Palm Springs for Gay Men: Restaurant Guide
Want to know where to go to do lunch or have dinner? Tired of seeing everything getting rave reviews? Like to get your money's worth? This is the place, gay man!
Just like any restaurant, this page has several tables. The first table shows the very best meals (with the top rating first). The second table shows the meals that are most worthy of your money (with the best deal first). The meals in these two tables are all culled from the third table, which includes all the restaurants we have visited (in alphabetical order). The tables are followed by a section of reviews, where we give you a word or two on each restaurant -- the human touch behind the mathematics.
Each entry in the tables shows you how good (or bad) the restaurant is, and also if it is overpriced (or underpriced -- Eureka!). You should first read how we come up with our ratings, but when you come back next time you may skip the talk and go directly to the tables by clicking on one of the buttons below.
We appraise the restaurants we visit -- not praise them as most reviewers do: A recently departed reviewer in the gay press here never found a restaurant that wasn't the very best one, and he loved every morsel they threw at him. We do it differently. We don't let them know that we review them, so we don't get any improved meals or special service, and we carry no advertising, so we can say what we really think -- that should give you a more reliable help in choosing where to go to be happy.
In the Total Rating column we rate how good the place is, disregarding the cost of eating there, and in the Worth Your Money? column you see if you get what you pay for. We have never seen restaurants judged in this manner -- we think you'll appreciate this approach!
The list started small, but now we are approaching two hundred eateries. It will continue to grow, but it'll never be "complete". We have visited each restaurant that we review. Of course, the list is subjective -- there is no evaluation committee at work here, just us trying to help you.
Different people may look for different things in a restaurant. Here is what we require to give the top rating in each category:
| FOOD QUALITY: (Ratings 0 to 4) The menu doesn't need to be long, but there should be something for every palate. Well cooked, fresh tasting, and presentated in a tempting way. Yes, the food should really be a bit more complicated than we could prepare at home. And it should be bountiful, so we don't have to go across the street and finish off the meal in another restaurant. |
| AMBIENCE: (Ratings 0 to 4) We like to be casually dressed and still get a warm welcome and be seated without a big fuss. The table should be set in advance, complete with tablecloth and linen napkins. The room should be nicely lighted and the colors pleasing. We like the openly straight guests to accept our presence with equanimity, if not ecstacy. And no valet parking trap. (Valet parking is quite OK if they offer you self-parking as a choice.) |
| SERVICE: (Ratings 0 to 3) We like to be waited on when needed but otherwise left alone. When the food arrives, no food auction, please ("...and I have a salmon; who is that for?..."). We don't want to be asked how we enjoy the food we are just eating -- most restaurants interrupt their guests by asking this; however, it isn't done by very good places (they don't need to ask) and very bad ones (they don't dare to ask). The service should remain on the table until everyone has finished, unless the kitchen is running short of plates. If they try to cheat (faux food, imaginative billing, whatever) we regard it as no service at all. Buffets and cafeterias also get no service points -- you do serve yourself, right? |
| GAY PRESENCE: (Ratings 0 to 3) The more gay guys we see as patrons the happier we are. |
| PRICE LEVEL: (Ratings 0 and up: higher rating = higher price) Of course we want all this for nothing! Now that that's impossible, we still find a low cost for the meal most appreciated. For the cost calculation, we use the average price of all the items that are top ranking on that menu: The burgers in a burger place, the chateaubriands (but not the burgers) in a fancy restaurant. We use the selections and prices from the regular menu, but if they offer a promotional meal ("Special Lunch Menu", "Early Bird Special", etc), we may provide an additional listing with the applicable day and time specified. |
The Price Level subtracted from the Total Rating gives you the Worth Your Money?. If you pay the right amount for what you get, it'll show as a zero. If it's a plus value, then you get more than what you pay for, and conversely you get less than you pay for if it's a minus value. (Why are there so many pluses and so few minuses? You know, we've probably instinctively avoided the dogs, but we'll get to them all in due course...)
Since we don't run to restaurants every time we are hungry, it takes its good time to compile a list like this one. While our impression should be valid forever, you may want to know when we were there. The Year column will give you a rough idea. You may notice that most reviews date from 1999, 2000, and 2001. These days we don't go out quite as much, so there are fewer recent additions. But all the evaluations we have seem to remain quite valid and should remain so.
You may look at the Detailed Rating Criteria if you care to know in detail how we arrived at each number in the tables.
Our towns: CC = Cathedral City, DH = Desert Hot Springs, IN = Indio, IW = Indian Wells, LQ = La Quinta, PD = Palm Desert, PS = Palm Springs, RM = Rancho Mirage, TP = Thousand Palms.
An (af) after Meal Judged means 'al fresco' = we chose to sit outdoors.
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Let us have your comments and suggestions. Your help will make this a better guide!
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Click on a restaurant name for a brief review
(and then come back
to the same restaurant in the main listing by clicking on RATINGS after the review).
| Sequencing: 1) Total Rating, 2) Worth Your Money, 3) Food Quality, 4) Ambience, 5) Service, 6)Year |
| Sequencing: 1) Worth Your Money, 2) Total Rating, 3) Dinner-->Brunch-->Lunch, 4) Food Quality, 5) Ambience, 6) Year |
| Sequencing: 1) Restaurant Name, 2) Meal Judged |
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Adobe (67670 Carey Road): Located in the Villa Resort. Great food served in a nice, very crowded dining room. And the crowd is all gay! RATINGS
Alaskan Grill Twisted Fish (105 South Palm Canyon Drive): The location in the busiest spot in Palm Springs allows very little space, but the table is big enough for a small lunch. Everything is fish-based. The meal was plain but satisfactory. RATINGS
We were totally surprised to see it close in 2004; it seemed always to pack'em in. Never heard a harsh word. Hmmmm.
Al Dente (491 North Palm Canyon Drive): Whether you get to enjoy a comfortable terrace setting for lunch or an authentic Italian indoor dinner experience, you will get a high class Italian meal, superb service, and a pampered palate. RATINGS
Alfredo's (155 South Belardo Road): An unexpectedly pleasant Holiday Inn restaurant. Maybe the lighting was a tad gloomy, but the meal was hearty and very good. RATINGS
In 2001 we found the dinners costing some 60% more than before! They realized how good they were... And in 2003 there was no Holiday Inn any longer - and with it no Alfredo's either.
Applebee's (32400 Date Palm Drive): Predictable to the point of sterility, service when they got around to it, piped-in music that obviated -- no: precluded -- conversation, everything the very young, straight Generation Y crowd could ask for. RATINGS
Atlas (210 South Palm Canyon Drive): Delightful lunch dishes served on a nice, if sometimes a bit windy, verandah. Pleasant but at times forgetful service; the impression was, however, seriously damaged by an intentional shortchanging of -- 33 cents. How petty! RATINGS
We have no clue as to why Atlas closed. But it did, in 2005.
Azul (369 North Palm Canyon Drive): This is really an upscale bar, and the food ("tapas") was originally a tasty tidbit placed on a small plate on top of the wine glass to protect the wine from flies. Therefore, the servings are tiny (and our ratings reflect it). But what a delightful little lunch you get in a softly swinging table setting under a parasol right in town! Delicious food, nicely presented, and with attentive, pleasant service. RATINGS
Baker's Square (1596 North Palm Canyon Drive): Pleasant looking diner food, but then you find that it is all so greasy, even stir-fried vegetables! With all that grease, no wonder all their patrons appear so -- how shall we say it? -- well-rounded. Huge assortment of pies: another reason. RATINGS
Banducci's Bit of Italy (1260 South Palm Canyon Drive): Great, rich Italian meal with all the trimmings, served in a simple, comfortable room. The waitress was nice but too rushed. Quite popular place, and deservedly so. RATINGS
What a shock to see this Palm Springs Institution gone! Some things you expect to remain forever, because they have always been. We have no clue why they closed - they seemed always to be packed. Farewell to the good old days.
Beach House (70115 Highway 111): The indoor "Garden Room" is extremely pleasant and the champagne brunch food superb. But .. valet parking trap, the bill before offering coffee, double charge for one entree ("Oh, it's a computer glitch, we know about it"), and $2.50 for a non-alcohol alternative to the free champagne .. how unnecessary! RATINGS
Oops!! Closed "until the fall". Was it our review that made the Beach House close for "remodeling" in the beginning of April 1999, the very peak of the season? And the modeling wasn't at fault; it was everything else! -- Later update: "Remodeling" meant "going out of business" as it always does.
Bella Cucina (72355-C Highway 111): Good Italian fare enjoyed (1) indoors in a pleasantly decorated utilitarian room and (2) outdoors in spartan surroundings on their shopping center sidewalk facing a huge parking lot. RATINGS
Billy Reed's (1800 North Palm Canyon Drive): Hearty servings of good home cooking in a spectacular 90's (oh .. 1890's) setting. RATINGS
Bit of Country (418 South Indian Canyon Drive): No pretentions of any kind in this basic diner, just good food and plenty of it. Packing in locals. RATINGS
Black Angus (69640 Highway 111): The log cabin atmosphere stuns you when you step in: what a great steakhouse! But from that point on everything is mediocre to bad. Cheap cuts of meat (prepared OK), an inedible appetizer, a simple (but big) dessert cake, a befuddled waiter. Your table is surrounded by smoked glass walls separating you from other parties, and with nice company you will be well filled and hopefully happy. RATINGS
Blame It On Midnight (777 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): After all the disasters there, who could have guessed that this forlorn site at the end of the courtyard could ever succeed? Well, it has, and it was packed the midweek summer night of this review. Good mix, younger and older, gay men and women, cozy though huge, great food, good-looking service, and a bit too noisy as a night club should be. RATINGS
Blue Angel (777 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): Berlin and Marlene and the 30's right here in town! Stylishly perfect art deco barely lit by blue neon, live jazz singer loudly projected on many TV screens. Therefore, this place is a hyperelegant antithesis for someone who relishes subdued warmth. Great food, but not tops, great service, but not tops, and all gay. RATINGS
It couldn't make ends meet, it seems, and closed in early May 2000. In 2001, Blame It On Midnight opened here.
Blue Coyote Grill (445 North Palm Canyon Drive): Excellent Mexican food in a very comfortable place, most seating al fresco. RATINGS
Bongo Johnny's (214 East Arenas Road): A very cramped, wholly gay restaurant. While the brunches are totally undistinguished, the dinners are excellently prepared: a choice of several entrees, and tons of salads and burger variations as well; however, weak dessert selections. RATINGS
Boomerang Bistro (394 North Palm Canyon Drive): Nice food from a very limited menu, but oh so little of it. No ambience at all: concrete walls with built-in echo, bridge chairs from the closet, and glass and formica and green and gray all the way.
RATINGS
We were surprised that they could make a go of it for so long, but it finally closed late in 2002, being replaced by a Thai restaurant
Boscoso (707 North Palm Canyon Drive): A gay high class restaurant that also appeals to a few straying, straight couples, but is still very much our territory. Great food (a long list of specials), superb service, an eatery doing everything right to make us feel at home. RATINGS
Burger Factory (333 South Indian Canyon Drive): Bland burger on a sawdust bun, plastic chairs, self-service, hostile attitude, the works. RATINGS
They left the premises in 2003, missed by few.
Cafe des Beaux-Arts (73640 El Paseo Drive): Well-prepared sizeable portions of not exclusively French food, nicely served in a pink-toned, pleasantly understated milieu. RATINGS
Cafe Scandia (356 South Indian Canyon Drive): Outstandingly prepared European entrees, served on, yes, hot dishes! A somewhat bewildered but friendly personnel; no offering of drinks or table bread or dessert - the guest has to specifically request that. Was that great tasting vegetable soup really borscht? RATINGS
Cafe 285 (285 North Palm Canyon Drive): Be warned: This place has "eat-and-leave" chairs for quick customer turnover. The comfort of a happy outdoors cafe is totally absent, in spite of food that is good for what it is. RATINGS
Cafe Veracruz (494 North Palm Canyon Drive): Colorful place with very friendly staff. Nice Mexican food. RATINGS
Caffe Italia (2500 North Palm Canyon Drive): Appetizer-sized portions of good pasta dishes in a small, white-tiled, utilitarian room. RATINGS
California Pizza Kitchen, two sites:
1) In PD: (73080 El Paseo Drive): Bright and airy. On the other hand: Mostly dry pizza dough with exquisities on top (how about Duck and Shrimp and Portobello?), in-your-face cooking, bimbo waiters, and no-armrest Breuer chairs throughout.
2) In PS: (123 North Palm Canyon Drive): Between kitchen clatter and baby blabber, a decent meal served in great haste by many hands. RATINGS
Canyon Bistro (415 North Palm Canyon Drive): Pleasant French restaurant serving excellent Italian food. Haphazard service .. at least five men were involved serving our table and still no napkins until requested. RATINGS
Capri (12260 Palm Drive): Standard fare Italian restaurant without personality. The soup appeared canned. RATINGS
Carlo's Italian Deli & Rest (119 South Indian Canyon Drive): Small portions of simple, basic Italian fare. Service almost non-existent. RATINGS
Carrow's (1243 East Palm Canyon Drive): Good standard diner food in a pleasing environment. They know how to cook, so it is very busy at dinner time. Open 24 hours a day. RATINGS
Casa Comargo (1480 South Palm Canyon Drive): Overdecorated, comfortable small Mexican place (seven tables in all), very friendly. Simple but good dishes. RATINGS
Thos little restaurant disappeared in 2002, and another restaurant is there now.
Castle City Grill (82530 Highway 111): Impressive building: a medieval castle! But it's one of those places that try to go upscale by adding "luxury" items to the decor (plastic velvet and the like) and by including a few nice-sounding dishes on the menu. It's a diner in disguise. RATINGS
C C Inn on El Paseo (73445 El Paseo Drive): Chi-chi lady food, and not particularly tasty at that. But the gazebo-like outdoor patio is quite nice. RATINGS
Cedar Creek Inn (1555 South Palm Canyon Drive): A top quality place! Large helpings of delicious food. Beautifully decorated room with rustic wood tables and comfortable armchairs (but the seat is soft plastic, which is not so nice). Perfect, attentive service. For brunch, same comments (but for a short meal we didn't even notice the plastic seat, if any). The most civilized restaurant we have found. RATINGS
Charisma (44400 Indian Wells Lane): In the top echelon resort hotel The Esmeralda, you descend a Hello Dolly staircase and find this wonderful restaurant that offers superb fare at any price. But its clincher is the promotional menu; if you watch your calendar and clock and accept choosing from only three entrees and two desserts, you have found the restaurant most worthy of your money in this entire valley. Super-friendly service, top class ambience, everything you could ask for. RATINGS
Cheeky Monkey (475 South Sunrise Way): British pub, very authentically appointed, which includes a high degree of gloom. Traditional English food, with their time-honored breakfast an option all day. RATINGS
Some people liked it, but too many did not; it closed in early 2001, and in 2003 the building became a huge parking lot
Chef (356 South Indian Canyon Drive): Fine atmosphere but somehow not relaxing. Great cooking but somehow too little of it. Good service but somehow no alacrity. The chef came around and said hello: a nice touch. All prices quoted in even dollars (no $14.95's): an even nicer touch. RATINGS
Demise occurred early in 2000 and now you find Schnitzel Haus in the same place and with the same phone number. Who knows -- maybe the same people?
Chen Ling Garden (787 North Palm Canyon Drive): Good Mandarin and Szechuan food. Although a bit gloomy, the place has more Chinese ambience than most, even authentic Chinese piped-in music. They offer free delivery within Palm Springs. RATINGS
Closed in late summer of 2001; now there is Thai Kitchen II".
China 8 (31855 Date Palm Drive): Good dumplings try in vain to rescue a less than mediocre beef dish in this barren dump, and smiling faces are just not enough. RATINGS
China 8 Buffet (2355 Tahquitz Canyon Way): Select from over a hundred buffet dishes. No gourmet dining, but interesting and mostly quite good. They make you feel welcome. RATINGS
China Garden (73196 Highway 111): Pleasant Chinese lunch, simple stylish room, and nice enough service. RATINGS
China King (295 North Palm Canyon Drive): Filling meal at a totally undistinguished Chinese eatery. RATINGS
Chrome (241 East Arenas Road): What a delightful dining experience on the wide patio! There is not a big menu selection, but everything is well prepared, simple, and tasty. Perfect service. These are the premises of the earlier Tomboyz, and we have never experienced a starker contrast. RATINGS
So what happened? Chrome, one of our all-time highest rated restaurants, opened in 2006 and then closed a month later. We were flummoxed to say the least, and all sorts of rumors as to the cause were flying around. We surely missed the place - until Bongo Johnny's opened in its stead. Proves that nothing is irreplaceable.
Churchill's Fish&Chips (665 South Palm Canyon Drive): Quite authentic London East End pub, with its decor on the cheap and deep-fried food, mostly fish, with French fries, as it should be. Someone just may like it. RATINGS
It was just amazing that this dive could last that long, but it finally closed in 2004.
Coco's (1901 East Palm Canyon Drive): Good, filling food in a typical diner. RATINGS
Coffee Dot Com (241 East Tahquitz Way): Outdoor lunch: Pleasant sidewalk cafe, albeit with not very comfortable chairs, serving a good sandwich lunch that is not big enough. Indoor dinner: Sitting in what could be taken as a bus station waiting room, you get a superb homestyle meal; no luxury, but done right throughout. Large portions of everything, and regardless of your appetite you eat every last morsel. The walls are crammed with art, but the food is what counts. RATINGS
Let's face it: it was an art gallery that also served food, and that is a tough proposition. They finally had to close in early 2003 and gave room for Spike's bar, which later morphed into the Plum restaurant.
Continental Cafe (42490 Bob Hope Drive): Elegant little restaurant, a surprise for a plain shopping center. Excellent food, maybe a tad small servings. RATINGS
Burned to cinder together with several other businesses on Leap Day 2000. Let's hope they'll recover.
Crosswalk Cafe (370 North Palm Canyon Drive): Not bad food for a quick meal. Well, quick -- You know those people who run, run, run and never get anything done. The
owner/waitress ran among the tables, delivering a fork here and saying "The food will be out soon" there, and we just sat and sat and sat... RATINGS
Cyrano's (664 North Palm Canyon Drive): Really high quality French kitchen, very much like being in Paris, even down to the less than comfortable chairs. Exquisite service. And in spite of all this, the place is not stuffy at all. RATINGS
Sad to see Cyrano's go, but it closed in late summer of 2000.
Daily Grill (73061 El Paseo Drive): Really great food in an understated, first-class bar type of restaurant. RATINGS
Dakota (73260 El Paseo Drive): Western style menu, and the food is quite good. Service perfect: attentive and not intrusive. RATINGS
Damo's Pastaria (256 South Palm Canyon Drive): Yes, Virginia, there is a gourmet lunch in Palm Springs! This is not a "Pastaria" at all -- they serve a delightful full meal, indoors (a little bit spartan) or on the sidewalk terrace (quite pleasant), and don't mind the confusing whiteboard menu (What comes with what?), just enjoy everything! RATINGS
Another good restaurant has closed, this one by January 2000. It could be a result of its name -- pastaria sounds more like a pastry shop. Now Pom' Frite is there.
Davey's Hideaway (292 East Palm Canyon Drive): If you can read the menu in the dark, you will order a delicious meal. Subdued, efficient service, quiet, comfortable, discreet, a real hideaway. RATINGS
Delhi Palace (1422 North Palm Canyon Drive): Tasty, interesting food of India, presented in a gloomy, formal elegance. RATINGS
Denny's (1201 North Palm Canyon Drive): Diner all the way, but with some really good dishes. Open 24 hours a day. RATINGS
Desert Museum Cafe (101 Museum Drive): Delightful salads and sandwiches either indoors with art on the walls or outside in a sculpture garden with moving waters. A real oasis, and you don't have to pay the museum entrance fee for just the cafe! RATINGS
Desert Palms Inn (67580 East Palm Canyon Drive): We reviewed it (favorably) years ago, but then came bankruptcy, killing the good goose. The place virtually died, and we removed our review. Now, on revisiting it under new management we found it again offering a high quality meal and pleasant by-the-pool seating (but without the alluring crowd of hunks in and around the pool of yore). RATINGS
Please help us to keep track of when this restaurant is open. The latest reason to close was a fire in 2002. What next?
Don Diego (74969 Highway 111): Upscale Mexican cuisine; outstanding salsa for the chips. RATINGS
Don & Sweet Sue's (68955 Ramon Road): Good, wholesome food, extremely pleasant service, you feel at home. RATINGS
88 Bistro (69620 Highway 111): Very nice lunch dishes, mostly Chinese, in a subdued setting. Service excellent if a tad overbearing. RATINGS
It closed almost immediately. Why? Ask not.
Elmer's (1030 East Palm Canyon Drive): Big, wonderful servings of "home" cooking that really satify a hungry man, but then that gloomy lighting -- why??? RATINGS
Enzo's (254 North Palm Canyon Drive): You need something extra when you serve Italian fare; Enzo's is fair -- but no flair. Service friendly but too many misses. RATINGS
Erik's Kro (356 South Indian Canyon Drive): Wildly varying European national dishes, albeit kind of diminutive. 100% gay clientele when reviewed. Friendly, with its Danish chef appearing from his kitchen -- a nice touch. RATINGS
Another casualty of this horrible location. Who will be the next to open and then close? Partial answer: Cafe Scandia with the same Danish chef.
Europa (1620 Indian Trail): Burning candles, low wooden ceiling, roaring fireplace, great intimate feeling. Great but distinctly unremarkable dishes. Nice enough service, but with food auctions and repeated satisfaction inquiries. RATINGS
Fisherman's Market & Grill (235 South Indian Canyon Drive): One would expect that a fish-and-seafood-only cafeteria style eatery with barebones seating would offer such excellent fare that everything else would be overlooked for the joy of the palate. Not so - it was all too salty and bland (so you had to gulp down a lot of beverage from your styrofoam cup). RATINGS
Fuji Buffet (69600 Highway 111): Decent buffet selection of plain but tasty Japanese morsels in huge 1950's diner style room, complete with aluminum edges, formica and naugahyde. A screaming reprimand (in Japanese) of the personnel served as entertainment. RATINGS
This restaurant died in the winter of 2001
Gila Steaks & Seafood (74950 Country Club Drive): Excellent kitchen! Eat there -- don't drink (Margarita without a trace of tequila, cranberry juice diluted by tons of ice). Industrial space sectioned by office dividers (nicely done, but a bit rough for an upscale restaurant). Service absolutely impeccable. RATINGS
Grand Palms Buffet (32250 Bob Hope Drive): In the Agua Caliente Casino, so get your free Club Paradise card for a $1 meal discount. Impeccably clean, roomy and airy and bright, pleasant service for the little they do in a buffet setting, rich selection of varied dishes but monotonous desserts (38 different cakes, that's it -- yikes!) RATINGS
Great Wall (362 South Palm Canyon Drive): At lunch very small portions of tasty Chinese food in a diner type of locale. RATINGS
Hacienda Blanca (2330 North Palm Canyon Drive): Two meals (one dinner, one lunch), two years (2004 and 2003), two very different reviews, and two names (it was Casablanca the first time). 1) Dinner in 2003: The Adriatic Villa hotel is such a gorgeous replica of a real Italian pensione that one expects its restaurant to be a treasure. Not so. It is simply a mediocre dive. Routine Mexican fare in a locale a half-step up from a diner. And they shortchanged on the bill. 2) Lunch in 2004: Good Mexican food of the standard variety, a nice and airy decor bringing it a step up from looking like a diner, friendly service. RATINGS
This restaurant didn't start up very well, but it improved to be quite a nice place. It probably lost its reputation early on and could not regain it and closed in 2005.
Hamburger Hamlet (123 North Palm Canyon Drive): The first thing you notice is the atrociously slow service (ordering, serving, paying). The second thing you notice is the hurt from sitting on black metal strips with no padding (painfully elegant). You don't notice the food at all -- it is made with all noticeable flavor elements meticulously removed, so that nobody's taste buds are ever offended. RATINGS
It quietly died in the summer of 2004, sorely missed by the hapless tourists who didn't know any better. A notice on the door invites us to their remaining outlets in Los Angeles and Washington DC. Yeah, sure.
Hamburger Mary's (415 North Palm Canyon Drive): Food: adequate. Comfort: so-so. Fireplace: cute. Conversation: impossible. The relentless hammering of the powermusic (reminiscing of the gym) is what lingers when the taste of the huge hamburger is long gone. RATINGS
Here's the Beef Steakhouse (68784 East Palm Canyon Drive): After an uninspired salad, great steaks in very cramped, New York sized quarters. Good service, but far too much "How's everything" (even the chef emerged inquiring). RATINGS
Hometown Buffet (72513C Highway 111): An enormous buffet selection of nice food; clearly a place to fill up most pleasantly. RATINGS
International Cafe (67778 Highway 111): Fine American dining with some Mexican dishes as well. Generous servings of delicious food, but the place needed more warmth: the ambience by more textiles and the service by more smiles. RATINGS
Int'l House of Pancakes, two sites:
1) In PS (471 South Indian Canyon Drive): Standard diner. Good selection of pancakes. Often noisy babies on board.
2) In RM (34199 Monterey Avenue): Standard diner. Good, hearty omelettes, and a good selection of pancakes. RATINGS
JJ's Mexican Oasis (1550 North Palm Canyon Drive): Well prepared Mexican dishes served in a simple, homey room. RATINGS
Johannes (196 South Indian Canyon Drive): A minimalist European style gourmet restaurant. The absence of the standard paraphernalia, the discreet background music, the faultless service, and each enjoyable bite of food made this into a most relaxing experience. To be sure, we were the only clients. RATINGS
John's (900 North Palm Canyon Drive): As exciting as the cafeteria at a freeway rest stop -- in fact, a true copy of the real thing. RATINGS
John Henry's (1785 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): Great reputation, due more to quantity than quality. Mostly al fresco, and no place to wait for your table -- wherever you stand you're in everybody's way. Don't even try to understand the confusing menu! But all is forgiven after the enormous dessert. RATINGS
Kacoon's Oasis (73405 El Paseo Drive): Nicely done dishes, but oh so little of it (and the mandarin wedges in the greenery were fermented). Service very slow. RATINGS
Kaiser Grille (205 South Palm Canyon Drive): Excellent, courteous service. Rich, well-prepared, and well-presented dishes. Tasteful, comfortable seating (even outdoors, in December!). One of the very best lunches anywhere. RATINGS
Karla's (143 South Farrell Drive): Plain, a bit gloomy, but very popular diner. RATINGS
Kiyosaku (1420 North Palm Canyon Drive): Well-prepared Japanese food, but the servings were so small that they affected our food rating. Very traditional atmosphere: chopsticks, kimonos, paper lamps. Service was minimal: "More tea, please". RATINGS
La Casita (411 East Palm Canyon) (411 East Palm Canyon Drive): Improved diner setting with live music entertainment. Pleasant Mexican dishes. RATINGS
La Casita (100 South Indian Canyon) (100 South Indian Canyon Drive): We finally found thoroughly bland Mexican food! And you can get a decent Margarita for $1.50! Relish this place now before they locate the spice cabinet. RATINGS
La Fonda (611 South Palm Canyon Drive): Decent Mexican food in a plain room with cafeteria style ordering and then table delivery. Based on your luck you may get it served on paper plates! RATINGS
Closed in 2002, and has been replaced, and replaced, by other versions of Mexican food.
La Provence (254 North Palm Canyon Drive): For special occasions (such as when you don't have the time to hop over to Paris) this is as perfectly French as you can get. There is such a thing as haute cuisine with good-sized portions, and here it is! With soft Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier in the background, and service that is attentive and discreet, far superior to anywhere in France. A meal at La Provence and you are in heaven. RATINGS
It is very tough to run a restaurant on the second floor, particularly with a steep staircase to negotiate. Sadly, in 2002 the restaurant had to walk down the stairs itself.
Las Casuelas Nuevas (70050 Highway 111): Perfect Mexican/American buffet in a delightful garden; could not be better. Any faults at all? The mariachi band was too noise when too close (but the moved around), the buffet room a tad too dark (but anything you picked up was so good anyway). RATINGS
Las Casuelas Original (368 North Palm Canyon Drive): Just imagine Mexican food that doesn't taste anything... RATINGS
Las Casuelas Terraza (222 South Palm Canyon Drive): What a wonderfully quaint Spanish style decor throughout -- and if you ask to be seated in the "Ramada Room" you'll be transported right to the fabulous full-wall mural's Mexican village corner! But the food is average and the service is slow and uninterested. RATINGS
LaTablita (68369 East Palm Canyon Drive): Mexican food served in a slightly improved basic room. For brunch a hearty but not elegant buffet selection. For dinner pretty much standard Mexican fare. Great wine Margarita! RATINGS
Left Bank (Palm Springs) (150 East Vista Chino): Just superb all the way! Elegant, yet comfortable place with live piano, attentive serving of exquisite French dishes with all accoutrements. RATINGS
After steadily sinking in quality over the years, this Left Bank restaurant was sold and became Uptown Grill in 2003.
Left Bank (Rancho Mirage) (70065 Highway 111): Excellent, attentive service, wonderful food, what a pleasant place for a nice Sunday champagne brunch! But one wishes that they would not charge extra for the coffee that a designated driver takes instead of the price-included alcohol. RATINGS
Leon's Bar & Grill (1800 East Palm Canyon Drive): Had it not been for the sad Clam Chowder, this place, inside Ramada Inn, would have gotten full food credits! Pseudo-patio furnishings and poolside ambience (but safely tucked inside). The live musician and the table service tried very hard. RATINGS
Le Peep (2665 East Palm Canyon Drive & 73725 El Paseo): The P S location is brighter and roomier than the P D location. But both serve good portions of usually well prepared lunch dishes. Specialty coffees. Busy on Sundays. RATINGS
Very quietly, both restaurants disappeared at some time during 2003. Strange, because they did have their faithful following. After an empty year, the Palm Springs property came to house Manhattan in the Desert.
Le Vallauris (385 West Tahquitz Canyon Way): An exquisite dining experience! The enormous patio all under the branches of huge lupe ficus trees offers the same comforts as the great indoors. Perfect food and impeccable service, worthy of top ratings. Too bad that we found some faults: the mandatory valet parking is one and the serving of the ordered dishes to the wrong guests (no asking, just placing) is another.
RATINGS
LG's Prime SteakHouse (255 South Palm Canyon Drive): Huge juicy steaks served by a snippy waitress in a nondescript room with uncomfortable chairs (we were seated in the section in the rear). But the biggest feature is the pricing system: a steak is a bare steak and everything else is a la carte: Salad ($8.75), fried potatoes ($3.95 or $6.50), sauteed onion around the steak ($1.95), creamed spinach ($3.50) -- on and on. Way to make money! RATINGS
Livreri's (350 South Indian Canyon Drive): Very good Italian dishes with emphasis on shrimp and calamari, simple but enjoyable desserts, but the plain salad is nothing to remember. Indifferent service and bland decor makes you focus on the food, and, yes, it is indeed good. RATINGS
It closed up in 2005, and, frankly said, this type of restaurant is doomed by time alone.
Look (139 East Andreas Road): Wonderfully prepared food, served in a nice outdoor setting (we don't know the inside). Pleasant and efficient, if a bit too eager, service. When it gets dark it gets really dark, which is fine with the all gay crowd. RATINGS
Lost Highway (125 West Tahquitz Canyon Way): Excellent food in this gourmet restaurant. A laudable less-is-more theme reflects in everything, the decor as well as the food, but regrettably not in the pushy service (item: you just don't ask patrons to select their dessert while others in their party are still enjoying their entree). RATINGS
Lotza Mozza (119 South Indian Canyon Drive): Sorry if you feel differently, but this is not our favorite business model: You select your food and pay for it at the counter and get a plastic glass for the drink dispenser and a number flag for the server to locate your table. OK as a cafeteria, but this is a Classy Venue. Adequate Italian food. PS: You don't have to drop off your dirty dishes. RATINGS
Louise's Pantry (44491 Town Center Way): Generous portions of hearty dishes from a long menu in an old-time eatery in its new quarters (they moved from Palm Springs not long ago). We had a very nice waitress -- maybe we were lucky, but we had a delightful lunch. RATINGS
Lyons English Grille (233 East Palm Canyon Drive): Authentic Ye Olde England ambience, old-fashioned dishes, and old-time patrons throughout: you'll enjoy great comfort here. (But before that joy, you'll be trapped into valet parking!) RATINGS
Macaroni Grill (72920 Highway 111): The feeling of an authentic trattoria in Rome, serving an unusual, excellent fare. Service was a bit inattentive and music a bit loud, but that food... RATINGS
Magie's (333 North Palm Canyon Drive): Comfortable Italian place; you get good food served deep down in the bottom of a mixing bowl (or so it appeared). RATINGS
Mama Gina's (73705 El Paseo Drive): Good quality Italian restaurant but not outstanding, nice ambience but not great, good desserts and attentive service. RATINGS
Manhattan in the Desert (2665 East Palm Canyon Drive): As a former Manhattanite, your Webmaster can verify that the food is even more like a great New York deli than the real thing. From chopped liver and corned beef on rye to egg cream (with neither egg nor cream, exactly as it should be). On the other hand, in crowded Manhattan everybody sits on top of each other, while here it is a spacious desert locale. Please, don't miss the bakery counter! RATINGS
Marie Callender's (69830 Highway 111): Big portions of well prepared dishes in a nice atmosphere. And then those pies! But (in Rancho Mirage) "Please Wait to be Seated" -- and nobody there, and nobody to be found, hellooo, anybody home??? RATINGS
Mario's Italian Cafe (42418 Bob Hope Drive): Big servings of simple, well-prepared standard Italian dishes. One real plus: all the little children were quiet and well-behaved. RATINGS
Melvyn's (200 West Ramon Road): You love to dress up? Here's your place. Even the busboys wear white tuxedoes, and most women appeared in strapless, full-length dresses. In our usual review outfits (shorts), we were accepted in their midst, but we still felt that we were in the wrong place. The pretentiousness, together with valet parking and too loud music (yes, a jam-session!), lowered the ambience rating. The food was superb, and so was the service. RATINGS
Michaels Cafe (35955 Date Palm Drive): The old Michaels from Highway 111 moved to these new quarters when their building was torn down -- and the gay clientele seems not to have come along. As before, good diner food. Their not all that hot service collapsed when they double-added on the bill. RATINGS
Ming's Chinese Cuisine (35300 Date Palm Drive): Quite average Chinese dive. Long wait raised expectations unduly. The owner was nice. RATINGS
Mirasol (140 East Palm Canyon Drive): Really nice and well prepared (and large) Mexican dishes under desert murals and paintings in a pleasant little Southwestern restaurant. RATINGS
Miro's (1555 South Palm Canyon Drive): Goulash and wienerschnitzel and baklava, with a live accordion player -- oh, how well it transports you to Prague or Budapest. If the food were a bit spicier, the service a bit faster, the setting a bit less formal, and, of course, if there were more of us, then it would be just perfect. But then it would not be Central Europe. RATINGS
Mountain Dunes Clubhouse (49499 Eisenhower Drive): Wonderful, high class restaurant/bar in a golfing clubhouse at La Quinta Resort & Club. Basic but well-prepared diner type of food. Peace, comfort, a whiff of the good life. RATINGS
Muriel's (210 South Palm Canyon Drive): A high-class nightclub that also serves a great dinner. But the nightclub features disturbs the dining up to a point: six floodlights in your eye and a six man band in your ear. Perfect service, great comfort, and excellent food. RATINGS
Closed in the spring of 2002, and was replaced with Atlas soon thereafter
Mykonos (139 East Andreas Road): Very good Greek food in a pleasant enough closed-in yard. RATINGS
Mykonos closed in 2003 and the facility sat empty for a long time, finally replaced by Look in 2005.
New Hongkong (35875 Date Palm Drive): Great little Chinese hole-in-the-wall with extensive menu of well-sized fair dishes. Delightfully grumpy waiter (the owner?) provided all the service needed with great charm. A place to come back to. RATINGS
News Cafe (198 South Palm Canyon Drive): Intimate diner. Corner of Arenas Road, but no particular gay presence. RATINGS
And suddenly, in mid-2004, there was another restaurant, with white tablecloths, and no more News Cafe
Oasis Buffet at Spa Resort Casino (401 East Amado Road): In the Spa Resort Casino, so get your free Club Paradise card for a $1 meal discount. Impeccably clean, reasonable selection of varied dishes but monotonous desserts -- almost only cakes. RATINGS
Oceans (67555 East Palm Canyon Drive): Sea-oriented kitchen serving its fabulous creations masterfully in a great setting. But why plastic chair seats? And how could the waiters spill food three times on their patrons in the time span of one single meal? Can this world never be perfect? RATINGS
Olive Garden (72225 Highway 111): Very good Italian food preceded by a fantastic salad. But sit inside! There, you are seated comfortably in air conditioning and you get attentive service. Out there, you sit, unprotected from the sun above, on small, wiggly plastic furniture, with occasional waiter visits ("How you people doin'?" NINE times during the two hours it took us to brunch). RATINGS
Olympia (42434 Bob Hope Drive): The music and the looks transports you immediately to Greece. Excellent and plentiful food, attentive and friendly service. Minor minuses: The plates are far too small for the huge portions, and the live music is too loud, even from far away. RATINGS
Oscar's (440 El Cielo Road): Now, under new ownership, things are a good bit better than before. But the place is still gloomy and the chairs are still beautiful and comfortable. RATINGS
They closed quietly in 2002, probably missed by some. Wonder who inherited the chairs?
Otani Garden (1000 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): Good selection of tasty Japanese dishes at weekend brunch buffet. Huge place with cathedral ceiling but yet in a way intimate. RATINGS
To everybody's surprise, this seemingly very popular restaurant disappeared in 2004, and there is now a Mexican place.
Ozz (67580 East Palm Canyon Drive): It is quite pleasant to sit here on this shaded poolside terrace, viewing the gay bathing boys, in spite of the poor meal and the-best-I-can-do service attempts. RATINGS
Pablo's (41000 Bob Hope Drive): What a great restaurant to be found inside a hotel (Marriott's Rancho Las Palmas)! Well hidden, no signs, but wonderful ambiance, superb service, not crowded (nobody has found it), and the food could not be better or better displayed. One caveat: they use a time-honored trick to improve guest rotation, shortening the front legs of their great chairs an inch. Apart from this detail: treasure the place! RATINGS
Palapa (34351 Date Palm Drive): It's all so bright and pleasant, with zippy mariachi music and a huge fishnet in the window and a waft of ocean in the air, and still it's a very basic Mexican seafood restaurant. Seems like a dig for the natives in the Caribbean. RATINGS
Paoli's (68599 Highway 111): This straight restaurant on the premises of the former gay Richard's with every cozy detail unchanged (a gay owner would have to immediately change everything around!) cooks decent Italian food, served by a woman with an out-of-place megaphone voice. RATINGS
Peeraya (2249 North Palm Canyon Drive): Great tasting Thai food, but, at lunch, oh so little of it. Comfortable seating in a very small place. RATINGS
Pepper Maggies (42245 Washington Street): Well supplied, quite good brunch buffet, mainly Mexican dishes, with champagne. Omelette and waffels made to order. Something peculiar: the computerized check says "Training mode; invalid receipt". RATINGS
Pepper Thai Cuisine (495 North Palm Canyon Drive): Such sloppy, inattentive, and slow service could only be endured if the food were truly superb. It wasn't; just bland and dull. RATINGS
Peters (67580 Jones Road): Right in the Desert Palms Inn gay resort, with a live singer entertaining, what a delightful place to dine al fresco! And the food was quite good if not super. Except the dinner rolls, ouch! They tasted awful, and to top it off a long black hair was baked into one of them. The waiter's lack of concern ("Oh, they are bought; we don't bake them here") did not help. RATINGS
Like all other restaurants at the Desert Palms Inn, this one also closed, in 2004, and opened its own place in Rancho Mirage.
Philippe's Cafe & Bistro (245 South Palm Canyon Drive): Who needs France when we have this authentic French restaurant right here? In fact, it is a worthy replacement for the demised La Provence that we still mourn. This time we enjoyed a great bouillabaisse and a superb creme brulee. We'll be back! RATINGS
Pizza Hut (1501 North Palm Canyon Drive): Mostly pizza, of course, but a few pasta dishes as well. Mediocre food, extremely slow service, in a pleasant looking diner. RATINGS
Plum (241 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): You may call us quirky, but we simply don't accept shortchanging; if our cash payment is rounded upward, our service rating sinks to zero. No exceptions! So two dinners, one inside and one al fresco, one with shortchanging and one actually rounding downward yielded very different results from quite similar reviews. Very tasty and beautifully presented food, top outside ambience, and exceptional service. For a gay restaurant, we found the Plum attractive to straight couples inside but totally gay outdoors. RATINGS
Pom' Frite (256 North Palm Canyon Drive): Belgian, and proud of the difference (..looks like French Fries, smells like French Fries, tastes like French Fries = it's Belgian Fries!). Excellent, well-prepared food in a non-descipt small room with the tables 3 inches apart (as in Greenwich Village). Good service after the first chock: the maitre-d' hesitates to let you in (but he does that to everybody). RATINGS
Racquet Club (2743 North Indian Canyon Drive): Very nice meal in an airy environment. The personnel seemed to have started in the business yesterday and worked hard at it. RATINGS
.. to no avail. This Palm Springs Hideaway of yore has tried so many times to reopen and has probably failed for the last time.
Rainbow (212 South Indian Canyon Drive): Well-cooked standard fare served in a sparsely adorned locale, teeming with gay men. RATINGS
Red Pepper (68784 East Palm Canyon Drive): Good Mexican dishes to be eaten on a small table surrounded by straight families. And this was a great gay hangout once! RATINGS
Closed in Summer of 2000 to reemerge as "Here's the Beef Steakhouse"
Red Tomato (68784 East Palm Canyon Drive): Tasty, well spiced Albanian (how apropos!) lamb dishes, plus a lot of pasta on the menu as well. A homey, friendly place. RATINGS
Rick's (1973 North Palm Canyon Drive): Lunch and dinner in different rooms. Lunch: Airy, bright room with lots of potted plants trying to break the whiteness. Quite nice food, thank you, but it's almost hopeless to get any service throughout the meal. Dinner: Bright room with one potted palm -- far too much whiteness. Good selection of Cuban dinners. Understaffed and almost every table was taken. RATINGS
Rincón Norteño (71625 Highway 111): Very Mexican: decor, food, service. Pleasant enough. RATINGS
Rock Garden Cafe (777 South Palm Canyon Drive): Limited but good weekend brunch buffet in a huge garden replete with ponds and bridges and umbrellas. When the sun sets, much of the magic disappears, and an electronic piano and a pseudoelectronic piano player emerge. RATINGS
Brunch costs 60% more these days!
Rose Tattoo (72185 Painters Path): We are not fond of dark bars with nine loud disco video sets glaring and blaring for lunch, so you may rate the ambience higher. But the food was mediocre. And the same dish alone at lunch is priced the same as at dinner when bread and soup or salad is included. Go figure! RATINGS
Closed on April 11, 1999, a short time after our review. This website is powerful!
Ruby's Diner (??? South Palm Canyon Drive): An authentic 50's diner serving unremarkable food from a respectably varied menu. RATINGS
Schnitzel Haus (356 South Indian Canyon Drive): Clean to the point of sterility. Choose between sausage and schnitzel (made of chicken unless you pay a stiff penalty for the real thing). Waitress watches wall-mounted TV. RATINGS
When everybody had had their chicken schnitzel once, there were no business prospects left. The emptied haus filled up in 2001 with Erik's Kro, which even kept the schnitzel phone number.
Shame on the Moon (69950 Frank Sinatra Drive): Absolute top in all categories, superb in every respect! RATINGS
Shangri-La (78790 Highway 111): Enormous portions of delightful Chinese food and very attentive service. Comfortable if factory-sized facilities. RATINGS
Sherman's Deli (401 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): Quite an authentic copy of a New York deli with tons of the sandwiches that go with it. Also a few "homecooked" dishes. What they serve, they prepare it well. RATINGS
Sidewinder Grill (66121 Pierson Boulevard): Surprisingly ambitious menu with tons of mouthwatering a-la-carte dishes. For our appraisal we disregarded these and used only the set dinners with a choice of a dozen entrees. The clam chowder was superb and the entrees were substantial. Log cabin feeling to the room. RATINGS
Simba's (190 North Sunrise Way): Buffet with all kinds of Southern cooking, as much as you care to eat -- greasy and spicy and wonderful. RATINGS
Skip's Cabana Club (71830 Highway 111): A very intimate, tasteful, gay restaurant/bar with great food from a limited menu (but at brunch, the Benedicted Eggs were hard-boiled, a serious slip). For lunch, the many waiters stepped on each other to be of help to you; for brunch, very slow service. RATINGS
When the highway was widened and repaved, it was an adventure to get to Skips place, and this went on for almost a year. Of course it could have been done much faster, but this is the desert and nobody gives a damn. This gay bar and restaurant could not survive this onslaught, so it closed in 2002.
Smoky's (72990 El Paseo Drive): The sleepy, indifferent waitresses, shouting to each other across the dark, popcorn-smelling room, served us a very plain meal: "Do you want any bread?" RATINGS
Spike's (241 East Tahquitz Canyon Way): Maybe the ambience is not tops, but the service is superb and the food really good. And this in a gay bar -- surprise, surprise! RATINGS
Steakhouse at Spa Resort Casino (401 East Amado Road): Distinctly first class restaurant. Food, preparation, service: all excellent, ambience: comfortable modern with not a trace of stuffiness. RATINGS
String Cheese (44250 Town Center Way): Pleasant enough patio dining on great Italian food. Waitress very NewYorkish, which some may deem a practical asset. RATINGS
Sunshine Cafe (36815 Cathedral Canyon Drive in CC and 44150 Town Center Way in PD): Huge portions of quite nice diner type dishes. Notably cheerful service. RATINGS
Sunshine Cafe at Spa Hotel (10805 Palm Drive): The most basic coffeeshop imaginable with one menu all day -- we chose lunch eats for this review. RATINGS
Sweetheat (488 South Indian Canyon Drive): Well prepared basic cooking with a flair of the South, great basic desserts. Basic decor too. Warm, welcoming service, but with a few honest mistakes. The corn bread was the best ever! RATINGS
The sweet heat of summer 2001 was too much, and Sweetheat disappeared without a trace.
Sweetwater Saloon (2420 North Palm Canyon Drive): A gay restaurant where you don't feel "on display"! Good food, lively bar crowd, pleasant service. RATINGS
Since the building was to be demolished, they had to close in January 2002 to open somewhere else. When and where? We don't know since they don't know, but the building still stands. Correction: The building burned down in a fire in 2006.
Taipei (155 South Palm Canyon Drive): Simple, clean, white-tiled restaurant, not without charm, serving bountiful but bland standard Chinese fare. A one-dollar short-change by the cashier doomed the otherwise plain service. RATINGS
Taqueria Grill (125 West Tahquitz Canyon Way): Well prepared ordinary Mexican dishes served in a nice courtyard in the centre of town. Huge margaritas. But all is amazingly predictable. RATINGS
Closed in late 2005 to give way to Lost Highway, a restaurant of a rather different dimension.
TGI Friday's (72620 El Paseo Drive): Homey, old-fashioned atmosphere with great, ample food. Go there for a good time if you can stomach a straight sports TV bar milieu. RATINGS
Thai Kitchen II (787 North Palm Canyon Drive): Good-sized, nice portions of Thai food in an airy and well appointed restaurant with Thai decor. Indifferent service. RATINGS
Thai Smile (651 North Palm Canyon Drive; 42476 Bob Hope Drive): The Palm Springs place serves pleasant Thai food in a popular restaurant. The Rancho Mirage place serves good Thai food in a well-appointed restaurant (we found the tom-kha-kai soup suberb). RATINGS
Tomboyz (214 East Arenas Road): A lesbian hangout took over the former Village Pride Coffeehouse back in 2000. Now the lesbians and the pool table are gone, and the place is a very basic gay snack place. Although it is doubtful, it may survive due to the undying support by the loyal gay community. RATINGS
No!!! Undying support is not enough. They found out in 2005. Replaced in 2006 by Chrome which is quite another world.
Tony Roma's (450 South Palm Canyon Drive): Plain burger/sandwich lunch. Sleepy service. RATINGS
And in the fall of 2003 everyone had tried Tony Roma once and there was no one left.
Tony's Pasta Mia (360 North Palm Canyon Drive): It's not the bland salad, or the gloomy, old-time ballroom environment, or the disinterested service you remember, it is that beer is priced differently in two places on the menu ("Mistake"), and that the higher of the two goes on your check. A 50 cent scheme -- how petty! RATINGS
Tramway Alpine Restaurant (In Mountain Station of Palm Springs Aerial Tramway): Cafeteria style hearty food in a very plain room, but the view is the ambience. Suitable after a good hike. RATINGS
Triangles (68805 East Palm Canyon Drive): Sort of plain chi-chi food in a very crowded dining space (small chairs, minute table). Only two couples present, but both were placed a few inches from each other. Cranberry juice served diluted with 2/3 water, shared appetizer served without a second plate provided for the sharee, credit card accepted with the actual presentation of a bill forgotten. Wow! RATINGS
Triangles disappeared during the rebuilding of the center of the town, and we have not missed it.
Trilussa (123 North Palm Canyon Drive): What a nice oasis right on Palm Canyon Drive, succulent Italian creations, even a strolling musician! Pity the ordered dessert didn't appear until reminded, but where is the perfect world? RATINGS
This good restaurant is closed since April 1999 due to a fire; rumor has that it was arson; what a shame! By January 2000 the space was taken by California Pizza Kitchen.
Tsing Tao (74040 Highway 111): Very crowded place, very bland food, very indifferent service, very neutral decor, very little want to return. RATINGS
Tyler's (149 South Indian Canyon): A plain burger-in-a-basket place with no pretentions to be more. RATINGS
Disappeared in 2001 and was replaced with "Erik's Nest Deli".
Ugly Sisters Bistro (166 North Palm Canyon Drive): Pretty much authentic national dishes from various European countries (Bratwurst, Goulash, and the like), good but fairly small servings. Nice sidewalk seating under umbrellas. RATINGS
They removed the "Ugly Sisters" from their name, and when that didn't help they had to close, in 2004.
Uptown Grill of Palm Springs (150 East Vista Chino): Apart from the deafening acoustics, this was a real delight. An enormous lunch menu (on a scribbled whiteboard they place next to your table) offers a wide variety of food, and our selections were outstandingly well prepared ('Coquilles St Jacques' and 'Crabcake', yummy!). Plus nice service and a pleasant ambience = a packed house. RATINGS
Veggie & Tea House (72281 Highway 111): A real Japanese all vegetarian tea house, with traditional Oriental music piped in. Super-fresh, inventively prepared concoctions served either artistically presented on a huge plastic boat (in the full-service room) or arranged in a common plastic container (in the cafeteria hall). Friendly but quite inexperienced personnel. Plastic covered seating everywhere. RATINGS
Village Pride Coffeehouse (214 East Arenas Road): This coffeehouse used to have comfortable, brown corduroy sofas where gay men reclined and sipped coffee and met and talked and read, art on the walls, peace in the air -- and now it could be the pasteurization hall in a dairy! Basic burgers are dispensed in semi-cafeteria style with the guests running back and forth to fetch the fare. RATINGS
Village Pride managed to stay alive until May 2000, when it was replaced with a lesbian hangout named Tomboyz.
Village Pub (266 South Palm Canyon Drive): This is a tough one! A good two-artist band performs with appropriate amplification, precluding any attemps at conversation -- plus or minus? Really good and inventive food -- a 2 or a 3? (The small portions rolled the dice for a 2.) Quite a showplace! RATINGS
Vintage Marketplace (105 South Palm Canyon Drive): Large servings of outstanding dishes, professionally served on a big enclosed sidewalk terrace smack in the center of town. RATINGS
Replaced at this exquisite location by the Alaskan Grill Twisted Fish in 2003
Wang's in the Desert (424 South Indian Canyon Drive): An Asian kitchen that serves pork chops? Yes, and good they are, but miss those little extras for the making of a really filling meal. Eclectic menu, Japanese decor (but regular chairs and tables), attentive service. RATINGS
Wilde Goose (67938 East Palm Canyon Drive): We have to be iconoclastic about this venerable Valley restaurant. For the superb Victorian setting and the high-flying expectations, the food is plain under the guise of culinary delight, and thus disappointing. Shrimp-Cocktail/Soup/Salad (very ordinary); Brie au Four (minute and bland); Venison Medallion (old cow); Roquefort (not a trace) Filet Mignon. The dessert breaks the pattern, but that is simply not good enough. RATINGS
A valley institution with long reputation, more worthy of it in earlier years than lately. In 2002 they tried the dinner/theater concept; it worked for a while, but not forever, and they closed their doors in the spring of 2003. As a gourmet paradise they were gone far earlier.
Wok in the Desert (246 South Palm Canyon Drive): Acceptable but oh so bland food. Pleasant outdoor eating but oh what indifferent service. As when asking for a knife (many oriental restaurants find a knife to be a burdensome western silliness) or for more rice, one has to finally walk over to the kitchen counter to ever get it. RATINGS
YardHouse (71800 Highway 111): A huge sports-bar & beer-hall with 150 kinds of beer on tap. Noisy as should be, and perfect mechanical waiter service. Since the food is made bland to enhance the flavor of the beer, it is mediocre at best. RATINGS
www.hotman.com/palmsprings/restguide.html