Mermaid Garden Cafe — Restaurant in Klamath Falls

Of all the lunch spots in all the world a finer one than this one would be hard ,if not impossible to find. Upon entering this downtown eatery, one is treated to indeed a veritable Garden with a Mermaid theme. Each table has a fish hand painted on it. There are mermaids on the walls and on the tables. It would have been easy to over do this theme but the owner demonstrated her good taste by keeping it well within bounds and very comfortable.

We were then treated to the best of service by the ever smiling Julie. When we couldn't decide between clam chowder and Italian , she immediately offered to bring samples and when we also couldn't decide on a salad dressing she did the same. With a high level of authenticity and genuine friendliness Julies' unpretentious service made dining a calming and satisfying experience. We are grateful to her.

Now to the food. The menue while not exensive offered enough variation to satisfy almost any appetite. We chose a cup of both of the day's soups, two salads and a half Rueben sandwich. The soups were superb. The Italian soup was very flavorful and rich without being at all overbearing. The clam chowder was a revelation on what clam chowder could and should be. A very light cream base supported a generous anount of clams surrounded by a symphony of herbs, a bit of onion, some carrot and celery and other flavor enhancers. Not to mention some potato cooked to potatoey goodness. Not overdone and not mushy either. The Italian soup was rich and meaty with slightly spicy sausage. The beans were pefectly done holding their shape without being too soft. Do not let me get started on the salad except say they were tasted delights in their own rights.

If all that were not enough there was the perfect iced tea. Substantial taste without being bitter from being overbrewed.

Last but far from least four house made cookies with great flavor, texture and appearence.

Having eaten a lunch fit for royality, the bill was a true amazement $37.00 for the whole thing.

I would without hesitation drive 50 miles out of my way in a snow storm for such a lunch. Get there as...

Pretty much the worst service ever. We arrived about 12:20 pm on a Tuesday. There were a couple of tables open. After a few minutes, the server arrived and took our drink order. A few minutes later, she brought the drinks and took our food order. She did not come to our table or talk to use for the next 50 minutes!!!

Almost an hour! During that hour, we watched other people arrive, sit down, order, get their food, eat and leave. But, during that hour, she didn't even come by and refill water glasses.

The food was mediocre. But, not work waiting over an hour. After the 50 minutes, we went to the back counter and asked what was going on. She said that the kitchen was backed up. But, that back up didn't prevent them from serving other tables.

Maybe we were outliers, but I'll...

This little hidden gem was a great find. It's a cafe with a simple menu of delicious food choices. Our sandwiches came with salad options and we chose broccoli salad and the Thai salad. Both were wonderful, not to much dressing to hide the flavors of the ingredients which boosted the flavor profile. When we went there seating was almost full. The empty tables had not been bussed and no one was available to assist us. We seated ourselves and found a stack of menus and waited for a server. The service and wait for our food was extremely slow. It appeared that only one person was tending to the whole cafe and she did the best she could buy you could tell she was overwhelmed. We can't wait to go back to try other items, and hopefully have...