Monkey Cat Restaurant

Liza Thomas

If you’re looking to book an event for a group of 25 or less, this is your spot. Erica was our host. She took care of all the details. She was consistent with her communication and went above and beyond to make our day special. The entire restaurant staff were so welcoming and helpful. Shoutout to Brie our wonderful bartender. The food is absolutely delicious. Every dish was beautifully presented and made with the freshest ingredients. We had the best time. Thank you to all of the Monkey Cat team for making our family celebration a wonderful experience.

thegardengazer

The presentation of the dishes we ordered was fantastic, and the food was both good and tasty. The customer service was also excellent.

Kirsten Converse

We had an amazing dinner with exceptional service by Erica tonight. Erica was so welcoming and enjoyable. We shared the beet salad and it was out of this world and the creamy blue cheese and tangy vinaigrette paired perfectly with the roasted beets. Mike had the rack of lamb which came with roasted fennel and Brussels sprouts and it was delicious. I had the seafood rissotto which was equally delicious. We both thoroughly enjoyed the food, ambiance and thank you Erica for providing exceptional service. Highly recommend.

Bob Dobolina

Awesome food in a very beautiful space! The chef and crew prepares the most fabulous food! And the mixed drinks were fantastic. Service was great, friendly and fast, and we were never wanting. Mains were all perfect, shrimp corn dogs were delicious, and the carmel cheese cake and butter cake were sublime!

T Cahill

Stopped by for lunch. Good selection of sandwiches. We chose the TBLT and the 3 mini tacos plus fries. Our server was very friendly and efficient. The food was fresh and tasty. The restaurant was pretty quiet for a Saturday. They were playing 80s music which we loved.

Michele Paintergirl Hopkins

I have been here about 3 times. I have always had a great experience! The burgers and the Malibu Barbie drink are both amazing.

Noel Reeves

Very nice upscale restaurant in old town auburn. Great food and drinks, limited food items on menu but food was great! Definitely would come back to this spot.

Tara Dunn

Stopped by for a late lunch and drink after hiking the Cardiac Trail. The place was cute, food and cocktail was decent. Food: Seared Albacore Tuna and Wings (starters). Drinks: St Paradise & JR (Just Relax). I would like to come back to try a main dish - this time we just weren't that hungry.

Celebrated our daughter's 19th at the Monkey Cat before she heads back to Pennsylvania for college. We made a reservation for 3 a day before and when we arrived....we were impressed. The Monkey Cat Crew greeted us and continued to be on point all around 5 stars to the Chefs, and the whole crew. Our server was great too!

Friday we dined at Monkey Cat for our 6-8th visit. Sarah greeted us with a genuine smile and sat us promptly with our reservation. Our service and food was fantastic as always! Thank you for a great birthday celebration.

Faith Hill

Celebrated our daughter's 19th at the Monkey Cat before she heads back to Pennsylvania for college. We made a reservation for 3 a day before and when we arrived....we were impressed. The Monkey Cat Crew greeted us and continued to be on point all around 5 stars to the Chefs, and the whole crew. Our server was great too!

Rick Fernandes

This place is amazing! The food is delicious, and the service is excellent. I highly recommend it if you’re visiting from out of town with friends and looking for a great spot to eat.

Rachel Nikula

Friday we dined at Monkey Cat for our 6-8th visit. Sarah greeted us with a genuine smile and sat us promptly with our reservation. Our service and food was fantastic as always! Thank you for a great birthday celebration.

Ann Reh

We've enjoyed many special-occasion meals at Monkey Cat over the years, and last week we celebrated a landmark anniversary there. The food was delicious, our hostess delightful, and Jimmy O's music completed the wonderful experience. Thanks to all the staff. You made us feel cared for and special. Our best anniversary yet!

This restaurant is in old town Auburn, on a street beautifully lit with string lighting at night. Our service was great! Unique ice figures in our drinks. The appetizers and dinner choices were delicious. The desserts were 50/50 - the caramel cheesecake was fantastic, but the cream brûlée was watery and not good at all, which is why I could not give this dining visit a 5 star review.

Visited for dinner after not dining at this restaurant for some time. Very pleased with the service I received and I would say that the food was decent. For the price point, I had higher hopes that it would be a bit better and the food came out luke warm rather than hot. I did love the tomato blue cheese soup though and would return just for that! The gummy bear drink was so cute too!

Del G

This restaurant is in old town Auburn, on a street beautifully lit with string lighting at night. Our service was great! Unique ice figures in our drinks. The appetizers and dinner choices were delicious. The desserts were 50/50 - the caramel cheesecake was fantastic, but the cream brûlée was watery and not good at all, which is why I could not give this dining visit a 5 star review.

Nikki KM

Visited for dinner after not dining at this restaurant for some time. Very pleased with the service I received and I would say that the food was decent. For the price point, I had higher hopes that it would be a bit better and the food came out luke warm rather than hot. I did love the tomato blue cheese soup though and would return just for that! The gummy bear drink was so cute too!

My friends and ourselves were on a double date in downtown auburn and decided to stop and try this restaurant because the food seemed appetizing. The water guy was amazing as every few minutes he kept coming back and filling up our waters. The food was very good. The calamari was honestly the best cooked that we have had in a long time. Salads had fresh ingredients, the seafood to pasta ratio in the seafood pasta was very generous. Food came out about as fast as you would expect for a packed Saturday night. The look of the restaurant was cute and fun. This place was clearly very popular. The olive oil was light and fresh and the vinegar was not too pungent. The bread was sourdough and was fresh enough but not right out of the oven. I marked down 2 stars for three main reasons, the restrooms were always occupied and were clearly not adequate to the amount of guests. The second reason was the price we paid vs the relatively small portions we got with things like the crab cakes. Bonus reason, we arrived a few minutes before they opened and they easily could of let us sit but turned us away for the few minutes left before opening. The third reason, is that our waitress gave my friend the look of death when he asked her not to throw away salad even if it didn't come out right. They asked for their salad with dressing on the side and it came out with dressing in it, and being that they didn't want to waste food they asked if the salad was going to be tossed and if it was just to leave it. The waitress very quickly grabbed the salad and gave my friend the look of death and said "no! We are going to throw it away" it really just ruined the mood of the evening. It made us feel like we were trash just because we didn't want food in the trash. Keep in mind it was their kitchen that messed it up. It was clear that our waitress had too much to handle that night because she was giving stern talkings to the other staff from what we could tell. So atmosphere wise this place seemed kind of hostile and we aren't sure if we ever want to be out through that again even if the food is good and the location is cute.

We made reservations for 6 based on a recommendation for an end-of-trip dinner with local relatives before we flew back across the continent the next day. Seated immediately and service was good. Beef stroganoff, chicken cordon bleu, lamb rack, MC Burger, summer salmon, and center cut filet. The filet was too salty, and was offered to recook. An issue was that the medium rare filet was not returned until everyone else had finished. The food was good, quiet atmosphere that night.

Great flavors underwhelming execution. Portions are very small for the price. Seafood risotto had tiny pieces of shrimp in the rice rather than a couple prawns as expected, the half of a very small lobster tail was pretty good and the 2 med size scallops were cooked perfectly. The stroganoff was a little salty and a more traditional style would probably sell better. Overall it was a good experience but probably wouldn't return.

Patrick S. Poole

We made reservations for 6 based on a recommendation for an end-of-trip dinner with local relatives before we flew back across the continent the next day. Seated immediately and service was good. Beef stroganoff, chicken cordon bleu, lamb rack, MC Burger, summer salmon, and center cut filet. The filet was too salty, and was offered to recook. An issue was that the medium rare filet was not returned until everyone else had finished. The food was good, quiet atmosphere that night.

Stephen S

My friends and ourselves were on a double date in downtown auburn and decided to stop and try this restaurant because the food seemed appetizing. The water guy was amazing as every few minutes he kept coming back and filling up our waters. The food was very good. The calamari was honestly the best cooked that we have had in a long time. Salads had fresh ingredients, the seafood to pasta ratio in the seafood pasta was very generous. Food came out about as fast as you would expect for a packed Saturday night. The look of the restaurant was cute and fun. This place was clearly very popular. The olive oil was light and fresh and the vinegar was not too pungent. The bread was sourdough and was fresh enough but not right out of the oven. I marked down 2 stars for three main reasons, the restrooms were always occupied and were clearly not adequate to the amount of guests. The second reason was the price we paid vs the relatively small portions we got with things like the crab cakes. Bonus reason, we arrived a few minutes before they opened and they easily could of let us sit but turned us away for the few minutes left before opening. The third reason, is that our waitress gave my friend the look of death when he asked her not to throw away salad even if it didn't come out right. They asked for their salad with dressing on the side and it came out with dressing in it, and being that they didn't want to waste food they asked if the salad was going to be tossed and if it was just to leave it. The waitress very quickly grabbed the salad and gave my friend the look of death and said "no! We are going to throw it away" it really just ruined the mood of the evening. It made us feel like we were trash just because we didn't want food in the trash. Keep in mind it was their kitchen that messed it up. It was clear that our waitress had too much to handle that night because she was giving stern talkings to the other staff from what we could tell. So atmosphere wise this place seemed kind of hostile and we aren't sure if we ever want to be out through that again even if the food is good and the location is cute.

First time in, was highly recommended. Good wine selection and the waitress was nice and attentive. Bread service is not complimentary. We started with the tomato blue cheese soup and the lobster bisque. The soup was nice, lots of blue flavor. The bisque, not so much. It was to thin, needed cream and not a piece of lobster to be found. A bisque has to have body..this didn't. We decided to skip mains and moved on. Might give another try, we will have to see.

Ordered short ribs, was served a piece of chuck roast. I know a pot roast from short ribs. Our waitress was nice, maybe a little inexperienced, but she was pleasant. The polenta was creamy and delicious, but a bit skimpy on the serving size. The table rocked.

Marlene W

Ordered short ribs, was served a piece of chuck roast. I know a pot roast from short ribs. Our waitress was nice, maybe a little inexperienced, but she was pleasant. The polenta was creamy and delicious, but a bit skimpy on the serving size. The table rocked.

Similar to other reviews, I was really disappointed in the food here. We also got the short rib and seafood risotto like many of the other reviewers and had the same issues: the risotto is described as having lobster, scallops and some other seafood and we got risotto with two scallops on it. The short rib was clearly a piece of pot roast that unfortunately was dry and salty and I love salt so that’s saying a lot. The risotto was good but not for $45. That was $90 worth of mediocre food. I’m not really sure how mislabeling like that can continue for so long according to the dates on other reviews, but that’s what you get if you order one or both of those items. Our drinks were good, but I’m not sure any cocktail is worth $18. I live in the Bay Area and wouldn’t pay that. We still left a good tip and spent almost $200 for two entrées, two cocktails and two glasses of wine.

Our expectations were directly related to the reviews. Unfortunately, our experience was quite different. Although we were seated quickly, it took nearly 15 min to be greeted by our waitress. Due to the delay we ordered promptly… it then took 45 minutes before our selections were tabled. The two entrees of seafood risotto was very disappointing to say the least, cold and lacking any promised seafood beyond two scallops on the top, missing was the shrimp and lobster within the risotto. It’s apparent that our waitress was more intent conversing with others than ever checking in with us during our entire time. I hope that our experience is the exception.

Lisa

Similar to other reviews, I was really disappointed in the food here. We also got the short rib and seafood risotto like many of the other reviewers and had the same issues: the risotto is described as having lobster, scallops and some other seafood and we got risotto with two scallops on it. The short rib was clearly a piece of pot roast that unfortunately was dry and salty and I love salt so that’s saying a lot. The risotto was good but not for $45. That was $90 worth of mediocre food. I’m not really sure how mislabeling like that can continue for so long according to the dates on other reviews, but that’s what you get if you order one or both of those items. Our drinks were good, but I’m not sure any cocktail is worth $18. I live in the Bay Area and wouldn’t pay that. We still left a good tip and spent almost $200 for two entrées, two cocktails and two glasses of wine.

Steven Goodale

Our expectations were directly related to the reviews. Unfortunately, our experience was quite different. Although we were seated quickly, it took nearly 15 min to be greeted by our waitress. Due to the delay we ordered promptly… it then took 45 minutes before our selections were tabled. The two entrees of seafood risotto was very disappointing to say the least, cold and lacking any promised seafood beyond two scallops on the top, missing was the shrimp and lobster within the risotto. It’s apparent that our waitress was more intent conversing with others than ever checking in with us during our entire time. I hope that our experience is the exception.