While we were in Palm Springs area, we learned about their Aerial Tramway. We enjoy hiking and adventure, so we decided to head out there. We got our tickets ($25.95/adult as of Summer 2017) and started our fun journey up, 8,500 ft high!
The view was great, and the floor inside the tramway turns slowly the entire ride, so everyone gets to enjoy 360 degrees of amazing scenery. It was amazing how high we are going, and how quickly we got there (about 10 min ride).
After some hiking around Mt. San Jacinto State Park, we were ready to eat. They don’t have much option up high. They have Peaks Restaurant, Pines Café, and The Lookout Lounge. Café is a casual cafeteria-style spot, and the Lounge only offers some appetizers and alcoholic beverage. Since we wanted real food, we decided to go to the Peaks Restaurant. It came with a great view, especially if you get to sit by the window.
The first thing I noticed was this replica of nature and animals. Real life size. It was kind of cool to see a nature scene inside a restaurant…
The seating area was really large. I didn’t think this restaurant would be this big, but then again, this is the only “restaurant” up here, so it makes sense that they made it huge. It has be able to accommodate all the people traveling up the mountains.
The seating had three levels, the one on the ground floor, then half up the level, maybe about 5-6 steps up, and then the top level. You don’t really get the view of the mountain from the middle and highest level, but they do try to incorporate nature into your surrounding.
We sat at the highest level, which was the smallest seating area. It had only about 10 seats, with more artificial nature right there. Pretty cool setting. We felt a little bit like a royalty with us being at the highest level of the restaurant. Our own little oasis.
We wanted something light so that we can have a dessert. We chose Salmon Carpaccio ($15) and Flatbread Pizza ($14). These are actually appetizer items.
The Carpaccio comes with capers, olive oil, garlic and crostini. We put the pieces of smoked salmon and capers on top of crostini. It was pretty good, fresh salmon, crunchy crostini with garlic flavor. The caper added really nice flavor to the whole thing.
The pizza comes with portabella mushrooms, brie, and candies apricots. This one was somewhat different from what I expected, but it was amazing! The combination of mushroom, brie and apricot worked so perfectly in harmony, it was delicious! It had the earthy flavor from the mushroom, comforting cheese with a bit of salty-ness to it, and sweetness from the apricot. I really enjoyed it.
Now its time for dessert! We went with Brownie Sundae ($8). It comes with Ghirardelli double chocolate chip brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel & chocolate syrup.
This was a nice big size brownie, enough to share among the two of us. The ice cream scoop was pretty big too. The brownie was very dense and decadent, rich and moist. It is a perfect dessert for chocolate lovers.
The staffs were very nice and polite. Even though we were seated at kind of isolated spot, they came to check on us quite often. Our water always filled, and if we needed anything, we could find someone nearby at all time. It was a pleasant experience, I am glad even thought this is the only restaurant (no competition), they still provide good food and good service!
Peaks Restaurant – 1 Tram Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262