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| - My final Yelp review for 2016, boy what a year it has been!
We spent our NYE dinner at Monarch, a gorgeous restaurant in Scottsdale offering a set 4-course menu for $150/pp. You get the soup and salad, and then choose from two 3rd courses and from four main courses. Dessert not included and is extra. Every dish I selected (including dessert) was superb and would have been solid 5-stars. However, my wife's main course and dessert choice were both subpar (2-3 stars). I'm averaging the two and bumping up my rating to 4 stars since I really liked the awesome service and ambiance. As for the dinner:
* Kaboucha-Cauliflower soup was superb - the sweetness balanced by the saltiness of black truffle. Awesome grilled bread to eat with the soup! 5 stars
* Winter Salad was a creative, multilayered salad with dual dressings. It had some mild spiciness but I really liked the crunchiness of the corn vs the softness of the couscous. You get flavors of bacon and chilis too. 5 stars
* Both 3rd course options were good - seared scallop with parsnip puree and a lamb lollipop that was super tender and slightly sweet. A lollipop for sure! 5 stars for both.
* The main course had a divergence. My filet mignon (medium rare) was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The whole poached lobster tail on top of it was likewise perfect, as were the roasted potatoes and other puree sides (5 stars). My wife chose the chicken which turned out to be a mistake - overcooked, dry, and lacking flavor. (2 stars).
* Dessert was another divergence. Flourless Chocolate Cake was excellent - mostly sweet, some bitter to balance things out, and all moist! (5 stars). The wife chose rum cake which was super sweet and had no detectable rum flavor at all - it was closer to a honey-soaked cake (2 stars).
Service was top-notch, and I think its possible to have a 5-star meal here by sticking to the filet and lobster and chocolate cake.
Never order chicken from a restaurant unless the chef owner's last name is Keller or if eating at Lalla Grill in Monterey, CA.
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