Mission Inn: The Most Stunning Restaurant

Travel

Sep 2

The first time I saw a picture of the Mission Inn, I was shocked at how gorgeous it was. Spanish architecture with strung lights, with bougainvillea trickling down the brick walls was quite stunning. I looked it up and saw that it was within an hour from Yorba Linda, our home base on our annual trip. I immediately added the Mission Inn to my California bucket list.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard to convince Jason to want to go. I was surprised, however, that his parents had wanted to come. They’ve done a lot over the course of their lifetimes, and they’re pretty hard to impress, so I wasn’t sure they’d want to go. They had actually eaten at Mission Inn before, and they remembered they had a great experience! It had been several years, so they decided to come along (and foot the bill - thank you!). Our nephew and his girlfriend tagged along, too!

A little history about the Mission Inn - it’s first and foremost a hotel and spa. It first opened in 1876 as a boarding house, and then became a hotel in the early 1900s. It’s been the site of movies, hosted presidents and celebrities, and gone through changes of ownership. But it’s remained a historical and iconic part of Riverside and Southern California.

Before we sat down for our reservation, we walked around the hotel for a bit. The architecture is beautiful, but warm and inviting. There’s a pool, a few shops, and the lobby has checkered floors.

The Mission Inn has several restaurants, and we made reservations at their classic Mission Inn Restaurant. They have both indoor and outdoor seating, but we chose to eat outdoors in their courtyard. It was stunning. Not only are the strung lights and bougainvillea gorgeous touches, but the Spanish style architecture itself is beautiful.

Onto the food - I sometimes expect food to be on the mediocre side in such a lovely place. Because honestly, you’re paying partly for the experience. I was so delighted to have been wrong. The food matched the atmosphere in flavor and quality.

What we ordered:

Spinach & Artichoke Dip for an appetizer

Garlic Shrimp Linguine

Tiramisu

Strawberry Fields Cocktail

I timed our reservations so that we would be seated right before sunset, and could enjoy both daylight and nighttime in the courtyard. The strung lights were so gorgeous against the night sky! Even if the food was horrible (which it absolutely was not), it would have been worth every penny that my father-in-law spent. It was simply magical.