It was our first time at Poet Gardens and I gotta say I was very surprised who many food places are here. I've seen this place go from Bank of America (President Nixon had his law office in the building he also attended Whittier High School and Whittier College. Back in the 90's it was a billiards place called Q's Billiards I was working for Millier Beer and between Jerry who worked for Budweiser and our crew of beer people installed the long beer lines that come up from the basement of the building. The elevator was old fashioned type where you needed to closed the door and then the gated door in order for the elevator to operate. It went well for a few years but then closed for several years. You look at it now there are places (tables to eat inside or outside from gluten-free to crepes and your variety of other foods your heart desires. On Friday nights you can be entertained with live music . My wife got the crepes with banana and Nutella what she calls "It was the bomb" our friends had the burrito not sure what type I just had the pepperoni pizza (personal size) that was great as well. There's also a good selection of beer, wine and soft drinks. It's a nice place to relax from that busy work week. If you haven't tried Poet Gardens I suggest you do yourself a favor and try it. I know when we have out of town company this is one place we will bring them to enjoy.
Mercedes C.
Are go to spot for beer and food. They rotate food vendors so don't get too attached to any one thing. Try it all. My daughter and I lover going there. But now we have a dog so... Good thing they have a patio area where good doggies are welcomed. Our puppy liked going and we will probably go back!
Jose Correa
The pizza was tasty and I really enjoyed the ambiance, nice place to hang out with friends and family. I will be back to try the BBQ next time and hopefully relax.
Jenna B.
My boyfriend and I have not stopped talking about the burrata cheese pizza since we tried it. I don't live in the area and haven't been able to find anything even remotely close in my area. Go. Get the pizza. You won't regret it.
R T.
I like the Indian food the brewery the ambience everything in this place five stars well deserved.
Eloy Bravo
In a word... Phenomenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????
Franco L.
Not a bad place, not a fantastic place. You walk in to what appears to be a food court setting. There are locations set up to be used by different vendors. Only 3-4 appear to be in operation. We went in on a Friday afternoon and discovered there was no happy hour. No worries let's try some beer. The brewery offers a pretty nice selection. Your beers will run you $6 and up. A glass of wine is about $10. Now we need some food. I went for the poke nachos and veggie fries. The poke nachos were lite and tasty. The fries were ok. They were fries with some sautéed veggies on top...I would not get again. Two items for $25. The atmosphere is nice and clean with plenty of seating. Having two appetizers, two beers and two glasses of wine adds up to $65 pretty quick and your still pretty hungry. Yes I would go again. It's a nice place to chill for a short while.
Jeff B.
(Shopped 11/06/21 SA @ 12:15pm): A poetic floral garden would've added a nice touch to this place in Uptown Whittier! I was in the area showing a vacancy at a nearby rental property when I decided to finally check out Poet Gardens, the latest food hall in the ever-expanding extension of the mega-mall food courts across Southern California. Having opened in the fall of 2019, it unfortunately had to deal with the upcoming COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and was pretty much closed until the restrictions of such businesses were loosened up in 2021. Would I pen an ode to this latest gentrification of Uptown Whittier and this iteration of the food court culture now moved into a standalone building!? PURCHASE Whittier Brewing Co. ($34.00): The main reason for my visit, I enjoyed a couple pints of beer and a takeaway bottle later to be enjoyed at home with dinner. A separate more detailed review was forthcoming. Faustino ($21.00): A food kitchen consisted mainly of Mexican food and pizzas, this was the only open food option at the time, so a pizza paired perfectly with the beers I had. A separate more detailed review was forthcoming. Little Monster Ice Cream ($5.00): A lovely dessert spot to cap my meal, I opted for a massive chocolate soft serve in a waffle cone among the other offerings of coffees, drinks, and other sumptuous sweets. SERVICE Generally speaking, the three stalls I went to were all staffed with eager, efficient, friendly, and informative staff members. I quickly received my beers and soft serve while the pizza arrived about 20+minutes later as Faustino was pretty busy - 'nuff said. PARKING (Varied; $0.50 for two hours this instance) They didn't have their own lot, but an extremely convenient paid public parking lot was located on the same block of the street where I parked ($0.25/hour). Otherwise, there appeared to be street parking along the main drag of Philadelphia St. and all surrounding streets - 'nuff said. ATMOSPHERE, DÉCOR, AMBIENCE Located in the former National Bank of Whittier Building and was added to the National Register Of Historic Places in 1982, this was a wide-open space filled with communal wooden tables/benches high tables area with a cool wall display a playful human-sized chess board set a couple pinball machines along one wall, several nooks, and lastly the business stalls along the back and side walls. Outside was a posted sign of the current businesses Plenty of natural lighting came through the surrounding glass windows and front doors while electric high ceiling lights filled in the rest. There were no TVs, but awesome 80s alternative deep-cut music (e.g. New Order, The Cure, The Smiths, played in the background. ATTIRE Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-shirt, boardshorts, and flip-flops. OVERALL I felt there was enough justice to be served at Poet Gardens, and the city should come out and support it. However, with only four current businesses (one business wasn't opened yet and there was an area with a ton of wine bottles but was unsure what was going on with that), I hoped more businesses would fill in the plentiful available space. The brewery prices were comparable while the food prices were a bit on the high spectrum. The parking situation might be difficult given the time of day. And, I was fine with the service as they simply provided what I needed. I found very good value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (TOTAL paid experience was around $61.00 BEFORE any discounts and/or tip). And, they accepted my credit card of choice... AMEX! 4.0 STARS
Minerva D.
Cute place hidden in Uptown Whittier. We had the pizza and it was so good! I think it's a nice clean space that looks like a fun place to hang out on an early weekend evening or even after work happy hour. Can't wait to try the brewery next time!
Great visit to this spot this evening to listen to Jimmy Becker's terrific tunes in the Garden. Dinner was marvelous - we had a Queso, a Shrimp, and an Asada Taco, as well as the Caprese Salad and an order of Guacamole. Everything was tasty and the tacos are definitely elevated fare!
Katie H.
One of my favorite places to relax and unwind and catch up with friends over a beer! The Margherita pizza here is amazing - I can't even try anything else because this is just so good!
Kristie C.
Cute little food court in Uptown Whitter! We came to try the Whittier Brewing Company and grabbed some food while we drank. There are other smaller food outlets in the building. The Monster Ice cream stand looked good. There was also an Indian place, but it didn't seem to be opened. It would be cute if this place had more shopping outlets like a little jewelry stand or Knick knack shop. The food itself was decent. I enjoyed the Caprese Salad it had big pieces of tomato, mozzarella, and had pesto sauce on top. The bread that came with it was soooo good. The pizza was ok. It fell apart as you picked it up and my husband said he barely got any chorizo. I hope they add more places to this food court, but overall pretty cool place to check out.
Ernie S
Brother got sick from the food here lol
Ed P.
I am all for supporting local businesses and I have been waiting on this place to open and was anticipating for something great in my neighborhood. the energy of the place is very flat . I am not a huge fan of breweries but, I wanted to try their food. the food selections are very limited and not too exciting . I wanted to try their pizza from faustino's. the pizza oven looked pretty real but, it is not a wood burning pizza stove. ordered a caprese salad and a pepperoni pizza . first of all the wait was about 40 minutes and I had to ask them if they were going to bring it out or do I need to pick it up. the place was not busy at all . went back to check on my food and my pizza was sitting under a heat lamp ,what is this ?7-11 ?ok? this has to be the worst pizza ,I have ever tasted in my life . so damn salty and sitting on a pool of grease. where is the tomato sauce and cheese on this pie? all I tasted was bucket of salt and costco pizza dough. come on people, you are telling me you can't make a better pizza than shakeys , 7-11,costco pizza? you expect people to pay for this? can we just be honest here and admit that this is a sham ! good luck !
Love the pizza here but the beer is never cold!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pizza with Basil Cheese
It was our first time at Poet Gardens and I gotta say I was very surprised who many food places are here. I've seen this place go from Bank of America (President Nixon had his law office in the building he also attended Whittier High School and Whittier College. Back in the 90's it was a billiards place called Q's Billiards I was working for Millier Beer and between Jerry who worked for Budweiser and our crew of beer people installed the long beer lines that come up from the basement of the building. The elevator was old fashioned type where you needed to closed the door and then the gated door in order for the elevator to operate. It went well for a few years but then closed for several years. You look at it now there are places (tables to eat inside or outside from gluten-free to crepes and your variety of other foods your heart desires. On Friday nights you can be entertained with live music . My wife got the crepes with banana and Nutella what she calls "It was the bomb" our friends had the burrito not sure what type I just had the pepperoni pizza (personal size) that was great as well. There's also a good selection of beer, wine and soft drinks. It's a nice place to relax from that busy work week. If you haven't tried Poet Gardens I suggest you do yourself a favor and try it. I know when we have out of town company this is one place we will bring them to enjoy.
Are go to spot for beer and food. They rotate food vendors so don't get too attached to any one thing. Try it all. My daughter and I lover going there. But now we have a dog so... Good thing they have a patio area where good doggies are welcomed. Our puppy liked going and we will probably go back!
The pizza was tasty and I really enjoyed the ambiance, nice place to hang out with friends and family. I will be back to try the BBQ next time and hopefully relax.
My boyfriend and I have not stopped talking about the burrata cheese pizza since we tried it. I don't live in the area and haven't been able to find anything even remotely close in my area. Go. Get the pizza. You won't regret it.
I like the Indian food the brewery the ambience everything in this place five stars well deserved.
In a word... Phenomenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????
Not a bad place, not a fantastic place. You walk in to what appears to be a food court setting. There are locations set up to be used by different vendors. Only 3-4 appear to be in operation. We went in on a Friday afternoon and discovered there was no happy hour. No worries let's try some beer. The brewery offers a pretty nice selection. Your beers will run you $6 and up. A glass of wine is about $10. Now we need some food. I went for the poke nachos and veggie fries. The poke nachos were lite and tasty. The fries were ok. They were fries with some sautéed veggies on top...I would not get again. Two items for $25. The atmosphere is nice and clean with plenty of seating. Having two appetizers, two beers and two glasses of wine adds up to $65 pretty quick and your still pretty hungry. Yes I would go again. It's a nice place to chill for a short while.
(Shopped 11/06/21 SA @ 12:15pm): A poetic floral garden would've added a nice touch to this place in Uptown Whittier! I was in the area showing a vacancy at a nearby rental property when I decided to finally check out Poet Gardens, the latest food hall in the ever-expanding extension of the mega-mall food courts across Southern California. Having opened in the fall of 2019, it unfortunately had to deal with the upcoming COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and was pretty much closed until the restrictions of such businesses were loosened up in 2021. Would I pen an ode to this latest gentrification of Uptown Whittier and this iteration of the food court culture now moved into a standalone building!? PURCHASE Whittier Brewing Co. ($34.00): The main reason for my visit, I enjoyed a couple pints of beer and a takeaway bottle later to be enjoyed at home with dinner. A separate more detailed review was forthcoming. Faustino ($21.00): A food kitchen consisted mainly of Mexican food and pizzas, this was the only open food option at the time, so a pizza paired perfectly with the beers I had. A separate more detailed review was forthcoming. Little Monster Ice Cream ($5.00): A lovely dessert spot to cap my meal, I opted for a massive chocolate soft serve in a waffle cone among the other offerings of coffees, drinks, and other sumptuous sweets. SERVICE Generally speaking, the three stalls I went to were all staffed with eager, efficient, friendly, and informative staff members. I quickly received my beers and soft serve while the pizza arrived about 20+minutes later as Faustino was pretty busy - 'nuff said. PARKING (Varied; $0.50 for two hours this instance) They didn't have their own lot, but an extremely convenient paid public parking lot was located on the same block of the street where I parked ($0.25/hour). Otherwise, there appeared to be street parking along the main drag of Philadelphia St. and all surrounding streets - 'nuff said. ATMOSPHERE, DÉCOR, AMBIENCE Located in the former National Bank of Whittier Building and was added to the National Register Of Historic Places in 1982, this was a wide-open space filled with communal wooden tables/benches high tables area with a cool wall display a playful human-sized chess board set a couple pinball machines along one wall, several nooks, and lastly the business stalls along the back and side walls. Outside was a posted sign of the current businesses Plenty of natural lighting came through the surrounding glass windows and front doors while electric high ceiling lights filled in the rest. There were no TVs, but awesome 80s alternative deep-cut music (e.g. New Order, The Cure, The Smiths, played in the background. ATTIRE Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-shirt, boardshorts, and flip-flops. OVERALL I felt there was enough justice to be served at Poet Gardens, and the city should come out and support it. However, with only four current businesses (one business wasn't opened yet and there was an area with a ton of wine bottles but was unsure what was going on with that), I hoped more businesses would fill in the plentiful available space. The brewery prices were comparable while the food prices were a bit on the high spectrum. The parking situation might be difficult given the time of day. And, I was fine with the service as they simply provided what I needed. I found very good value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (TOTAL paid experience was around $61.00 BEFORE any discounts and/or tip). And, they accepted my credit card of choice... AMEX! 4.0 STARS
Cute place hidden in Uptown Whittier. We had the pizza and it was so good! I think it's a nice clean space that looks like a fun place to hang out on an early weekend evening or even after work happy hour. Can't wait to try the brewery next time!
Restaurantji Recommends
Great visit to this spot this evening to listen to Jimmy Becker's terrific tunes in the Garden. Dinner was marvelous - we had a Queso, a Shrimp, and an Asada Taco, as well as the Caprese Salad and an order of Guacamole. Everything was tasty and the tacos are definitely elevated fare!
One of my favorite places to relax and unwind and catch up with friends over a beer! The Margherita pizza here is amazing - I can't even try anything else because this is just so good!
Cute little food court in Uptown Whitter! We came to try the Whittier Brewing Company and grabbed some food while we drank. There are other smaller food outlets in the building. The Monster Ice cream stand looked good. There was also an Indian place, but it didn't seem to be opened. It would be cute if this place had more shopping outlets like a little jewelry stand or Knick knack shop. The food itself was decent. I enjoyed the Caprese Salad it had big pieces of tomato, mozzarella, and had pesto sauce on top. The bread that came with it was soooo good. The pizza was ok. It fell apart as you picked it up and my husband said he barely got any chorizo. I hope they add more places to this food court, but overall pretty cool place to check out.
Brother got sick from the food here lol
I am all for supporting local businesses and I have been waiting on this place to open and was anticipating for something great in my neighborhood. the energy of the place is very flat . I am not a huge fan of breweries but, I wanted to try their food. the food selections are very limited and not too exciting . I wanted to try their pizza from faustino's. the pizza oven looked pretty real but, it is not a wood burning pizza stove. ordered a caprese salad and a pepperoni pizza . first of all the wait was about 40 minutes and I had to ask them if they were going to bring it out or do I need to pick it up. the place was not busy at all . went back to check on my food and my pizza was sitting under a heat lamp ,what is this ?7-11 ?ok? this has to be the worst pizza ,I have ever tasted in my life . so damn salty and sitting on a pool of grease. where is the tomato sauce and cheese on this pie? all I tasted was bucket of salt and costco pizza dough. come on people, you are telling me you can't make a better pizza than shakeys , 7-11,costco pizza? you expect people to pay for this? can we just be honest here and admit that this is a sham ! good luck !