The best new chicken and waffle shop in Los Angeles is tucked away inside a small plaza, next to a 7-11 and a Papa Johns Pizza. Monty’s Alhambra opened in January and already has a few regulars, including firefighters from nearby Station 74 and locals who frequent Granada Park just a block away.
Monty’s Alhambra started as Monty’s Chicken and Waffles in 2020, operating from a cloud kitchen near USC. The Alhambra location is its first brick-and-mortar location and founder Henry Arayasirikul took the chance to make it a reliable stop for every meal from breakfast to dinner.
“I wanted to bring it home,” Arayasirikul said. He was born in Alhambra and wanted to bring great tasting, no fuss comfort food to the San Gabriel Valley.
The idea for Monty’s came around after Arayasirikul was laid off shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — he’d been working at a restaurant startup on the finance side, which was hit hard by the pandemic and quarantine rules. Armed with his knowledge of the food industry, he started his own restaurant as a neighborhood takeout joint.
The journey to opening any restaurant has its fair share of challenges — rising food costs, staffing shortages, or overhead costs plague many stores — but Arayasirikul said he’s lucky to have an all-star team behind him and to be in such a welcoming community like Alhambra. “I’m very surprised how much support the community has shown so far,” he added.
For Monty’s, having an actual brick-and-mortar location means being able to meet the customers face-to-face and form relationships with the community. The Alhambra police and fire departments have shown up to support the new restaurant, and the quick service makes it an ideal pitstop for breakfast or lunch.
It’s also an opportunity to expand their menu, which the team is constantly innovating on. The two newest additions, the chopped cheese and breakfast burrito, were instant hits.
“The chopped cheese is my all-time favorite,” Arayasirikul shared. “I used to live in New York and on every corner you could find a chopped cheese, but there’s nothing here in SGV. I saw that there was a need for good sandwiches in Alhambra. Overall, Monty’s Alhambra embodies really great, delicious comfort food for the neighborhood.”
Who doesn’t love breakfast burritos, chopped cheese, and chicken and waffles? Visit Monty’s for your next Sunday brunch!
Address: 2132 S Fremont Ave
Hours: 10:30 am – 8:30 pm Friday-Tuesday
10:30 am – 5 pm Wednesday-Thursday
Phone: (626) 514-0588
