Mona's

Unfortunately, Mona's has closed.

When my friend suggested "Mona's" for lunch... I just assumed it was "just another Italian spot on the Hill". Not exactly...

As soon as I walked in, I had that weird feeling that I had been there before....AS MODESTO!!!!!

What a happy surprise...getting to try "the new version" of Modesto on my day off. We were there at lunch time and had the place to ourselves.

The first thing that struck me was how bright and airy the restaurant is now and having an open kitchen area makes it feel even more spacious. The bright blue and yellow color scheme is also happy and inviting. This did make me miss Modesto a little bit tho...

Since we were there for lunch, we mostly opted for salads and sandwiches, which also includes a pick two option for soup and salad.

I actually did a two-fer...trying two different salads. Fried green tomatoes is a rare treat, although there were just four tomatoes on top of a regular salad. Yet, I really enjoyed the rest of the salad since it came with house-made cheese and black olives!

Fried Green Tomato Salad

Then I got my favorite...chopped salad, which comes with even more of my favorite veggie goodies like chickpeas, artichokes, green olives, and white cheddar.

Chopped Salad

The Mona's Burger is actually a double patty with smoked provolone in the middle, balsamic onion jam, tomato confit, and their "Mona's sauce".

Mona's Burger

And the side of fries are all hand cut potato wedges!

Fries

The meatball sandwich was just huge...covered in melted provolone and Mona's homemade tomato sauce.

Meatball Sandwich

Only Patience went traditional with the adult-sized order (meaning two meals) of Spaghetti with meatballs. The pasta is made fresh there and had such thick noodles!

Spaghetti

I definitely hope to get back there to try their pizza and pasta!

Resources:

Mona's = http://www.monasjoint.com

Photos by Patience Scanlon