I was invited back to Monashee's after my first visit as they have just introduced a new menu, and instead of going for lunch again I thought I would take in a dinner.

The atmosphere is a lot different in the evening than compared to the afternoon. The lights are dimmed, the dining area TV's are turned to a scenic channel (don't worry they still have the sports channels on at the bar), and it's just feels relaxed.

The menu (Viewable at Monashees.ca) had a page each of appies, soups and salads, classics, sandwiches, and entrées. To me it was a perfectly sized menu, not so many choices that your keep flipping through pages, but just enough options for personal favourites and new creations.

I thought to get an appy and opted for the Tacos Con Pescado ($11), grilled halibut, salsa fresca and chili lime slaw. The fish, salsa, and slaw were great! They all tasted fresh and left you wanting more, but on the downside, they served it with four regular sized taco shells. Everything seemed so fancy except for these shells and you only get enough to properly fill two of them. (Yes I know a small flaw but I'm here to give my impressions, opinions, and thoughts! They should give mini-mini taco shells!).

For the main dish I ordered the Pear and Blue Cheese Salad ($11) with artisan lettuce, Okanagan pears, red onions, blue cheese ice cream, toasted walnuts, apple cider Dijon vinaigrette. For this review I am going to break it down to the good, the bad, and the ugly!

The good;

• The apple cider vinaigrette, this was so delicious. It had that bite that apple cider has but tasted so fresh and summer like...not one thing I could say bad about this dressing, it was great!
• Also to add to the good was the half a pear you get; crunchy, yet soft and sweet like a perfectly ripe pear.

The bad;

• Well it said "toasted walnuts"… and the very small amount that I did get was great but that was the problem. It felt like my salad got the bottom of the walnut jar crumbs...not many, very small, and almost non-existent. (again in keeping positive, the odd morsels that I got were all delicious!)

Now the ugly;

• Well it's all that's left to the salad, the blue cheese ice cream. Regular blue cheese crumbs on this salad would have put it over the top delicious but I just wasn't sold on the ice cream thing. There it was, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on my salad and it just didn't seem to belong. The taste of blue cheese just wasn't strong enough to over-power the ice cream taste and I would have preferred regular blue cheese in the salad instead.

A suggestion for someone wanting to try this salad, you may want to opt into adding your choice of chicken, crab, prawns, or steak for an additional $4 as the salad isn't very filling. It is essentially just the artisan lettuce, but worth tasting for the dressing! 

The person I was dining with ordered the Bison Meatloaf ($19), double smoked bacon, sour cream and chive mashed potatoes, and sour cherry gravy. I had a taste and thought the meatloaf was really great, moist and it had a great flavor. I'm not one to order meatloaf from a menu (in fact I have never ordered meatloaf while dining out) but I would order this meatloaf! The mashed potatoes were more like a potato soup, really runny and no substance, but tasted good.

Overall I was happy with my dining experience at Monashee's Bar and Grill. The atmosphere was very inviting and it's nice to have the option of a cozy booth or table and chairs to serve as many as you can bring in.

It was a quiet night to be in there and I found the service to be good; the food came out in great time and was presented very nicely. I would definitely go back and try out their other menu selections. I was glad I got invited back, but on a side note; bummed that I missed the Wine & Dine promotion...my bad!