Gardens of Avila Restaurant

My husband and I have been going to this restaurant occasionally for the past 13 years and it has been one of our favorite places to go dine. We hadn’t been there for a while (about 4 years), but we decided to go there for our 12 year wedding anniversary. They have a new chef. He was very accommodating and made a couple of changes to the dish I ordered (due to my dietary needs). They also served my 8 year old a smaller plate («kid’s size»). The food was delicious. My husband’s dish was also delicious. The staff was friendly and the atmosphere was great.

Our waitress Ally was AMAZING! She was so attentive and made our dinner so enjoyable. Great customer service. Didn’t love the sea bass so I had to take off a star, I sent it back and ended up getting the short rib which was delicious. Super cute patio area too!

As promised, we went back to The Gardens this past weekend. We arrived a few minutes before opening and waited to be seated. Opening time came and went and we still waited. Finally we seated ourselves in front of the nice fireplace and got a cup of their wonderful coffee. We certainly had a different server than our previous visit. Fortunately, we were seated near the coffee pot as we never got him to pour another cup. The eggs Benedict were very good and everything was served hot and fresh. However, we were the only people in the place for quite some time and still couldn’t get a cup of coffee. Maybe we didn’t look like big tippers and he didn’t consider us worth his time, at least no one frowned at us for serving ourselves. I still give The Gardens 4 stars as the food was good, the prices for locals reasonable and I think we’ll get better service next time. I hope.

Went for Mother’s Day brunch and was very disappointed.
Customer service from the hostess was awful. She didn’t greet us happily and when I asked for a
high chair for my son she said «oh the server gets that for you, not me»…really? You are a hostess, just say okay and grab me a high chair or go tell the server I need one so I’m not holding my kid for 10 minutes before he can sit down.
They had no options for kids on the menu and wouldn’t do a half order of French toast for a
Child. Come on, it’s just putting 2 pieces of French toast on a plate and charging half as much for it.
The menu was awkward for a brunch, nothing was magnificent about the food. It was edible but similar to what one would find at IHOP not a fine dining experience. Actually nothing of this place seems fine dining at all.

What a nice surprise! We came here for brunch when the beach restaurants were full and it was wonderful. Beautiful ambiance, lit fire, excellent guitar player (not too loud so we could talk comfortably and was a great singer too), lovely tables and chairs, and an elegant bar. It looks out over the trees and felt very tucked away in the woods. The staff were all very nice with great service. I was really impressed with the food and I love that they have breakfast items until 2 pm on Sundays.

The food was good but the service was unbelievably terrible. We waited for too long for our food, service, and we got ignored. Finally, my husband ask for the check. We should’ve walked out but we have conscience to pay with our hard earned money to bill.

Wow great food if you want to do a full experience at sycamore you most have dinner At gardens Jeff take care of us great service

Overall food was decent but overpriced. Service was friendly but uneven, slow, and sometimes we had to ask for things twice. The portions were modest, which was a good thing. I had the duck and remarkably it was very bland. My wife had the vegetarian special with polenta, eggplant, and squash. Both entrees were perfectly edible but uninspiring. Our salad was also bland and seemed to have no dressing. Decent food, good ingredients, but absolutely no pizzazz. The are definitely better options in the SLO area.

I don’t usually write reviews but had to bc of the awesome desserts, which I will fantasize about. First, I had the scallops, which were good but on the salty side. My sister & friend shared the steak bc it was big & they said was great. The service was good too. But, we loved & will not forget our desserts-​the Sticky Bun Bread Pudding & especially the Lemon Panna Cotta w/​passion fruit. The passion fruit was fresh & words cannot describe the Panna Cotta!

My wife and I are never disappointed at this restaurant. We really enjoy the ambience of the Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort and the well executed dinners at the onsite restaurant. This time we had the Ling Cod and a Vegetarian Entrée (the name escapes me) which were superb. For dessert we had the Double Chocolate Cake. I am not a big dessert eater but this was incredible!

I unfortunately found myself fairly disappointed with my dinner I recently had here, after having a fabulous experience the first visit. I was so excited to eat here again after our previous stay and dining experience.
I am huge on farm to table and the utilization of locally sourced seasonally fresh ingredients in restaurants. I’m not sure if the kitchen was off because it was the day after Valentines Days, but parts of dinner were sadly disappointing. The service was great. The staff was kind, welcoming, and polite, it was the food that failed.
I order the grilled octopus appetizer, which came out, so tough, rubbery, and just plain overcooked. It was literally hard to eat. I ended up not eating it. I am familiar with octopus preparation and the texture. I prepare it at my own home. I also eat it frequently when dining out, so it is not something I just tried and was unfamiliar with. My husband mentioned to the waitress. She apologized and actually at her own discretion brought us another plate of the octopus. Despite her efforts to correct the issue, at no fault of her own, the octopus was still too tough & rubbery to eat. She mentioned they cured/​marinated the octopus for 4 hours as a prep method, perhaps that’s where it went wrong. I just know it was inedible.
My husband ordered the bone marrow appetizer, which seemed unusually oily. It’s an item he orders frequently when we dine out and he was very displeased. He mentioned it was under seasoned, at the very least it needed some salt desperately.
I had the Scallop dinner which was amazing. The quinoa taste & texture was great, as was the taste & texture of the scallops. It was perfectly prepared.
My husband ordered the Avila burger, which he ended up not eating, so I don’t have any review insight for that. I can say, visually it looked appetizing and was presented well.
For dessert we ordered the bread pudding and a chocolate cake with bacon, potato chips, and a brown butter crumble. The bread pudding, which had a bourbon drizzle, was horribly strong. It was not caramelized & thick whatsoever. It was very runny and watery, like there was way too much bourbon in it and not been reduced enough. It was vile. As for the chocolate cake, the cake itself was awful. I literally took one bite. It tasted like a dirty armpit, sorry but it did. The frosting/​whipped topping it was garnished with and also layered throughout the cake was also pretty terrible. It tasted like generic Safeway frosting from a week old stale bakery cake. We were totally bummed.
The food quality and presentation was still there. As I mentioned above, I love the farm to table and locally sourced offering at this restaurant. Hopefully next time we visit and stay at Sycamore, our experience will be better than this time.

While waiting for our hot tub reservation, had the Sycamore burger (with pork belly — yum!) and the poki ball. high quality food that will definitely have us coming back for more.

Simply elegant atmosphere with linens, nice China, fresh red rose in base, nice music, and mock in-​wall fireplace. Has a stunning patio out back with heated lamps and string lights. The server was professional, knowledgeable, and courteous. They happily accommodated my vegan food request. The delicious food matched its beautifully crafted presentation. Perfect experience and I would recommend for an elegant or special occasion.

This place has mixed reviews, so I was skeptical to be honest. But we decided to eat here as we didn’t feel like going anywhere else. We had the Arugula & Farro Salad, Poke, and Grilled Ling Cod. All of them were really good to my surprise. Both fish and veggies were fresh. It took a little long to serve, but I guess it was almost closing time and maybe shorthanded. It was worth the wait after all. I’ll eat here again if I come back to visit.

We came to Sycamore Mineral Springs to celebrate our anniversary. The dinner at Avila Gardens was delightful. We ordered the Grilled Romaine and Poke Ball (gotta catch ‘em all… lol) for starters. The Poke Ball plate is a large plate of ahi tuna, avocado, mixed salad greens, and fried rice paper. The Grilled Romaine came with an egg, cherry tomatoes, blue cheese, and onions. I am someone that loves blue cheese, so this dish was delicious. For our main dish, we shared the Vegetable Pave. Our Polenta cake was a bit burnt, but the veggies made up for it.
The service was satisfactory. Our server was nice and someone came around often enough to refill waters.
A decent place to check out if you are in the area.

It’s a re when you come to Sycamore mineral Springs this is the place to go. Good food good times good wine

My husband and I came here for a mini getaway. We ordered the sycamore burger and it was delicious!!! We asked for medium cooked, and it was exactly that. Best burger we’ve had in a long time!!! Delicious!!!

I was here for the Christmas dinner which we made the reservation few weeks in advance and gotten several confirmation phone calls. When we got to the restaurant, however, we were greeted by one normal hostess and one super rude hostess that obviously didn’t want to be there in the first place.
That rude hostess made us wait for no reason when the restaurant seemed pretty empty (as it was an early dinner) and when it came time to be seated, she made us walk to a table just few steps from the door in their front dining area. It was literally right by the entrance and we noticed that there were several tables open including a table by the fireplace (and I am sure there were many more in the back dining area) so we kindly asked her to switch our tables. She gave a nasty look and said that all the tables are reserved, which was funny because until we finished the dinner, no one else seemed to have claimed any more tables for four!
Thankfully, our server was nice and made our actual dinner a bit more pleasant.
Overall, very slow service even though we got the preset fixed course menu and overall food was at most decent. I felt that the quality of the food was not what they described on the menu at all but again, decent.
Ambiance/​atmosphere — 2.5 stars
Hostess/​front service — 0 star; she was HORRIBLE! One of the worst service I’ve ever gotten at a restaurant!
Server of the service — 4 stars
Food — 2 stars
I probably would not return here even though it might be a hassle to drive out if you are staying on site.

We’ve been traveling for a while and I wasn’t super exited about this place BUT please give it a try!!!
My three way beets salad was super awesome, just enough for dinner and a good sleep after. Curry carrot soup was delicious also. Fish and slightly grilled asparagus +++5
Don’t forget to share side of veggies — very fresh and healthy. Thank you :) I wish I was here tomorrow night for dinner.
:)

Came here for a wonderful Christmas dinner with a choice of one starter, one main and one dessert.
For the two of us we ordered mushroom capuccino soup and seared pork belly. The mushroom capuccino and the fresh mushrooms were delicious. As for the pork belly, the taste was elevated by the fried sage while the maple squash was just delish and stole the show.
For the main dishes we had the warm smoked wild salmon and the dry aged grilled ribeye. Smoked wild salmon had a light smoky flavor paired with fragrant potatoes and leeks. The dry aged ribeye was a tad tough for my liking but the herb pairing really enhanced the flavors.
Both desserts were great and the service was phenomenal. The ambiance and décor were exceptional. I was very satisfied with the meal. Also at $ 40 per person, the price was simply too attractive to miss. I would definitely return — perhaps on Christmas 2015 :)