The Pines Cafe

After hiking, & working up an appetite, all you want to do is have a «bite to eat». We skipped on the tickets that included food. So we just came here to grab a quick bite and sip before we head down the mountain.
A slice of pepperoni and cheese pizza, and a French dip sounded good. It was OK, eatable, of course the cheese fell off on certain bites, it was thick pizza, food was not as bad as other reviews said. Or maybe we were that hungry. The fries were cut in huge wedges and if you want ketchup or mustard they came in packets. The line was short but for some reason took a while and was a longer wait then expected.
It’s cafeteria style. Grab a tray and receive your food over the counter, grab chips and a drink and carry your tray to the cashier. Cashier was fast and they accept cards and cash. Head to the huge crowded dining hall and search for a table. You can go outside but it’s so cold and windy plus the squirrels come too close begging for food. Oh they come inside too near the condiments table. The other hot plate side was closed so it was just opened for pizza and French dip side.
If you’re on a budget well this is still touristy-​pricey. If you got money to throw down and you don’t have a hyper toddler go next door 2 steps over and enjoy the sit down Peak’s restaurant.

good food, a bit over-​priced but you are paying for view too so…
loved that i could modify order from burger to chicken burger, delicious with avocado and blue cheese with bacon! great fries too!
staff nice and attentive :)

Second times we tried to eat there. First time we got our food but only after going to find the cashier (she was in the back talking to friends). Food was ok (kids liked the pizza) but service was nonexistent. And, yes, I did take into account the fact that we were trying to get food on top of a mountain.
This time I just wanted a coffee. A sign says you have to get the coffee cup from the cashier. Once again, there was no cashier. I asked the buffet server for a cup but she told me to see the cashier. I pointed out the obvious (no cashier). She told me she can’t give me the cup, only the cashier can. It was a cruel cycle.
Sigh.

I enjoyed the ride and dine overall. But, the food wasn’t necessarily my favorite, unfortunately. Great staff working there. The girl was extremely nice to my boyfriend and me. She was talkative, energetic, and positive. I give her 5 stars for her work ethics. But the food was bleh. I liked the grilled chicken most. Everything else just seemed a little bland and too cafeteria-​y. I hate to complain because this was an unforgettable experience, but next time, I’d prefer to check out the restaurant. It may be worth the extra money.

We purchased the Ride and Dine package. The service was horrible (we stood and watched while the people working there played and laughed in front of us. The woman who finally helped us had a giant wad of gum which she chomped while she talked), and the food was just as bad. The package is NOT a deal because the food is not edible! Buy the basic tram package, make reservations at Peaks, and enjoy the experience.

This place was awful! The food not only tasted gross it looked the part! So incredibly unappetizing. We got the tram and dine deal, what a mistake! We would throwing it away and just refilling our soda… that was the only decent thing out of the deal!

Yuk. Poor food quality and poor selection. Dining room is really just tables and chairs set up in a walkway and it is quite dirty. The staff is friendly

The restaurant at the top had a 30 minute wait and the café only had one person serving which was ridiculous considering that there was a massive line. There were a few gentlemen standing around in the back that could have helped but maybe they were managers and didn’t want to actually work. The food was ok. Husband had french dip but we had to go back up and actually ask for the au jus. The meat was tender and the horsey sauce was awesome. I had a bratworst with peppers and onions. My daughter ate half of mine. Was pretty good! The french fries were yummy and fresh out of the deep fryer. They were the thick and seasoned great. The kids liked the brownie mousse and the hot chocolate.

$ 5 for a roll; $ 3.50 for a cup of brownish hot water and spiced cider powder bag that I make myself. And your POS receipt asks for tip. Really?

I’m sorry. I get it. Your here for the views. This food was awful though. We kept it simple. Pizza, French fries, nachos, bowl of soup. Pizza was hard as a rock. Fries cold. Housemade French onion soup? No flavor at all. Even the onions no flavor. After our hike we were starving, I thought anything would taste good. I was wrong.

Overpriced awful food. The food selection is severely limited. You can have pizza, bratwurst, french fries and Vietnamese Phở (?!) We ordered a pizza, a bratwurst and Phở. It costs more than $ 30. The pizza, according to my daughter, was ok. The bread used for bratwurst is falling apart. The Phở my husband ordered was about the size of a cup of noodle. No meat. I wish I knew before I took the tram up the mountain. I would have eaten first. We were all still hungry after the «meal».
My suggestion: DON’T EAT THERE!

Some of my group liked it, didn’t. I would recommend just buying nachos or pizza. There’s also a nicer restaurant. When you go it’s like Ikea, grab a tray and tell them what you want. The service is slow. No coke or dr.pepper. not worth the extra dine and ride cost.

Ugh. The menu was shockingly small and the food was terrible. We were there for lunch on Sunday March 17, 2013 (St. Patrick’s Day). The menu was pre-​made italian sandwich, pre-​made salad, bratwurst, fries, chili, onion soup, and slices of cheese or pepperoni pizza. That was the entire menu. And none of it was good. So sorry we wasted our time and money here.
Next time we’ll go to the Peaks restaurant instead. Costs more but has to be better, right?
Oh, and while I’m here, they don’t sell snacks of any kind in the gift shop.

I know that people are basically butchering this place, and I CAN understand why — to some extent. Granted, I visited a few years ago, but I bet it hasn’t changed much since then. The food is cafeteria style, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t THAT BAD. It was just okay, but it DID cost way too much. That was really my only gripe. I can sort of liken it to the «fast food» version of the 2 restaurants on the mountain. It’s not really that special, but I would go there again if I were up there, instead of lugging my own food around all day. That’s just not gonna happen. :P If they lowered their prices a bit, I think people would be complaining less.

My husband took me on the aerial tram ride on Thanksgiving day, and a hike on Mt. San Jacinto. Afterwards, we did our Thanksgiving dinner here.. . it was part of the Ride and Dine package. For an additional $ 17 we got a small green salad (good), approximately 3 new potatoes (the little guys), a roll, a decent serving of veggie lasagna, turkey (good but again, small portion), a scoop of corn and a small scoop of dressing with a fountain drink. The food was decent, nothing amazing, but not bad. It wasn’t worth the money, though. Had the nearby Peaks restaurant had any seating, we would have gladly paid an additional $ 9 and dined there.
The girl who checked us out was extremely pleasant. The servers were not. I get that no one wants to work on Thanksgiving, but 1.) you’re getting paid; and 2.) make better vocational choices if it’s that much of a burden.
When I inquired after we finished our meal if we could purchase an a la carte plate of stuffing, one of the servers, Chris, sighed and rolled his eyes. «Yeah, I guess, but it will cost you, like, $ 10.» Actually, it came to $ 4.00. Bottom line is he just didn’t feel like taking on the arduous task of scooping stuffing from a warming tray.
Dessert was not included, so we purchased and split a cinnamon roll (very dry, seemed to be a day old, minimum) and a blueberry muffin (really good). We were told free refills on drinks, only to have a male clerk (Auston) attempt to charge us. To his credit, he did back off when I told him we had been told free refills.
While the food was not bad, at least when we were there, the service arguably brings their stars waaaaaaaaay down.

I’d give this place a zero, if that was possible on Unilocal.
We bought the tram ride and café dinner package to take a friend out for his hospitality. Needless to say, we’re taking him on a «replacement» thank you meal.
The food at The Pines Café was dreadful; we only ate it because we were so damn hungry and had already paid for it.
DO NOT PLAN TO EAT THIS FOOD. You will be very disappointed.

One word — GROSS. Unless you need to get a drink or a bag of chips — not worth it. Either bring your own food or wait to eat until you are back in Palm Springs.
My friends and I took the tram up and did the Ride and Dine. What a waste of money for the dine part of the ride and dine.
It was the worse low quality food we had ever tasted. Prison food is probably better.
Don’t waste your money!

We ended up eating here only because the Peaks restaurant was ‘full’.
They serve pre-​made sandwiches, salty soup and limp french fries. The only redeeming factors are that you have no other choices if you are hungry and on top of this mountain, and, they have a nice beer selection. I drank my Stone IPA and ate my lame lunch. the end.

Meh. I’ve had better cafeteria food in my lifetime. And that’s not saying much.
I wanted to treat my boyfriend to the posher-​looking Peaks Restaurant next door for our celebratory dinner post-​hike up Mount San Jacinto. But unfortunately for us the restaurant was closed by the time we made the trek back to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
As explained to us by the bored out of his skull food attendant, at the low, low cost of $ 15 per plate (I’m not sure if Unilocal picks up on sarcasm), we had a choice of two (out of three) salads and five side items.
If we’re going to rate this restaurant solely on the quantity of food served, then The Pines Café earns five stars. The two stars I (generously) award this restaurant is for our «gourmet» meal comprised of tasteless pork, tasteless vegetable lasagna, overly-​dry Basmati rice, salty oven-​roasted turkey, and overcooked mixed vegetables.
We ate here because we were tired and hungry.
That is all.

We got this with the Ride & Dine tram package. I went to get a tray from the clean stack, and the tray I picked up had a wet cookie and a cup lid already on it. Ick! The other trays were wet, and I was grossed out.
The kid behind the counter was surly as he served us. The cashier was friendly, though. The tables in the cafeteria were dirty. GMIT found one passable table, and we settled down to eat.
My tritip was pretty good, but GMIT’s was tough and dry. The ribs were somewhat tasty. Chicken was dry and tasteless — we ended up dragging it through the leftover rib sauce. Potatoes were okay. Ugh.
Next time I ride the tram, I plan on saving the $ 7 and change and buying something good to eat once I get back down to valley level.
Oh, GMIT looked at my food photos and said the food looked better than it tasted. You’ve been warned. Heed the GMIT.