Monty's located on Pitts Bay Road, Hamilton has been transformed from a casual eatery to a top shelf, captivating restaurant managed by Walter and Emma Simmons.

The moment you walk through the door your senses are stimulated by the beauty of the interior colours of light green and grapel (purple and grape).

The music is subdued and the lighting is soft and you know that you are going to have a pleasant dining experience be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m., lunch begins around noon to three, and dinner begins from six p.m. until 10 p.m.

Eventually they hope to remain open until about 1 a.m. The only time they close is Sunday evening.

Monty's opened November, 1997, and is known for its delicious food, with generous portions, at fair prices.

It is a local favourite spot for eating out and catches a lot of tourist trade from nearby hotels and guest houses.

Recently it was closed for 11 weeks for a refurbish and now it truly sparkles and has that upscale feel.

The dedicated husband and wife team aspire to make Monty's one of Bermuda's finest restaurants and they work long hours to ensure customers are satisfied and that business runs smoothly.

Despite this they are passionate about their work, as both have been in the business for many years. They are living their mutual dream.

"When you own a small restaurant you must be willing to do everything. It is hard work but it gives us joy to be able to satisfy our customers.

"We have many repeat customers and now we can compete with the top restaurants on the Island,'' Mr. Simmons said.

Mrs. Simmons, the general manager, has studied the hotel management programme offered at the Bermuda College and was employed by a small hotel for a while.

The floor manager, Mr. Simmons, started working in the restaurant business from the age of 17 and has been in the field for 20 years. He worked at the popular Carriage House, St. George's and the famous Mid-Ocean Club at Tucker's Town.

Mr. Simmons said: "At the old Monty's people didn't take us seriously. We focused on local trade and the visitors followed. Lots of visitors would come for breakfast and lunch but in the evening we were not catching the dinner trade.

"Now that we have a new look with ambience and sophistication our dinner trade is improving.'' The couple traveled to Florida and liked the decor of some of Miami's and Fort Lauderdale's nicer restaurants and praised `By Design', a local Bermudian company, for creating their new tropical, light and airy look.

`By Design' implemented several attractive changes to the restaurant such as an elevated dining section with a floor level section, a new sound system, palm trees, a small bar and romantic lighting for the evening.

During the evening the lights are dimmed, there is candlelight and jazz and instrumental music plays continuously. The high ceiling enhances the acoustics.

It is the perfect place to share a bottle of wine from their newly expanded international selections from France, New Zealand, Australia, California and Chile.

The evening menu offers wonderful selections from appetisers, soups, and salads to full course dinners.

Mrs. Simmons said: "One of our finest appetizers is the Mango Mungo which is juicy mango wrapped in smoked salmon, served with Pumpernickel toastettes, slice onion and our special dill sauce for $10.95.

"Also the Caribbean chicken is popular and that's tender boneless breast of chicken with a tasty papaya and mango topping served with peas `n' rice for $18.95.'' Their curried chicken is known to be fantastic and one of the best curries in Bermuda for $18.95.

Monty's fish is quite a delicious catch of pan-fried yellowtail snapper topped with a flavourful champagne sauce serve with rice for $19.50.

One of the best desserts is the chocolate fudge `bomb', warmed individual chocolate sponge cake filled with a hot fudge centre for $7.50. The banana fritters served a-fire with whipped cream are sinful! Lunchtime brings hearty soups such as Bermuda fish chowder and Portuguese Red Bean Soup partnered with delicious cold or hot sandwiches or salads.

They are famous for their Philly Cheese Steak, thinly cut marinated striploin steak with sauteed onions, green peppers and topped with American cheese; served with it are fries and coleslaw for $11.75.

Monty's famous burgers are made to order and are known to be the best around offering the Western Burger, the Monty burger and the Hawaiian burger with fries and coleslaw for under $10.

The three wraps are also tasty winners - there's the turkey and mango wrap, grilled vegetable wrap, and the steak Fajita wrap for less than $10.

Lunch plates such as English Style Fish 'n' chips crispy beer battered fish fillets served with fries and coleslaw for $13.75 or a pasta plate of the served with garlic bread is available or try the daily special.

Monty's has a Kiddie Korner lunch menu for $6, which offers, grilled cheese fingers, fish nuggets, hamburgers and chicken strips served with fries.

Sunday morning the cod fish and bananas is a huge success with their Johnny bread and they usually go through about 40 pounds of fish! The food is great because the chefs are great. The owners spoke very highly of their chefs and all of their staff. Their head chef, "Bala'' and the chefs under him Gomes, Simmons and Pires, are all talented and know how to charm their spoons.

Mr. Simmons said: "We want our staff to feel important and we treat each other with mutual respect and cooperation. Our staff is an extension of our family. We value all 11 of them.'' Graeme Bird, Monty's assistant manger, is a graduate of the hospitality course at the Bermuda College.

Monty's welcomes customers and looks forward to providing memorable dining experiences. Reservations are always recommended for dinner, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. The phone is 295-5759 and the fax is 296-0166.