Mona Lisa's Restaurant

Restaurant Review by a Guy Who Has Eaten His Way Through the Best Kitchens on the East Coast It took me a minute to write this because, truth be told, I am brutally honest when it comes to Italian, Mediterranean, and Kosher or Halal cooking. After forty years in fine dining, cooking for military brass, congressmen, and Fortune 500 types who think they invented olive oil, I try to keep my standards realistic depending on the city. And look, this was Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Not Vegas, not Manhattan, not South Philly, and definitely not Wilmington. So I walked in ready to be fair. My wife and I needed a serious protein hit since we are both living that Keto life, and the clock was ticking before our fast. We do not do fast food. We wanted a place where the food had at least met fresh ingredi

Their food is absolutely delicious. Their staff is friendly and very accommodating. And it's just a cool place to be! We asked to be put by the fireplace because I was cold and they literally moved a table for us to be in front of the fireplace. Later they checked in about how we were doing temperature wise. They even include 18% gratuity so tipping isn't expected. We had great service, so still added more. My only complaint is they use Styrofoam boxes for leftovers.

Extremely tasty food & drinks. Service was great even tho they were short staffed. Reservations are a good choice. The crispy pork belly with cold ginger noodles & the soft boiled egg was a great appetizer. My husband doesn't even like pork belly & he was impressed. The pasta Rockefeller with scallops and shrimp was wonderfully tasty. The sauce was a little thin, but the flavor was perfection!

Art meets good food. I love the concept 😍 The ambiance is nice and definitely one of the formal dining around Eau Claire area. We ordered the pasta (Spicy Shrimp and Bolognese). The spicy shrimp was a little too spicy and this is coming from someone who can eat spicy food. We did love the Brussel sprout appetizer! I think that was our favorite. We'll try their other interesting dishes next time!

The food was fine, flavorful, but the salmon was dry. But my issue is with the "dine-in service fee". I know these exist (absolutely no reason anymore), but I'm sorry, I'm in a conversation while paying the bill, the server is asking us to leave (9pm) so I'm not scrutinizing the line items. I just realized I tipped 20% on a bill that already included a $14.50 service fee for dining in (it's a dine-in restaurant), for 35% total. I dine out all of the time for business and pleasure and have no problem tipping 20% as standard - but that shouldn't be on top of a self-added tip! Not now, 4 years after Covid. If the back room isn't getting paid enough, increase your salmon to $40 and be up front about it. This restaurant is off my business trips going forward. If this is the standard in