Orchestria Palm Court Restaurant

Orchestria Palm Court was a hidden gem in San Jose that I never knew about until now, and I'm glad I found it. The food is excellent, and the ambiance and charm of the place take you back in time. The vintage player pianos, jukeboxes and classic soda fountains make you feel you're back in the early 1900s. I had the sampler trio, which was perfectly cooked, and the flavors were spot on. My wife got the ribeye, which was, in her opinion, one of the best she's had. The prices are reasonable, and since you order at the bar, no tipping is required (just a 14.3% service fee), but they serve your food at the table. We'll definitely be back. Thanks for a wonderful dining experience, guys!

Fabulous, one-of-a-kind experience! A virtual museum of historic mechanical musical instruments

One of the best and most unique restaurant experiences of my life. You must try this place!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Pesto Gnocchi

It's cute and kitchy but was not fancy. It's fine for families and casual attire fine but we were headed to a music concert and would have preferred something more upscale.Food flavor was good I ate the beef bourguinon and my friend gnocchis but mine was not hot and potato's a little undercooked. You order at a counter and they bring the food and drinks to your table. I did not like the fees rolled into the price it was like 14 and 9% added to the bill

This is a really fun, unique gem of a restaurant in downtown San Jose. Seeing and hearing the antique musical pianos and other instruments makes for a one-of a-kind experience and the food is both delicious and reasonably priced.

First time and we both really enjoyed our dining experience. Very cool atmosphere with an abundance of history. The food was presented beautifully and delicious. The drinks from the Soda Fountain so refreshing. If you are looking for a unique atmosphere with amazing food and service, this is the place. The phone booth was fun as well.

We had to get up and order our own food and drinks at a counter. Menu prices did not include the added gratuity of around 14 or 15% to each item which makes you tip even if you don't want to. I tip for service, not 1/2 service. Food was different

Great atmosphere for those who enjoy old fashioned player pianos, juke boxes, victorolas, etc. Maybe not a place to have a serious conversation, but a place to go with friends for a special occasion.

A very unique experience for sure. The restaurant is filled with player pianos and other automated musical instruments and other items. They'll start something up once in a while so there's background music from on of the instruments. The staff are dressed up like soda jerks and old time sodas area available. They were short staffed the night we dined so things were a little uneven but they have a system in place. You look at the menu and place your order at the bar. Your food is brought to the table. Speaking of the food it was excellent and the pricing was also excellent. The service fees are included so you don't have to worry about tips and pay at the bar when you leave. It's definitely worth a visit and something to experience. It was definitely the best dining experience that we've had this year.

My friend and I enjoyed the music from the antique music boxes and player pianos in the background of our dinner, It was fun to see all the old sheet music and posters on the walls. Her sea bass was fabulous. The meat in my beef bourguignon was a bit tough so I wasn't as happy with my main dish. Everything was reasonably priced. The table next to us had profiteroles - which looked good but we needed to get to our play next door. It's a great place to go before attending something at The Stage theater.

Went there with my family on a Friday night about 6:30 PM. Had the Caesar salad and beef Bergeron. The salad is sopping wet with dressing and the beef Bergeron was lukewarm. There was no burgundy wine flavor. we were extremely disappointed by the food. The atmosphere on the other hand was a player piano geeks dream come, true, which isn’t me. But if you are a player piano geek, you would love this place, as long as you eat before you come.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 4

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 delicious dishes.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Surf and Turf, Shrimp Puttanesca, Profiterole, Sampler Trio, Traditional Banana Split

We enjoyed our dinner at the Orchestria! The old player pianos were great! I ordered the Bicerin (a northern Italian specialty) for dessert - espresso, hot chocolate, whipped cream and it was great!! There was some beautiful antique art deco scene with Rippling Water that I found very charming.

This is a unique, incredibly quirky restaurant. The food is good. The service is good. (You order at the bar and they bring it out in a timely fashion.) But the real key is the player pianos and other mechanical, self-playing instruments. The place is kind of a museum of 1920s punched-paper technology. Every once in a while, the instrument beside you will start to play, and you won't be able to talk for a while. If this sounds fun for you (it was for us!) then this is your place. As for the food, I had the sea bass, which was amazing. My wife had the beef bourguignon, which she really liked. There are vegetarian options, but they're in a cream sauce so not vegan. We split an order of profiteroles, which were also very good. The wine list was fine. Corkage is $20, from what I read. Basically, I've never been to a restaurant like this, and I'm not sure there ARE other restaurants like this. If this sounds remotely interesting, try it out!

Simply love this place. It's fanciful, vintage 1920s decor, and wonderful ambience. Only open on the weekend evenings and I always take my in town guests to eat here!