The Gardens Restaurant and Catering

Awful! Save your money & don’t bother. Should have left as soon as we walked in & heard the squeaking door every time it closed. Horribly irritating. The «vegetable» soup was oily & bland. The quiche was days (weeks?) old, flat & dry. The chicken salad was bland as well. When I decided –too late — to tell them the quiche was not fresh, the waitress tried to be helpful, offering a 10% discount, saving me $ 1 and change — not impressive. Wait staff was nice but it didn’t make up for whatever is happening in the kitchen. Disappointing start to finish. Never again.

They catered our wedding at the botanical garden and I must say we were very disappointed. The food was great but the service was the worst. They were very unorganized with no leadership what so ever. They promised a manager that would run everything but we never saw one and our DJ had to do everything. Very disappointing.

Excellent Sunday brunch. Typical eggs and bacon plus pork loin medallions, chicken, baked fish. Rice, pasta, steamed veggies, salad bar, and dessert table. Quiet atmosphere. It was just warm enough for folks to eat on the outdoor patio.

Pristine, zen like, exotic location next to the Japanese garden.
Fabulous food and gracious folk in attendance.
Wonderful experience for the whole family.

Beautiful location in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. Perfect for Saturday morning brunch, with a mimosa or two! The food is good, the staff very friendly and company us great! :)

I meant to add this review weeks ago, but forgot… :). I honestly am surprised at so many critical reviews, I ate here with my roommate a couple weeks ago and the service, the food, even the prices, were all wonderful (OK, «wonderful,» may be pushing the envelope on prices, but fair)!
The only negative I can think of is that they did not have the Kendall Jackson Chardonnay that had I ordered off the menu, but I simply ordered the La Crema instead. They even let me hold onto the cork so I could leave with the bottle (a technicality I’m sure)! We only needed a respite from spending all morning in the gardens, so we only shared an appetizer, but it was very tasty. We ended up talking to our waiter for the better part of 30 minutes. The experience was great, I highly recommend the entire experience, restaurant included!

Tons of bad reviews… I say give this place a shot! The interior looks like the inside of a hotel restaurant. but the outside patio made it much more appealing. Service was good and our waiter was really nice. The water was very refreshing! I just shared the hummus appetizer with my girlfriend. The serving size was a lil small but it was super delicious! The only downside was that it was a tad bit pricey, but the convenience of it being in the middle of all the action made up for it! Would go again if I ever go back here :-)

My wife and I came here for lunch. I am hard pressed to find any reason to go back. Slow service, mediocre food, tourist prices. There are plenty of other places in the area. Pass on this.

We went to the Japanese Gardens with a car club (sixteen of us) and then to the Garden Restaurant. They were expecting us and had the tables setup and two wait staff for us. After looking at the previous reviews, we must’ve gone on a good day or they’ve gotten much better. They quickly took our drink orders and brought them out immediately. They took our lunch orders, willingly splitting the tickets among the couples. Food arrived at our tables very quickly.
I had the Garden Sampler with a wonderful chicken and apricot salad — really good; seasonal fresh fruit that consisted of melon and pineapple — also very good; a unique vegetable quiche that was good and a delicious soft roll with blended butter. The others got different things and all looked delicious. DH had the Santa Fe Chicken Burrito and loved it, particularly the pretty salad that came with it. Oh, and mine came with chicken tortilla soup which was very good.
The staff filled our glasses every time by and they were very cordial, professional, yet friendly. I would go back here if ever visiting the gardens again. I hate that everyone here seemed to have a bad experience.

When we arrived at the restaurant it was not full at all. We were seated where we spent 20 minutes waitng for a server (not ours mind you) to ask if anyone has been to our table, and when we said no she apologised and went to fill our drinks. Our waitress it seems has her favorites and everyone else is just a second rating citizen. It took close to 45 minutes to get and order in and then it took forever for the food to come which was pretty simple fare. A stuiffed avacado and a pannini… Not a 5 course dinner!
Food was ok but my advise to those visiting the botanical gardens is to eat first before coming!

I hate to be super-​critical of any place of business, as employees having a bad day can make or break an experience, but… This was hands-​down the worst experience I’ve had at a restaurant, and we didn’t even eat.
I’d purchased a gift certificate on TravelZoo that included admission to the Jaspanese & Botanical gardens, as well as lunch for two. My husband and i visited Saturday, May 18, 2013, arriving, and finishing our walk through the Japanese gardens before noon. We walked to the restaurant and waited to be seated inside; the patio had 1 or 2 tables occupied, 5 – 7 empty, and the dining room, while busy had 3 – 4 empty tables as well.
A younger waitress seated my husband and I at a 2-​top table, leaving us with the menu and silverware (no drink order). After we’d been at the table long enough to review the menu and choose what we would be ordering (5 – 7 minutes) a different waitress approached us and began INTERROGATING us about the table we’d been seated at: Did we seat ourselves? (No.) Did a waitress seat us? (Yes.) Who was it? (I couldn’t begin to guess the name of the waitress who sat us without introducing herself.)
She went on to explain that the table has a standing daily reservation and that we shouldn’t have been seated there. At this point she directed us to pick up our silverware and menus (still no water/​drink order yet), and walked us to a table in the middle of the restaurant, all the while prattling on about her standing daily reservation at THAT table. I was COMPLETELY embarrassed.
After reaching our new table (center-​stage), we waited ANOTHER 5 – 7 minutes for yet another waitress (#3 of the day) to ask if we were ready to order (water? drinks? guess those weren’t available).
In total, it was an AWFUL experience and I will warn all friends, families, acquaintances against eating there; I’m appalled at the way we were treated.

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! I experienced seeing not ONE, not TWO but many dead roaches on the floor. I have no idea how long they we’re there but after pointing it out to the waitress, no one took the initiative to clean them up. Also they served me and my family disgusting utensils still covered in food from the previous user before me, as well as dirty glasses. And here is the icing on the cake, After waiting and waiting for our food to come the kids chicken strips we ordered for our two daughters weren’t cooked fully, they served us raw chicken. I HIGHLY HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE they do not seem to be a very sanitary place and could have caused my children to become very sick.

If you are thinking of going to this restaurant think twice! My friend had her bridal shower at the Gardens Restaurant and it was one bad thing after the next. It took about an hour before our food came out, and after taking about 3 bites of my salad, I noticed there was a bug in it! I showed my friend’s mother in law to be, and she said, «I’ve got you beat, mine is bigger!» No joke, there was a moth in her salad! I shudder to think what the kitchen must look like. The poor server was mortified when we showed her our salad accessories! When the manager came to talk to us, she assured us it was only the romaine lettuce that must not have been washed. When our entrée came out, I’d pretty much lost my appetite, but I did take a few bites. I’ve had better Lean Cuisine meals to be honest. There were several other issues; this is just the tip of the iceberg! I felt awful for my friend’s family who surely paid a good deal of money for what should have been a great experience. I understand that they gave them a bit of a discount, but I doubt that made up for it in the eyes of the bride.

Sigh. How can you have a restaurant in the middle of the Botanical Gardens and not have better food? We would only give one start BUT we love the Botanical Gardens so much, the second start is for the location.
After a disastrous adventure to find some jazz and brunch we decided to try the restaurant here. It was a Sunday and sometime after 12pm. We were told it was a brunch buffet for Sunday. The place was not crowded at all, and after eating the food, we knew why. The food was just sitting in warmers and seemed like it had been there all morning. There wasn’t a big selection of breakfast foods either. They had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, generic cream cheese danishes and muffins that you could get anywhere. That’s it. They had a salad section and some fruit, also a whole table full of desserts. While some things were okay most of it was not. They also had a section of entrees: chicken, fish and I think sausage. It was $ 15 a person and that buffet was not worth it.
The highlight was leaving the restaurant and going to sit on a blanket in the gardens with my boo.

I don’t know what the other person was thinking… but the food here was terrible. The interior looks off so I sat outside. I picked a terrible day for it because a couple sitting there were discussing politics AND religion… really? On the patio… in the beautiful Botanical Gardens? No, I did not hold this again’s the restaurant… My one star is purely related to the food. The menu is archaic and the food itself was flavorless. This place needs a complete overhaul… Service was ok… she could probably tell I was completely disappointed. I think its a travesty to ruin the experience of this amazing place with such a poor restaurant!

Great ambience in the middle of the botanical gardens and wonderful food. The salad and the Panini sandwich were delicious. Also, great service.