. but overall, good.
Ginger chicken: It was ok, except for the fact that they didn't peel the side of the snow peas....so it was chewy. NEGATIVE* that's something so simple...
Sizzling shrimp & scallon:Loved the green beans. It was actually sizzling! EXTRA STAR
Love the decor and service. The waitress was an Asian girl, and she really did have great recommendations but the food is just mediocre.
My review is based solely on my Happy Hour experience, with the happy hours being as follows (and seating is in the bar area):
Monday - Thurs: 4:00 - 7:00pm, 9:00 - 10:00pm
Friday -Sunday: 4:00 - 7:00pm, 10:00 - Closing (approx 11:30pm)
With a decent selection of $4 beers and well drinks, Monsoon's Happy Hour offers a good selection of treats, from a decent variety of sushi rolls to asianest appetizers priced at $4 a piece. I found the dynamite tasty and the variety of sushi rolls satisfying.
Although the service was a bit slow it was friendly and once we ordered the food arrived promptly. Overall I enjoyed the experience as most happy hour treats are pretty basic and Monsoon's was a pleasant surprise and reasonably priced.
I came here for dineLA Restaurant Week and Monsoon Cafe was surprisingly good. I didn't order any sushi so maybe that's why my experience seems better than the average Yelp review for this place.
I highly recommend getting the Grey Goose Alaskan Cod, it's so good it literally melts in your mouth. My dining buddy tried the garlic shrimp & scallops dish and we both agreed that some of the green beans were old and stringy. However, a major plus is that the servings are pretty huge (especially the appetizers), which in my experience is rare for any restaurant week menu.
Desserts were not that spectacular, although they definitely gave a new twist to the creme brulee (the creme brulee is drizzled on top of a turnover-type pastry). We actually had food left over to take home from both our entrees and desserts!
Ambiance also was very nice as others have said, with dim lighting and candles. The horseshoe-shaped booth seats are particularly cozy.
Came across this place while walking the promonade with the family.
We ordered the Spider, Catepillar and Godzilla rolls. It would have been nice if they all came on the same plate, but they each came on their own, which ended up being a problem for our small booth table. Catepillar was everyone's favorite. Too many things going on with Godzilla. The Spider was not like other Spiders I've had. I could have sworn it was imitation crab and not real softshell crabs being used.
I made a point to let the waitress know one of my boys was allergic to peanuts. We ordered the Chicken Satay (with peanut sauce). The waitress said the sauce would be put on the side. Instead, when they came, there was no peanut suce at all.
The wine list is a little weak.
The service was very attentive.
Good happy hour (4pm - 7pm). $4 beers, wines, and well drinks. Also they offer a pretty good selection of appetizers and sushi rolls all at $4. So it's a nice place to hang out for a while with a few drinks, but the food is very bland. I can make better food at home. We got a few different appetizers and a sushi roll, none of them was memorable. Actually the spicy tuna roll was pretty bad - tuna did not taste fresh at all. I think if you go there for happy hour, it's best to stick to basic apps and skip sushi rolls!
Beautiful exotic interior decor with high ceilings and an air of mystery - almost like Tao in the Venetian. Their happy hour food specials are pretty amazingly cheap too. We didn't do the all you can eat, but some people did... wild.
Sometimes I wonder how I get suckered into things...like going to an 18+ fundraising/clubbing event at Monsoon Cafe. Yes, you read that correctly - 18 and up. I'm surrounded by people younger than my baby brother.
...Someone get me a drink, please? And yes, I do have ID.
But wait, I couldn't even get a good drink at Monsoon! $10 for a cranberry vodka in (what felt like) a cup slightly larger than a plastic Dixie cup. And the alcoholic content in my drink? WEAK! If I had known that the drinks inside sucked, I would have taken another swig of SoCo from the water bottle being passed around outside. (Yes, again, you read that correctly - not a flask, but a water bottle. I'm rolling like a college student tonight!)
Don't get me wrong - the party wasn't all bad. The people hosting the party are as close to me as family and I donate to the cause every year. But listen, if I'm going to risk getting grinded against by an 18 year old in order to hang out with my favorite people of all time, you better make me a drink worth the effort.
About 3-4 years ago, this was certainly one of the best spots on the Promenade to eat lunch. Dinner was also good, but lunch was killer! Many years ago, we rented the upstairs rear ballroom to throw a party.
(Most people don't know this is here.)
This was Monsoon's of yesterday.
Today's Monsoon's has:
All of the old choices, which can be a little over-whelming, lot's of rolls, and Asian-fusion dishes. Terrible service and nasty Sushi, which resembles mass-produced Costco food. (Actually, not fair to Costco---this is worse).
About the only thing which didn't go away, is the good free range chicken Satay with a peanut sauce. I really have a difficult time going here, as I remember a different restaurant which used to be full, and now it's a big dark, empty space which is wasting precious real estate in the Promenade.
My last trip here, I vowed to take 2 years off of Monsoon's. If it's still open, I'll go try it, again. My guess is the Health Dept shuts this down.
Nice place to eat at in the promenade, if you want a good beer and cocktail selection. A better choice to at than your standard mall flair i.e. Johnny Rockets, Wolfgang Puck express, ext. On a hot day not much better than a Asahi, and some sushi! The black striped bass sushi was delicious, the yellow tail was your standard and the the Ebi was above average. They do have an assortment of "new & relevant" rolls. The mango roll was quite refreshing and pretty damn tasty. The staff all seemed pretty cool. This joint went with more of a classy style rather than the new "hipster, cool guy" sushi place popping up everywhere. It was kinda nice not having to watch skateboard movies over and over. Overall a good place to eat grub, nothing eye popping crazy, but solid!
I like this place enough. The decor is cool, even though its cheesy as hell (kinda like a rainforest cafe).
However, the sushi is pretty good. The prices are decent and they even have a pretty cool bar.
If you are on the promenade its definitely one of your best bets
Calamari w/ curry mustard sauce amazing
Ginger Chicken was moist, and well seasoned, the snap peas were crunchy just as how they should be. Sushi there is okay, i'd say they specialize more in entrees, sushi is okay. The decor is like a bamboo house you'd see in indonesia or something, looks good though. The service was great, the waiter was prompt, courteous, and friendly.
I went here for dinner for a friend's birthday and thought it was just ok. I liked that we were able to make reservations easily for a Friday night. When we arrived, my friend wanted to get booth seating and there was none available so they offered to call us when a booth was ready while we walked around the Promenade. Monsoon Cafe reminds me of one the themed restaurants in an amusement park like Disneyland or Knott's. It would be great for dates, but I dont' know about big groups. The sushi rolls were tasty, but the mango chicken was dry and the veggies tasted like frozen veggies from the grocery store. The drinks were too small for the price. Our server was really nice and attentive, but she seemed rushed.
Overall, I would come back to Monsoon for happy hour, but I wouldn't pay regular price for the food an drinks.
While taking a little road trip up the coast in California, one can't help but to stop in Santa Monica. World-renowned beaches and the third street promenade. Awww the third street promenade, nothing like roaming around you starving and looking for some good food.
It led us to monsoon. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun was shining and two starving 20 somethings were on a mission. We sat out on the patio and my boyfriend had some sashimi while I got this amazingly yummy shrimp noodle dish with veggies and some sweet and sour sauce or something or another. All I know is that I ate every last bite of it and my boyfriend and I were fighting with our chopsticks for the next bite. Service is eh, but the food was just that good.
Went and looked around on the inside and the place is huge! It's two stories and it looks like a jungle inside. Next time I'm here, I'll have to try it out again.
the decor is sick, but the food makes me sick. ok, it's not thaaat bad.
i went there for lunch and i thought the food was mediocre. it's the decor and the vibe that gets hyped up. it's a nice date spot though. :)
I would only come here for Happy Hour. We were just walking by when we saw that they had Happy Hour on a Sunday from 3-7pm, so we decided to try it out. Food was $4/dish. The HH specials included 4 or 5 different sushi rolls and maybe like 7 or 8 little dishes.
The spicy tuna roll and spicy yellowtail rolls were just ok. The fish wasn't bad, but it wasn't the freshest. The heat covered up most of the shortcomings of the fish. Their calamari was decent. The curry dipping sauce was the best part. Their crab egg roll is literally 1 egg roll cut into 4 bit-size pieces. They were mediocre.
The service was really crappy as our waitress wasn't attentive and it took forever to put our order, get the food, and get the check.
I was in LA for some business staying at the Holiday Inn near the pier and took a cruise down the Promenade. I lived in LA for 25yrs and was eager to see how it had changed. Very much more commercialized now, but still some good places to hang out at. I ran into the place at the south end of the prom and stopped in and I found it very good. I only had some potstickers, spicy tuna roll and soup but it was all very tasty. Had I been hungrier I would definitely have sampled more of the menu. They do have a full bar and even had Guinness on tap when I was there.
This is a combo restaurant + club review, so you, dear reader, should be pretty jacked for that.
We were here for Lei Out, and somehow, Monsoon Cafe conned their way into hosting the tournament party. I got some fried rice dish, and my friends got some variety of noodles and sushi. I think we didn't mind the food, but for the price, it seemed to be a little much for pretty standard fare.
Our server wasn't really around that much, which was a little annoying, but whatever.
After we finished eating, this place turned into a club/bar. What I remember, summarized in +/- form!
+Free booze!
-It was Colt 45...
+There was a live DJ!
-He sucked. He was even using Serato, and he still was terrible. It does all the work for you dammit, how do you still screw up? Die.
+There were random MILFs around.
-There really isn't a minus to that. They were pretty entertaining.
I really should one star it, but I was pretty entertained, mostly by the Colt 45 I think. But entertained nonetheless.
My first time at Monsoon was a late night trip with my two roomies for their Weds. night salsa dancing. There's a live band and free lessons and 8pm. It was a blast. From the outside, you can't tell that it's actually a pretty big restaurant. The ambiance is great. It's like your sitting in a huge bungalow. The next time I went was for their food. Monsoon provides a wide array of asian cuisine. they have sushi roll to pad thai. The prices are good for the quantity and quality of their food. They also have a large cocktail menu.
The servers are nice and polite. The food came out pretty fast too.
MMMMM :) :) :) :) :)
Service can be "eh,"... but food is so good and so cheap at HH!
Always puts me in a good mood. Everything is $4 from 4-7 daily. SUCH A GOOD DEAL!
*Must try Salmon Tempura Roll omg
I heard they get their fish here from the same place as Sushi Roku. In other words, the fish is FRESH (and 1/2 the price)!
The inside looks like a set for some Crouching Tiger/Indiana Jones movie, but not in that slick "Rocksugar" kind of way. Makes me want to do triple somersaults off the bamboo poles.
This is a great place if you're on a budget but still want a nice ambiance and huge selection of food. I haven't tried their regular dishes, only the sushi, and I've been satisfied every time.
Went here with a few friends and got the sashimi bowl. The food was good, but I'm not sure if the price is justified.
The decor reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The service was great, as is the decor. The only deterrent is the price value of the place.
I like it here. Happy to bring friends who are visiting. It's a little loud, and waiting for a table can be awkward. But there's a lot of variety, it's pretty cool inside, there are lots of different drinks to try, and the portions are good. And it's conveniently located on the Promenade. There are a decent number of vegetarian choices for me to feel welcome. Service can be slow, though.
I've had better. Again, not a fan of Asian Fusion but somehow, I find myself at these places quite often. I had the Japanese Seafood Salad and split an order of the Monsoon Rolls. They were ok. If you want sushi and rolls, head to 4th between Arizona and Santa Monica. There's a pretty sushi place there and also a Benihana's. I don't think I'd order any of the stuff I had again though. There really aren't that many places to eat on the Promenade. I seriously recommend venturing a street or two up to 4th and 5th. Much better eats.
btw...I think it's funny this place turns into a club. I had no idea but during dinner, we mentioned that the place would make a good dance club because of the set up.
My girl friends and I have worked in Santa Monica for the past seven years, but we do not dine at Monsoon as often as we'd like mainly due to the lunch hour service. Like most professional offices, we are on a strict one hour lunch. Given that we work less than three blocks away from our office, it should not be a problem to get in, eat and get out. But each time (like today) that we have gone during our lunch hour, we are always kept in limbo wondering if this is a day we are supposed to wait to be seated, or to just seat ourselves. It seems as if Monsoon can't make up their minds on what to do there. This can so easily be cleared up if they had a sign up.
Anyways, there's never enough waitstaff on duty. Plenty of people to pick up our empty dishes or sometimes refill our drinks, but no one to take our orders. The one waiter on duty will randomly take the orders of other tables who came in after us, but leave us without even a glass of water. After we impatiently asked around, he finally came to our table to get our order. Basic things like refilling our drinks, checking in on us, getting our food and check in a timely manner was like pulling teeth. My friends and I believe that Monsoon had, at the very least, two waiters working on the main floor during the lunch hour rush, most of these problems would not be an issue.
So only 0 stars for the super craptastic service. I blame management for this one. 2 stars for the food which is not that bad.
Walking around the Promenade we found ourselves famished. We stumbled upon the Monsoon Cafe in time for lunch. We sat ourselves outside on the patio. There was no hostess present. We were greeted by our server shortly.
They have a good selection of sushi but we both were in the mood for sandwiches. We ordered;
Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich - Grilled teriyaki chicken on a sourdough roll, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and Chinese salad. Served with tempura sweet potato fries
Ahi Steak Sandwich - Grilled teriyaki Ahi tuna steak on a sourdough roll, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and Chinese salad. Served with tempura sweet potato fries
(Both well prepared, and good taste but not served on a sourdough roll. The bread was more a hoagie style roll. Still was okay but expecting the sourdough. The Chinese salad they both came with was more like a garnishment. The flavor for both was very much enjoyable. The Sweet Potatoe fries were a great compliment to both sandwiches.
I went here for Happy Hour with a girlfriend. Believe me, I hesitated. But I'm not one to deny anyone or anything a second chance, so back I went.
Surprise!
Love the service. (Cutest female Slovakian bartender who was so friendly and loved talking about her AC/DC obsession).
Love the $4 roll deal.
Love the $4 drink deal. (Add $1 extra for martinis)
Love my company.
So 2 rolls, 2 drinks, 1 bowl of edemame, and 2 bowls of miso soup later and our total bill? $17! Wow!!!!
So yes, Monsoon moves up another star. Very surprised. And yes, I will be back for Happy Hour again.
Nice! I love being surprised.
Mon 'SO-SO' soon
Average in menu, but unique in decor. I felt like I was back in the Philippines…
Read more »
10 % off for Yelper
Los Angeles, CA
Football happy hour and free…
Neighborhood: West Hollywood
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Arts & Entertainment
Neighborhood: Playa Del Rey
Category: Dance Clubs
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Dance Clubs
Neighborhood: West Los Angeles
Category: Performing Arts
Neighborhood: El Segundo
Category: Sports Bars
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
"Every woman has the love life she wants" Dermot…
Re-Adjustment, as the term is used…
When I just need to get my sweat on and dance…
I love Seattle, but I insanely miss Los Angeles…
Where to go when you need to feed the hungry,…
when ya gotta go you gotta go . . . here's my list…
I'm talking about the area bounded by…
