Hugh Hefner's former famous GF and the "Ex on the Beach" star -- best known for being the villain on JoJo's season of "The Bachelorette" -- were spotted together leaving Rocco's Tavern in L.A. Monday night ... hand-in-hand with big smiles on their faces.

We're told they were inside for about an hour on what looked like a date night, and it appeared to go pretty well.

We broke the story ... Kendra's having a difficult time getting officially divorced from her estranged husband, Hank Baskett. The court rejected the judgment docs early this month because there was an error ... for a second time.

As for Chad, he's doing the reality show thing again on the MTV series ... which also features his ex, Maddie Sullivan.

Looks like Chad and Kendra are both down with a fresh start.