Cafe at Filoli

Terrible service quality. I think I have just been racially profiled.
I wasn’t allowed to eat inside. My order was not taken until I got to the cashier.
People in front of me, people way behind me in the line, they got their orders taken the moment they entered.
My children and I were mistreated, ignored and disrespected. I am sad, and feel traumatized by the offensive language and threatening demeanor of workers here.
Beyond that, it’s a little expensive for what it offers, but that’s the expected in museums, or other touristic attractions that have a cafeteria service.

Very good, expensive for a café but it’s a first class place so to be expected for Woodside. If you haven’t been there, pretty much all of Woodside is pricey like this.
The café is open and airy, there’s tons of seating indoors and out. A lot of older patrons visit, some younger couples out for a romantic stroll, not a great place to take little kids as they get restless and mom and dad can’t relax but you decide. They do have a kids menu. A grilled cheese w/​a cookie included, cheeseburger with a salad (I don’t know if fries were an option?), two bags of chips, a bottle of iced tea, a bottle of natural sugar soda and a fountain soda cost $ 40. They give you a table number and bring the food out. Everyone is so nice. I am in love with the place. Thank you, Mrs. Roth, you did the right thing by leaving your property for future generations to enjoy. This native appreciates it from the heart and soul. And stomach.
They take credit cards. Food is very good and portions are fab. Desserts are excellent. Don’t feed the birds.

Surprisingly not bad at all for a café at a tourist attraction. Or maybe I just had really low expectations. The menu options were rather limited here, consisting of sandwiches/​paninis, salads, quiche and soup, but the food actually tasted pretty decent. The salads are boxed/​grab-​and-​go while the sandwiches are made to order, but it’s all very quick. Definitely expensive for what you’re getting but expectedly so.
* CHINESE CHICKEN SALAD ($ 9.95)
Salad/​veggies were fresh. Chicken was pretty tasty and there was a good portion of it.
* PASTRAMI ON RYE ($ 10.75)
[swiss cheese, sauerkraut]
Came with a side salad and a little potato salad. Pastrami was delicious.

we weren’t planning to come here, but while visiting filoli, my gf started to get hungry, and her tummy was rumbling, so we popped in here for a quick snack before finishing our tour of the grounds.
she purchased a beef noodle soup which was served piping hot in a medium-​sized bowl with a small piece of foccacia bread. not bad for $ 5, considering this is a touristy place. she said that soup wasn’t bad, but felt that they had skimped on the beef part since there were just very small chunks in the soup.
i took a quick survey and saw that they also offered cold sandwiches, hot paninis, salads, an assortment of cakes and tarts, and cookies. pretty decent selection, with rather high prices!
although conveniently located on the premises, in the same building as the visitor center, i would probably eat before or after my visit, and save my stomach for better cuisine.

I give two stars for the setting. I wanted to enjoy the meal here. I enjoyed the view, quietness, and the peacock walking around. However, I was not pleased with the service, cost, or selection.
They are extremely limited in choices for dietary restrictions. For a place that does not allow any outside food whatsoever, they need to be more accommodating in their choices. One of the sides did not fit into my food restrictions. We could see slices of fresh fruit. When asking if we could substitute the potato salad for fruit, the man did not even let me finish the question. He was very impersonal and extremely unhelpful. If not a lot of choices (one, to be exact) they need to be more open to substitutions. Of course, there is no discount on price when you leave off a side dish, either. Also, eating with plastic forks is not easy. For the environment and for those prices, they should have silverware.
I wanted to love it. I really did. There was just too much not to love.

We had drinks before we started and again as we finished. The staff was closing, but welcomed us and made sure that we were not rushed and had all we needed. Lots of desserts to pick from and a good variety of drinks. it was a very warm day at Filoli and we were glad the Café was there to help us out.

When you don’t allow outside food in the estate this becomes your only alternative for lunch. Since the kid’s school had a tour, we were able to preorder bag lunches for the kids. The $ 9 bag lunch includes a sandwich (turkey, p&j or plain cheese — not grilled), juice, cookie and a big apple. Good was fresh and delicious.
The adults got in line and either bought a premade salad or ordered paninis. I had a chicken pesto panini. It was very filling. The sandwich came with side salad and a small scoop of potato salad. The volunteers also deliver the food to you.
My only complaint is the lack of seating! Since all the tours end at 12, you get a glut if people jockeying for position for a table!

We had a great time in the garden. However the experience in the café ruined the whole trip. We spent $ 65 for 5 sandwiches and a snack and a drink. While we were waiting, my 8-​year-​old daughter was hungry. We gave her a banana. When she was putting the banana into her mouth, a man walked over and told us that no outside food was allowed. We explain it was just for the kid. He said no. My daughter put down the banana and I said we would throw it away later because we were too tired to get up after all the walk in the sun. He replied firmly that we had to do it now or we would get money back and leave. I understand that lots of restaurants have this rule, but have never been treated this way. Later we saw a group of young people came with a cake maybe for celebration after the meal. They were treat the same way and left. Another senior couple came right after them and the wife had an orange in her hand. Of course she was told the same thing. She said she didn’t understand it and left. I will never come to this café again.

Pretty setting, nicely laid out, good service but food disappointing. I had the BLT panini which it totally wasn’t. It was simply a BLT on hard toasted bread with a huge piece of lettuce hanging out. It was not crimped, pressed or anything. Soup was called chicken/​artichoke/​spinach soup. It was almost glop and it was nearly inedibly salty. I think there was a lot of cheese in it which made it super salty. Next time I would go for the quiche. Lemon cake was good but the white chocolate pressed into the sides were thick clumsy squares that were more like shingles and overwhelmed what otherwise was a delicate cake. Shavings would be better. Lunch hours are too narrow. We began a tour at 10:30 and at 12:30 were told lunch would stop at 1 so we had to miss the end of our garden tour. And the house and garden tour was wonderful.

We went there for a quick bite while visiting the estate. The food is so so for café. But that is not why 1 star.
In a salad, we found a sharp piece of plastic that could easily puncture throat or stomach if swallowed.
We didn’t feel comfortable to finish our food. When approached manager, she offered no apology like that is a normal thing to find plastic pieces in your salad. No refund but free desert. We refused and left.
I will not eat there ever again and don’t recommend.
Should you decide to eat there, proceed with caution.

For a café in a tourist attraction where there are no other options around this place is pretty incredible and has impressively low prices. Best yet — ice cream… it was so warm out that we were very grateful for ice cream to start our meal. We were just going to grab the ice cream when we saw how reasonable lunch would be. We had their panini offering of the day which was very tasty and a perfect portion. The food came out pretty fast too and what a gorgeous courtyard to eat in.

Half a sandwich with a little salad and some potato chips from a bag = $ 11.25. Also includes 30 mins of waiting. Seriously?
5 tablespoons of soup = $ 4. I guess I should be glad this came out immediately since waiting for the sandwich took awhile…

Only had soup as a light lunch. Kale and pinto bean soup was tasty and bread was soft. Price was very reasonable too.

They make a pretty good cup of coffee and $ 1.50 for a chocolate chip cookie isn’t unreasonable.

I have to give this place 5 stars. First, the food is very delicious. I had the vegetarian corn chowder (it was soooooo tasty.) I also had the gorgonzola mixed salad. The wifey had a slice of quiche. Besides the great, fresh tasting food, the server was super friendly. (They bring to your table items that either need to be warmed/​prepared.) There’s plenty of indoor and patio seating. On a sunny day, the patio does fill up quickly. But what a place to have lunch– let me tell you!

I had, I think, a dried cranberry salad and my wife had a caeser salad. Both were delicious. Considering that this is the only food available for a dozen miles, it was very good and the prices weren’t too bad.

You close at 3:30, but I can’t get a panini after 2:00? That’s just IDIOTIC. Grr.

Not a bad place to grab a bite. Because of the somewhat short Filoli hours, chances are you’ll be around during lunchtime, and it’s nice to have this option because there aren’t other places to eat around here.
There’s a good amount of seating indoors and a nice outdoor courtyard. The volunteer staff is very courteous. The food is pretty good — they have some quick options like ready-​made sandwiches, salads, and baked goods and also paninis and soup, along with a bunch of baked goods.