California Cafe, Mall of America, Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota, USA

The urge when you visit the Mall of America is to eat at one of theme restaurants such as the Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp or one of the many other "fun" places that have mediocre food and kid friendly ambiance.

The biggest problem with that plan, especially if you visit on a weekend, is the wait time can be extensive. When we were there this past weekend waits were 2+ hours. And the food court was really no better as the tables were all full and the lines were long.

Did I mention that it was after 2pm? It was just insane.

I was going to fore go lunch and try to get by with a snack of some sort for the girls when we walked past California Cafe. I had never eaten there but had heard good things. I wasn't sure how the girls would like it as it presents itself as upscale but there was no wait so we decided to try it.

I was completely impressed. For what we would have paid at any of the so-so theme restaurants we had great food in a relaxed atmosphere.

The kids meals are presented in a bento box. Brenna thought it was very cool. She chose chicken fingers, fries, a salad and fruit but the other options, such as carrot & celery sticks, whipped potatoes, burgers and pasta, all sounded great.


There is also a daily adult bento box special. As well as the regualr menu. I highly recommend the artichoke & spinach dip and the bacon wrapped shrimp.


I highly recommend the California Cafe the next time you are at the Mall of America or near any of their other locations.

The food is fresh and delicious, the atmosphere is refined and relaxed and the staff is so professional. Don't overlook it because you have kids.