The Gardens Restaurant — Restaurant in College Township

The standard by which I rate all other brunch buffets around the country--and very few have equaled the Penn Stater. There's plenty of food, and a wide variety of it, but quantity alone does not make for a good brunch. The food at the Gardens is delicious, freshly-prepared, and in some cases, locally-sourced (Irving's bagels, Tait Farm spreads and Penn State Creamery cream cheese and ice cream, for a few examples). You can try some higher-end foods (caviar!) and enjoy some pricey treats (mimosas) along with all the delicious entrees, sides, salads, breads, desserts (my favorite--bread pudding) . . . and all of this comes at a very reasonable price. Sometimes there's live music too! It can be busy, so do what we do--arrive around 1 PM. There will be plenty of time to leisurely enjoy your meal. Pace yourself. And if you go home hungry, you did...

First restaurant visit with our 3 months old!

Had a great brunch at The Gardens Restaurant At The Penn Stater. This was the first time we were venturing out all together with our 3 months old son. The food was great as always, Lamb gravy being unanimously the show stopper for everyone. I love their cheesecake and all the other bakery items as well.

The experience was great because apart from food it was super easy to go there with an infant. They had an infant car seat cradle, something which we didn’t even know about (Our plan was to put him in the stroller near a corner table) which made keeping an eye on the baby a lot easier. When the baby started getting a bit uncomfortable in his seat, we could walk him around in the galleries and lobby of the hotel, which came really handy.

Overall, A+ food and experience, great place for taking...

Eeee... if you expect this restaurant to be an upscale place to celebrate anniversaries or parties, it is not.

We made a reservation to celebrate our anniversary as we traditionally go to the Carnegie restaurant (it is being remodeled ), and I was disappointed from the moment I entered the room.

It is a restaurant-cafeteria type, with all simple tables for four, agglutinated among them in front of a buffet that it’s closed.

The waitress was sassy and kind of making faces... I was even wondering why does she bother to come and ask if we are enjoying the food? She was rolling her eyes and stuff.

Now, the good thing about the Gardens is definitely the food. Their baked brie is out of the ordinary and the meat had good flavor. I wish the Cesar salad is served with aged parmesan rather than kraft...