Oakleys Cafe & Bistro

Excellent food and delicious margaritas! Good service. Would definitely eat here again!

Been a long time, loyal customer. New owner has completely taken away all that we loved. Cancelled bands, limited menu and no longer allow eating in the lounge area — something we have done for nearly 6 years. Tried their New Year’s bash and it was just a sad affair. Not sure if any of this is because they are now a Ramada. Won’t be coming back since there are places in Monument who value our business.

If I can do zero stars I would. Upon entering there was a sign saying discounts/​coupons are not being honored due to NEW ownership. The waitress goes on to say it’s also because of fraud. We came here because of the hard plastic high school discount card. Not cool where we would of easily left but didn’t.
We’ve been here many times before and it was good food.
The food tonight was CRAP. Save time and go to McDonalds. I don’t even do fast food. My husband ordered a medium burger and it came back well done. We told the waitress but didn’t have time to wait for another one since we waited over a half hour for food to arrive. My soda glass stayed empty without refills. Basically, I was not happy tonight.

Fail!
They had a musician scheduled to perform tonight. It’s why we went. We showed up. He didn’t.
The server told us the new owner cancelled him at the last minute (though his name was still on the sign.
We checked the musician’s FB page. He was cancelled this afternoon).
Far from a class act. I’m sure he could have made other arrangements if he had some notice.
Our group was planning to meet for dinner, drinks, and music.
They cancelled on us — we cancelled on them. We are enjoying dinner and the ball game at Back East.

Not a fan. Worst problem… poor service. Went at 5:15 on Wednesday, 6 August 14. Although there were three employees at the bar, not one of them acknowledged me for 5 minutes so I moved to a closer table to them. Even then I didn’t get a good vibe… from anybody! Finally, the hostess came to take my drink order. The burger I ordered was not cooked to order and I would have told the waiter had he checked back with me. Couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Food = veyry good. Atmosphere = OK. Service = worst in the universe

Food is good if you can get past the waitstaff. Service is not a top priority. We had to wait for a table because it was a Friday night. Had to find a waitress who informed us that this was not her table but she would help us anyway. We asked who our waitress was and she told us she did not know. Mind you there are only 7 seven tables in the main bar area so not sure how she didn’t know. So Apperantly asking someone who your waitress is makes them cry because then the head bartender came over to chastise us for making her cry and yelling at her. Filled with «regulars» at the bar that definitely seem to get better service. I have been there a few times but definitely not a regular
So overall drinks good, food good but service is seriously lacking.

I’m not sure if they have recently had a renovation, etc… But I thought it was lovely! My husband and I went in on a Monday about 7, and it was indeed busy with many locals. The restaurant part wasn’t open, (at least it didn’t appear that it was) but the bar area was cozy and upscale, and not pretentious at all. The waiter Olivia was lovey and prompt; we received our drinks quickly. We ate two burgers that were decent sized; avocado was generous and fresh. The sweet potato fries were tasty. The addition of pesto mayonnaise was a nice touch on the bun.
Not too terribly difficult to mess up, but it was decent food, a decent amount, and decently presented. I really wanted to like it, and not being a fan of chain restaurants, I was happy that we ignored the many negative reviews and tried it ourselves. Happy we did!

Well, from what I can remember we had a great time at this place after a wedding. There was a large group of us staying at the Sundance Mountain Lodge and we were ready to keep the celebration going.
Lots of room for lots of people meant a loud, fun-​filled night in Monument. The crowd seemed to be having a good time seeing as it was a beautiful Saturday night.
The drinks flowed like a babbling mountain brook and they weren’t too expensive either. I can’t comment on the food cuz it was purely a liquid visit. However, we were well taken care of and this seems like a great place to just grab a bite or some drinks when the need arises. Not too shabby at all.

How is the food? I don’t know! We walked in the the wait staff basically avoided even seating us. They looked at us and ignored us. Save yourself the time and go somewhere else. I think these guys need to sign up for one of those reality shows for restaurant fixer uppers.

I’m almost afraid to rave about this place because it might cause my «hidden gem oasis» into a crowded annoyance… but good compliments are due when they’re due!
Food is fantastic, if you are a Spinach and Artichoke fan then definitely order this appetizer. It’s so fat-​tastic you will find yourself wishing you could swim in it, let alone eat it. The burger looked amazing, my boyfriend ordered it and wolfed it down so fast I never got a bite. The steaks are HUGE with decent pricing considering portion.
The happy hour margarita left a bit to be desired but for $ 3 you can’t really expect a Patron miracle…
The beer is one of my main reasons for coming here. They have an amazing selection of local and domestic and their prices, well, I don’t even want to mention it lest it become public knowledge… Let’s just say it’s the best price in Monument.
Live music and Karaōke are always a plus when we’re there. Local bands and musicians can come and peddle for the crowd, but in a nice, no pressure, sort of way.
All in all an amazing place with good staff, great food and ridiculous bang for your buck.
GO HERE!

Great little place no one knows about. Great service. Ask for Blake to serve you. He is fantastic. Food is great and prices extremely low.

Been reading several bad reviews for this, but my experience was fine.
My boyfriend ordered a steak medium-​rare, which came out a little rarer than expected. When the waitress was notified the problem was corrected fairly quickly, though the steak was still a bit redder than desired. I would be interested to see what their version of rare is if that was medium rare. However, the burger that I ordered, also medium rare, was cooked to perfection. Strange.
We also ordered an appetizer of spinach and artichoke dip, which had plenty of dipping things with it. Carrots, celery, pita, and chips. I wanted French onion soup, but it had been discontinued.
I ordered a rum and coke, which the bartender made strong and in a full-​size soda glass in hopeful compensation for the not quite cooked enough steak.
Overall, the food all tasted very good, and the service was certainly friendly, but it could have been a little faster and I still don’t know why the steak was so rare.

Great food. Good prices. Loved my ribeye and the spinach dip appetizer. Plenty of New Belgium beers on draft. Shelby gave great friendly service.

A hilarious little adventure into the glory that is dining in Monument — rolled in at 10a on a Saturday and was immediately told that they were crazy busy, so service would be a bit slow — fine, I just wanted caffeine — but then when I looked around and realized that only abt 8 tables were full and this was causing PANIC in the waitstaff, I began to worry.
Yes, I did have to flag someone down repeatedly for coffee and refills, but the waitress was super friendly and apologetic — and the coffee was actually drinkable black, which is more than I can say for many places — the food looks nice on the surface and the portions are ample, but the blueberries were moldy, and the eggs improperly scrambled (I know…) — the waiter; however, took several opportunities to comment to me that he just wanted work to become so he could have a beer with his lady, which really brought the level of professionalism to a new level. This is brunch, not therapy. Monument, if this is the best, I’d say hitch ride to CO Springs and get your church brunch on rather than hit up Oakleys (which needs an apostrophe, PS).

I would like to go on record as saying I *wanted* to LOVE Oakley’s.
I *wanted* it to be as amazing and inspired as the venue, the Sundance Mountain Lodge– a place with a bit of an identity crisis of it’s own, being a reasonably-​priced, eco-​aware, artistic & rustic mountain-​lodge type establishment, overlooking an interstate and an aluminum office park in Monument– that houses it.
But alas, vision and charm only go so far at the Sundance Mountain Lodge, stopping abruptly OUTSIDE the door to Oakleys.
We ate there 3 nights over an extended stay, in part because we have a picky 4-​year-​old who thrives on routine and familiarity. Night 1, Oakleys was DEAD. It was literally us, a lady on a laptop at the bar, and the bartender with no wait staff. We ordered drinks, and our bartender/​server was brief to ask, «You guys don’t actually want menus, do you?»
No, no thanks.
I usually don’t like to feed my family when I take them to a restaurant, thank you!
BUT,
Once we did order, I have to give it to the bartender, service was swift, dishes came out of the kitchen hot and within minutes, and even if he was inconvenienced, our guy got a 30% tip for making my kids happy.
Night #2, a Friday, Oakleys was jumping and tables were scarce:
Music was loud and a jukebox on the back wall competed with house sound, with patrons yelling at each other to be heard. Our server came by and grabbed our drink order immediately– then we didn’t see him, OR our drinks, for the 23 minutes AFTER I started keeping time out of frustration (so at least a half hour).
I was looking around for him, and caught sight of him peeking around a column to look at us, then bolting the OPPOSITE direction when he saw our table searching for him.
Did I mention he had ONE table (as did the two other servers in our section)??
So 23 minutes to drinks, and no apps or meals for the kids.
Brilliant.
When the waiter finally brought out drinks, wouldn’t you know he went to LEAVE again before I/​we could order entrees for the adults in our group. We had to stop him and ASK to put in food orders after more than 30 min at an empty table, with a mix of adults and hungry, frustrated children.
Which was exactly what we continued to be for the additional 42 minutes it took for appetizers and no kiddie meals to arrive.
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 23 min for drinks + 42 min to appetizers (which were as tasty as ice cold apps can be!) = 1 hour and 5 minutes, in which we’d seen our server twice and had empty glasses all around, which of course he ducked on and never returned for with promised refills.
So all that being said and done, entrees arrived 26 minutes later (having been ordered exactly 42 min. + 26 min earlier). And while flavors were good, temps were all over the board, with cold food, hot plates, lukewarm entrees and wilted salads.
The table behind us had ordered specialty bugers, and when theirs came out, multiple parties at the table were grabbing their waiter with complaints: «Um, my burger was supposed to come with avocado, red onion, and pesto, but al I have is a bun with meat and cheese?» «Yeah, and I was supposed to have bacon, lettuce, and tomato, but all you brought me was meat on bread?»
So lots of lacking detail, folk:
Lots of missed opportunity.
Over an hour and a half of just WAITING.
And when kids wanted to go back a third night, all of us groaned.
Luckily, the restaurant was at medium, unrushed capacity on Saturday, and when service went south early on, my husband stepped in and said something for the group. Nicely, but he asked about our drinks. When none still showed up, he asked another server. And when we still had none, he ordered for us off the bar.
I noticed the server next to us start running things for our table, too (he poured our drinks at the bar, grabbed menus for us, bought out missing silver setups and napkins, etc. In other words, he totally covered our incompetant server’s a$$) (sidenote: if you go to Oakleys, pray you get either the younger guy with hipster glasses who looks kind of like Jon Krasinki, or the wiry good-​looking black dude who’s not terribly tall)
I don’t even remember what we ate, but wait times, beyond the drinks, were reasonable this night. Food was yummy, and innovation was evident, but the fact is, my hubby had to be pushy to even get drinks within 20 minutes. Call me crazy, but I *want* to be nice to my server… I *want* to tip a quarter of the bill… I want to enjoy the venue and the people there, the food and experience, and I want to *want to* come back again.
Unfortunately, Oakleys food and ambience are forgettable next to their glaringly crappy service. I remember and tracked time intervals on my phone because they were so outside the ordinary… my wish is that the food and experience were what I’d been inspired to keep with me rather than what was missing.

The service leaves a lot to be desired here. The food wasn’t all that great and the beer selection could have been a lot better. If you’re just looking for a quick bite there are many other restaurants in the area that may provide a better experience.