It’s usually pretty decent. We ended up waiting over two hours to sit down and get our food. 5 of the dinner items on their menu weren’t available. I asked for a dessert menu and they never brought it. Super disappointed in their service
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
CJ Lintner
In one word “meh”. Nice atmosphere but the menu and taste of food is lacking. We came for the jerk chicken and waffles specifically but it was not available. The shrimp and grits was dry and bland, not the creamy flavorful tastes you’d expect from the dish. The breakfast bowl was a bunch of sun seasoned veggies and an egg - no flavor whatsoever. Coffee was good. Service was extremely slow - we waited nearly an hour despite there only being 3-4 other occupied tables.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 2
Daniela Jayme
The place is really cool! One of my favorites: the food is very unique and delicious, lots of flavor! And the place is really cool, lots of amazing spots and good music. The atmosphere feels really nice. The falafel and the chickpeas are a MUST!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Dan Dan Noodles
Mary McDevitt
Fun place!
Service: 5
Jennifer Job
Incredible setting and cocktails. Don’t miss the salads and pear pancakes!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Christian P.
My girlfriend and I ate at this place as our final meal here before leaving the next morning. If there's one thing I've learned about the restaurants here and their reviews, it's that you should never trust the reviewers here, they act like they've never eaten food before and thus everything here is "So good!" and "The best food I've eaten!" when it is so far from that. In general, the food here is overpriced and bland. But enough rambling, let's move onto my experience at this particular establishment. We arrived at 8:40pm and made reservations for 8:45pm. We had to wait a bit to be seated which we didn't mind. However it was after we were seated, that the poor service began. We had to wait at least 10 minutes before we finally got water and ordered our food. It was puzzling since there was not that many people and the people who were here seemed to have been waiting or had there food already. We ordered the jerk chicken and tortilla de patata. We were originally seated outside but due to it begin cold moved to the inside, and it is here that we began the long wait. We had to wait 35+ minutes for our food, with us theorizing what could be taking so long, looking around at other peoples food and others who left, and those who were waiting for their food too which was not many. The jerk chicken arrived first and there were a few pieces of chicken, nothing to warrant $25. When we bit into it, it was dry. The sweetness was nothing impressive nor was the complimentary spicy sauce on the side. It was very disappointing as it was not filling and the flavor was nothing good for a restaurant with such exaggerated prices. As for the tortilla de patata? It never came, so they gave us a complimentary bread dish. It was very saucy and had chickpeas all over and around it too. The flavor was just sour. That was it. Again, nothing impressive and all disappointing. The sour mood brought about from the time we had to wait was stronger than the flavor of the bread. In the end, we waited longer than we ate. The service was very strange and annoying as you would think that after such a long wait time the servers would check up on you. But no they never did. For the restaurant late at night barely having any customers, it sure seemed like they were busy. In addition, you'd think that they would come back and tell us that they didn't have the dish we ordered and asked if we wanted to order something else but instead they chose the dish for us and made us wait regardless. The most relief and satisfaction we got was us not having the other dish being brought out and us having to pay for it, as at this point it was obvious it was going to as overpriced as it was bland. In the end, the food was a strong 2.5/10. Service 4/10. Ambiance 9/10. It was obvious tourist bait but I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt as my girlfriend and I were enjoying the trip and it was our last meal. Clearly from this review, I should've went with my gut. Go to Jack right next to it, or some fast food place, or make your own food it would be better than any dish here. Actually if you want the Kitchen in the Desert experience, physically get your hard earned dollar bills and just eat it then and there. The difference being that you would actually save more time. If you are reading this review and have made it to the end take this as a strong warning : DO NOT EAT AT THE RESTAURANTS OR TRUST THE REVIEWERS. THIS TOWN IS FILLED WITH BAD FOOD AND LIARS! Have a great day and enjoy the national park!
Caitlin R.
I'm generously rounding up what should probably be a 2 or 2.5 star review because I really want to believe we were just there on a night where there was some sort of behind-the-scenes disaster (because only something like half the waitstaff calling out sick could really explain our experience - and maybe that's what happened??). I had 7pm reservations on a Monday night for our group of 6. We were in line at the host stand at 7:01, there was a line of two couples in front of us worked our way up to the hostess at 7:10. She had us sit at the couches so she could wipe our table. At 7:20pm I got up to ask if we could sit because I saw that the table had been wiped. She said yeah let me just set the table. Finally got seated at 7:25 for a 7pm reservation - not great. We waited until 7:45pm and our server finally came and took our orders and said the food would be a while. I want to be clear I don't fault the staff at all (they were clearly frazzled and working their butts off yet stayed cordial) but there was a HUGE patio absolutely full of people and for 5-10 minutes at a time you wouldn't see a single server anywhere. Seemed like they were madly bussing tables and spending a fair amount of time inside? In my opinion the restaurant management should have started calling diners to cancel reservations given that they must have had something going on, I would have MUCH preferred to be cancelled and eat somewhere else. Anyways we at least had our food orders in but at 8pm we still didn't even have water on the table. We were there for a full hour with not even water. I got up to ask if there was self-serve water somewhere and explained we had been there an hour already and soon after our server brought water. At this point our experience was pretty much ruined. The rare occasion when a nice dinner out just becomes stressful and unenjoyable because the situation is so chaotic. Around 8:10 the food started coming out very sporadically with big gaps between plates. We had a few vegetarians so it ended up really oddly paced, they would get a single vegetarian dish and scarf it down then wait 15 minutes for another dish. It never even felt like we had an actual dinner, just random dishes coming out sporadically. The food itself was pretty good. Not good enough though to salvage the experience unfortunately. We didn't leave until after 9pm, we had 9 dishes between 6 people (menu says family style, each dish serves 1-2) and still left hungry. And this is a group of one grown woman and five teenage girls, none weighing over 115lbs. No opportunity to order more drinks or dessert. Pretty space though but not somewhere I could recommend. Just a sucky experience all around.
Abie l.
Eh. It's an okay restaurant but the service is average and the food is okay. Nothing really to write home about. The dates with bacon and blue cheese crumble was good. We had the Dan Dan noodles which should not be served. The veggie platter was average but the coconut rice was good. It's okay but it's not great
Tina R.
Worst service ever. All our our party for their meals except for 4 people. Everyone was done eating and they still didn't get their meals. Drinks were watered down and gross. The "jumbalaya" was the worst thing ever, filled with onions and watery. The ambiance was nice but it was the worst food and service.
Jay D.
Great outdoor & artsy atmosphere, complete with lounge-y upbeat music. Our server, Bree, was attentive & gracious, giving us the time we needed to enjoy our dinner. The food was fantastic, Bree helped to recommend a few dishes. We got the beet salad, sautéed Brussels sprouts, Jerk chicken & the house burger. All was very fresh & delicious!
Food was okay for the high price. No sides. No very filling. The cocktails were great and the ambiance was great. We dined outside and enjoyed the music and shaded table area. Service was alright, waited a long time for drinks and food but it was also a bit busy Would come back for drink but not food.
Sam B.
It is such a shame that a restaurant with such a beautiful setting could have such terrible service.
Hallie C.
While the ambiance of Joshua Tree's "Kitchen in the Desert" was amazing, my dining experience fell short of expectations. I ordered the Dan Dan Noodles priced at $17, that exceeded below my expectations. The noodles arrived cold and lacked flavor. Despite being listed as "shareable," the portion size was not for sharing let alone one person and that goes for a lot of the dishes my group ordered that night. Although I appreciated the vibe of the restaurant, I can't say it's worth the hour-long wait and the high prices did not justify the food quality.
Mary E.
Food was delicious but some of it was way undercooked and the portions were extremely small for the price. Service was great and really like the vibe of the place. We had a reservation and only had to wait 10 minutes to get our table.
Laura P.
Amazing ambiance and great food! That place would make an amazing spot for a little wedding, its dreamy at night. Will definitely come back!
It’s usually pretty decent. We ended up waiting over two hours to sit down and get our food. 5 of the dinner items on their menu weren’t available. I asked for a dessert menu and they never brought it. Super disappointed in their service
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
In one word “meh”. Nice atmosphere but the menu and taste of food is lacking. We came for the jerk chicken and waffles specifically but it was not available. The shrimp and grits was dry and bland, not the creamy flavorful tastes you’d expect from the dish. The breakfast bowl was a bunch of sun seasoned veggies and an egg - no flavor whatsoever. Coffee was good. Service was extremely slow - we waited nearly an hour despite there only being 3-4 other occupied tables.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 2
The place is really cool! One of my favorites: the food is very unique and delicious, lots of flavor! And the place is really cool, lots of amazing spots and good music. The atmosphere feels really nice. The falafel and the chickpeas are a MUST!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Dan Dan Noodles
Fun place!
Service: 5
Incredible setting and cocktails. Don’t miss the salads and pear pancakes!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
My girlfriend and I ate at this place as our final meal here before leaving the next morning. If there's one thing I've learned about the restaurants here and their reviews, it's that you should never trust the reviewers here, they act like they've never eaten food before and thus everything here is "So good!" and "The best food I've eaten!" when it is so far from that. In general, the food here is overpriced and bland. But enough rambling, let's move onto my experience at this particular establishment. We arrived at 8:40pm and made reservations for 8:45pm. We had to wait a bit to be seated which we didn't mind. However it was after we were seated, that the poor service began. We had to wait at least 10 minutes before we finally got water and ordered our food. It was puzzling since there was not that many people and the people who were here seemed to have been waiting or had there food already. We ordered the jerk chicken and tortilla de patata. We were originally seated outside but due to it begin cold moved to the inside, and it is here that we began the long wait. We had to wait 35+ minutes for our food, with us theorizing what could be taking so long, looking around at other peoples food and others who left, and those who were waiting for their food too which was not many. The jerk chicken arrived first and there were a few pieces of chicken, nothing to warrant $25. When we bit into it, it was dry. The sweetness was nothing impressive nor was the complimentary spicy sauce on the side. It was very disappointing as it was not filling and the flavor was nothing good for a restaurant with such exaggerated prices. As for the tortilla de patata? It never came, so they gave us a complimentary bread dish. It was very saucy and had chickpeas all over and around it too. The flavor was just sour. That was it. Again, nothing impressive and all disappointing. The sour mood brought about from the time we had to wait was stronger than the flavor of the bread. In the end, we waited longer than we ate. The service was very strange and annoying as you would think that after such a long wait time the servers would check up on you. But no they never did. For the restaurant late at night barely having any customers, it sure seemed like they were busy. In addition, you'd think that they would come back and tell us that they didn't have the dish we ordered and asked if we wanted to order something else but instead they chose the dish for us and made us wait regardless. The most relief and satisfaction we got was us not having the other dish being brought out and us having to pay for it, as at this point it was obvious it was going to as overpriced as it was bland. In the end, the food was a strong 2.5/10. Service 4/10. Ambiance 9/10. It was obvious tourist bait but I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt as my girlfriend and I were enjoying the trip and it was our last meal. Clearly from this review, I should've went with my gut. Go to Jack right next to it, or some fast food place, or make your own food it would be better than any dish here. Actually if you want the Kitchen in the Desert experience, physically get your hard earned dollar bills and just eat it then and there. The difference being that you would actually save more time. If you are reading this review and have made it to the end take this as a strong warning : DO NOT EAT AT THE RESTAURANTS OR TRUST THE REVIEWERS. THIS TOWN IS FILLED WITH BAD FOOD AND LIARS! Have a great day and enjoy the national park!
I'm generously rounding up what should probably be a 2 or 2.5 star review because I really want to believe we were just there on a night where there was some sort of behind-the-scenes disaster (because only something like half the waitstaff calling out sick could really explain our experience - and maybe that's what happened??). I had 7pm reservations on a Monday night for our group of 6. We were in line at the host stand at 7:01, there was a line of two couples in front of us worked our way up to the hostess at 7:10. She had us sit at the couches so she could wipe our table. At 7:20pm I got up to ask if we could sit because I saw that the table had been wiped. She said yeah let me just set the table. Finally got seated at 7:25 for a 7pm reservation - not great. We waited until 7:45pm and our server finally came and took our orders and said the food would be a while. I want to be clear I don't fault the staff at all (they were clearly frazzled and working their butts off yet stayed cordial) but there was a HUGE patio absolutely full of people and for 5-10 minutes at a time you wouldn't see a single server anywhere. Seemed like they were madly bussing tables and spending a fair amount of time inside? In my opinion the restaurant management should have started calling diners to cancel reservations given that they must have had something going on, I would have MUCH preferred to be cancelled and eat somewhere else. Anyways we at least had our food orders in but at 8pm we still didn't even have water on the table. We were there for a full hour with not even water. I got up to ask if there was self-serve water somewhere and explained we had been there an hour already and soon after our server brought water. At this point our experience was pretty much ruined. The rare occasion when a nice dinner out just becomes stressful and unenjoyable because the situation is so chaotic. Around 8:10 the food started coming out very sporadically with big gaps between plates. We had a few vegetarians so it ended up really oddly paced, they would get a single vegetarian dish and scarf it down then wait 15 minutes for another dish. It never even felt like we had an actual dinner, just random dishes coming out sporadically. The food itself was pretty good. Not good enough though to salvage the experience unfortunately. We didn't leave until after 9pm, we had 9 dishes between 6 people (menu says family style, each dish serves 1-2) and still left hungry. And this is a group of one grown woman and five teenage girls, none weighing over 115lbs. No opportunity to order more drinks or dessert. Pretty space though but not somewhere I could recommend. Just a sucky experience all around.
Eh. It's an okay restaurant but the service is average and the food is okay. Nothing really to write home about. The dates with bacon and blue cheese crumble was good. We had the Dan Dan noodles which should not be served. The veggie platter was average but the coconut rice was good. It's okay but it's not great
Worst service ever. All our our party for their meals except for 4 people. Everyone was done eating and they still didn't get their meals. Drinks were watered down and gross. The "jumbalaya" was the worst thing ever, filled with onions and watery. The ambiance was nice but it was the worst food and service.
Great outdoor & artsy atmosphere, complete with lounge-y upbeat music. Our server, Bree, was attentive & gracious, giving us the time we needed to enjoy our dinner. The food was fantastic, Bree helped to recommend a few dishes. We got the beet salad, sautéed Brussels sprouts, Jerk chicken & the house burger. All was very fresh & delicious!
Restaurantji Recommends
Food was okay for the high price. No sides. No very filling. The cocktails were great and the ambiance was great. We dined outside and enjoyed the music and shaded table area. Service was alright, waited a long time for drinks and food but it was also a bit busy Would come back for drink but not food.
It is such a shame that a restaurant with such a beautiful setting could have such terrible service.
While the ambiance of Joshua Tree's "Kitchen in the Desert" was amazing, my dining experience fell short of expectations. I ordered the Dan Dan Noodles priced at $17, that exceeded below my expectations. The noodles arrived cold and lacked flavor. Despite being listed as "shareable," the portion size was not for sharing let alone one person and that goes for a lot of the dishes my group ordered that night. Although I appreciated the vibe of the restaurant, I can't say it's worth the hour-long wait and the high prices did not justify the food quality.
Food was delicious but some of it was way undercooked and the portions were extremely small for the price. Service was great and really like the vibe of the place. We had a reservation and only had to wait 10 minutes to get our table.
Amazing ambiance and great food! That place would make an amazing spot for a little wedding, its dreamy at night. Will definitely come back!