My Garden Cafe - Modesto, California

Melissa M.

This casual lunch diner can be found at the Five Minute Carwash and I love it.

Here’s what I love:
- waitresses and cook are super friendly and helpful
- food is always hot and tasty
- Good-sized portions; I usually need to take home leftovers
- the tables for 2 along the main pass through are placed by windows so you can watch the cars go through the wash; these are especially great if you have a little one with you
- Free newspapers to read while you wait
- Did I mention the food? I’m a sucker for biscuits and gravy with a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes I just want a fried egg. Sometimes I want the whole shebang and get the Reuben with fries. Whatever I order, I always love.
- it’s a great place to meet up with a friend and grab a bite while your car gets cleaned.
- full table service
- I can shop first at Modesto Luggage and Leather for gifts and the staff delivers the gift-wrapped parcel to me as I have my lunch. This is great service from the gift shop but a boon to the cafe as well.

What I wish was different:
- it’s quite loud due to all the hard surfaces
- dated feel, which might be a turnoff to new folks
- pads on bench seating is flattening out, the vinyl is cracked and it slides about easily on the seat

Gary D.

I was getting my car washed, went into my garden Café sat down. Thought I’d get something to eat while I wait for my car to get clean. I sat there for 20 minutes and the waitresses walked by me two or three times and didn’t even ask me if I wanted anything. I’ve never had that service before, so I suggest you to tell you servers if somebody sitting down maybe they want to eat

Everardo R. J.

Our Man's group leaders got together this morning to enjoy a great breakfast and discuss some details of our group meetings. Today we were the only customers so we may have gotten a bit rowdy. Our waitress and staff were great about it. When we apologized they replied it was okay. This is the second time we have our meeting here and I think the rest of the meetings we will be back. Thanks You for a great service and great meal..

David R.

I’ve been here several times and today sat here for quiet a while and finally had to ask to get my order taken, the service here is never good, I hope the new one there opening on Coffee has better customer service than this one, the wait staff are not friendly at all

Joshua V.

EDIT: this location has fixed it service issue. Great food and great service at this location.

I am a regular to the oakdale road location as I enjoy eating breakfast while waiting for my vehicle to be cleaned up. Their food is always amazing, large portions and high quality ingredients. Unfortunately their service is not great. I would expect to receive my coffee or beverage in under five minutes and it took just over 20. I finally just left.

BB

Hi, this was my second time I came to have breakfast here. First time I always ask for my ham and scramble eggs to be extra crispy and we'll done. Frist The coffee was just warm and the eggs were half way cook and ham not crispy as I wanted to be and had return the food back so it could be cook well done. Went in yesterday to give it a second chance and came across the same issue. Call over the waiter to let her know about my food that it wasn't well cook her answer was she didn't hear me say I wanted it to be well done, so my mistake was not to check the eggs before I add ketchup on it and the waiter told me if I wanted to have eggs I had to paid for the second eggs since it had ketchup on it and it was her mistake by not paying attention and not written down the order right. I have gone to the other restaurant on Tully Rd and the one in Turlock and never had a problem with my food at all. Sorry I will not be going back to the one on Oakdale Rd in Modesto.

Cathy H.

I've eaten here many times and never had a bad meal until today. To start with I ordered a Crab Louie. It arrived I took one Bite and it was disgusting. Crab was spoiled rotten and it smelled bad. If I were to proceed eating that I would have gotten food poisoning. I sent it back and ordered a shrimp Louie salad. It arrived and the shrimp were freezer burned and rubbery. showing white parts thru out. Tasted stale. I hate sending food back even once but twice is pretty bad. I then ordered a patty melt which was edible but marginal. Sweet potato fries had some odd tasting pieces as well. I'm appalled that they would actually serve this stuff to a customer. I don't think I will be eating here for a while. And to be clear this is no reflection on the waitress as she handled it all very well and was very nice.

Shanna W.

The price for breakfast these days is crazy. Although I love their food I will never be able to eat here again.