Yard House — Restaurant in Palmdale

Yard House is where you go when your present company says "I'm thinking Applebees!" and you don't want to say no, but you also want to actually have a good time. Yard House is the Applebee's that isnt a crippling alcoholic, and it's Chili's big brother that got a scholarship to Yale.

Several standouts on the menu, and a few that will just satisfy without impressing much. As far as the appetizers that blow the competition out of the water, the Boneless Korean Chili Garlic Wings for $15.49. I am absolutely certain that a better tasting dish has never been more apparent at a chain restaurant than this underdog appetizer. The flavor was perfectly balanced with traditional Korean spices and a kick of garlic that had you not just coming back for more, but fighting to the death for the last one. Easily the star of the show.

Next, the Poke Nachos for $18.99. These were incredibly strange. Its EXACTLY how it sounds. Its nachos, but with Poke as the toppings. Seaweed, Ahi, dash of soy sauce, the works for a standard Poke Bowl. Was it worth it? If youre looking for a small adventure with a familar flavor profile, but unfamiliar texture profile, this is where to start.

The Chicken Lettuce Wraps for $15.49 were completely out of left field too. An option you'd think would be a healthy choice, it's about 120 calories per bite. But it's absolutely delicious. The chicken is seasoned beautifully and cooked perfectly without any of that traditionally overcooked, stringy chicken nonesense at other chains.

The only underwhelming app was the Four Cheese Spinach Dip for $16.49. It wasn't bad by any means, but there was absolutely nothing special or different about it. It was just about as average as average can get. Not a "safe" kind of average, but like a "I remember those not doing anything for me" type of average. My opinion? Not worth a second glance.

And lastly, the Truffled Mushroom Pizza for $17.99. Look, I forget that I'm not a mayo guy, but i can recognize a good pizza when I try one. I could only have a single slice because of the aioli, but aside from that taste I cant quite get behind, everything else worked together amazingly well. And the crust was so much fun, and just different enough to be memorable on a visit back.

We had Maria as our server, and she was exceptional. Her enthusiasm, humor and polite professionalism was an absolute treat, and elevated the dining experience significantly. She was excited to hear thoughts on the Korean Chili Chicken, and after trying, I could absolutely see why she was so excited about it. They were insanely good. She stayed on top of checking in, making sure waters were full, asking if anything else was needed, and assisted happily where needed. She was absolutely wonderful.

The atmosphere was nice. Dimly lit, but again, felt similarly to a Chili's, maybe with a slight bit more care to the decor. Overall, a really nice vibe, and a place that is well worth returning to!

(And go during happy hour! Apps and Pizza...

I work in the culinary industry as a chef so I have some leeway when it comes to isolated errors/mistakes but this is one place I will NEVER return to in my life and I will be telling people not to come here anymore. Earlier today my wife and I went in to dine in for our anniversary. Let me tell you about it the worst experience I've ever had at any establishment. The servers were the highlight and I felt bad for the server as she has to suffer for the incompetence from the kitchen staff. We sat down and ordered our food which consisted of two plates of 20 oz ribeye steaks medium well with their respective sides, fried calamari for an appetizer and two mocktails. Everything was going amazing as the calamari were delicious and the drinks were perfect but when it came down to the main dishes they were a let down much worse than I could describe with words. First of all our steaks were cooked completely different and had no flavor whats so ever. They try to make up for lack of flavor with their “steak sauce”. My steak was well done and extremely dry and my wife’s was medium rare and extremely red. This was not the end of it, we were told more steaks would take an additional 20 minutes, mind you at this point it had already been over 45 minutes since we sat down. We decided to send the steaks back and ordered our food something new. By this time we were already debating on leaving and going to Applebee’s or somewhere else like BJ’s. But we gave this establishment a second chance and ordered more food that wasn't steaks. My wife ordered a burger with fries and as you can imagine it was okay as its very hard to mess up a burger. I ordered their cilantro lime chicken I believe it was called, the plate came with two pieces of chicken both of which were RAW. I then told the server that we were done and that we would leave after my wife ate her burger I could not order anything else as I was questioning their lack of culinary expertise for my own health. Because I wasn’t eating anything it made my wife lose her appetite as she felt bad eating in front of me. After I asked for my bill I asked for them to take somethings off and they did but it still does not make up for the fact that this place ruined a very important date for my wife and I. No one came out to apologize not the the cook not the chef and not the manager!!!! The poor server had to face us for something that wasn't her wrong doing. This place needs to step up there quality control and only hire cooks who can COOK. This was a small 3 hour window my wife and I had as we hired a babysitter to take care of our newborn not only did we waste money on a horrible establishment but we spent money on childcare for our night to be ruined. Now I am left hungry and unsatisfied with no option but to go to McDonald’s for a quick meal to get back home fast enough to take care of our child. If I could rate this place 0...

Absolutely amazing experience. Dalaren was our server, she was incredibly attentive, kind, with great energy and on time with everything. Oddly enough I was meeting another restaurant owner in Palmdale to discuss customer service issues at his establishment, without knowing it Dalaren set the bar for outstanding customer service. I rarely dine out because my father was a chef and my daughter took after him in the kitchen, so I'm not easily impressed dining out. Within 5 minutes of being seated my drink order was taken and delivered five minutes later. I ordered the calamari as an appetizer which came in a timely fashion hot, ever so tasty , fresh and seasoned to perfection. The garlic lobster noodles where a bit disappointing because the noodles were very soggy. Darlaren came by minutes after and asked how we liked our food, I told her I didn't much care for the noodles beings so soft, she totally understood and she didn't go into, let me get my manager, blah blah blah... she immediately said " can we get you something else or make you a a new plate. The chef then made me new Languini noodles with garlic and a completely different plate with the same ingredients it was fresh and marvelous. Even better James the Chef came out and served me, talk about Execllect service!!! It's basically unheard-of these days. They've got my business whenever I'm in town. The food was great, but the experience was better, just knowing there are people that appreciate your business makes all the difference in a world that seems to value very little these days. Thank you Yard house, for having standards! Thank you James and Dalaren. For being good humans and taking pride in your jobs. You are...