has anyone been to montarra in algonquin

has anyone tried monterra [Montarra]

I have and it's fabulous!! The food is absolutely wonderful, the interior is beautiful, service great. I'd have to say it's hands down our favorite restaurant! Many many years ago we were huge fans of 1776. The chef was a guy named Rob Macey. He is one of the original founders/chefs of Monterra. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

Been there a handful of times now and have never not been wowed by everything I had. Haven't been back in a few months, so I can't give detailed descriptions. Food, service and ambience all wonderful. I do remember trying excellent foie gras, lamb, pork tendeloin with mashed parsnips and grilled duck breast with crispy duck confit. Great crab cakes and a nice tuna tartare. Great wines and spirits too. Also if I recall correctly, I believe they have a flight of creme brulees.

As we most likely will be moving to CL in the next couple of months, I am glad to see these reviews. One more promising non-chain restaurant to try. FYI, it is Montarra, not Monterra. (I was wondering why they didn't have a website, until I figured out through another search that I was not spelling it correctly.)

Montarra
1491 Randall Road
Algonquin, IL

http://www.montarra.com

Troy Graves is now the executive chef at Montarra out far away Algonquin. Has anyone been there since he started? We've always loved the food, and I have a feeling we will be loving it even more!!

What a coincidence... My wife and I have been loving the new menu at Montarra since Troy took over, and drove by tonight only to see a sign proclaiming: "Welcome home, Chef Dave!"

Major bummer, IMO. Dave was always (and probably will be) heavy handed in his seafood dishes -- over-sauced, over-cheesed (I don't need a 1/3 inch thick layer of boursin cheese on a nice piece of Tasmanian salmon). Always seemed to take the easy way out in those regards, while Troy was much more about letting the fish take center stage. He also seemed to bring in a wider range of flavors. Can't imagine Dave ever doing a wild boar pappardelle with green curry paste. Four cheese ravioli, for sure...

Looking at Yelp, quite a few local yocals were complaining about their beloved filet crisps and bacon wrapped scallops disappearing from the menu -- little did they recognize the dissonance of the fact that Chef Dave left to work for Cooper's Hawk, where he would be preparing their set-in-stone corporate menu.

So, looks like the owners either pushed Troy out the door, or he left due to the above mentioned type of complaints. Either way, you missed out on the opportunity to try some truly non-suburbanite cuisine in the burbs. Back to the bacon wrapped scallops and filet mignon bites. Kind of depressing...