Monk Beer Abbey

Three words: Belgian waffle sandwich. Wait, two more words: duck fries. Wait, one more word: beer. What can else can I say? The space is small, but we got a table immediately on a Friday night. Just reading the menu was exciting; I wanted everything. I can’t wait to go back and try some burgers– you can pick three and get them as sliders! Plus, they had a good selection of beer and you can order from Bastone.
Our server was great, the food came out wicked fast, and the ambiance was set with really cool lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
I would highly recommend this bar, even if I don’t want to share it with other people!

This little spot made us happy. Really straightforward and strong service here. The bartender worked with us on the menu to make the right call. The other guy had a hop in his step. The mussels and croque monsieur were heavy and delicious. The fries were as close to real Belgian french fries as I’ve experienced stateside. A perfect winter meal. A wide selection of Belgian beers and I mean the biggest I’ve seen in the area. We had La Chouffe on tap for 8 bucks and it was delicious. Not a bad price at all either. Plus they had Blade with Wesley Snipes kicking butt on TV — closed caption of course. I mean what else do you want?

This is my favorite restaurant and bar in Royal Oak. I love their mussels with corn and chorizo. I have never had a bad thing on the menu, it’s all excellent. The wait staff is always very friendly and knowledgeable and the chef is consistently great. They will serve beer from Bastones and wine from Vinoteca if you ask.

Had been here once before, wasn’t memorable but decided to come back & give it another try. Unfortunately, memorable but for the wrong reasons. Ordered the 3 sliders, all too salty, all either undercooked or way way overcooked. Beer here is mediocre. Their Chorizo Mac n Cheese is a $ 14 grease bucket that will put you on the toilet within minutes, I will not be back.

The food was great. They change the menu from time to time which I like. I had the elk burger, which was good. The duck fries are awesome a must have. They also make their own sauce called Mammoet sauce. It’s a mayo based sauce with a hit of sweet and spice. They are known for their waffle sandwiches which are good too. Too many beers to list, You will definetly find a beer you like.
I really enjoyed the service at this restaurant. At first our waiter took very long to get to our table, they were very crowded however the waiter really made up for it in hospitality and service. I throughly enjoyed my experience at Monk beer Abby, and would go again in a heartbeat.

Great burgers up in this piece! It’s an extension of Bastone’s but although they are physically connected and share the same restrooms, they do not share the same menu. It’s very small in Monk, but it’s never been packed so I always get a seat quickly. Food is always good, beers are fine. The burgers are the reason to come. Craft burgers that are huge and Bastone’s signature duck fat frites. Burgers are full of flavor and always cooked to order. Check out their web menu to see their interesting concoctions.
Wait staff is a weird hipster kind of thing and it’s mostly dudes serving which, well honestly, as a dude myself, I’d much rather have a waitress.
Other than that, not much else to say.
Check it out.

So good, first time here and I already can’t wait to go back! Muscles were fantastic. The slider trio was great too.

The best small place in Royal Oak. Came in here on a whim looking to try out some new beers. The service is far beyond anything I have ever had. The beer selection is amazing as well although a little high priced. The food wow amazing. I got the 3 slider with duck fat frys. My favorite slider was the elk with blue cheese. I also had a the pulled slider it was amazing super moist. The french frys with duck fat are the best things ever. I also had the dessert 2 bit menu selection. I cannot wait to come back for a second visit and try more of what is on the menu.

Almost want to keep the place a secret… but was here on a Monday and there was nobody there! What a shame for such a fine establishment.
They quite possibly have the best keep secret happy hour in Royal Oak and an excellent selection of fine Belgian beers.
The food is also delicious and a downright steal during happy hour.
Happy hour which runs Sunday to Wednesday from 4−7pm gets you half off entrees and 25% off bottled beers.
The duck frites are amazing, but not on happy hour but I’d get them anyway.
I like to get the sausage too which comes with a duck fried croquettes and 3 types of sausages (two bratwurst one beer boiled and one grilled and an andouille sausage).
The chorizo Mac and cheese is also amazing and you must add braised beef cheek to it.
Happy eats!

My BF and I checked this place out last night. Beer selection was amazing! You should go just for that. Our server Chris was friendly and knowledgable. My BF had the burger with fried egg and duck fat fries. So messy but super delish. I tried the pulled pork waffle sandwich but found it just wasn’t to my liking. I could see how some might like it but I wasn’t feeling the sauce, which is a pretty key part of a pulled pork sandwich. But Chris was very understanding and recommended that I try the Monk salad with ahi tuna instead and it was INCREDIBLE. I really appreciated the extra effort he put forth to make sure I had a great dining experience. After all this, we still found room for dessert! We ordered the apple pie with honey cinnamon ice cream. So good!
Overall, definitely give this place a try. We will be back!

Food was fantastic — happy hour offers half off dinner entrees. We tried a mussel sampler and all flavors were delicious and had depth in flavor. I had the chorizo mac and cheese and it was fantastic — I’m from Texas and chorizo speaks to my soul. The dish has a great kick to it, but not too spicy. My partner had the salad with seared ahi tuna, which was also pretty good. A little light on the actual salad part. The tuna was cooked perfectly and had good seasonings on it. Dressing was nice and light. Next time, excited to try the waffle sandwiches.
I may not be qualified to write this review since we didn’t try the beer :)
The cocktails… fantastic flavor/​combinations, but not very alcoholic at all. Was a little disappointing to have two drinks apiece and zero buzz. And strangely, no happy hour specials on the cocktails (not on the beer, either, I don’t think). Happy hour only applied to food. The weak cocktails are the reason for 4 stars and not 5.
Service was great, ambience/​atmosphere was great… will definitely return. We also happened to be there during Geeks Who Drink trivia, which was a lot of fun (Tuesdays at 7 pm).

Tasty beer, cozy atmosphere, attentive staff and amazing food! The cod waffle sandwich is heaven! Their prices are actually on the low side, especially considering the quality and amount of food you get.

A hidden gem inside Bastone. I usually start off with the Chorizo Mussels or the Wild Mushroom Mussels, delish! They serve the mussels with bread that I dip in the sauce after all the mussel are gone, yum! I’ve had their Burger with the spiced braised beef cheek, smoked gouda, avocado that is different, juicy, delicious goodness as well as their regular Burger with the fried egg and grilled tasso. I order my burger with light lettuce as they tend to put too much iceberg on there. I like my burgers with a side of dill pickle and they serve their dill pickles cut diagonally in half horizontally; different than your standard pickle spear. Their duck fat pomme frites are to die for, do not pass them up! Their beer selection is all Belgian style and average in price; you could order Bastone’s beer but I don’t care for it. I can’t wait to come back here.

Great place to have some good Monk beer! Shares the place with Bastone.
Must try their Trappist ales.

This place is incredible any day of the week if you’re in the mood for food, or just want some fantastic beer. The staff has really improved since they’ve opened and the current employees are excellent.
Top items:
Burgers
Fries — it’s ridiculous that fries are notable but they are.
Beer — easily the best Belgian styles in royal oak. They brew 5 or 6 beers on site; their dubbel and tripel are the best usually and I’ve had a hard time finding a triple I like better.

My favorite restaurant in all of royal oak! Get yourself a nice craft beer — most of the sours are fantastic (but make sure to ask about the price as some beers are over 10 bucks on draft). Get the sampler mussels and choose any 3. My favorites are the mushroom, chorizo and garlic butter. Get the sampler of sliders — can’t go wrong with every single one of them. Pair them with the duck fat fries and some mayo dip… Welcome to heaven!

Monk is definitely cozy, but we lucked out for a party of six and got great seats. The drinks were great, the guys loved the beer selections and the mixed drinks were good. Our food had a bit of a wait, but was tasty and hot. I’m looking forward to going there again soon.

Came here on a Friday evening and sat outside on the patio. We enjoy dining «Al fresco» when it’s nice out…
I had the black bean burger and it was very good. It has quinoa, soy beans, and great seasoning. I was stuffed eating it. The portions are generous and filling. My husband got the cheese board and it was HUGE. He was very pleased with the variety of cheese, meats and even fruit. The best part about the board was the bread servings. He usually always runs out of bread, crackers, toast, etc. But, he had more than enough, plus some.
The beer selection is extensive and they are under the same ownership as Jolly Pumpkin. If you’re into that selection of beers, you’ll be happy!
The server we had was new and overly attentive, which was nice. But, it started getting busy and it was hard to find him when we wanted to cash out. But, that would not detour me from coming back.
Sadly, we did not get to enjoy the full experience since it started pouring and we cashed out and left.
I would like to go back again to eat the black bean burger and dine outside when it’s not raining.

Good find on my friend’s part. She was coming to visit and I wanted her to check out Royal Oak. She looked through Unilocal and found this gem. We arrived on a Saturday evening around 7pm. Easy. Got a spot by the door surrounded by three televisions for the Duke vs. Michigan State game.
Ordered a salad with no protein. It wasn’t half bad.
The spot light our meal was the mussels! I am coming back for the mussels. They give you so much! It can be an entire person’s meal or even two! Wild mushrooms, garlic, herbs, cream 9 and White wine, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, salted butter 9. Both comes with two baguettes to dip in their amazing sauce. My favorite was the wild mushrooms. YUM!
Service is quite good.
They offer a lot of beers but two of the ones my friend wanted was out.
Nice restrooms. One hand-​dryer but two stalls

I came with my husband to try their Restaurant week menu. Why, you say? Cuz they freaking had foie gras burger! As a recent transplant from San Francisco and the ban and all, which by the way was lifted right when we left, I had to get my hands on some foie.
The weird thing is that it is attached to Bastone and we were a little confused that even though they were attached to Bastone they had their own menu for Restaurant week. Other than that it is a cozy atmosphere and our server was nice and welcoming. No other waiter got me to order the extras or expensive seasonal suff on tap like he did. Get there at the right time and you can snag a spot easily. Go there 15 minutes later than the optimal time and it’s packed. Despite it being busy we still got enough attention from our wait staff.
Ok now on to the important stuff: food quality
Unfortunately some things were hit or miss. We ordered the beer and cheese soup and house pâté for apps. Foie gras burger and donner kabob for mains. Lastly, banana fritters and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. The beer and cheese soup had a great taste! I loved the nutmeg they added. The only thing is that it lacked salt. For my house pâté plate it had food elemengts of taste. Enough salt in the pâté, sweet from the jam of some sort on top of the pâté and some tartness from the dressing they put over the tomatoes and onions that accomanied the pâté. Although it was a mundane presentation, it still tasted good.
The foie gras burger. A disappointment. The burger itself was cooked well and a good portion but that foie was a tiny tiny piece. It was so small because it was cooked within an inch of its life. It had the taste of foie but had all the fat rendered out of it during the cooking process. The duck fries that I had with my burger was pretty awesome and beat tghe seasonal fries by a ton. The donner kabob that my husband got was delicious! I was jealous of what he had. It was a heaping portion that could barely be contained in that pita and the flavor of the slaw went really well with the lamb. The only very very small thing would be proportion of slaw to lamb, but you can easily fix that by taking some slaw out before shoving it into your mouth.
Sticky toffee pudding is my favorite dessert of all time. So when I get it I’m a stickler for the taste. And it passed with flying colors. It wasn’t as dense as other sticky toffee puddings but that only made it so I wanted more because it was so much lighter. The addition of the pecans (I think) were also a bonus for added texture. Banana fritters was another miss. There was a little too much fritter to banana and either the banana was under ripe or they used sweet plantains because it was starchy. Other than texture and ratio. Taste was pretty good because I think that sauce on top saved it.
Overall, the atmosphere, the good food we did had, and good beer selection will keep us coming back again and again. Don’t get me wrong the mishaps just made certain dishes ok instead of good. I have high hopes that they will be able to fix their small food mishaps.
I’ll be back!