Garden Center Cafe and Grill — Restaurant in California

Well, it’s Mother’s Day and while we were excited to take my mother in law somewhere new before hitting the Fallbrook wine scene it became a very awkward and unpleasant experience while dining at Garden Center….Our own fault that we were 10 minutes late to our reservation - none the less we were quickly hurried to our table by a woman who I imagine owns the place. While we walked to the table she said we would “need to hurry!” We weren’t sure what exactly she meant by that but it soon became clear as we ordered food and alcohol beverages. My mother in law was mid bite of fruit when a man came over and tried to take her plate - how tacky!! Then suddenly after we had ordered another round of alcohol beverages our bill lands on the table. Okay, fine we will settle up, my husband pays immediately and we sit and finish our drinks for the next ten minutes when the woman who sat us comes over and tells us that it’s time for us to go. What?! We just paid $140 for our meal and drinks. We also waited a long time for our food, so despite our being 10 minutes late I’d say we more than made up for it with our tab. We were told we could drink the rest of our drinks in a waiting area by the parking lot haha Not to mention that there were lots of parties around us that had been dining far before we arrived and after we left to finish our beverages in the parking lot! I’ve never been treated like this anywhere, I’m a teacher with extreme patience and show kindness to everyone but this was unacceptable. Our first time and very last time visiting...

Scratch made food is good, and the service and atmosphere are very pleasant.

Came here on a rainy day so the outdoor patio was not seated, but we were immediately seated inside. We have been here before when the outside was open and it is very nice out there on a nice day.

The menus rotate with each seating and are seasonally adorned with tasty selections.

A good place to get some good food in a very good setting.

Here for the Saturday evening very good prime rib dinner.

We made reservations for the prime rib, not necessarily for the seating; and told by the owner, that sometimes the prime rib runs out, so reserving our 'slice' was a good idea.

We just ate prime rib in Laughlin at $12 a plate cheaper; and although the plate and dinner was cheaper, the meat in Laughlin was noticeable more tender. Not that this was tough by any measure or the flavor wasn't as good. Both had a terrific rub and flavor, the casino surprisingly had a very nice piece of meat.

All of the sides and service were excellent here this evening so our overall experience was very fulfilling.

Another great meal here, as seems to be a regular...

To start with the good, the food was good and well priced for the portions and what you got, and there being a kids menu was nice. The wine menu was good for it being a cafe and not a full scale restaurant. Now the not so good. Service was subpar and felt lacking of any sort of actual care towards us as costumers. Now I say this because our waitress went to every table and offered them drink menus, dinner rolls, extra condiments, and a third type of salad that we weren't offered for some reason. She constantly checked on on them and asked if they needed anything, if the food was good, or if there was anything else she could help them with throughout their meals. She never did any of that for us and never even spoke a word when getting our plates, or giving us our check. We were treated almost like we weren't welcome and as if we were a burden compared to the other customers. It would have been different had she treated everyone the same but it was entirely only us that were treated that way. It made for a quite unpleasant experience overall, and definitely made it so we won't be...