Garden Cafe

A very nice place to eat in the National Gallery of Art The Garden Café at the National Gallery of Art is a convenient and pleasant place to eat during a museum visit. It is located on the lower level of the museum, right behind the north entrance, which makes it easy to find when you’re ready for a break. The café offers a fair selection of food, including tacos, salads, and flatbread pizzas, with most entrées priced around $15–20. Our group tried the BBQ taco set, a salad, and two flatbread pizzas. The tacos and pizzas were a big hit and very enjoyable, while the salad itself was fine but the dressing was not really to our liking. Seating is spread across two rooms, mostly with four-person tables, so it works well for small groups or families. One room features a calming water element in the center, while the other is simply a nice, quiet dining space. The ordering process is easy—you order and pay first, then the staff brings the food directly to your table. The staff members were very friendly, and the food came out quickly, which was great when we wanted to get back to exploring the museum. Overall, the Garden Café is a solid dining option with good food, pleasant seating, and helpful service.

Food being expensive is not so bad but what makes it worse is the quality and taste. We got chicken flat bread for $17 which was tasted weird. Texture of cheese was bad, toppings were let down too. We got 2 lattes as well and both were served cold. We had high hopes from this place considering it has an amazing location and advantage of being inside museum. Do yourself a favor and skip it, rather step out and grab from food truck or maybe try food court in East building lower floor. If you really want to give it a go then get muffin. You're welcome.

I ordered 3 items, only the French Opera Cake tasted good. The cake had a rich chocolate flavor, not too sweet, and a firm texture. I personally recommend it. The Tuna Steak Tartare tasted horrible, I like raw tuna and salmon. But under a few pieces of tuna was a pile of tasteless avocado, they were tasteless and inedible. The only flavor was probably a little bit lemon juice, and I wouldn’t have known how to eat it without the bread. That cup of Americano was the worst coffee I had in maybe half year. It was just like water and had no aroma.

The garden café at the National Gallery of Art offers a beautiful and serene environment, allowing the perfect break for a visit to the museum. However, the food was less satisfying in its portion size. I had a quiche, which was really nice, but honestly, compared to the price, it was really, really tiny. It is served with a mountain of salad but doesn't taste good at all, which was kind of a letdown. My brother took the daily soup and enjoyed it, but it was quite small. The food, all in all, was a 3/5, good taste but portions too small for the price. At least the iced tea was refreshing, and the personnel are overly friendly; that brightens things up a bit. If you fancy a light snack in a nice environment, have a go at this café, although don't expect big portions.

The last time I ate here, my Quiche Du Jour ($13.50), a spinache and cheese mini with a side salad, was so small, I actually laughed when I saw it. No refills for the $4 iced tea. This time I ordered the Autumn Salad ($14) and it was delicious.