John S.
Yelp
Yes, the name is appropriately ridiculous but also sadly misleading. It's a vegan restaurant, and they should proclaim that more loudly, but don't let that make you avoid it. RFD isn't an annoying vegan restaurant.
The food is delicious. I've only been here two times, but both times, I've either rudely asked my dining companions to taste their food or politely accepted their offers to taste their food, so I've tasted many things on the menu. My personal faves are the Original RFD Burger (hold the jalapeños), the Breakfast Calzone, and the Mexico City Tacos. The onion rings are really good. If you're over fries--I don't understand how that could happen, but I'm trying to walk in other people's shoes here--they're a worse-for-you but possibly better-tasting option.
My only real criticism (and it's minor): The Build Your Basic Bowl might be a good thing, but it's described poorly on the menu, and two different servers have had trouble explaining it. I think the word "Basic" is confusing people, because you can make the bowl anything but basic, and the rules about what you can and can't include really don't make sense.
The place is so cute. It's deceptively cute, actually. It feels kind of thrown together, but when you spend a little bit of time here, you'll find that they put a great deal of thought into all the design choices. It's a mishmash of different eras and tastes, but it really works, especially when it's dark and chilly outside. Eating in the patio is also cozy, and you don't feel like you're banished to the nether regions.
The parking situation can be annoying. I usually look for a spot just east of the building in the South Lake Avenue Parking Lot, which is on the north side of East Del Mar Boulevard, right before RFD. The entrance to the parking lot is actually a street named Shoppers Lane. There's lots of parking, but the aisles are designed poorly, so you sometimes can't get back to Shoppers Lane without having to back out. Plus, if you have to park too far north of the entrance, it's not really that close to the restaurant anymore. I've had pretty good luck with street parking on South Lake Avenue itself, but this is Pasadena, so it can get slightly annoying. (No parking in SoCal is anywhere near as bad as it is in most of San Francisco, so I tend to scoff at most of my fellow native Southern Californians' "impossible to park" hyperbole/histrionics.)
It's always nice to patronize parts of Pasadena that aren't right on Colorado. I love many places in Old Town Pasadena, but there are plenty of other places to explore. If you've ever been to the Trader Joe's, it's right around the corner from RFD.
It's a perfect place for a date, whether or not your companion is vegan. It's also good for couples, friends, groups, post-high-school-reunion snacks (although it's not open that late), book-club friends, and pottery-class meetups.