Where To Eat Around Palm Springs, California 

During my first time in the USA I started my trip in Los Angeles. After staying there for some time, and doing the most iconic things there like taking a picture with the Hollywood sign and eating pancakes at an iconic American diner, I head to Palm Springs. It is a beautiful city in the desert that is quite popular during Springs break and other holidays. For those who are also planning on heading the same direction, I created a list of where to eat around Palm Springs, California.

Where To Eat Around Palm Springs, California 

La Quinta Cliffhouse 

The Cliffhouse is the place to go if you are in a mood for something upscale but still desert casual. This restaurant is built onto the side of a hill, which helps to create its unique ‘cliff’ design. The Cliffhouse restaurant is a great choice to eat at when exploring around Palm Springs.

Before going to the second floor where the restaurant is, you will see a very charming waterfall with a cute statue next to it. All of it made me think of some beautiful restaurants I have visited before in Italy. 

I advise you to walk up the stairs rather than take the elevator. This way you can see the waterfall from different angles.

The Cliffhouse restaurant has inside seating, and an outdoor patio. And although the restaurant looks nice inside, we preferred to sit outside. The patio just has this amazing romantic atmosphere with trees and rock surrounding the area. 

Service at Cliffhouse is topnotch. Everyone is very helpful, quick, and attentive. We got our drinks and food very fast. 

The menu has many great choices for everyone. The Cliffhouse restaurant also has a happy hour offer, which we decided to get. The offer included one appetizer of your choice, and a main course for $25. 

The food we got was quite good. The portions are huge (like everywhere in the US), so I of course couldn’t finish everything. 

Overall, I would recommend this restaurant for date nights, or special occasions. It is a very nice place to visit once in a while.

Location: 78250 CA-111, La Quinta, CA 92253

Yard House 

The Yard House in Rancho Mirage is a place with a great selection of beer and delicious pub food. You will not find fancy French or Italian dishes here, but you’ll get crispy onion rings, full of flavor burgers, or even some Japanese fusion dishes. 

The namesake of Yard House is a half yard of beer (before it was a whole yard of beer, but they have since stopped doing that). Therefore, I got their specialty; After all it was my first time at this restaurant. 

Yard House has happy hours, so we got $2 off regular size beer, and $4 off on a half yard of beer. 

The service in the Yard House was good, food and drinks arrived fast. However you need to know that the Yard house is usually very crowded and it can take a bit to be seated. 

The atmosphere of this place in my opinion was something between an American sports bar and an English pub. Overall I really liked the Yard House. It is a very relaxing place with good food and beer, great for friendly gatherings. 

Location: 71800 CA-111 Space B-101, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270

Casa Mendoza

Once you are in the US, one of the things to do here is to find a good Mexican restaurant (of course, if you are not coming from Mexico). In La Quinta there is one that I want to recommend you – Casa Mendoza.

First of all, I want to mention that Casa Mendoza has a great atmosphere. The restaurant is cozy and very welcoming. I just loved all those colorful tiles on the tables and walls.

You have two choices here: to sit inside, or to sit on the patio. I would recommend sitting on the patio, since inside it can get very loud. However, if it is summer, sitting on the patio can be quite uncomfortable (they don’t have enough mist sprinklers or fans there).

The staff in Casa Mendoza are very welcoming. Our waiter was very friendly and gave us good suggestions. 

The menu has great choices. I got a taco salad and others got chicken in mole sauce, a wet burrito, and …  Everything was very delicious, and the portions were just huge. 

Besides the good food, Casa Mendoza has a great choice of margaritas. I got myself a large glass (mega pint) of jalapeno margarita, and Cody got himself a cucumber margarita. Both of them were delicious, and quite strong as well. 

Location: 78110 Cll Estado, La Quinta, CA 92253

Farm

Farm in downtown Palm Springs is a charming restaurant with the most beautiful patio. As soon as I entered the place, it actually reminded me of some of the restaurants in Kas, Turkey. It is a very cozy restaurant that serves great breakfast food. 

We stopped at Farm restaurant on the way to La Quinta from Los Angeles for brunch, and it ended up to be a great choice. 

For lunch we ordered lox and bagels, waffles with grilled chicken and sauce, and tuna sandwiches (we had a company of 4). Everyone loved their meal, especially the waffles with chicken. I had a bagel with lox, and it was also delicious; However I found it annoying the way they serve bagels. They bring you all the ingredients, and you have to make it yourself. It might be a novelty, or trendy, but since I am bad at cooking I wasn’t happy about that. And of course my bagel was quite sloppy and everything was falling out of it. Other than that everyone enjoyed their meal and had no complaints. So, if you are like me, just don’t order a bagel.

Location: 6 La Plaza, Palm Springs, CA 92262

RD RNNR Cafe

RD RNNR in La Quinta old town is another place that I can recommend for a date night. It is not as fancy as the Cliffhouse, but it has a great lively atmosphere. 

The restaurant’s specialty is wine. They have some great wine choices, but they also have other drinks, so don’t worry if you are not a wine lover. 

I know that a lot of people are not a fan of beets, but for those who are I want to recommend a salad with baby beets and pecan nuts. For me as a Ukrainian, beetroot is a big part of my diet, and I often crave it when I travel. So when I saw this salad on the menu  I had to get it. Fortunately it was very delicious, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. And the portion was so big that I couldn’t finish it. 

Location: 78075 Main St Suite #105, La Quinta, CA 92253

Where To Eat Around Palm Springs, California