The Green Monkey

Friendly staff/​bartender, appealing bar. We went on half price Martini night — Tuesday ($ 5.25 each vs $ 10.50 each). I ordered the espresso martini, my date the green monkey.
We also tried appetizers — tater tots with home made ketchup and sautéed mushrooms in cream sauce — both outstanding
An enjoyable night. I recommend going on half price Martini night!

I’m sorry to report that The Green Monkey’s last night is Aug 29, 2013. I’ll miss them very much. On the last day, they’re not taking reservations. Deb Weeks, the owner, posted on the Green Monkey’s facebook page, «With the out pouring of love I have decided to not take reservation and lets just have a gathering. Light bites, Libations and Friends = a fabulous way to celebrate our 10 years in the Portsmouth New England Restaurants Community XO»
Here’s the newspaper article:
I like it, they’re going out in style.

Quality, creative food prepared just right and presented beautifully. Try some of the braised meat (Osso Buco!), or the seafood, or really anything. And the desserts… oh, the desserts…

Their homemade chocolate pistachio ice cream is amazing… great staff, YUMMU homemade tater tots!!!

Happy to give 5 stars! Deb the owner alone is worth the visit — so very welcoming! Cozy atmosphere. The food & service has been terrific each occasion we’ve dined here. And free valet is always a plus.

This is a wonderful wonderful restaurant! The atmosphere is romantic and you feel immediatelyl comfortable (casual dress is fine) — the lighting is fabulous… everyone looks wonderful — BUT the food. can I tell you the food is better than some of the places in NYC where you wait a month to get a table? It is! When enter you are personally greeted by Deb the owner who has a gift for remembering what you say and your name the next time you go there. My dish was amazing. and i kept looking around at other people’s plates. to see what I’ll try next time. Certain nights it can be crowded, but heck that means it’s a great place to eat. Oh and did I mention??? My beau proposed to me the last time we were there… Deb kindly gave us champagne to toast the event. Can’t wait to go back!

Fantastic place!!! Took us without a reservation, it was early on a Saturday evening, but still they were very accommodating and didn’t act they were doing us any favors as some restaurants can do.
We had the pumpkin gnocchi starter, even my husband who likes neither gnocchi or pumpkin ate half (much to my dismay). We both LOVED it. For entrees, I had the sea scallops and he had the salmon, again GREAT! we cleaned our plates.
Service was wonderful, fun, helpful, attentive, everything I look for in a server. We will be back :-)

While vacationing in York Beach recently, a member of my party commented on how pricey the local restaurants were for what was essentially bar food with a piece of lobster or shrimp on the top. She then suggested that if we were going to spend this type of money on food, that it ought to be a REALLY good meal and recommended we try this place in Portsmouth she had heard about. We all thought she was crazy, but decided to go along for the adventure to The Green Monkey.
O.M.G. The Green Monkey is quite possibly one of the BEST meals I have had all year. I don’t even know where too begin…
Ok, the drinks… I ordered a dirty martini, with extra olives. When I order that in most places they usually bring me a glass of vodka with too much vermouth, too little olive juice and a whopping two olives. The Green Monkey’s bartender knew how to make a drink! It was the perfect dirty martini and he gave me six… that’s right, SIX olives! I was one happy camper and we hadn’t even eaten anything yet.
Appetizers-​We did the Seasonal Spoons, which involved some smoked salmon and deviled eggs and some tuna with olive tapenade. Ok, it doesn’t sound entirely appealing but it was amazing!
Entrée– I am not someone who likes a fishy tasting fish (cooked salmon, yuck!) and I explained this to our very helpful waitress. She recommended I try the Artic Char, which was similar to salmon without the fishy taste. I couldn’t have asked for a better dish. It was cooked to perfection and the summer hash and mirepoix salad that accompanied it were equally delish.
Dessert-​I love chocolate mousse. What I don’t love is how most places bring you a paltry serving of it and then charge you an arm and a leg. Well, not the Green Monkey. They brought me mousse in an 8 oz glass! I had mousse for dessert for the next three nights!!! And it was perfect. Dark chocolate. Not too sweet. We’ve been back from vacation for three weeks now and I’m still talking about that mousse.
The Service– Our waitress was fantastic! Very attentive, polite and helpful. I was shocked to learn at the end of the night that it was her first night working there! She had such and extensive knowledge of the menu and each items ingredients!
If you find yourself in the Harbor area definitely pay a visit to The Green Monkey. You won’t be disappointed!

We ate at The Green Monkey on the second night of a 2 night stay in Portsmouth. After our experience the first night at Black Trumpet Bistro (reviewed separately) we had high hopes for round 2 of the fine-​dining culture of this city. We were a little disappointed.
What attracted us to the restaurant, as vegetarians, was the only vegetarian entrée listed on their menu — The Sweet Pea Raviolis which sounded like such an attractive, fresh summer dish, we couldn’t resist showing up to try it out.
Part of the disappointment of the restaurant was the atmosphere… it’s fairly small, which isn’t a problem, but includes a bar with very little separating it from the dining area. The music playing on the house sound system was music we loved, but it was clearly better suited for the patrons at the bar than anyone hoping for a fine-​dining atmosphere. Seventies hits — Stayin’ Alive, Funky Town… again, tunes we love, but we weren’t sitting at the bar or looking for that kind of vibe for a nice evening dinner. The noise at the bar was also distracting… one woman turned away from her friends at the bar to talk on her cell phone — polite for them I suppose, but she was leaning on the small separator between the bar and the dining area, essentially broadcasting her conversation to us.
I suppose these atmosphere killers could have been ignored if the food was stellar… we opted to share 2 salads and split the Sweet Pea Raviolis entrée. We got the Farm Greens Salad which was made with baby greens pickled stawberries, gorgonzola, spiced pecans and a red wine vinaigrette. (Gluten free and kudos to the restaurant for having many gluten free items on their menu [and labeling them as such.]) Everything about the salad tasted great… BUT it was very heavy on the greens with very few of the strawberries, pecans and not much gorgonzola either… we would have liked a better ratio between these ingredients and the greens.
The second starter we ordered was the Roasted Beets made wirh spring rocket lettuce (basically an arugula), goat cheese fondue and toasted pistachio ‘confetti’. The beets were locally sourced which is a great thing when restaurants get their ingredients from local farmers… so well done there. The cheese was mild… all in all a good dish.
Our pièce de résistance was to be the Sweet Pea Raviolis (made with clotted goat ‘crema”, peas, shoots and aged goat cheese.) Sounded so good in it’s description… the dish also looked beautiful when it arrived at the table. Tasted good with a nice tanginess… however the pasta was a little more al dente than we thought it should be and the dish was not particularly filling. (Though to be fair we split it with the 2 salads so may not have felt that way if we’d ordered two of them… though often we share an entrée with 2 starters and are just fine so…)
We left the restaurant feeling a little hungry after the 2 starters, entrée and the bread it was served with… definitely disappointed with the whole experience.
For more reviews from a vegetarian perspective, visit Rick and Addie’s Vegetarian Food Blog:

Underwhelmed is my overall feel. Yes, as others have said inviting atmosphere and friendly service. The hostess, Kelly I believe was an absolute doll when we came in during the middle of the week and the place was packed and she took my number to call me when a table was ready. Very sweet and thoughtful, I liked her a lot.
The menu is a tad small for my liking. There were no apps to my liking, sadly.
But, food although cooked nicely I was taken aback by my portion of seared scallops and Israeli couscous. Four 1 ½ circumference scallops served on a bed of ½ cup of couscous, no veggies nothing was $ 23? I don’t think so.
My friends hanger steak I’d say was large, but I guess he was struggling to cut it with a steak knife.
2 entrees, 1 drink was $ 62 not including tip. Luckily I had a living social voucher because I found it extremely expensive especially since I left hungry. I don’t mind paying a lot of money for good food, but I don’t expect leaving an establishment hungry when its over 20+ bucks a plate.

The Green Monkey has a wonderful and inviting atmosphere. The new menu is tasty and features a good selection of healthy and tasty foods for locavores like me. The menu features locally grown vegetables, locally caught seafood, and locally farmed meats. I started with the baby beet, arugula, and goat cheese salad sprinkled with chopped pistachios. It was fresh and exceptionally tasty. Next I had the new tuna carpaccio which is perfectly seasoned with lemon and sea salt. It was divine! I’m on a paleo/​primal diet so I don’t eat grains of any kind. I asked our server to modify the seared tuna entrée and skip the bulgur wheat and just give me extra vegetables instead without any dressing or sauce which they did with a smile. The tuna was seared to perfection and was obviously fresh and very high quality.
The service was great and the staff seemed to have the perfect balance of attentiveness without hovering or being annoying. My water glass was never less than half empty and whenever we wanted something, it was easy to get a server’s attention. The life saver mints they have by the door seem to taste better than when I buy them, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because the whole evening was so perfect that they just topped it off. I will be back next week to try their other dishes.
The Green Monkey has always been one of my favorite bars in Portsmouth and that’s saying a lot since Portsmouth has so many! It is now my favorite restaurant too with the new chef and awesome new menu! I highly recommend The Green Monkey!

I just went to the green monkey. I have been their in the past and had a good time so my wife and I decided to go back. I ordered a drink and it was horrible. I called the waitress and she looked at me like I was crazy. She did exchange it so no biggie. She took our order and when she brought over bread they were the size of a dunkin donut munchkin.
When the meal came mine was good but my wife had the scallop dish. I was surprised how small it was, only three scallops and a little rice. No veggies. I do like to atmosphere but this experience wasn’t the greatest and with so many other restaurants in the area I won’t be back.
Also they need to change the menu and add items, very little choice

I have to give this restaurant another try after looking at the other reviews, but our meal here was okay at best. Unfortunately, both my husband and I ordered the Spicy Pad Thai since (should always remember to order something different so we try each other’s choice) and were underwhelmed. I’ve been told since that that’s probably not the best item on the list of entrees, although the entrée list is short.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is wonderful… cozy and warm. Service very good.

Just had a yummy meal at the Green Monkey for Christmas eve. The little plastic monkey that came with my pepsi was adorable and provided much amusement throughout our meal as we reverted to 5 year olds playing with it.
Oh yeah, the food was pretty good too. I really loved the fried oysters appetizer, it was super light and fresh and the batter was not greasy at all. Didn’t need that much aioli though. The mushroom forrestier was yummy too. For entrée I had the seared scallops, which were quite good if a tad too salty. It came on a mountain of risotto, which was a bit much even though it’s good. The bf had the duck breast, which I didn’t get to taste but it must have been good since he cleaned his plate. For dessert we split a dark chocolate mousse, which was pretty much what you expect.
Friendly service, nice dining room that was warm and vibrant but not too loud. This is a very good restaurant for special occasions or just a casual night out.

I’ve been here twice and it was great both times. You could easily transplant this place into NYC’s West Village and it would stand on it’s own with them best of them. (think The Little Owl, Perilla, Market Table, Red Cat etc.)
Great food, great service and a cool vibe. Whenever we are up in Portsmouth, this is a definite must.

We’re always up for trying restaurants that focus on fresh ingredients and simple yet creative preparations. I feel like The Green Monkey only has 26 reviews because it comes off as a little fru-​fru, but in fact it is a very inviting atmosphere.
The servers are amazingly friendly and knowledgeable. They truly know the menu inside out, as well as the daily specials. The cocktails they make are very creative and VERY potent. At $ 10 a pop, it’s a fair price.
The peppercorn crusted all natural filet was cooked to a perfect medium rare (I’m on a roll with well cooked steaks lately) and the accompanying broccolini was also sauteed just enough for the balance between tenderness and snap. It was also not at all bitter which I appreciated. I did not care for the au gratin style potatoes as the cheese did not go well.
The whole table split one of the specials which was 2 pan seared diver scallops on a bed of risotto. The scallops were just good. They were fresh but did not blow anyone’s mind. The risotto was creamy and probably the star of the dish.
Joann had the pan-​fried Wahoo special. Very tasty. It looks and broke apart like swordfish but it was much less dense.
Overall, I think the Green Monkey does something special here with its local ingredients and creative combinations. I hope more people will open their minds and stomachs up to what they are trying to do. While it may be a little pricey, the whole dinner experience was well worth it.

I went here for the first time for my 25^th birthday with my boyfriend. It was fantastic. I had heard good things about their martinis, but the food was impeccable.
We started with drinks, I had the blueberry lemonade which was great (of course everything is better with vodka!) We didn’t order any appetizers, but munched on the bread that was served warm with a garlic butter… yum. For a main course, I ordered the special: a rare white salmon with fingerling potatoes and veggies. The portion size was perfect and the food was delicately prepared. My boyfriend was torn between the meatloaf and the seared tuna. He ended up with tuna and was more than satisfied. We had no room left for dessert.
We fully intend to go back and order appetizers and dessert next time!
The service was excellent. Our waitress was more than helpful and clearly had a passion for food, without being overbearing. I also like the atmosphere: candles, but not so dark you can’t read the menu, one TV in the corner so I was able to watch the Bruins game. Not too quiet, not too loud. Cozy and comfortable.
I recommend trying this restaurant if you are into well prepared dishes with a twist.

Lives up to the hype. Had to break my own vegetarian diet for the free range chicken which was beyond perfect. Yum. Really really yum.
M had the burger (made with Meyer certified humane beef, of course) which he said was good but so rich he should have fasted all day first. Bread was good but butter was overpoweringly dill-​y. Service was friendly and we were able to get a table immediately without a reservation on a Sunday night.
At one point, a waitress brought out a free dessert with a lit candle as a birthday gift to a diner at the next table. All the other guests claimed they didn’t call the restaurant beforehand– someone had just overheard and decided to bring out a celebratory dessert. Really nice of them.
We will be back many times…

I ate here last christmas visiting my family and meeting up with a couple friends who picked this restaurant becuase they thought it was great. sadly, they are totally wrong.
It was the middle of winter in freaking NH and they don’t have a double door system so we constantly had to endure cold air rushing in from people who don’t know how to walk through a door effectively in winter (which oddly, is apparently everyone in NH). i ate dinner with my puffy north face jacket on.
the service wasn’t bad, it was downright atrocious. drinks refilled? never. food? does a 2 hour wait sound like fun times? when it finally came i do have to say i got the veggie pad thai and it was absolutely delcious, but at that point i was eyeing my arm to gnaw on and i’m betting it would have tasted pretty delicious too. dessert was a crème brûlée that was really good also. however, i had to pick it off of my lap to eat it after the waitress dropped it on me. hey, i’ve been a waitress. things happen, and i’m not mad. but could you get me i don’t know, another dessert, or take it off my tab? at least refill my drink!!!
At this point the owner of the restaurant came over to apologize for the long wait. I forget what lame reason she had b/​c nothing should take 2 hours and i was still picking crème brûlée out of my shoes. Instead of offering to get me a dessert that wasn’t on the floor she bragged about how awesome her restaurants are (yes, yikes, she owns more than one!) and how good her tastes in wine are. YAWN, can i get a REFILL on my DRINK please??? She then left her business card to promote her restaurant/​catering business which I promptly found a typo on. Nothing says unprofessional like a spelling mistake on a business card. That was honestly the highlight of the night because it made me laugh.
Finally the bill came and at that point I was glad that I only got one refill on my SODA the entire 3 hour torturous time b/​c they actually have the nerve to charge for refills on soda. And it’s something ridiculous like $ 4 for a juice-​glass sized soda.
There are way too many other awesome restaurants in Portsmouth for me to ever contemplate eating here again.

This was our first visit to the Green Monkey and we were really happy with the experience. The hostess was so genuine and sweet. Our server, Jen, was attentive and excellent. Everything was paced well.
I had the pad Thai. It was unlike any pad Thai I’ve had before but it was good! They had a lot of great drinks — we tried two specials; the rhubarb mojito and the white sangria. These were fantastic! The blueberry lemonade was also wonderful.
My husband had the macadamia encrusted mahi mahi and he loved it. Finally, for dessert we split the rhubarb trifle and it was so, so good. I can’t rave enough about it all.