Yard House - restaurant review

We used to spend a fair amount of time at Paseo Colorado in Pasadena, mostly because we often frequented a particular restaurant there, but we haven't been going very much in the past year or two. We had occasion to go to the Pacific Theatres there last weekend, so we met up with a friend and considered Yard House for dinner. I'd seen/walked past the restaurant there many times before but had never eaten there or even looked at the menu. After perusing the menu posted outside, I was surprised at their fairly extensive and interesting menu, and we decided to give it a try.

It was a little early on this particular Saturday night, about 6pm, but there was already a wait. As we waited, we perused the keg room, where the kegs of beer available on tap in the restaurant were kept, and it was a pretty impressive room. Depending on the particular location, they have between 100 and 250 different beers on tap. About 10 minutes later, we were taken to our table, and as I walked past the large oval bar, I noticed that there were tap handles all around both sides of the bar. Wow, yep, lots of beer on tap.

There were so many things that sounded good on the menu that it was hard to narrow it down to just one choice. I did finally make my decision, and we put in our orders to the server.

As a starter, the husband and I had decided on the lobster, crab & artichoke dip - maine lobster, blue crab and artichoke hearts baked with a four cheese blend served with tortilla chips and grilled flat bread. Some time thereafter, a runner came to bring us an appetizer, but they had mistakenly brought the spinach cheese dip. The server happened to be there, so she took it back to the kitchen and then came back to tell us that there was a mix-up and apologized, and shortly thereafter, our correct dish was brought out. The dip was very tasty, and I liked having both the flatbread and the chips to go with it.

For an entree, our friend had ordered the grilled shrimp caesar - grilled shrimp (which I think were skewered on lemon grass stalks), hearts of romaine tossed with an egg-free caesar dressing topped with croutons and fresh parmesan cheese. The salad looked very good, and the shrimp looked quite nice, and he seemed to enjoy the salad very much.

The husband ordered the miso chilean sea bass - glazed with miso, (baby) bok choy, carrots, edamame and jasmine rice. He's had this same dish at The Cheesecake Factory and loves it there, so decided to give this a try. He liked it ok (though it came with a huge portion of rice, most of which he left on the plate), but he said he did prefer the version at The Cheesecake Factory better.

I had decided on the porcini crusted halibut - porcini cream sauce and white truffle oil with asparagus and (baby) bok choy over parmesan mashed potatoes. On the menu, both my entree and the husband's had indicated that it came with bok choy when in fact it came with baby bok choy. To me, that's a huge difference. I actually much prefer baby bok choy, and that's also what I've generally seen in non-Chinese cooking. I loved this dish - the halibut was nicely cooked and flavored, and the sauce wasn't too heavy. And it came with asparagus too, which I love. It did come with a large helping of mashed potatoes, and like the husband's rice, I left much of it on the plate.

Our server was very good, very nice and our drinks were timely refilled. I also liked the atmosphere of the restaurant - not too fancy (even given some of the higher-end entrees on the menu) but fun. I could see it getting much more crowded and louder later in the evening though.

We were all too full for dessert so passed on that.

As I mentioned previously, the menu is extensive, and there were a lot of entrees that caught my attention. They have a number of fresh fish options that change daily that can be prepared either flame grilled, blackened or macadamia nut encrusted. They also have chicken garlic noodles (minced chicken, asparagus, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, smoked tofu and edamame) and lobster garlic noodles (tossed with lobster, shrimp, crab, fresh spinach and shiitake mushrooms), both of which sounded really good (except that because I only like spinach in very specific preparations, I'd have to figure out whether I could eat that or have to pick them out of the dishes), but I'd have to see if they're garlicky enough for my liking. I happen to love garlic, so when something is advertised as being garlic something-or-other, I expect to be able to really taste the garlic and, even better, see it. They also have a (mac + cheese)2 (pretend the "2" is raised - it's supposed to be m+c squared) that sounded good too - roasted chicken breast, applewood smoked bacon, wild mushrooms, cheddar and parmesan cheese with campanelle pasta and white truffle oil.

The orzo scallops have accompaniments that sound amazing - seared sea scallops over orzo pasta, with sun-dried tomato pesto, shiitake oyster and crimini mushrooms with white truffle sauce. Heck, they even have New Zealand lamb chops - herb crusted, shiitake mushrooms, corn risotto cakes and balsamic glaze.

With the many and varied menu choices, and the overall good experience we had, I'd definitely like to return, whether to the Pasadena branch or another. They have about a dozen locations in California, three in Arizona, and single locations in several other states.


Yard House
330 East Colorado Boulevard, Suite 230
Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 577-9273
(inside Paseo Colorado)