Monk Beer Abbey

I was excited to try Monk, both from the reviews and from my curiosity about what had replaced the Cuban cafe. (Cafe Havana was originally in this spot. At one point it was my favorite Royal Oak restaurant. Then changes were made, I heard it was bought out, and the quality went significantly downhill.) I had heard that the owners (the same as the neighboring Bastone) wanted something they was more aligned with Bastone and the brewery. I found the new decor to be a bit heavy for the narrow space and it felt more closed in than during previous visits to the same space.

While my friend was very happy with the beer list and the beer, I was disappointed by the food. Not that everything was bad, because while there was some bad there was also some good stuff happening, but that it was not as amazing as the original Cuban.

I love beer cheese soup, so of course had to order this. The soup was thick and came with what I would call salad croutons on top. These are meant for salad, not soup, as they turned to mush due to contact with the soup. I had to pick them out. Soup croutons need to be hard and dense (a plea to the owners to please fix this!). The soup was a bit too thick and had more of a herb taste then I expected. It did have a good flavor though and was filling.

My friend and I shared two gaufres: the pulled chicken and the pork belly. The chicken was very good as was the garlic aloi, the mix of other ingredients reminded me of a chicken salad  with a waffles as the bread. The pork belly was not very good. The meat was thickly sliced and incredibly fatty. We are talking hunks of fat, equal amount to the meat. The sauce was too sweet and made the waffle too soggy. This was really too bad as I think pork does well with fruit sauces, cherry in this case. I did not bother to finish it. The sandwiches also came with a hunk of giant pickle. It was fairly good but very difficult to eat. We also had the pomme frites (french fries in the US) with duck fat. They came with ketchup curry and Bearnaise sauce for dipping. They were the best part of the meal. Fried perfectly with a sort of larger salt, just the right amount. My friend really enjoyed the curry ketchup.

We had random complaint during our visit. My friend ordered a pale ale that was carbonated and as a result was foaming as poured. while the waiter recognized this and did not fill the glass, he poured it straight in without tipping it which makes it worse. At a regular bar, okay fine, but this is called a beer abbey, the staff should know how to pour beer. Other than that the service was fine. The food was bought quickly and he checked back in with us.

Overall, I really liked the concept and think it has potential if the owners make some improvements. The other reviews seem to enjoy the moules so I would come back to try these.

This place is awesome. We had great food, great beer (a little pricey) and great service! It's pretty small so it wouldn't be good for a big group. Will definitely be going back.

This place is awesome. I was looking for something with a unique menu and this place fits the bill. I had the three different mussels for the app menu
then I had the waffle with pork belly and fries made in duck fat. DELICIOUS!!! Oh yea and they have some GREAT beer on tap. This place is a must if you want seething different.