Beautiful Day — Restaurant in La Quinta

Sadly our “Beautiful Day” turned into a miserable experience. We have frequented this quaint little restaurant on a number of occasions - never encountering great service, however the food has always made up for it. Today, on the other hand, we arrived and much to our surprise there were only a couple of tables seated with guests - as we decided what we would have for breakfast - our server took our order. As she repeated back our order, we noticed a party of 10 arriving for their reservation. My husband and I, along with our server concurred that we were getting our order in “just in the nick of time.”

As we sat enjoying our beverages, we realized quite some time had passed - shortly there after, we noticed the table of 10 were all receiving their meals. In addition, two other parties that came in after us also received their breakfast. Our server realized that our food never came and checked in with the kitchen - she apologized that a portion of our order had to be “remade” — and we were gracious and accepting of that information. She came by a second time and said that our food was “being plated” - but 10 minutes later we still never received our food.

Granted, accidents happen and nobody is perfect …. perhaps our order never got placed. And while our server was courteous, there did not seem to be any leadership involvement. Many people standing around, but no one seems to be in charge—or at least no one approached us to try and make it right. Rather than a proactive approach to providing excellent service, the strategy seemed to be to pretend it never happened. Over 45 minutes after our order was placed, we still had no food, and no servers anywhere in sight—so we got up and left.

Having good food is important, but you also need to treat your customers right if you want them to return. And where is...

WOW I am not even kidding when I confidently say this was my favorite brunch spot I have ever been to. Without a doubt. My friend and I were in town for a wedding and decided to stop here because they had vegan and non vegan options (which is a real treat because then everybody in your group wins). From the moment we stepped inside we were greeted by the polite and friendly staff. They are very accommodating and can make many of their dishes vegan (mostly by substituting tofu scramble for egg and impossible sausage for the meat) but they have a separate vegan menu to make things easier. Something I as a vegan really appreciate. Everything I ordered was simply amazing, just sitting here thinking about everything I ate as I write this review is making my mouth water. The flavors really just burst in your mouth-the home made kimchi from the bibimbap bowl, the creole seasoning from the potatoes, the tofu scramble in the burrito and the fresh fruit and fennel on top of the granola bowl. We loved everything so much we came right back the very next day and were greeted with a warm “Welcome back!” by the staff. We ordered the same thing except we got the loaded potatoes(not pictured but I cannot recommend them enough). Oh and a lightly sweetened matcha latte which was delicious! The owner Mackenzie came out and talked to us, she is so sweet and passionate about her entire endeavor and it really shows. You can just tell that so much effort goes into not only the recipes of the meals themselves but also the execution and presentation as well. Vegan or not, you cannot visit the desert without stopping here (or eating here all the time if you’re local) because after you eat here, you will, in fact, have had a...

Couldn't stop thinking about what we ate...It was so delicious!

On our first visit we had the smash burger and the Roast Beet Reuben. I do not like beets but had been told it was fantastic so we took the leap and it was truly amazing.

We couldn't stop thinking about it after we left. The Smash burger was cooked perfectly and seemed to melt in your mouth and great house made pickles.

While there another guest was expressing how she came two days earlier and had something she loved and today had the Falafel. She loved it so much we felt we needed to try it so we decided to get that with the hummus to go and have later and she was right! Great spice to the hummus and the Falafel was perfect.

We also tried the Flowers and Chutney at the suggestion of our server. It is so much more than what you can imagine and the tomato chutney is beyond good.

On our way back home from the River a week later my husband and I said wanna stop again and we did! This time we were torn between trying new things and getting our "fix" on what we had before. We had the Falafel/Hummus bowl and the Ruben again (warning it may be addictive). We were wowed by the fantastic and creative menu and ultimately how great EVERYTHING was!

The decor is modern and fresh and allows the food to shine. When it gets a little cooler we will bring our dog and sit on the patio (which is a big plus ).

We can't wait to come back (we don't live in the desert area) and try some of the other items. If the breakfast items are anywhere as artful and flavorful as what we have experienced so far we may need to move closer. We heard the Breakfast Burrito was a must try so we are adding it...