YELP SHORT ANSWER: YES, if you're staying here, CAVA is a good option with nice outdoor seating. LOCATION: located inside the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. Lots of parking and open to all guests or visitors. This is a huge resort so plan on walking. FACILITY: Very nice poolside seating at CAVA even in summer. MENU: a lot of options, all good, and many healthy. FOOD PREP: for what it is, for a resort the food prep was done professionally. FOOD QUALITY: very good. LIBATIONS: all very good but better options at the pool bar, well more fun anyway. WAITSTAFF: the CAVA crew was great, service oriented and big on making guests happy. OVERALL VALUE: very good for a resort. TIP: try and sitting outside at CAVA, sitting by the pool food just makes it a bit messy but pretty sure it is the same kitchen. read more

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Awful food, everything tastes frozen , out of a bag or stale. Just horrible tasting food. Service was pleasant though.

I e only had breakfast here the past two days but it's been good, service is good and I ordered off the menu, I just cat bring myself to spend $38 for the full breakfast buffet but the menu items are more reasonable. If you're staying at the hotel it's a good option and sit outside if it's not too hot. read more

CAVA - Ham and cheese omelette - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

I'll be honest, I don't like to give horrible reviews. But I just couldn't squeeze out a 2nd star for this restaurant located by the pool in the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa. The service was bad, the food took forever, and when it arrived, I wouldn't even call it tasty. The restaurant was less than half full, yet our food for a party of 2 took about 1 hr 15 minutes to be served. During that time, we didn't get one drink refill offered to us. When the food came, my $50 NY Steak was a gristly mess. I ate about half of it and just left the rest. A pricey restaurant like this has a few shots at being good. Service Wait Time Food quality Unfortunately, CAVA didn't meet my expectations on any of these. read more

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This restaurant has a big pool side patio. Service is nice and friendly. Their burgers are good and always a solid choice. The chicken sandwich needs a napkin on the bottom to avoid soggy bread. Some burgers were over cooked but overall it was good. Their salads were tasty especially when you add protein like shrimp. read more

CAVA - Cobb with shrimp - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

Excellent place for family dinner after a day at the pool. The service, cleanliness and staff are excellent. The menu is very simple and has lots of options for everyone. The staff is very friendly with everyone as you walk in. We will definitely return . read more

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Might be the worst $50 steak I have had. Ordered med rare. Came out well done. I sent it back and it came out almost raw 20 min later. New York was very tough and struggled to eat it. Couple at a table next to me left because a server never came to their table. read more

My family and I came here for a weekend staycation and decided to dine here for breakfast and we were happy with our choice! I did see some reviews online about a breakfast buffet but it didn't state anywhere on their website about it. When we arrived they told us about the buffet and it was $33 per person and my son (age 2) ate for free. My husband and I both opted for that and we enjoyed the omelette bar made fresh to order and the juice bar where you can make yourself a fresh pressed juice! There were other options like pancakes, waffles, even smoked salmon with bagels, & the standard hot breakfast items. All the waitresses were so nice! They even walked around handing out fresh smoothies. Overall enjoyed our experience here and would dine again next time we come! read more

CAVA - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

My favorite place in all of Palm Springs to grab some food. The chef cooked everything perfectly on the night of Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a huge buffet of seafood, meats, appetizers, sushi, breads, and amazing desserts. The staff was super friendly and catered to all our needs. The restaurant is gorgeous and kept clean! A big thank you to Peter and the entire staff. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving at Cava. read more

Burger was good. Fries were pretty oily for being sweet potato fries. Also saw another order and my fries were def have of the serving as well. Server was nice but service was a bit slow. read more

CAVA - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

We were staying at the restaurant attending a conference. I thought that the restaurant would be busy but it wasn't at all. It was a bright, airy restaurant with big windows to see the pool. There was also outside seating but it was preoccupied with a party. We started with the spinach and artichoke dip and both ordered a New York Strip. When the steaks arrived, mine was cooked perfectly but my friends was bloody as can be. It was odd as we both ordered "medium". It was quickly resolved. It was just OK, nothing to write home about. I will say that the steaks came with a block of a cheesy/potato concoction that was quite delicious. read more

Don't waste your money, took the family here on a Saturday night. Ordered a New York Strip (medium), Bass, Burger, and Shrimp Scampi. $178 bill which I would have been fine with but the steak was over cooked and the fish was also over cooked and rubbery. Only two other families in the restaurant it still took 45 minutes to get our food. Staff were friendly but there are better choices elsewhere for the price. read more

The food is great and their selections are plentiful. My favorite is the steak wrap. All of their wraps are full of delicious veggies and a fantastic sauce. Their fried chips are a great addition to your meal. read more

We requested a table and they said 10 to 15 minutes. It turned into 30 and the place was nearly empty. We were seated politely, but we did not see a waitress for another 10 minutes and when she took her drink order, it was another 20 minutes. We ordered an appetizer and decided that everything took too long to get. We opted out of getting anything else. However, the appetizer was delicious. They need to stop this better and have a larger menu because it's very limited. Our waitress was very nice but she had too many tables to attend. read more

Spoiler Alert: This'll sound like fangirling, but its 99% about the staff - so that's how this review will go... Ashly & Ruby are so guest oriented & driven, I fear they don't know about the amazing & beautiful impact they have upon human, ultimately. These teammates have greeted myself & my partner with grace, warmth & a genuine i interest in how we're enjoying our holiday. Ruby will make anything happen for my girl & Ashly covers my deceit/surprises like a true wingman - and hey, that's all I need, frankly?, amiright? These guys + the whole mischpucha absolutely form a constellation of twinkling & shining stars, making this lil' Jewess's Christmas extra special, bright, magical & oh-so-delish! ps: um... DO YOU EVEN OMELETTE?! ...I'm moving in. read more

CAVA - The omelette MAVEN!!!! - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

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Cava never disappoints. High quality food. Impeccable service. Was a busy Sunday night-seating was right

I did not expect the food to be as good as they tasted (Sorry! I hope this doesn't offend the restaurant). As there are not many competitors in the area, I just assumed less. Families - You should try Cava especially if you are staying at the hotel. All $10 with side of fries and a drink. The serving size is same as regular size. I will be back on my next trip to Dessert. read more

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Food was decent, service was awful. Friendly but... the place was empty and our server was no where to be found! He took our order, someone else served it and then no one ever checked on us!? Servers! When it's slow...don't forget about your one table!! What a joke! Had to call out "excuse me?" just to get more water from a lady who was doing side work. We also asked if they served bread and they said "yes ok I'll get you some" and never came? So we asked again and then they brought it out about 5 minutes later. Than half way thru our meal another bus boy I think? Brought bread out...? Zero communication clearly. Then when our food was almost gone our server came and checked on us. Really? Goodness! Pull it together! A lovely resort for sure but sadly a clueless restaurant staff! I do not recommend eating here! Go over to the bar "My Place" in the lobby. You'll get good food and excellent service! read more

CAVA - Citrus salad - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

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This restaurant is on the Renaissance Esmeralda property, and the place we usually go for breakfast when we stay here. It's pretty chill and laid back, and known for being kid-friendly. During our most recent stay, we also checked it out for dinner. Typically, when we go for breakfast, all the waiters are nice and really attentive. But this trip was different, and not in a good way. We ate at this place 5 times this trip, and two of those times were awful. When we got seated for dinner, our waiter didn't come for at least 15 minutes. I understand being understaffed (especially during holiday or busy weekends) but it takes very little effort to stop by and let guests know that things may be a bit slow and thank them for their patience in advance. For us, we had a baby and two kids who were starving, so at least letting us know that, we could have gone up to the gift shop and gotten them snacks to tide them over. Once we ordered, we waited another 25 minutes for our food to come. Our baby was having a full meltdown by this time, and no one came over to say anything. At this point, my husband said we are leaving. As we got up to go, our food came out. And sadly, it didn't look the best. The kids pasta looked dry, my chicken and the kids pasta was overcooked. We chocked this up to being an outlier experience, since we had never had issues here before. Two days later, I go down for brunch, and get seated. Absolutely no one came to greet me outside the hostess who seated me. I went the entire meal without any wait staff coming to check on me. I was appalled. I've worked in service before, so I have an expectation, especially when you're tipping. I literally had to chase someone down for the tip, and they still gave me the cold shoulder. Unfortunately, I did not tip this time because what am I tipping for when I receive zero service? This past visit definitely left something to be desired, and I will also let the hotel know, because we usually have a great time at this resort. But the service needs major improvement. The food for dinner was ok, and after this experience, I highly recommend the Vue restaurant across the parking lot if you want quality service and food. I truly hope this place can take this review and improve, because we love staying here and want to continue patronizing this restaurant during our stay. read more

Overpriced and underwhelming. I asked for a gin cocktail and the bartender didn't know how to make it. So instead I asked for a lemon drop martini and received one with a *SALTED* rim. read more

For a place that has $20 burgers, I have the expectation of great ambience and service. Instead, here's what happened. Our group of six was coming out of a conference and had reservations. They had seated other groups coming out of our conference, and only had outdoor tables available for us. It's literally 100 degrees in the shade, but we had a time limit before the next session, so we took it. The funny thing is, there were a bunch of tables open inside, but they weren't seating anybody there for whatever reason. Weird. It took a long time for them to take our order. After we had gone around the table, my colleague asked for the checks to come out immediately so we could leave whenever we were finished, since we had another session to get to. They told us they "didn't have time" to do that but they'd "see what they could do." The restaurant was at less than half of capacity of the tables I could see, but apparently they didn't have enough servers. I would think that if I was running a hotel restaurant with a conference center, I would see that there was a conference of 600 people coming to town and make sure I was adequately staffed. But that's just me. We waited and waited. One friend ordered another drink. Finally food came, from a different server than the one who took our order. They had somehow put in two burgers even though I was the only burger. Mine had a stick in it saying it was supposed to be medium, as i ordered it, but it was literally cooked through just like Burger King. Not a hint of pink. Fries were just warm. Whatever, it had taken too long to get it and I was hungry. Not that anyone came to check. When it came to separate checks, while we were more than halfway through our meals (so about an hour after we ordered and asked for the checks upfront) a young woman came to our table and told us that they couldn't split it up into six checks and we would have to do three. They then WENT AROUND THE TABLE AS WE WERE EATING and asked us to pair up and repeat our orders. I used to work at Texas Roadhouse, and even there, that would be a huge no-no. What on earth were they thinking? But it gets weirder. THEN another server came BACK to the table and said that actually, they COULD find the time to split the checks. My colleagues and I were side-eyeing each other so hard. They asked us to go back around the table AGAIN and repeat what we had. When they got to the one couple who said they could stay on one check together, the server's head nearly exploded. Despite all of that, the check they brought me had two burgers on it. I corrected it and had my card ready to go when she brought it back. It was taking a while to just get my receipt to sign and we really needed to catch the shuttle back at this point. So I got up to look for the server, and it turned out the POS (I mean the terminal, not my server) was about 15 feet behind me, but my server was nowhere to be seen. I walked through the restaurant looking for her because I was about to be late. Couldn't find her so I sent my friends on ahead and stayed back to wait. I finally got it and had to run for the shuttle. We had two hours allotted for our dinner and this restaurant took the whole damn time. What a weird experience, which I hope to never repeat! read more

We called ahead and were told happy hour started at 3. When we arrived, no one at the facility seemed to know what was happening. We found Cava after walking through the hotel. The restaurant looked closed - but it wasn't. They said happy hour was 4:30 but, yes, we could order a drink and appetizers anytime. Bottom line- everything felt a bit chaotic. End of the day, the food was good (appetizers only) and our server warmed up as we were leaving. We still weren't sure what happy hour entailed beside dinner specials and there still weren't many people there. They validated our parking (which was good) so valet parking was free. Doubt we'll return. read more

Made reservations for happy hour because the hotel suggested it in case it was crowded. Nope! No customers there so we left. Came back the next day for dinner and sat outside for the atmosphere. We ordered wings (came out cold and old tasting. and sent them back for a redo;(When the new order arrived, it was hot but very dry and overcooked) cauliflower steak (tasted good) and "R Burger" (had it the day before at the pool, however, this time it came to the table over cooked and the fries were cold. We had to get it redone). The Manager never came to apologize. Disappointed. read more

CAVA - Wings - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

The ambiance was very nice at the resort. The service by Oscar was wonderful. He was very helpful and engaging. And the food was delicious. The Happy Hour:3-course meal was a great deal. Although my wedge salad was yummy , there were only a few leafs of lettuce (not really a wedge). The linguine was fantastic with a great flavor and lots of veggies tossed in. The chocolate mousse dessert in a jar was a perfect ending. My family also got the salmon and the chicken from the Happy hour dinner menu and it was all delicious, especially the lemon dessert and the banana pudding dessert! read more

We ate here while staying at the resort at least 4 times. Standard American resort cuisine. The breakfast buffet is great but overpriced if you won't all eat enough. The açaí bowl was delicious and so were the poolside snacks! The kids loved the chicken tenders the most. The adults enjoyed the spicy chicken sandwich. read more

CAVA - Cava Burger Turkey Wrap - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

The place is nice. The service ok. But after ordering a $50 steak which came out cold after a long wait, I can't recommend the restaurant. It's inexcusable to charge that much and then have a steak that is cold. read more

Don't order the R Berger, it was cold and did not taste like meat!! Sony waste your money. read more

CAVA - R Berger, it was cold and not very good. It did not taste like meat. - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

WORST SERVICE EVER! My team and I chose CAVA to eat dinner while at a conference because we wouldn't have to drive. HUGE MISTAKE! We waited 2 HOURS for our party of 7 to eat...3 of us got dinner an hour in and the other 4 did not. After speaking to a female manager, she said she could get the rest of the food. We had eaten so much bread that we weren't hungry. Asked for a comped bottle of wine and she very reluctantly agreed. After 20 minutes, the wine hadn't shown up. Disgusting experience. Go elsewhere! read more

Over priced and not because it's worth it. When planning our stay at the resort, we read the menu before and thought it sounded like a fun and easy evening. We made a reservation for a prime dining time, yet somehow waited over 5 minutes before anyone came anywhere close to the host stand/front door. The restaurant was practically empty, 3 other parties. Where was the hostess? The first thing I noticed was that the lights were much too bright, think IHOP, not a $50 for a steak establishment. This wasn't the mood we were expecting. The server was pleasant though. I ordered salmon, it was good, not great, but good. My companion ordered the NY strip steak. It was cooked very well, but the sauce was incredibly over powering and had an "off" taste. It ruined a perfectly good steak and scraping it off wasn't enough, the flavor permeated into the meat. Overall disappointing and would not recommend for dinner. read more

The worse services ever! In fact, there was none! It was not busy. We sat for more than 15 minutes without being acknowledged. Eventually, we went up to the host and expressed that no one had helped us. After we ordered the food, we waited for another 15 minutes. No one filled our water the entire meal. The food wasn't bad. However, for the amount of time we waited we would never dine at this restaurant, again. read more

The lemon ricotta pancakes!!!! Unfortunately I was only in town for one night cause I would have had more of these. I was trying to figure out if I should try to get me a togo for later. I also had the breakfast burrito which was also very good. I was staying in the the Renaissance hotel so it was very convenient to just walk down stairs and have such good food. You should definitely eat here and have the pancakes!! read more

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Not sure why this place has such bad reviews. We stayed at the Renaissance resort and ate at cava several times. For casual resort dining standards, everything was pretty solid. They had vegetarian options which were appreciated. Service a bit slower but everyone there was pleasant read more

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Dined twice during an event. First, the steak was tasty and cooked as requested. The rest of the dish was mediocre, and the crème brûlée was a stunning disappointment; runny custard with a overwhelming passion fruit bite. Second, as someone who dines with allergies (gluten and nut), the menu was awful. No markings or indications of ingredients in the dishes. Folks should not have to guess, when in some cases reactions can be severe. Do better, please. read more

I'm only basing this Yelp review upon the buffet breakfast but all I can say is for $29, it's a tremendous value! There were lox, pickles, onions, cream cheese, bagels, toast, a variety of cereals, homemade granola, greek yogurt, citrus yogurt, a dairy case with many items, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, potatoes, roasted asparagus and tomatoes, pastries, egg white frittatas omelette station. But one of the most fun things there was a juicer with a beautiful selection of fresh vegetables and fruits it would end up making you a glass of your own wonderful concoction! read more

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The huevos were delicious. Can't wait to come back tomorrow. Our server was attentive and the coffee was exceptional. Wouldn't change a thing. read more

CAVA - That's all that was left. Simply the best huevos rancheros I've ever had. I'll be here 6 days and will probably eat this 6 times. - New American Near Me - Indian Wells, California

Just meh. I was hoping for something exciting, fresh, from the hotel restaurant but this was mostly a classic-favorites kind of place. Very basic menu options, but the shrimp pasta was good. read more

After a long day in the pool, we chose this restaurant for my friend's birthday dinner. Extremely slow service and undertrained staff!!! Our food took over an 1.5 hours to be served. The waiters rarely came around to fill our drinks or give us an update on our meals. We did have a party of 15; however, we were literally the only customers in the restaurant. The food was mediocre and overpriced!!! This was very a disappointing experience. As we walked out of the restaurant, there weren't any staff/management to talk to about our experience. They all disappeared or hid! Lol read more

This breakfast/lunch restaurant in the Marriott hotel is great! We got breakfast free for being Platinum members, and normally there is a buffet, but now due to Covid, we got to order off the limited menu. We had the sausage and eggs, egg white frittata, ham and eggs, and poached eggs over two days. All breakfasts come with breakfast potatoes (ordered crispy) and all were delicious! And the service was amazing, very attentive, and just doesn't get much better for a hotel breakfast restaurant. Fast and attentive service and really good food. I give that a A, even though as a whole I did not rate the hotel very well. That's another story... read more

This is the only restaurant open in the hotel. It is not well staffed- after eating there three times, I realized that they only had three or four people working. That meant I had to search for the hostess - sometimes waiting for five minutes for them to appear. The tortilla chips were good and appeared to be house made - but they were the only stand out. If you are staying at the hotel and have to eat there- it's ok. Otherwise go somewhere else with good food and service. read more

Nasty food!!! Service was slow and same with food. Don't buy anything with MEAT. (The cooks can't cook!!!!) Almost all tables were empty with no people. The only thing that was good was the salad. read more