A Family Story
Monty's History
Est. 1940
The Beginning
Monty Levine’s start as a restauranteur came in 1940, while he was working for a wholesale beverage distributor.. When one of the customers on his route—who owned a small bar and burger joint on the corner of Fair Oaks and California Boulevard, Pasadena—fell severely ill, Monty extended him personal credit until he recovered. Touched by the generosity of this gesture, the customer offered Monty his burger bar in settlement of his debts…and the original Monty’s was born.
We're Growing
While Monty was never one to begrudge a good hamburger, he and his wife Libby were known around town for the steaks and squab they cooked for friends at home in Los Angeles over charcoal on a backyard broiler Monty built by hand out of bricks and cast-iron grating. It wasn’t long before the family saw the potential in bringing this kind of entertaining to a larger audience at Monty’s newly-acquired restaurant.
And so with the help of a $5,000 loan, he and Libby expanded their Pasadena footprint, converting storage areas into a dining room and building their kitchen around a larger version of his hand-built mesquite charcoal broiler.
Those same steaks and squabs that had so thrilled visitors to the Levine household now delighted throngs of satisfied diners on a nightly basis. Only one other Los Angeles-area restaurant was cooking with mesquite at the time, and the deliciousness of the fare at MONTY’S was surpassed only by the atmosphere of congeniality and fun that always surrounded Monty himself, along with his family and his staff.
CONTINUEd...
That sense of fun soon led to the expansion of the MONTY’S experience. Together with his friend, hall-of-fame jockey Ralph Neves, Monty opened MONTY’S TALK OF THE TOWN near Santa Anita Race Track in 1953. The second generation of Levine restauranteurs followed suit in 1957, when Monty’s son Larry and his new bride Bobbie opened an immensely popular new branch in Encino. From there the MONTY’S empire grew gradually outward, first in 1963to the Conejo Valley. Dennis opened MONTY’S LOS ROBLES INN at the famed Thousand Oaks-area golf course), and then to the Westside in 1969 (when Dennis opened MONTY’S WESTWOOD and was joined by his nephew Michael).
MONTY’S WOODLAND HILLS, our lone surviving steakhouse, was originally opened and run by Larry and Bobbie, and then joined by Michael in 1991, and is still going strong.
Over the years, MONTY’S penchant for fine food and fun has made our various branches a meeting place for local and international luminaries including John Wayne and Jimmy Cagney, Betty Grable and Morgan Fairchild, Chick Hearn and Steve Yeager, The Eagles and Snoop Dogg.
A Fresh Look
But through it all—from home-built barbeques to modern mesquite broilers, from Monty himself to Michael today, through myriad openings and multiple closures, and across the changing dynamics and demographics of the communities we’ve been proud to call home—MONTY’S most treasured guests have always been our regulars: the folks who seek us out and return to us again and again, knowing the joy of prime-quality food, masterfully prepared and lovingly served by three generations of Levine’s and their loyal staff.
That’s what a neighborhood steakhouse is all about, and that’s what we hope you’ll experience during every meal you share with us.
Dennis and Michael thank you for being a part
of MONTY’S history.
May God bless everybody!
The Levine Family
Dining Hours (Inside & Patio):
SUN: 5:00 – 9:00PM (BAR 10:00PM)
TUE: 5:00 – 10:00PM (BAR 11:00PM)
WED: 5:00 – 10:00PM (BAR 11:00PM)
THU: 5:00 – 10:00PM (BAR 11:00PM)
FRI: 5:00 – 11:00PM (BAR 12:00AM)
SAT: 5:00 – 11:00PM (BAR 12:00AM)
Curbside-Pickup Hours:
SUN: 5:00 – 8:00PM
MON: CLOSED
TUE: 5:00 – 8:00PM
WED: 5:00 – 8:00PM
THU: 5:00 – 8:00PM
FRI: 5:00 – 8:00PM
SAT: 5:00 – 8:00PM
Monty’s Prime Steak and Seafood
5371 Topanga Canyon Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Phone: 818-716-9736
Email: [email protected]
business hours
Dinner: Tue-Thus: 5-10 pm | Fri – Sat : 5-11 pm | Sunday : 5-9 pm
Bar: Tue-Thus: 4:30 pm-? | Fri – Sat : 4:30 pm-? | Sunday : 4:30 pm-?
Private parties over 10 people
or special occasions please call.
