One of the great spots we discovered in Indian Wells was this restaurant. It had all that we were looking for: high rating, great location (near our hotel), great view, and Happy Hour! It is located in the Golf Resort, so it was pretty fancy. Once we walked in to the building, there is a grand staircase that leads to the restaurant.

At the top of the stairs, there was a sign that said “Please Seat Yourself” so we walked in. We were greeted by a staff, and told us we can sit anywhere we want. It was a very large space with plenty of seating. It was much bigger than I thought it would be.

The walls facing outside was covered with windows, bringing in lots and lots of natural light. they had a nice big bar with counter seating. We were there early for the Happy Hour, so the place looked pretty empty.

They also had comfy looking lounge sofas, looked cozy and relaxing. It was near the entrance, so it might get some foot traffic right by the area during rush lunch or dinner time though.

Since it was a gorgeous day, we decided to sit outside. The outside space was really big too, with lots of tables. They had some tables for four, but most of the tables were big size tables for six people.

 

They had some lounge chairs too, and right by the table on the outside the fence was a fire pit. I bet it is super cozy on one of those cool evenings… The tables by the fences with the beautiful view were large tables for six. But since there were not many people there, the staffs had no problem with us taking one of those large tables.

 

So, what kind of view is it? The view of the beautiful golf course with greenery and palm trees. It is really nice, relaxing, and just wait for the sunset! It is especially breathtaking.

 

We started our Happy Hour with couple of cocktails. The first one was Cougar Den ($7/happy hour), which is one of the most popular cocktails according to our waitress. It is made with citrus vodka, raspberry liqueur, blueberries, lemon juice and simple syrup.

It was a very elegant and sophisticated drink. Not overly sweet, just the right amount of sweetness. Easy to drink and had nice flavor. I really liked how many fresh blueberries are in the glass, they were mostly nice and ripe, sweet and also soaked up the tasty cocktail into them. Sweet little goodness at the end of the drink. I can see why it is a popular drink especially among ladies.

The second cocktails was Cheryl Bloody Mary ($10/happy hour). It is made with vodka, shrimp, olives, peppers, chives, and pickled asparagus. When I saw the ingredients, I was wondering if that is really true, and if so, how and the world would it looks like??? Well, when it came to our table, we saw it with shocking surprise! My goodness, I would say this is the KING of all drinks! It had everything from shrimp, bacon, olives, celery and so much more! The Bacon had nice flavor with some kick to it. Fresh and crisp bell peppers added extra refreshing taste and texture. The shrimp was huge and plump. If you like Bloody Mary, you have to get this!

For food, we ordered Pulled Pork Sliders ($7.95/happy hour). It came in three, with bourbon BBQ sauce and brioche bun. It also came with cole slaw and pickles.

They were packed with flavor, nice sweetness to it. And they were nice size too, not too small. It was juicy, tangy, and yes, satisfying. The cole slaw added nice fresh flavor, and pickles went great with the sliders. I totally loved it!

 

Another item we ordered was Grilled Fish Tacos ($11.95/happy hour). It comes with onions, cilantro, lettuce and pico de gallo. They also came in three, which made us happy.

They were nice size tacos with a good sized fish too. Nicely grilled, flaky without being dry. The veggies were fresh and pico de gallo was tasty and had nice kick to it. Overall it was a good fish taco.

We had more cocktails during our early dinner. We ordered We Be Jammin’ ($7/happy hour), made with brandy, raspberry jam, cointreau, and orange juice. It also had an orange wedge on the rim.

  

It was refreshing, with great orange flavor. It was strong and had good sweetness to it. They had the raspberry jam on the bottom, which was interesting. It added extra berry flavor to it, pretty cool.

The last cocktail of choice was “Tap’d Cucumber Mule” ($7/happy hour). It is made with cucumber vodka, ginger syrup, lime juice and bitters. It was very high quality and strong. It had great ginger flavor with subtle cucumber flavor, which made it extra refreshing. It was pretty tasty!

We decided end the evening with a dessert. They had one item highlighted on their dessert menu. It was Signature House Made Sticky Coachella Date Cake ($9). A long name for a special, seasonal dessert, and we were just in the season! So, naturally we had to have it.

It comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and bourbon sauce. It was warm, very moist, sweet but not overly sweet. It was very rich and dense, great flavor of dates. The vanilla ice cream was amazing, I don’t know what, but it was some kind of special ice cream! It was Awesome!!

 

Our waitress, Leslie was super sweet and nice, and gave us great recommendations. Actually, all the staffs here were really nice. Our water glasses were refilled without asking at all time. We felt super welcomed here. At the end, Leslie asked if we wanted to join their reward program, but I declined. As we were there on vacation, I thought we would never go back there.

Then, guess what happened? We went back before our vacation was over for one last time. We just couldn’t stay away… LOL. This time, we missed the Happy Hour (3pm – 7pm every day), but they had a Saturday Special we were going there for, so that was ok.

We started with cocktails again. We ordered Banzai ($11) made with Japanese whiskey, lime juice, simple syrup, mint and cucumber. It was refreshing with subtle sweetness. Strong and, high quality. Nice mint flavor but not overpowering, just the right amount. I heard this is another popular drink here.

We also ordered New Belgium Brewing ($6), by Fat Tire from Colorado. It is amber ale, and it is named in honor of the co-founder’s bike trip through Europe. Toasty, biscuit-like malt flavors with hoppy freshness. Light and Summery.

For appetizer, we ordered Fried Monterey Calamari ($14.95) with cocktail sauce and chipotle aioli.

 

It was a good amount of calamari, lightly fried and tasty. They were plump and addicting. Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy in the inside. The right amount of chewy-ness, still firm enough, good texture. I liked both cocktail sauce and chipotle aioli, they both had nice kick to it.

 

For main, we ordered their Saturday night special, 12 oz Prime Rib ($12) with veggies and mashed potato. We ordered just one to share, and it was a big enough portion share between the two of us.

The sauce that came with the dish was wine (Cabernet?) reduction sauce. It tasted bit like wasabi to me for some reason… I like horseradish so that was no problem. Veggies were a bit too tough, I prefer them to be cooked a bit more so that they are softer. The mashed potato was amazing, super creamy and delicious! The Rib Steak was big and juicy. It was a bit fatty but that is how it is with Rib Steak… It was tender and cooked just the way like it. Great value!

We then had their “Tap’d Margarita” ($10), made with tequila, tamarind syrup, ancho reyes, lemon juice and lime. It was strong and woke us up! It was smaller than I thought it would be, but at least it was not water down at all, it was high quality.

This time, since we shared one appetizer and one main dish, we decided to get dessert. Once we realized that we couldn’t decide on which one to order, and that it was our last night in CA, we decided to get two! We ordered 6 Layer Chocolate Cake ($6) and Classic Strawberry Shortcake ($9).

Chocolate cake came with whipped cream and raspberry compote. It was very rich, decadent, and velvety. It had nice sweetness, didn’t feel overwhelmingly sweet. Great chocolate flavor, it certainly is for serious chocolate lovers. Totally loved it!

Strawberry Shortcake is made with country style biscuit and fresh strawberries. It was very interesting, I don’t see many strawberry shortcake made with biscuits. The bottom becomes soggy so best to eat quickly (instead of spending good time to take photos). Biscuit was flaky and fluffy before it got soggy. My husband absolutely loved it, he said it was heavenly. I prefer it without the soggy-ness, but other than that, it was great.

As the evening got late and the temperature was still high, the nice cool mist started coming off the ceiling. Very refreshing and great on a hot Summer evening!

On our way out, I saw this little section named “Coaches Corner.” Pretty cool…I wonder if only coaches are allowed to sit there?

We really liked it here at Vue, great view, warm and friendly service, and good food & drinks. Great spot for a relaxing vacation! I would definitely recommend their Happy Hour, great value for tasty treats! The desserts are great too, make sure you leave some room in your stomach for some sweets.

Vue Grille & Bar – 44500 Indian Wells Ln, Indian Wells, CA 92210