Jen P.
Yelp
I ate a beautiful, relaxed lunch here on a Wednesday afternoon a couple weeks back. It was an unexpected pleasure because the restaurant hours were listed as dinner only, but while walking the gardens, we noticed the staff setting up around 11 am, stopped to check, and they said they definitely serve lunch!
I had checked some reviews and knew to expect that service might be slow, but once we were seated outside with a cocktail in hand, I thought, who are these people writing reviews and rushing through such a delightful experience?!? For us, the hour plus we were there was lovely, with delicious food and excellent service, and I wouldn't have wanted to rush it.
We started our lunch with a honeysuckle vodka and prosecco cocktail off the mixed drink menu and it was fantastic! Light, floral and tasty!
Next up, we split a salad, which, for $12, was an excellent value, full of fresh greens and veggies and other interesting bits, and definitely large enough to share.
For our mains, I had the spring risotto with peas, fava beans, asparagus and roasted cipollini onions. It was a good sized portion, very creamy and rich - I loved it. My friend had the salmon over a farro salad - the fish was cooked perfect and the salad was nicely dressed. We shared and both agreed all the dishes were winners.
With such a great experience up to this point we decided we needed to have dessert, so we had the chocolate cake with fudge inside, which was just like a lava cake, and iced coffees. The coffee part was the only strange bit - the restaurant had to get the coffees from the quick cafe because they 'don't serve coffee'?? huh?? Regardless, the coffee was great and was easy to add directly to our bill without needing two transactions. And, our amazing server brought us to-go cups when we decided to take the rest of our coffee with us back into the gardens.
Lovely, classic space, attentive and skilled staff, fresh, beautiful food, indoor and outdoor seating, a fantastic cocktail menu, yummy desserts, and the location in the middle of the serene beauty of the Botanical Garden - I highly recommend this place and look forward to eating here again at a future visit to the gardens!
Final recommendations: make a reservation if you don't want to wait too long (we waited 25 min), and then settle in and enjoy the experience!