I looked forward to our reservation at Cafe Monarch having heard about the place and how wonderful it was. Almost everything was perfect as an anniversary dinner; however, the biggest issue was the price compared to the food. Here is the thing - if price...is no object to you, I cannot recommend this place enough. I, on the other hand, had to convince my wife to come here. That meant that everything had to be perfect. Much of it was, but the price tag just needed it to be perfect. I cannot express how much I wanted to give this 5 stars, and I think if you choose well on your ordering, you would give it 5 stars. Here is my experience. There were two choices for the first three courses and we took one of each so we could share and try everything. The argentinian shrimp are definitely the winner for course one and I highly recommend them. Lightly fried with a spicy sauce and the shrimp were cooked perfectly. I would say the winner of the second course was the squash blossom. Just perfectly done with a cheese center, I would have licked the plate if I could have gotten away with it. While I thought the scallop would be the best of the third course, our night also had a salad with a frozen sweet gelato with pork belly and pistachios along with a wonderful bleu cheese of some kind. The combination was amazing and nothing you would ever think of on your own. We added on the grilled octopus, which I highly recommend if it is available when you go. On the main entree, this is where I stumbled going with an old stand by - the rack of lamb. It was beautiful. A full rack cut into chops on a bed of pureed apricot with peaches and spinach on the side. The rack had an herbed crust to it. It was so beautiful, but the flavors were muted. The fruits were nice with the lamb, but it could have done so much more to stand out. On the other hand, my wife had the frutti de mare, and she was the clear winner. The pasta and shrimp and lobster were absolutely amazing. So, if I had ordered all of the winners together, I would be signing from the rooftops the praises of the food. Problem is, trying everything gave us some hits and misses. Wine list is quite excellent with very reasonable bottles and some very over the top bottles available. We shared a cabernet franc ice wine that is something we got into while we were dating and they had it there. They brought us a dessert for our anniversary that was a white chocolate shell of a heart with cream and strawberries inside. They also provided a complimentary glass of champagne at the beginning of the meal. It was truly an amazing meal that I will never forget and will talk about forever, but I will also have to talk about it with my wife reminding me how many other wonderful meals we could have had at a fraction of the price.More