Favorite Restaurants and things to do in Palm Desert

[Breezy52]

Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge has great brunch​

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Hope it is okay that I keep this thread going instead of starting my own.

Just beginning a week in Palm Desert right now, and glad to find this thread giving me some ideas for new places to try. Tommy Bahama and Sherman's have always been musts here, but beyond that we are still trying to find some favourites worthy of a return trip.

That said, we are looking for a suggestion for steak. Doesn't have to be a steakhouse, if you know of a restaurant that does things right and has good cuts on the menu. Other than Morton's and Ruth's Chris, does anyone have other suggestions?

Thanks.

The La Quinta Cliffhouse is pretty good. They are in Indio. Good food, good service, good atmosphere.

 

[VacationForever]

The La Quinta Cliffhouse is pretty good. They are in Indio. Good food, good service, good atmosphere.

I totally agree. We visit it at least once every trip.

 

[marmite]

Sibon is our favorite and we sometimes ate 3 meals a day there.

Great suggestion, thank you. We did end up going twice this trip, we had breakfast there yesterday and it was excellent. It was professionally decorated for the holidays, and their patio was heated which made it very comfortable to eat outdoors. All the servers were very good, I couldn't find a single thing to improve on.

 

[b2bailey]

The Cliff House is a special place.I don't think of it as Indio.

 

[VacationForever]

The Cliff House is a special place.I don't think of it as Indio.

It is not. It is in La Quinta. Great place. If you like Japanese, Okura next to Cliff House is fantastic, probably one of the best in the country.

 

[marmite]

Just bumping this thread as it contained good restaurant ideas (and I do know about your old favourites). Heading to Palm Desert in a couple months, any new restaurants to mention? Any closures (other than the restaurants that always close during summer)?

Will likely return to Si Bon, Tommy Bahama, Ruth's Chris (Happy Hour!) and Sherman's and look for a few new ones to try. Or if not new, new to us. Ideas?

 

[SteveinHNL]

Our favorite restaurants in the greater Palm Springs area: Si Bon, Koutouki (the parking lot was pretty torn up by the city back in January), Old Spaghetti Factory, French Corner Cafe, Tommy Bahama, La Quinta Cliff House, Babe's BBQ (You've got to be hungry), Catalan. There are also a bunch of chain restaurants - Cheesecake Factory, Yard House, Olive Garden etc etc.

If it is your first time, you may want to do the tram ride. Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is excellent. We've been to Joshua National Park, no for us but a favorite for hikers. There are museums and a Thursday night market in Palm Springs. Street Fair at the College of Desert if you want to look at knickknacks. The Gardens on El Paseo, great shopping, art galleries and restaurants.

Lots of great golf courses that don't break the bank.

I had no idea there is a Spaghetti Factory in the area. It is embarrassing how much I like their Manager's Special with Mizithra and Clam Sauce. We had one in Hawaii that I used to go to for that dish, and now that I am no longer in Hawaii, I have missed it a lot! I go to Palm Desert every few months for work, so I will make a point of getting my fix.

 

[GetawaysRus]

There's now a Longhorn Steakhouse in La Quinta. That's a chain restaurant, of course, but my sweetheart likes their ribs. It opened about 6 months ago.

 

[Kildahl]

Well, it is the end of the week and I did not get to make it to all the great places suggested. I will keep the other suggestions for my trip next year. I still think I did pretty good. As you can see from the long list, we only ate breakfasts at home.

Returned to some old favourites of Tommy Bahama, Sherman’s Deli and Cane's,

New to me were Pacifica Seafood Restaurant, Si Bon, Babe's BBQ, Pueblo Viejo Grill, Gastro Grind Burgers, TKB Deli and Ruth's Chris. Although I will return to about half these places, happy hour at Ruth's Chris' was excellent. That place is absolutely packed by 4PM and seems to have a loyal clientele. I was glad to get there by opening for a table. Great food, wine, service and atmosphere will make it a repeat for sure.

A trip to Palm Desert requires at least one date shake. We tried date shakes at Shield’s Date Garden in Indo (our usual go-to) and Lappert’s Ice Cream in Palm Desert. Shield's shake is vanilla ice cream with their own date crystals, and Lappert's is date ice cream with homemade local date paste. They are both great but very different. The Lappert's definitely has pieces of date throughout if you don't mind the occasional chewiness in your shake.

Still have to figure out breakfast for tomorrow as we're out of groceries. I have only been to Wilma and Frieda here, so if you have other suggestions let me know.

Thanks everyone.

Shield’s is great for breakfast and lunch.

 

[Kildahl]

We add a few of our favorites:
RD RNNR -Old Town LaQuinta
J’S Deli Palm Desert
Red Kettle - vintage Idyllwild. All your breakfast and lunch favorites served casually, in this charming café -rub elbows with the locals. Get there early, closes at 2 PM. Save room for their delicious pies.

 

[GetawaysRus]

This thread has mainly been discussing restaurants. Let's get back to things to do.

Palm Desert is one of our favorite places, and we've visited many times over the years and done many of the commonly recommended things. So now I need to find more to do. I'll pass along some off-the-beaten-track ideas that we enjoyed and would appreciate suggestions from others.

First, have you seen Etherea in Coachella? This is about a 20-25 minute drive from Desert Springs Villas. (I'm plagiarizing here because I don't recall the source of the following.)

"This breathtaking sculpture by Italian sculptor Edoardo Tresoldi was created in 2018. It consists of three transparent sculptures, which were inspired by Neoclassical and Baroque architecture. The sculpture is made of wire mesh, one of Tresoldi's signature materials. It creates a unique optical effect, making the sky seem closer or further away, depending on the viewer's angle. Although 'Etherea' was originally made for the 2018 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, it now currently resides in downtown Coachella."

I put the following into Google Maps for directions: Cesar Chavez St & Sixth St, Coachella, CA 92236

You can look for some images of Etherea online.

You're going to think that your vision has suddenly blurred as the structure seems to float in front of you. It's interesting and fun to look at and also walk underneath. We went during the day but did notice the blue uplights in the pavement that illuminate it at night. It probably looks quite different in the evening after sunset.

So now you're in Coachella. You can start the Coachella Valley murals tour from here. I'll come back to this thread in another post and give you more information.

 

[GetawaysRus]

My wife and I enjoy visiting outdoor murals, and there are quite a few in the Coachella Valley. It's like an Easter egg hunt, and we have fun walking around and saying "oh, there's another." So here's a walking and driving tour:

Murals in Greater Palm Springs

Discover the outdoor arts scene.

www.visitgreaterpalmsprings.com

Enter this website into your phone

Scroll to the map at the bottom of this web page

You can either go East to West, or West to East – notice that the numbering of the murals on the map is not in geographic order.

Enlarge the map for the city you're in by spreading 2 fingers until you can see the individual numbers

Now you can either (1) tap a mural number on the map. The name of the mural will appear below the map. Tap the name of the mural, then tap get directions for driving directions. Or (2) again tap “Show List,” tap a number from the list, tap Get Directions

-----------------

Since we had just visited Etherea, we drove a few blocks on 6th and parked at 6th and Vine to see the murals in Coachella. If you like Mexican pastries, there's a pastry shop on that corner. If you skipped breakfast, coffee and a pastry might be good. Most of the murals in Coachella (and Indio) are clustered within a several block radius, so we just wandered around and saw most of them on foot. DO NOT MISS the carved dead tree on Vine across the street from Veterans Memorial Park - someone was a creative and talented wood carver, and this isn't on your map.

We drove to the Indio murals next and again visited on foot.

In Palm Desert, your map will show 2 mural sites at the shopping mall. We couldn't find one site until my wife spotted something up on the roof of the parking structure. You'll need to go up to the second level of the parking structure to start seeing murals, and then the top level is covered with many, many more. We had visited this mall a number of times on prior trips, but always parked on the ground level, so this was a total surprise.

We've completed this tour as far as Cathedral City, but haven't made it to see all the Palm Springs murals yet (though we may have seen many on a previous trip).

 

[GetawaysRus]

Here's a hiking suggestion. I realize that it's summer now, and HOT, so this is not the season for hiking. But if you are in Palm Desert during the cooler months, perhaps you'd enjoy the outdoors.

I use alltrails.com to find hikes we might enjoy. But another site that I came across is hikingguy.com. If you visit his site, scroll down to "Keep Exploring." There you will find suggested hikes in various areas. You can look at hikes in Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, Sand to Snow National Monument, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, and Riverside County.

I plan our travel itinerary. My sweetheart seems to think that, because I planned things for us to do, I should know every city or site that we visit just like the back of my hand. But of course I don't, and it's easy to get lost. What I like most about hikingguy.com is that if you click on a particular area, and then click on a particular hike, the web page for that hike will have detailed trail instructions with pictures. The pictures often have arrows showing you exactly which way to go. I can save that information and then I'm a trail wizard. We no longer get lost or take a wrong turn.

 

[Kildahl]

We would add the trails in the Dos Palmas Preserve slightly north east of the Salton Sea. Amazing diversity that we didn't expect. Easy hiking. We love the solitude of the entire area. Bring lots of water.

 

[Elan]

We got back from Palm Desert a few nights ago and just wanted to say thanks to those that contributed to this thread. We were there for our 25th anniversary, so booked Cliffhouse for that evening and it was exceptional. Also got to try Sherman's, which we both loved and did breakfast one morning at Si Bon.

We did tour and enjoy the Zoo and Living Gardens as well. We both really loved the trip to Joshua Tree NP. Didn't do any extensive hiking, but did a "car tour", stopping and doing the mini hikes required to see specific points of interest. I'm an outdoor enthusiast and have lived most of my life in the desert, so I really enjoyed the day. Even my wife, who's much more of an indoor home body commented on what a great day it was.

 

[VacationForever]

We got back from Palm Desert a few nights ago and just wanted to say thanks to those that contributed to this thread. We were there for our 25th anniversary, so booked Cliffhouse for that evening and it was exceptional. Also got to try Sherman's, which we both loved and did breakfast one morning at Si Bon.

We did tour and enjoy the Zoo and Living Gardens as well. We both really loved the trip to Joshua Tree NP. Didn't do any extensive hiking, but did a "car tour", stopping and doing the mini hikes required to see specific points of interest. I'm an outdoor enthusiast and have lived most of my life in the desert, so I really enjoyed the day. Even my wife, who's much more of an indoor home body commented on what a great day it was.

We love Cliffhouse and their seafood stew/cioppino. Yum! We enjoy Living Desert very much too. On a "lucky" day, the giraffes are out and ready to be fed.

 

[Elan]

We love Cliffhouse and their seafood stew/cioppino. Yum! We enjoy Living Desert very much too. On a "lucky" day, the giraffes are out and ready to be fed.

We happened to time the giraffe feeding perfectly as we arrived. Captured a nice video of one eating lettuce from the hands of a couple of kids.

I had forgotten when I'd made the Cliffhouse reservation that somehow I'd denoted that it was our anniversary. But, they put us in a nice booth, slightly above the main floor, the waitress congratulated us on introduction, and then comped us a shared dessert. Made for a really nice evening. We would go back in a heartbeat.