Monte Alban Restaurant

(310) 444-7736

11927 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025 34.0419 -118.4609

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Neighborhoods: West Los Angeles, West LA

MONTEALBAN.COM

Hours:

Monday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Tuesday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Wednesday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Thursday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Friday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Saturday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Sunday 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Price:

$

Last updated 10.14.11

Category:

Restaurants

Payment Methods:

American Express, Visa, Diners Club, MasterCard

Restaurant Special Features:

Local Favorite, Cheap Eats, Hidden Find

General Info:

Open 7 Days

Cuisine:

Mexican

What People Are Saying About Monte Alban Restaurant

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

The Scene – If you blink too hard, you'll miss this homey Mexican eatery sandwiched between a kosher market, a dry-cleaner and three other hole-in-the-wall eateries. But as is often the case in Los Angeles, good things come in strip-mall packages. – – The Food – The menu features a colorful assortment of dishes, from tamales, tacos and enchiladas served with a Oaxacan twist, to more exotic items like nicuatole--a subtle, flowery-sweet Oaxacan-style pudding--and the taco de barbacoa packed with veggies and tender, tasty young goat topped by zingy green salsa. But the…

Editor's Tips

Save Money:
All the prices here are nice, but with weekday lunch specials served from 11am to 3pm, you can enjoy most lunch and dinner items for less than $6.
ambiance
100.0% positive
  1. The service is very friendly and the ambience is nice
dessert
100.0% positive
  1. All tortillas and other griddled corn cakes like the memellas or clayudas are delicious, fresh and surprisingly light cooked with seemingly less grease and lard than most places.
drinks
100.0% positive
  1. The coffee is just delicious too, brewed with cinnamon.
food quality
95.64999580383301% positive
  1. GREAT soup
  2. good Mexican food
  3. love El Cholo and Baja Fresh too, but this is a unique place to try real mexican cuisine.
  4. Tacos resemble more a long skinny open ended burrito with delicious tender meat fillings and flavorful salsas.
  5. Monte Alban restaurant is verry good, the chicken soup is exellent, molcajete too.
  6. The food has more flavor than anywhere else I've been and the quality of the food is very good.
  7. The staff is very friendly and more than happy to advise on any dish.
  8. very good Mexican food.
  9. vegetarian can run into problems trying to find good, authentic Oaxacan food that fits her dietary habits, but Monte Alban handles that problem with ease.
  10. If you've ever had Oaxacan food or mole, then you'll be a big fan of this place.
  11. The coffee is just delicious too, brewed with cinnamon.
  12. The cecina meat is very tasty.
  13. great mole, soups, chips and salsa
  14. Here instead enchiladas are the authentic version of corn tortillas folded into incredible mole sauces with meat and cheese (good fresh delicious queso fresco) strewn accross the top.
  15. the soups are wonderful also, just wish they delivered
  16. like the mole negra (black mole) with chicken so much I don't really order much else, but everyone I've brought has been very pleased with his or her meal.
  17. The moles are all amazing, and the chicken is moist chicken breasts.
  18. Go here and get the soup while your date gets great mole.
  19. don't really like Oaxacan food, but I came here with some friends and they said it was good.
  20. The horchata is tasty, too.
  21. the homemade chips and salsa are great.
  22. The mole dishes are simple, chicken breast in sauce serviced with rice, but interesting and complex due to the levels of flavors in the incredible sauces.
  23. All tortillas and other griddled corn cakes like the memellas or clayudas are delicious, fresh and surprisingly light cooked with seemingly less grease and lard than most places.
service
66.66999816894531% positive
  1. The service is very friendly and the ambience is nice
  2. The staff is very friendly and more than happy to advise on any dish.
  3. The service is not that good.
value
100.0% positive
  1. The portions are big and the prices are very reasonable.
wait time
100.0% positive
  1. Tacos resemble more a long skinny open ended burrito with delicious tender meat fillings and flavorful salsas.
4 Star Rating: Recommended

05/04/10

great mole, soups, chips and salsa

by laurie87 at Citysearch

this place makes great red and black mole. the homemade chips and salsa are great. the soups are wonderful also, just wish they delivered

  • Pros: inexpensive, clean
  • Cons: bad parking, no delivery
4 Star Rating: Recommended

07/18/08

Best deal in West LA

by DinerShane27 at Citysearch

There is nothing ordinary about the food at Monte Alban, especially compared to the generic boring over greased Mexican restaurants that Southern California is filled with. All tortillas and other griddled corn cakes like the memellas or clayudas are delicious, fresh and surprisingly light cooked with seemingly less grease and lard than most places. The mole dishes are simple, chicken breast in sauce serviced with rice, but interesting and complex due to the levels of flavors in the incredible sauces. You won't find the common rolled enchiladas filled with jack cheese, or crispy shelled deep fried tacos. Here instead enchiladas are the authentic version of corn tortillas folded into incredible mole sauces with meat and cheese (good fresh delicious queso fresco) strewn accross the top. Tacos resemble more a long skinny open ended burrito with delicious tender meat fillings and flavorful salsas. What's more, you can fill up at this place splitting an appitizer, ordering one entree per person and maybe even having a soft drink for in the neighborhood of $10 a person.

  • Pros: Great authentic mexican food, change from most places around, CHEAP!
  • Cons: unappealing strip mall setting, but that adds to the character in some ways, at times slow (though other times quite fast) for food to come
1 Star Rating: Poor

03/09/08

Monte Alban

by RobinSolo at Citysearch

Based on previous reviews, I was excited to try this place. Sadly both my dining partner and myself found the food extremely ordinary.

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

02/11/08

good Mexican food

by buchef at Citysearch

Monte Alban restaurant is verry good, the chicken soup is exellent, molcajete too.

very good Mexican food.

les recomendamos el restaurant Monte Alban tienen muy buena comida

  • Pros: good food, good prices
  • Cons: service
5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

06/17/07

A place I keep bringing friends to

by h2o86 at Citysearch

I like the mole negra (black mole) with chicken so much I don't really order much else, but everyone I've brought has been very pleased with his or her meal. The spices are just right and the chicken is perfectly cooked and moist. The coffee is just delicious too, brewed with cinnamon. It's inexpensive and I always leave full and contented.

The Details on Monte Alban Restaurant

Place Categories:

  • great black mole
  • great soups
  • great salsa
  • delicious clayudas
  • great homemade chips
  • authentic oaxacan food
  • not that good service
  • very good mexican food
  • incredible mole sauces
  • very friendly staff
  • just delicious coffee
  • fresh delicious queso fresco
  • love el cholo
  • nice ambience
  • love baja fresh
  • big fan
  • big portions
  • like mole negra
  • verry good monte alban restaurant
  • delicious tender meat fillings
  • recommended was
  • very good quality
  • unique place
  • delicious memellas
  • very tasty cecina meat
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