text: First off I feel bad giving this place just three stars After reading all the reviews I was really hoping to like it a lot more than I did I have heard for months from friends and fellow yelpers about how awesome this place is so we decided to give it a try for early Vday dinner nnThe atmosphere is very very nice Nice little cottage with a kitchen where they have a few tables next to the chef a dining area and an outside patio area There are lots of candles and can be romantic place The waiters were all nice but we had some issues with the service A group of that came mins later than usjust sat next to our table and kept getting food quicker than us The most annoying part was that the waiters kept telling us our food would come but the speed and service was definitely lacking nnAs for the food it was definitely worth stars except for the main chicken pesto dish It was just two butterflied chicken pieces with pesto sauce no vegetables no special sauce nothing special I did love the appetizer white bean soup with side of bread with asiago cheese appetizer barley and poached shrimp w sweet asian chili sauce and one of the main dishes pork tenderloin with a sweet chutneyhint of curry sauce and asparagus The dessert was just some strawberries and fudge brownie Again nothing specialnnAll in all I did like the experience but the food left me thinking there could have been more or that it could have been better Maybe I went in thinking too highly of this place I am willing to give it another try but it is not that I would recommend to a friendnn I wanted to add something Chris the owner of the restaurant sent me an apology via email and phone call This says a lot considering chefs will get very offended if you talk remotely bad about their foodcreations I have to admit I feel bad if I seem very cruel in my review but I feel that I was not overexaggerating anything I like to think that I speak the truth and hopefully readers can appreciate that One last thing Chris pointed out to me that the chicken pesto had provolone cheese and spinach I am sorry Chris I have a dull palate nnAgain i would like to try cafe monarch again and will update on my next visit