Orchestria Palm Court Restaurant — Restaurant in San Jose

So here’s a little love letter to the Orchestria Palm Court: hands down one of the most unique dining experiences in Bay Area, however, one needs a little background information to be able to appreciate this place. The menu is short, the list of available drinks and desserts even shorter, and there are no cocktails. The ingredients are of very high quality, sourced from local, organic creameries, and farms if possible. They are combined to wonderfully delicious meals, but with very little fuss. So don’t expect the most elegant or elaborate presentation. Same goes for the table service - there is none. Yes you will be seated and they will bring your food to the table, but you have to order at the bar. All this saves a little cost that they in turn reinvest into the quality of the ingredients and the place itself - Because this is the real attraction besides the delicious food: the restaurant holds a most amazing collection of mechanic music machines. You all know mechanic pianos with the paper scrolls governing the movement of its keys, but this place has so many more curious contraptions that have been all but forgotten. There is an automatic gramophone, mechanic music boxes the size of refrigerators, and my personal favorite, a fully automatically played violin. All these machines take turns throughout the evening to play, but it’s not offensively noisy or disruptive but blends perfectly into the atmosphere of this wonderful place. Quite often conversations throughout the restaurant will pause when another one of the 100+ year old apparatuses starts its unique performance. The venue itself is housed in an old car dealership with rough brick and mortar walls , a gallery where there’s shelf after shelf holding the paper scrolls that act as the memory drives to the music machines. But as my mother pointed out they look like the stacks of magic wands in Mr Ollivander’s shop in Diagonal Alley. And if you happen to be there for a birthday the host will climb the stairs and find a scroll that will make one of the machines play Happy Birthday. At the soda fountain bar you can get old timey classics like root beer floats, cream sodas, malted milk shakes, and some other concoction that will make your grandparents feel like children again. The place is only open a few days a month and when there’s a performance at the theater next door the reservations fill up quickly and some of the more popular dishes (their Surf and Turf) may have sold out by the time you order, but take that as an opportunity to explore their other...

Orchestria Palm Court has always been a beloved and curious little restaurant for me. It's been open since 2013 and a well-known secret for historians and theatre goers in San Jose's SoFa District, yet many people don't know about it. Most likely because the doors are only open for 2 days a week for less than 4 hours a day.

The former 1910 auto showroom has been filled with a collection of antique musical machines, including self-playing pianos, orchestrion, juke boxes, and Violano-Virtuoso which is a remarkable self-playing violin and piano combo. I always felt like the co-owner Mark (an engineer) wanted to find a place for his collection and then decided to serve food. The food, however, is not a second thought.

The menu features grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, and real creamery butter. I can always taste the difference when well-chosen ingredients are used. We enjoyed the Chicken Saltimboca, Boeuf Bourguignon, Strawberry Salad & Key Lime Pie, which was so good we ordered a second dessert their Profiteroles

They have an odd yet functional system , and you come in and pick your own table, then head to the back bar to put your order in and wait for it to arrive. The prices include service and tax and there is a busser who fills your glass and drops off your food.

In the interim, the other co-owner (a veterinarian) runs the antique fountain bar whipping up cool concoctions such as the Huckleberry Fizz, Poppy Dew and Apricot Ambrosia. Good old-fashioned milkshakes and "mocktails" when they were flourishing during prohibition.

In between his fountain duties, he runs about firing up the many different musical machines. If you have hearing sensitivities, do not sit near a piano because they are LOUD.

When you're done with your experience, you go back to the bar to pay for your meal. They will never rush you and want you to sit back and enjoy your time. No tipping is allowed as there are no waiters.

Just a reminder, Orchestria Palm Court is open only on Friday and Saturday, from 5:30 to 9:00pm, and you must get your order in by 7:40pm. Reservations are obviously...

Definitely one of the more interesting places we've gone. There are lots of old-time musical and other devices. The player pianos and other musical devices still work and play period music. I'm not sure if the popcorn or roasted peanut machines work, but I would have loved some.

When we arrived about 6 PM, there were a few tables occupied, but it wasn't crowded. As we ate, the place did fill up.

There's also no tipping here. They basically add 25% to the price of everything that you order, which includes tax and a 15% gratuity. Everything is priced on the menu so that each item comes to an even dollar amount after adding that 25%, which makes splitting bills very easy.

Finally, you order everything at the bar in the back. They will bring what you order to your table. You also pay at the bar. Despite being a period restaurant, they do take credit cards.

As for the food, it was very good. My wife started with a Poppy Dew drink, which she liked so much that she ordered another. I started with a brown cow (a root beer float with chocolate ice cream), which was also very good.

For starters, I had some clam chowder, which was chunky, but just okay. My wife and I both had the nectarine salad, which we both thought was very good.

For entrees, we both had the Austrian goulash with spaetzle, which was also very good. It had a slight spicy bite, but not too much. Neither of us like extremely spicy food, but we both liked this.

We decided to also have dessert as they had some tempting items. Their special was key lime pie, which I love, so I ordered that. It came with strawberry preserves around it and a large strawberry next to it, and was very good. My wife ordered the banana split brulee, which she enjoyed.

I also had one dark beer at $6, and the total, including the added tax and tip, was $112, which seemed a bit pricey, but not outrageous. There were other dishes in the menu that sounded good, so we'll probably go back when we find ourselves in...