The Monument grills we’ve tested, like the Mesa 415 and the Denali series, have been budget-focused models that punch above their weight with features you normally see on more expensive grills.

The Eminence 605 is different. This is Monument’s flagship six-burner, and the price now overlaps with models from Weber and Napoleon.

So the real question is whether it actually performs like the grills it’s now competing against.

Monument Eminence 605 Gas Grill

Our Verdict: The Monument Eminence 605 is a large, feature-packed 6-burner that delivers serious heat and true infrared searing at a competitive price. It’s not premium-tier in build quality, but for the space, power, and included extras, it offers strong value for big families and frequent entertainers.

Pros:

• Huge 860 sq in cooking area
• 89,000 BTUs with high maximum heat, easily pushes past 700°F
• Infrared side burner delivers real steakhouse-level searing
• Rear infrared burner makes rotisserie cooking easy and effective

Cons:

• Requires power to use the controller and lighting features
• Stainless exterior needs regular cleaning to stay sharp

Check Latest Price

Monument Grills Eminence Overview & First Impressions

The Eminence 605 is a massive six-burner grill, and it feels like it the moment you roll it into place. With 860 square inches of cooking space and 89,000 BTUs on tap, you’re going to be able to feed a very large family without juggling zones or stacking food.

It comes loaded with features. You get 7 mm stainless steel grates, an infrared sear side burner, a rear infrared rotisserie burner, Wi-Fi controls, and a built-in fuel gauge under the tank. Monument also includes the rotisserie kit and a fitted cover in the box, which adds real value at this price point.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

At this price, you’re firmly in Weber Genesis territory. But while a similarly priced Genesis typically gives you three or four burners, the Eminence gives you six, plus infrared capability and more extras. To spec a Genesis out to this level, you’re stepping into a much higher price bracket.

On paper, Monument is offering more grill and more features for the money. The real question is how it performs once the burners are lit.

Assembly and Burn-Off

Like most Monument grills, the Eminence arrives tightly packed. They manage to fit a lot of grill into one box, but that also means a lot of parts to assemble.

It took my son and me about 2.5 hours to put it together. If you’re building it solo, plan on closer to three hours. It’s not complicated, just time-consuming.

Before cooking anything, you’ll want to run a proper burn-off. Open each valve and ignite the burners individually. On my first light, I was a little slow on the igniter and got a small “poof,” so I’d recommend lighting one burner at a time instead of flooding the chamber with gas.

Once lit, let it run for about 30 minutes. That burns off any machining oils from the manufacturing process and gives you a clean starting point.

After the burn-off, we cranked it up past 600°F during preheat without any effort. That’s when it starts to feel less like a feature list and more like a serious cooking machine.

Build Quality and Design

Once everything is assembled, the first thing we notice is that this is a pretty big pit. Five feet wide, about four feet tall, and roughly 20 inches deep. When you roll it into place, it takes up real estate.

The overall look is clean stainless steel with an enclosed cabinet, and it doesn’t feel cheap. The 7 mm stainless steel grates are solid. They’ve got weight to them, and they’re a noticeable step up from thinner stamped grates you’ll find on budget models. The top warming rack isn’t quite as beefy, but it’s still pretty solid.

Build quality lands in that typical middle range. Panels line up well, the cabinet doors close with magnets, and nothing felt loose during testing. It’s not cast aluminum construction, and it’s not built like a premium-tier Weber or Napoleon. But it doesn’t feel flimsy either.

Now let’s talk about the casters.

If you’ve followed me long enough, you know I’m pretty fussy about casters. And finally, Monument put some really good ones on this grill. These are heavy-duty locking and rotating hard rubber casters, and they make moving this big pit around a breeze. For a grill this size, that matters.

Overall, the design matches the positioning. It looks sharp, feels solid, and offers a lot of features. Just don’t expect overbuilt, commercial-grade construction at this price.

Grilling Performance

We started simple with ribeye steaks on the main burners. Preheated to about 600°F, rotated every 2.5 minutes, and let it work.

It had no problem getting there. Heat came up quickly and felt stable once the grates were fully warmed.

We got clear sear marks, but they weren’t deeply scorched in. If you’re chasing aggressive crosshatching from the main burners alone, you’ll want a longer heat soak.

Where the six-burner layout really helps is control. You can create zones easily and shift food left or right to fine-tune doneness. For burgers and everyday grilling, the burners are steady, even, and predictable.

They deliver plenty of heat, and we also didn’t experience any major flare-ups during testing, even at higher temperatures.

They just aren’t designed to be sear torches, and that’s where the infrared comes in.

How the Infrared Burners Perform

The Eminence offers two infrared options, each serving a very different purpose.

The side infrared burner is all about high-heat searing. Crank it up, sear your steak for a couple of minutes per side, then move it into the main chamber to finish cooking over indirect heat.

That approach delivered a serious crust. Hard sear on the outside, clean medium rare on the inside, and very little gray band. If steak is high on your priority list, this is the burner you’ll use most.

The rear ceramic infrared burner is built for rotisserie cooking. We used it on a whole chicken and quickly learned it’s powerful.

I only ran it for about 10 minutes at the start of the cook. Any longer and the skin would have been charcoal. After that, I let the standard burners carry the cook and fired the ceramic back up at the end for a final kiss of char.

The result was crisp skin, juicy meat, and even cooking across the bird.

These burners are not gimmicks. They get hot, they work, and they give you more control over how you cook. You just need to understand what each one is designed to do.

Smart Features and Temperature Control

The Eminence is Monument’s most tech-forward grill, and most of it actually works the way you’d hope.

The Wi-Fi setup was quick and painless. Download the app, connect the grill, and you’re up and running in a few minutes. The app is simple and gives you the information you need without clutter.

During our steak test, the built-in controller was nearly spot-on compared to my handheld thermometer. During the rotisserie cook, we saw close to a 100°F difference, likely due to probe placement in the front center of the chamber. In stable conditions, it’s accurate, but like most built-in probes, it has limitations.

You do need power to use the controller and the LED knob lighting. Without it, the grill still lights, but you lose the temperature readout and color-changing knobs. Personally, I’d take this over battery-powered systems that constantly need replacements.

The knobs shift from blue when cold to red as the grill heats. There’s even an unexpected aqua stage in between, which I wasn’t expecting. It’s not essential, but it’s a fun visual cue and makes it easy to see the heat level at a glance.

Storage and Prep Areas

With a grill this size, you expect usable workspace, and the Eminence delivers.

Both side shelves are wide and sturdy, with three tool hooks on each side. There’s plenty of room for trays, plates, and thermometers without feeling cramped. If you’ve followed me long enough, you know I tend to clutter a side shelf pretty quickly, and this one handles it fine.

Inside the cabinet, you’ve got space for the propane tank plus a small shelf for gloves or tools. The cabinet doors use magnets to stay closed, which sounds simple, but it matters when you’re moving a grill this size around.

One feature I genuinely like is the built-in fuel gauge. The tank sits on a circular platform that shows you how much propane you have left. Mine was sitting in the red during testing, which was a good reminder it was time to swap tanks. It’s a small detail, but it saves guessing.

For a grill that competes in Genesis territory, the prep and storage setup feels complete. Nothing flashy, just practical and well thought out.

Cleanup and Maintenance

One of my favorite features on the Eminence is how easy it is to deal with grease.

There’s a rear access panel that opens up so you can slide out the drip tray and grease pan without reaching inside the grill. Pull it out, scrape it down, slide it back in. That’s it. For a grill this size, that matters.

The stainless grates clean up like most stainless rods. A good brush while they’re still warm takes care of most of it. Just know that stainless exterior panels will need regular wiping if you want to keep them looking sharp. It takes a little elbow grease, especially after a few high-heat cooks.

One minor annoyance is the hot glue used for the factory labels on the shelves. It’s a small thing, but it’s stubborn to remove and takes some effort to clean up fully.

Overall, the cleanup design is well thought out. Nothing overly complicated, and no awkward grease traps hidden deep inside the cabinet.

Other Grills Worth Considering

The Eminence 605 makes a strong case for itself, but depending on what you prioritize, there are a few other options worth considering.

Weber Genesis S-435 Gas Grill

If build quality is your top priority, the Weber Genesis S-435 is the most direct comparison.

The Genesis gives you excellent fit and finish, thicker materials, and Weber’s proven sear zone system. It feels more refined overall.

The tradeoff is price and features. At a significantly higher price, the Genesis typically offers fewer burners and no included rotisserie. To match the Eminence on burner count, infrared capability, and accessories, you’ll be spending significantly more.

If you care more about long-term build quality and brand reputation than feature count, the Genesis S-435 is worth considering.

Monument Denali Series

If the Eminence feels like more grill than you need, the Monument Denali series is the logical step down.

Denali models still offer strong heat output and smart controls, but in a slightly more compact footprint and at a lower price. You’re typically looking at four- or five-burner layouts with LED controls and Bluetooth connectivity, but without the dual infrared setup and sheer cooking capacity of the Eminence.

The biggest difference comes down to scale and flexibility. The Eminence gives you six burners, a rear infrared for rotisserie cooking, and a dedicated infrared side burner for high-heat searing. The Denali focuses more on everyday grilling performance with smart features, rather than maximum burner count and infrared versatility.

Final Verdict

The Monument Eminence is built for people who cook big and cook often.

If you regularly grill for a large family, host parties, or want the flexibility of six burners plus true infrared capability, this grill delivers. The side infrared burner gives you real steakhouse searing. The rear infrared makes rotisserie cooking easy. It hits high temperatures fast and gives you plenty of space to work.

You’re getting a lot for the money. Burner count, infrared systems, Wi-Fi control, heavy stainless grates, a fuel gauge, rotisserie kit, and even a cover included. To match that feature list with something like a Weber Genesis S-435, you’ll likely be spending more.

That said, this isn’t a premium-tier build. If you value fit and finish above everything else and don’t need six burners, a Genesis may feel more refined. And if you don’t need this much cooking space, the Denali or Mesa lines make more sense.

But if you want maximum space, serious heat, and real infrared performance without jumping into luxury pricing, the Eminence 605 makes a strong case for itself.

It’s a big grill with big capability, and it backs up its feature list with real cooking performance.

Monument Eminence 605 Gas Grill

Our Verdict: The Monument Eminence 605 is a large, feature-packed 6-burner that delivers serious heat and true infrared searing at a competitive price. It’s not premium-tier in build quality, but for the space, power, and included extras, it offers strong value for big families and frequent entertainers.

Pros:

• Huge 860 sq in cooking area
• 89,000 BTUs with high maximum heat, easily pushes past 700°F
• Infrared side burner delivers real steakhouse-level searing
• Rear infrared burner makes rotisserie cooking easy and effective

Cons:

• Requires power to use the controller and lighting features
• Stainless exterior needs regular cleaning to stay sharp

Check Latest Price