Solano's Bar and Grill - Palm Desert
The food was mediocre, and there are so many better places around the valley.
This was our first visit to Solano's and were pleasantly surprised by the quality and presentation of the food and the attentive staff. The menu appeared uninteresting but since we were there we decided to try a number of items. The margarita pizza was beautiful and delicious. The sliders were so much more than expected. The caesar salad could compete with any in the desert. When making the reservation on opentable, I indicated that we were celebrating an anniversary. The staff noticed this on the reservation and brought a lovely brownie with ice cream, whipped cream and candle. Our experience was remarkable.
Best kept secret in town. Good for a full meal or just pizza or salad. Wide menu choice. Excellent service.
The food was really bad, the server never ordered my wife’s dish. When we told him to cancel it he said sorry but there was no other gesture. The manager never showed up to at least apologize.
This was our first visit to this newer Palm Desert location. We have been to the original La Quinta location several times in the last few years. Same great menu, wait staff, and wonderful food. We brought along another couple who also enjoy their meal and visit. The ambiance is different than La Quinta, and we suspect that this location will accommodate more diners. We will happily come to either location. We always must eat gluten free and feel safe doing so at either location.
This location is fairly new, and since we went off season, they were not busy at all. I think when the snow birds come back the restaurant will be very busy. It’s hard to review a place when you are the only customers. Our waiter was very polite, and attentive, food was good....pasta for 3 of us, and a sandwich for the 4th.
We would try it again.
Excellent food and service.
We had an enjoyable experience dining here. Food was very tasty! Good quality and friendly service.
We went with another couple and we all enjoyed our meals. They have a good variety on their menu and the service was very good.
Delicious food! I have loved the white bean and arugula salad, excellent delicate fish special with lemony, buttery risotto, and the most amazing chicken pesto pappardelli!! Service personable, helpful and friendly, though sometimes a bit spotty when things get busy. My table companions have had very positive experiences too.
Happy hour is good value and great food choices. My new go-to local restaurant!!!
Great value for the price and the food is really good!
We had amazing service once again!!!
The food was good. Waiter was great! Fun evening.
We looked forward to trying this new Solano’s since we are big fans and regulars of the original Solano’s Bistro in Old Town La Quinta. The similarity stops there. Favorite menu items from the LQ location were absent; the Happy Hour offerings more limited. My mom’s pasta was boring and my food ‘ok’. I hope they improve since the staff were very accommodating and it is in a prime location central to college campuses, residential areas and close to the 10 off ramp.
Overall we were very impressed with the experience. Great food and service!
Had a great lunch with a friend sitting at the bar top. Fransisco gave us excellent service, the hostess was very nice and helpful, and it was fun to watch the cook in action in the open kitchen. I tried a Pomegranate Royale Martini, the Calamari appetizer, and the Ahi Poke Bowl... everything was delicious!
Service was sooo fast and attentive. Food was good because everyone in our party was able to find something for them. Pastas, pizzas, salads, protein packed options, appetizers, sandwiches.
Very friendly staff. Food was really good, fresh ingredients and cozy atmosphere.
Harold our server was very friendly, courteous and very warm. We will be seeing you guys again.
Excellent service and great value for your money. Staff very friendly.
Roasted chicken dry and tasteless. Food overall is ordinary.
The fish dishes were excellent. The service from Veronica was very attentive without being intrusive. I will most definitely go back to this neighborhood gem.
Bad service...ordered a salad and a main dish (which were sliders, rare) both came at the same time, sent the sliders back so I could start eating the salad, then when the sliders returned (they were kept warm under a heat lamp) they were all dried out and well done, requested the manager to talk to and all she kept repeating over and over was "i'm soooo sorry" I think it was bad service and very bad customer service...Bruce, Palm Desert
Nice to have Solano's across from the university. The food was good for the price. Since they took over a pizza restaurant, they are serving pizzas, but after reviewing the offers we thought they would be better to not make the toppings so unusual.
Good but nothing to warrant a return
Great service...food was great...fit us in on Valentines with no reservations...we’ll be back for sure ..highly recommend
Valentine’s Day at last minute no reservations Goya good table very nice place, clean and quiet food outstanding
I will return; however, the service was slow and I had to finally get my own good of wine. The food was good and we loved the variety of the menu. A little bit of everything. The spinach crab dip is AWESOME.
First the positives, very nice, new and well decorated newer restaurant in the area. Restaurants was surprisingly big. Not busy at all during prime hours. Staff was working hard. No sitting around.
Negatives far outweigh the positives. Like I said above, it wasn’t busy and I had reservations and we had to wait upon arrival. Oh well that happens however they sat someone in the same size table as ours before us with reservations 15 minutes later. That’s just not right
Food was at best 1 star. I’m beyond disappointed in the couple of things we had. The entree cob salad was the most underwhelming salad I have had. The most white and light green lettuce was chosen. They used diced canned tomatoes. The chicken was over cooked and underspiced. They forgot the bacon and even after mentioning that the waiter didn’t care to help or make it right. I have had much better salads at 1 star cheap restaurants. Everything else was average. Absolutely nothing amazing , unique. and nothing full of flavor at this restaurant. They use low quality non fresh ingredients.
This restaurant has a lot of potential but it requires a change in the lead cook, quality, and menu offerings. Get creative and pay for better ingredients even if that means the prices go up. The prices were low on several things. How we based on what you get it’s still a bad value.
We had a great meal. The calamari was delicious. I had the blackened Mahi-mahi and my husband had the wild mushroom ravioli. They were both very good. We will be back.
The food and service were very good. I was surprised no kind of bread was served with the dinners.
There were 4 of us. One had the whitefish - she raved. One had the special fish and loved it. One had the sausage pasta (very little sausage bits, disappointing to find no sausage links for the price) and the last one had another of the specials and I can't remember, but liked it as well. We did not eat dessert.
We made a reservation but it was unnecessary as it was practically empty. For being "in season" I thought place would be packed. The restaurant is affiliated with Solano Bistro in La Quinta, so I was expecting excellent food. It missed the mark for me but 1 out of 4 dishes isn't bad.
Very disappointing experience especially since we love the Solano's in La Quinta.
Out of an appetizer and six food items ordered by our group, only one was above average.
Particularly disappointing was the turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich. I am an avocado lover. The avocado was barely visible in the sandwich. I showed it to our waiter, and was very surprised that he didn't bring some more out. The tomato basil soup was outstanding, but a very small portion.
Very nice restaurant. Very good service, employees, nice location and parking. Food is above average and service good.
Ordered sliders and then informed they had no bread. They should have had everything they offered on their menu. Said they would have bread NEXT week. That was ridiculous.