The Copper Room
Restaurant · Yucca Valley
57360 Aviation Dr, Yucca Valley, CA 92284
Highlights
Creative classics & ice-cold martinis with runway views
Creative classics & ice-cold martinis with runway views
"For most people visiting Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley is the chain-ridden town where you can pick up groceries and get gas before heading to your vacation rental. But there’s a lot more here than a Stater Bros. Case in point, The Copper Room. This historic restaurant at the Yucca Valley Airport has been around since the 1950s, when regulars included Frank Sinatra and Gene Autry. It closed a few years back, but has now been restored with multiple dining rooms and a wrap-around bar perfect for martinis, eating delicious snacks like garlic shrimp toast, and pretending you’re someone else for a few hours. This is the kind of place you come to on your first night in the desert, then return to every night after." - brant cox
"This classic Yucca Valley bar and restaurant, perched behind the still-active Yucca Valley Airport, has what it takes to be a draw for both locals and travelers in the Joshua Tree area. Diners seeking a fuller meal can sit in its carpeted, string-light-lit dining room with a distinctly 1970s living room vibe. Here, they may share dishes like garlic shrimp toast with togarashi butter; a crunchy napa cabbage salad inflected with Vietnamese flavors; and the burger, made even fattier with bone marrow. Visitors can cozy up to the bar for the same menu and order off the compelling cocktail list, which includes high balls, tiki-ish drinks, and martinis. The crew also prepares hotcakes or a filling steak and eggs for weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m." - Matthew Kang
"I wrestled with ordering a popular but basic appetizer and ended up with the spinach artichoke dip at the Copper Room in Yucca Valley, which successfully balances cream cheese and Gruyère with loads of shredded spinach and artichoke; eat it the second it arrives and you’ll likely order another for the group. The former airstrip lounge converted into a restaurant has 1970s vibes and is a regional beacon for cocktails and inventive dishes like garlic shrimp toast with togarashi butter and Flannery Farms hanger steak with garlic-ginger broccolini — pair the dip with a gimlet sour, a mai tai made with four types of rums, or the 1957 martini served with a crostini topped with smoked trout roe, shrimp, and tapenade." - Eater Staff
"This cozy Yucca Valley bar and restaurant, perched just behind the still-active Yucca Valley Airport, has perfected what it takes to be a draw for both locals and travelers in the Joshua Tree region. Diners seeking a fuller meal can sit in its carpeted, string-light-lit dining room, which has a distinctly 1970s living room vibe. Here, they may share dishes like garlic shrimp toast with togarashi butter, a crunchy napa cabbage salad inflected with Vietnamese flavors, and the pilot’s burger, whose patty is made even fattier with bone marrow. Visitors can belly up to the bar for the same menu and order off the compelling cocktail list, which includes high balls, tiki-ish drinks, and martinis, as well as a warming scotch toddy and buttered rum. For the best of both worlds, go for the “1957 martini,” which comes with an amuse bouche of smoked trout roe, poached shrimp, and tapenade crostini." - Eater Staff
"I found that the Copper Room in Yucca Valley posts language on its menu saying the service charge is given in its entirety to staff to create more equitable earnings, blur the delineation between FOH and BOH, and provide medical and retirement benefits; it adds a 20 percent service charge and is listed among Last Word restaurants whose employees could be covered by the lawsuit challenging distribution of service fees." - Matthew Kang
