Garden Cafe

A very nice place to eat in the National Gallery of Art
The Garden Café at the National Gallery of Art is a convenient and pleasant place to eat during a museum visit. It is located on the lower level of the museum, right behind the north entrance, which makes it easy to find when you’re ready for a break. The café offers a fair selection of food, including tacos, salads, and flatbread pizzas, with most entrées priced around $15–20. Our group tried the BBQ taco set, a salad, and two flatbread pizzas. The tacos and pizzas were a big hit and very enjoyable, while the salad itself was fine but the dressing was not really to our liking. Seating is spread across two rooms, mostly with four-person tables, so it works well for small groups or families. One room features a calming water element in the center, while the other is simply a nice, quiet dining space. The ordering process is easy—you order and pay first, then the staff brings the food directly to your table. The staff members were very friendly, and the food came out quickly, which was great when we wanted to get back to exploring the museum. Overall, the Garden Café is a solid dining option with good food, pleasant seating, and helpful service.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

This review is specifically for the chimichurri salad. Inedible. Steak like rocks, potatoes like chalk. FUGLY

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 5

Rude service people who had zero reaction, and even rolled their eyes at me. Complained to management and didn’t get a single reply. What a grand mismatch from the beautiful atmosphere!

Service: 1

The ladies at the coffee place were kind and attentioous. A good variety of snacks, although the prices are a little high

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

I didn’t like food here but over all was pretty good

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 5

Short wait time, decent food, but slightly overpriced!

Worst dinning experience in DC. Super bad attitude by staff. More than 30 mins to get the meal. Including myself, I saw three person claiming the handling timing. No staff to clean the table in 1hr. Acceptable-level food.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 1

Food being expensive is not so bad but what makes it worse is the quality and taste. We got chicken flat bread for $17 which was tasted weird. Texture of cheese was bad, toppings were let down too. We got 2 lattes as well and both were served cold. We had high hopes from this place considering it has an amazing location and advantage of being inside museum. Do yourself a favor and skip it, rather step out and grab from food truck or maybe try food court in East building lower floor. If you really want to give it a go then get muffin. You're welcome.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Apple Muffin, Pastries

$15 for a tiny quiche the size of a small cupcake/muffin

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 5

Worst hot coffee ever !

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

I ordered 3 items, only the French Opera Cake tasted good. The cake had a rich chocolate flavor, not too sweet, and a firm texture. I personally recommend it.
The Tuna Steak Tartare tasted horrible, I like raw tuna and salmon. But under a few pieces of tuna was a pile of tasteless avocado, they were tasteless and inedible. The only flavor was probably a little bit lemon juice, and I wouldn’t have known how to eat it without the bread.
That cup of Americano was the worst coffee I had in maybe half year. It was just like water and had no aroma.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: French Opera Cake

The service and environment is good but the food is so bad. I had the chicken flat bread for 17 dollars. It was the opposite of tasty. I ate 1/4 of it and gave up. The cheese yells "this is cheap and unhealthy"...

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 5

If you're going to close early, at least let people know in advance. I planned out enough time to be able to eat after I viewed the art, but the place was closed before they were supposed to by the time I got down to the cafe.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 1

I simply ordered a croissant latte!!
Great for a quick bite to eat while viewing an exhibition!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

You can get an Italian style espresso, which actually tastes like real coffee. One cannot find such refinery in the other museums. As for the sweets: try the cookies - not the pastries.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4