Cafe Aroma

My husband and I came here for lunch on Friday, all around brilliant time. The music is on Pandora on the Bob Marley channel, so that alone in itself is on the chain. You have the option of sitting inside or out, but when the weather is stunning always outside. I can HIGHLY recommend their scones with lemon curd. This alone makes me want to drive back up for another scone. My husband has a huge salad and an order of steak with eggs. If your EVER in Idyllwild or Pine Cove come here. As well they have a full bar inside.

Mediocre food at high prices. My Caesar salad tasted like balsamic and had no Caesar flavor at all. Th romaine leaves were browning on the edges. The pasta dishes were okay. I liked the linguine with clam but it lacked anything special. The meatballs and spaghetti was meh. The gnocchi specialty dish was too heavy and greasy. No one wanted to finish it. Oh, and the table we reserved was still occupied when we arrived and no apologies were made even though we took a late (9:15) reservation so we could have the private room.

My Wife Linda and I have enjoyed the San Jacinto Mountain area and Idyllwild almost every year for over 40 years.
What a wonderful, beautiful area it is.
Aroma has been a frequent place to visit during our stay. Since it’s beginnings about 15 years ago, this funky/​eclectic little café in the Woods has drawn us back.
Although never perfect the Good has always out maneuvered the not so good.
It still has always been worth going back.
Sorry to say, maybe Sunday Night was the last night.
It wasn’t anything to do with the ambiance, Colin our great Waiter, the Owner Hubert or the Chef who performed well.
It boiled down to being seated in a stuffy, noisy, sweltering table in the back corner of the Library by a Hostess who seemed non personable, put out and stressed out when we requested an outside table. We had made reservations weeks ahead of time. It was 5pm. A beautiful Sunday evening. Valentine’s Day and on top of it all, there were lots of empty tables. Still, the Hostess made us feel guilty for asking for another table?
By the way, we did have our 5 year old Grandson with us. Were we being quasi discriminated against for having a Child?
We didn’t feel that way from the Awesome Owner Hubert who stopped by to say Hi. The Waiter Colin who did a great job. Or even the Chef who stopped to see how our meal was. By the way, I had an excellent Acorn squash entrée that was amazing.
It all boiled down to the 1^st few moments of hassle by the Hostess that put a damper on a nice evening.
By the way, we were there for about an hour and a half. There were always plenty of empty tables. Go figure?

Love this place! A great, funky restaurant that IS what Idyllwild is all about: friendly, a little artsy, but with understated class.
The food here is always good, although a bit pricey. The wait staff is superb, and I always feel like family.
I love the ravioli, but forced myself to try something different the last time, and ordered the salmon dish. Fabulous!
The wine selection (if that’s your thing) is superb.
Aroma is my go-to-when-I’m-in-Idyllwild most favoritist restaurant!

Nope, I can’t even tell you how much I love this restaurant. We have cabin in Idyllwild and I can tell you this is one of the cutest, most romantic memories I have with Daniel. We sat outside for brunch on the deck with perfect weather under an umbrella. I had the Eggs Benedict which are served two ways (I love options!) and the best coffee I’ve ever tasted. The best part being that both eggs on my benedict were different, and one was wonderfully spicy (I each sriracha like it’s ketchup).
Daniel had Eggs Purgatory (or whatever it’s called) and they were stellar. The bread served was also on point.
I remember before we stopped in here that Daniel told me «the Coffee is good but the food is just okay». I still make fun of him for that remark, as it’s hands down the best breakfast I’ve ever had.

SUPER YUM! Such an unassuming place off the side of the road sitting amongst some art shops — but the service was excellent, the food was excellent — and they had live music playing on the weekend during lunch :) A+!

Great recommendation by the super lovely waitress on soup of the day. Fantastic and the bread was remarkably delish. Served with garlic minced in olive oil.
It was particularly cold when i went and although they have outside patio heaters be prepared with an extra blanket for little dogs.
Would love to go back when it is a bit warmer or eat inside without my doggie.

This place is Cozy & Has The Best Food. I was in Gourmet Heaven with the Healthy menu selections. The Omelet of the Day definitely has the Wow Factor and their Olive/​Rosemary bread with a substantial amount of garlic & olive oil. Salads r Beautifully made & Delicious as well. Lov Lov Lov Everything, Thank You to our Very Pleasant Waitress Hannah!

Just not what it once was to us.
They have done a remodel to cover the patio. Put the stage in to focus. Even went so far as to build sidewalk benches that face the stage.
Music is their roots I hear– so be it. Just not for me.
The remodel took away the character and ambience that was the small dining area and the library.
The music is so incredibly loud it’s impossible to have a conversation. If you are going to blast music, forewarn people. We would have taken our very elderly (aka hard of hearing) parents elsewhere– rather than (what once was) «our favourite place».
The menu has not revolved.
The ravioli (two different kinds) were average at best).
The mixed vegetables were boiled broccoli.
The bread was served dry and cold (used to be hot, chewy, delicious!).
The service was just ok (seems a lot of the solid staff we used to see are now at Ferros… Maybe w good reason).
The hosts are pretty terrible– a reservation that was checked in on several times over last few weeks as this was a very special occasion to gather the family– and our reservation was not even written in. Thanks «Gabrielle». The host on that night however recovered well enough and got is sat. But not indoors. Not in front of fireplace.
She was very busy and trying to assist everyone. The «manager» appeared to be cruising around enjoying himself (Trump costume). Not helping her.
To be honest, for live music, if that’s your thing… I’m sure this is great.
The chicken cacciatore is hands down the one thing that might get me back there.
But, I think it’s time for me to move on.
(And I’m ok with that– Ferros was firing all cylinders when we went there– all 4 times this week!)
Sad to say bye bye Aroma.

A great place to eat while in Idyllwild! I had a tasty vegetarian pasta dish and was very happy. They also have wonderful bread and garlicky olive oil.

By far the best omelette I ever have had. For 13.95 it should be. Prices vary but are reasonable as well.
You are welcomed with two types of bread that are presented warm. Dipping oil for those that have a wide pallet. The hostess was kind and attentive. A large glass bottle of water is also presented at your table when you arrive which is nice to not have to ask.
Outdoors is where our meal took place which made the morning more charming. They have a small gift shop with reasonable prices and at the end of your meal your receipt includes a 15% discount to be used at the store within 48 hours.
Pet friendly, they have doggie bowls!

Great place for outdoors, music and pine trees. That’s about it. The food was very bland especially the rissotto, I could have made a better attempt at home. Was looking forward to this meal but it didn’t quiet make the grade. The garlic soup had a glue texture that was quite tasteless. Prices are not worth it and its LA prices for mid west food. This is a home run pass it by.

Went there on ⁷⁄₁₀. Reservations were made for 5:30. There were 6 of us. The atmosphere is great. Server was very good. I would give them 4 stars on those two characteristics only. The bread appetizer was good except for the garlic oil with pieces of garlic. Too much of that. Would like balsamic vinegar/​olive oil mix better.
What brings this rating to 2 stars is the food-​price and taste. Overall, the food quality doesn’t match the price.
I’ve read several reviews about this place and they are high on the average. I ordered the Shrimp Jalapeño Pesto Fettuccine expecting a spicy dish. What spicy dish? There was no spiciness to it. Not even a little. I tasted only Pesto. I really like Pesto sauce, but I wanted spicy! For $ 24.50, its a rip off. My wife ordered Vegetable Lasagna. She wondered where the vegetables were! The remaining folks were apparently satisfied with their entrees as they did not complain. We did all have a nice time but I will not be back.

Very nice casual dining. Food is not your everyday faire. Be prepared for something just a bit different. No hash browns, mashups instead which are very good. No standard breakfast items, even the omelets are not your normal: prosciutto not bacon. I did have the Aroma Breakfast Machine; a over hard egg IN toast with a great coating of Parmesan, with bacon (the only bacon I saw on the menu).
If you are looking for Chicken Fried Steak walk on by.

Café Aroma has been on my list of places to try in Idyllwild for a while. This place came recommended by locals and it’s highly raved on Unilocal it seemed. So Saturday afternoon, we called to see if they were busy and they advised yes they had reservations booked all night but they could take a party of 4 at 5:00 pm. That time worked for us, so we headed over around 5 pm. We were seated right away. The place was not crowded at all. There were a bunch of open tables. And when we left it still wasn’t crowded.
We ordered:
— gluten free pasta with marinara and chicken $ 20.00
— spaghetti and meatballs $ 14.50
— alfredo gnocchi
— mojito $ 8.50
— mushroom soup
This place is on the pricey side. My friends didn’t seem to like the gluten free pasta too much. When I say it came with chicken, it came with 4 small pieces. The sauce on my spaghetti was a bit on the watery side. The meatballs had a lot of flavor to them though. The only dish I liked was my friend’s gnocchi. I was expecting the mushroom soup to be a cream base with chunks of mushroom in it. But it tasted more like a butternut squash soup than a mushroom soup. It was made of a veggie blend, so it was like a veggie purée, I should have tried the bisque. I was expecting more from this place.

Rude.
We were pretty hungry after a day of hiking and found this place on Unilocal.It had great reviews and tasty looking pictures. I couldn’t wait to taste their food as everyone was raving about it. When we got there, the hostess looked at our hiking outfits and rolled her eyes. She said they didn’t have anything available for about 45 min. There were plenty of open table but we figured they were all reserved. So we stayed to wait. While we were waiting there were a few parties that came and didn’t have reservations but got seated. I went to ask if we could be seated as well. The hostess gave me a look and walked away without even saying anything. Just rolled her eyes.
I can wait 45 min for great food. But I’m not willing to tolerate rude people especially when I pay their salary.
Update: The manager reached out to me for details about the hostess. Our visit was a few months back. The manager said that everyone working the door at that time is gone now.
Update 2 in response: I did explain why I posted my review so late. And I’ll be glad to change the review date if Unilocal allows doing so. As far as removing it completely, all other reviews from last year are still there because reviews don’t get reset with new management. So why should I retract mine?

Very rude!
Was still under construction, they talked to us like we were children, didn’t even talk to us until I approached them, told me I couldn’t have my service dog with me and just made my experience so bad I got up and left. Do not go here!