Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery
Traditional American restaurant · Downtown ·
Restaurant, cheesery, and marketplace with American staples
Restaurant, cheesery, and marketplace with American staples
"Pasadena’s Agnes Restaurant and Cheesery offers a Thanksgiving dinner that serves four. The takeout feast runs for $300 and includes puffy cheddar biscuits, lamb Wellington, green bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin pie, and more. Pre-order on Agnes’s website, and pick up anytime from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 26th." - Eater Staff
"Collaborating with Capri Club, this Pasadena restaurant will head to Capri Club on September 24 to serve cornbread eclairs and plenty of cheese, while Capri Club will go to Pasadena on October 28 for a five-course meal with pasta and Negronis." - Rebecca Roland
"Thomas and wife/partner/cheesemonger Vanessa Tilaka Kalb have built one of Pasadena’s most appealing restaurants of recent years. Opened in the early days of the pandemic and surviving a challenging location amid chains, the place has become a mainstay in Old Pasadena. The versatile space — a cozy main dining room that overlooks an open kitchen and an airy back patio — offers different experiences depending on the occasion; soaring ceilings, open skylights, brick walls, black-and-white family photos, and grandma-print upholstery convey a relaxed, mid-century-elegant vibe. Most diners will want to start with the cornbread eclairs topped with piped chicken liver and marinated cherries, a postcard of the Kalbs’ Midwest sensibility. Hazelnut hummus acts as a "spreadable pillow" underneath the beet–Asian pear salad, a vegetable interlude before more substantial mains like the baked potato gnocchi, a truly brilliant dish that rejiggers the steakhouse side. Thai-inflected grilled skirt steak gains smokiness from the wood-burning grill, while crispy Thai-style fried chicken would warm any grandmother’s heart; even the child’s chicken tenders (long pieces of chicken cutlet) are singled out as one of the best kid’s-menu dishes in Los Angeles. A caveat: the cavalcade of rich cheese and heaviness can accumulate, so don’t over-order — leave room for either a cheese plate for dessert or the inventive s’mores choco taco to finish." - Eater Staff
"Agnes makes the ultimate dessert mashup — campfire s’mores inspired by the now-defunct and iconic Choco Taco. Fans of this frozen dessert will enjoy encountering a sweet and crisp waffle shell filled with chocolate mousse and toasted marshmallow — all of it blowtorched to caramelized perfection. Enjoy this sweet treat in Agnes’ spacious dining room or bar in Old Town Pasadena." - Eater Staff
"Every time we walk through Agnes’s massive barn doors on Green St., we’re hit with a sudden wave of bucolic euphoria. There’s a full market and cheesery up front, an open hearth loaded with sizzling meats in back, and giant wooden rafters soaring above the dining room and back patio. Agnes isn’t the first place in LA to dip into Midwestern nostalgia, but it’s the only one that goes all-in. You’ll eat dishes like loaded baked potato dumplings, cornbread eclairs, and ice cream topped with puppy chow. This is definitely upscale dining, but it’s also where universal childhood comforts are intertwined into every element of the experience." - brant cox, sylvio martins, andrew ryce