Café at Descanso Gardens

The Descanso Café has delicious sandwiches and burgers. Their Descanso burger is so good! And I’m not really a burger fan. I like their Turkey sandwich and their Portobello Mushroom sandwich is also good. I have yet to try their Portobello burger, but I’m sure it’s bery delicious.
They serve Intelligentsia coffee, and sometimes they even do cute little latte art. Superb. Their iced drinks are good too — iced tea, lemonade, etc.
Price wise, I don’t think it’s that expensive. And you get a lot of bang for your buck! It’s a good place to eat and hang out.

Very healthy food at affordable prices. Check in and receive a 10% off lunch coupon. The patio is very inviting and relaxing or you can picnic at any one of the hidden benches in the garden. There is even a beer and wine selection at the café. I got the roasted turkey sandwich and it was delicious. I had to pick off some of the greens (there was a lot!)

I ordered a sandwich which was good, the vegetables were large and tasted fresh. My friend ordered the chili which she absolutely loved. The café is pricy for the food but it’s everything you need when you’re taking a quick break from the gardens.

Prices are ridiculous! Nine dollar tuna sandwich (a la carte — NO sides) and five dollar kids peanut butter and jelly (again, no sides or even a drink)! Food is mediocre and if you ask for water they give you a cup with no ice and tell you to fill it at the drinking fountain by the bathroom. Not a pleasant experience. But the scenery is nice…

First time at the Gardens with my family and I have to say that, I am very impressed. Everyone in there is so nice. The gift shop looked amazing with all the Halloween decorations.
I have to give it a hands down to the café though. I was very please to see that they were OPEN!
For the RISE. I was so happy with their variety of salads and sandwiches and of course the Halloween themed cookies…

The red quinoa salad is my favorite! Could eat that everyday for lunch!!! So fresh. The best!!!

Highly recommend AGAINST eating here. Instead bring your own picnic. We paid $ 27 for two dry lukewarm hamburgers and were charged more for Kettle chips. The meat in the burger tasted like frozen patties from a big box store. Very disappointing. We saw the other options — mostly salads and sandwiches. We opted against them because they looked like something we could have brought from home and for a few bucks more we thought the burgers would be a fresher and more satisfying alternative. It pains me to write this negative review because I love Descanso Gardens but the Café food is pretty bad.

Mediocre food in a very lovely setting.
Highly over priced and under nourished. You want value go to McDonalds there are no surprises on the quality of the food.

The Angus ¼ burger with blue cheese dressing is DELICIOUS! A true gormet burger. The briosche bun was grilled on both sides to perfection. All veggies are fresh.

We had Patina cater an event in the Maple room at Descanso Gardens. The entire experience was amazing — from the planning to the delivery and service support. The staff were accommodating, helpful, and completely at our service. The food was fantastic! Everyone was pleased! I highly recommend this venue and catering!

First of all, I’m a new fan of their delicious snacks, after a long hiking I came by to give Descanso Café a shot, I was satisfied with the service, the staff were friendly.
I wrote this reviews just to say thanks to Descanso Café, and stay impressive.

This review is specifically for the Patina Group Catering services while having a private event at Descanso Gardens.
Ben, Robert, and Leticia all worked together to make sure that our event was exactly what we envisioned and it went off without a hitch!
From the many emails that went back and forth between myself and Ben/​Leticia, they were very accomodating with our budget, event theme, and our traditional items that were necessary at the party. Communication was clear, they answered all of our questions, and responses were emailed back in a timely manner.
The gourmet sandwiches (with chips/​salad and cookie) we ended up ordering were a hit with the guests! We had a lot of families with children, and Patina worked with us to even get a children’s menu available.
Robert and the rest of his wait staff were really remarkable during our party. Having many kids there, we had a few accidents with spills and what not. But the staff was quick to clean up the mess before I even realized what had happened. They made sure to keep things tidy and neat throughtout the party– picking up guest’s trash, etc. The staff was professional, polite, and more than I could ever have asked for.
My wife and I were extremely satisfied with the quality of service the Patina Group provided us at our party!

Delicious portobello mushroom and pear salad. Blue cheese with cranberries, almonds, red onions and fresh greens. Reasonably priced for the quality and quantity. The sparkling cranberry soda and black tea my hubby and I shared were not too sweet. Very refreshing after a long walk through the gardens.

Food here is kinda pricey. I ordered a roasted beef with blue cheese here. I was surprised that it was pretty good and the sandwich was quite large. The blue cheese and sauce may have slightly overwhelmed the flavor of the caramelized onions, but I was satisfied with my food. I think most of the sandwiches are good here (well maybe not the PB&J). I think I saw PB&J on the menu and gosh… Why would you pay that much for a PB&J?
Service was nice and friendly.

I personally enjoyed having lunch at the café in Descanso Gardens. When you walk in from the entrance, if you take an immediate left, you will see the café. You can order at the counter, and they will bring your food out to your table.
The staff was friendly and the service was quick. We all had coffee and salads, and everyone was happy with their order. The coffee was enjoyable, and the condiments were easily accessible on a counter in front of the pick up station. The quality of the salads were very fresh, all served in little to-​go cardboard containers. It is a very relaxing atmosphere, there are trees all around the seating area and it is a perfect place to relax on a warm summer day.

Only option when you are in the garden. Salads are good but nothing extra ordinary, staff are friendly but not professional and food is lower than average

Loved the gardens. The staff was friendly.. but the lemonade was watery and the pizza was terrible! ! Love the place. Hate the food. Maybe other items on there menu are better.

Needing some food and not wanting to hop in the car again, the Café at Descanso Gardens provided some nice refreshments. They have a grilled cheese that is made panini-​style & served with a salad, & it’s pretty good. The strawberry lemonade is also nice, and refills were only $ 1. I think the food service is outsourced to a professional resaturant management company, and this food is way more edible than anything I paid 2x as much for at Legoland or Disneyland. You order at the register, get a number, and they deliver the food to your table. The napkins, straws, and cutlery are all very organized and self-​service. It’s so La Canada, and I mean that in a nice way.

What a pleasant surprise! I was super-​hungry after Descanso’s free reading of «Much Ado About Nothing». My stomach wanted much ado about a hamburger. I was rewarded at the Café. The hamburger was amazing, with a fabulous artisan bun and high-​quality beef. My son’s pizza looked pretty darn good, too. Reasonable, lovely setting, AMAZINGLY friendly staff, and a shaded seat. Win.

Like previous reviewers have stated, the staff is definitely friendly. As for the saying «you get what you pay for,» this is far from the truth with this place.
I mean really? Almost 3 bucks for a bag of chips you can get at a liquor store for $ 1.29? Or tasteless food that costs like $ 8? What got me was the PB&J that costs 5 bucks. I’m sure it costs them 50 cents to make. I mean, sure, they gotta make a profit, but it seems like an embarrassment to write the description on the menu to masquerade it off as Ritz Carlton quality, and you get McDonalds.
Save your money people — eat before, or sneak food in (since nobody checks your bags).

Descanso Gardens is an awesome place to visit, spend the day walking thru beautiful peaceful gardens, have lunch at their Cafè
which is really relaxing, food was good, had a great time, definitely a must see if you wanna get away from the city!