Nature’s Wisdom

Healthiest most delicious food I’ve had in weeks. Avocado wrap, pre-​made but extremely fresh, with turmeric mustard-​like sauce. Also ordered almond-​butter date kale smoothie TO DIE FOR. Ambiance is lacking — just a few tables to the side of the store, but service ultra friendly and good prepared with care. 5 stars for quality, vegetarian-​friendliness, and deliciousness.

This business is closed.
10-​30-​2014
Not sure what, if any, business will be taking their space.

I went into Nature’s Wisdom for lunch. I’d been wanting to try this place, confused about some of the bad reviews. I was pleasantly surprised! I had an amazing experience. The male server was friendly, attentive, and efficient. My roasted turkey sandwich was delicious! So good in fact, that I may have to go back today! There were lots of vegetarian and vegan options to choose from so that was definitely a plus. If you’re looking for a great healthy dining option, but were for some reason put off by some of the bad reviews, don’t be! This place will soon become a new favorite!

WORST. SERVICE. EVER! I wish I could give this place zero stars. My girlfriend, and I came to this café on a Saturday around lunch time and there was hardly anyone there (less than 5 tables). We decided to sit outside because the inside was hot and had flies buzzing around. We waited about 15 minutes for the waitress to come greet us but nobody showed. I walked inside to make sure that we weren’t supposed to order up front to get our food, but the manager told us to sit down and that the waitress would be right over. About another 15 minutes later, the young waitress with the piercing all over her face FINALLY walks outside and brings a pitcher of water to the table next to us that had been sitting there before we arrived. Since we had already been waiting in the sun for 30 minutes, we politely asked if she could bring us some waters as well. She turned around and said with an attitude «Umm…After I serve everyone else first.»
We were a bit caught of guard because there was hardly anybody there and she implied that she had been too busy to serve us waters over the past 30 minutes. So we asked the young male waiter if we could get some water and he said «once I put all this stuff down.»
Realizing that it was going to take forever to get served, we decided to tell the manager that we were going to leave. She gave us a cold shoulder and did not care to know why or care to apologize for any inconvenience. We left and went to Sky Island Organics just a parking lot away, and are so glad we didn’t have to wait another hour just to get our two sandwiches.
There are plenty of other health food restaurants in Idyllwild, do not go here, unless you like rude service and a long wait for your food and drinks.

Horrible service. We came to have some smoothies and waited over twenty minutes for our order to be taken and then over 45 minutes to get our smoothies. The server told me that her son forgot to bring out the smoothies… He brought out 1 and we had ordered two. The woman server argued with me and said that I didn’t order one… Four of my friends agreed with me that I had ordered a smoothie… We paid too much for a smoothie and left. Won’t be back… Stay away!

We wandered into Nature’s Wisdom only sort of hungry, but wanting to try something before having to head back home from Idyllwild. We were a little ahead of lunch time, and it was mid-​week (so no tourists), and the place was empty (so empty, in fact, that I double-​checked with the staff to make sure they were open). Others looked at the menu outside and moved on.
I’m VERY glad we stayed. My son had a smoothie, which he loved, and I had the avocado salad, which comes with a unique tuna salad (ingredients included parsley and halved red grapes).
That was not the only thing that was unique! The home-​made mayo and salad dressing (served on the side) were outstanding. I have never in my life asked to take the leftover dressing home, until now. I also asked for the recipe, which the friendly staff politely refused to provide :-)
I can’t wait to swing back by the next time we’re in the area.

We came last year and loved it, we came back to Idyllwyld jest to eat here again, my husband had the roasted toasted sandwich and I had the veggie wrap, both great, but the best part are their famous strudels. We will be back again, love it!

What a fantastic place for lunch/​dinner especially if you are vegan! They make some delicious veggie wraps, I had them for lunch two days in a row and the bell pepper, spinach avocado mixture was perfect. They didn’t have any veggie soups either time I went. But I did buy them out of their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So good! Especially for dessert. Their avocado sandwich was excellent toasted and inspired me to go home and make the same thing. I tried on of their strawberry banana smoothies and although it was good, it had a strange sweet flavor with the stevia. They are out of the majority of their smoothie additions as well. Would definitely recommend for the food. Unfortunately none of their recipie books are for sale, just for browsing.

Drawn by a delicious sounding menu posted in the window, we chose the chicken lentil soup and some time after leaving the restaurant, realized that although delicious, there was nary a piece of chicken nor lentils for that matter in either bowl of soup! Huh?
Ok, so the apple strudel more than made up for the missing soup ingredients… but hey, what about that missing chicken?

Our first visit was scrumptious! The Green Chile Chicken Posole was perfectly filing and spicy on a cold winter day and the turkey (With added avocado) on Squaw bread was not only huge but sweetly satisfying. Can’t wait to try other menu items.

They have really yummy soups and sandwiches. I highly recommend their specials on the board. They are always creative and delicious.

I have high standards in eateries, so this is high rating for me.
Cute, little place w nice smoothies and homemade goodness in everything we’ve ever eaten there. Just had an almond milk/​banana smoothie and some pumpkin cheesecake pie that was wonderful.
Although not everything is vegetarian or organic, but as vegetarians used to organic local produce, we love knowing there will be somewhere we can eat when we go to Idyllwild.

First off, this place is classified on Unilocal as raw/​live food… which it is not. Yes, they have juice and smoothies — but that doesn’t make for raw food. It isn’t vegetarian either, though they do have veggie options.
We got sandwiches — they were ok. The veggies were fresh, the bread on my sandwich was teeny, the dressing was delicious — some berry concoction. My son got the veggie wrap, and it seemed to be mostly a little layer of hummus with a load of red peppers — which might have been ok — except he doesn’t LOVE red peppers. So he ended up with a $ 9 tortilla and hummus.
We spent $ 45 for 3 sandwiches, 1 lemonade, and a fresh juice.

Eating and licking fingers in the kitchen before serving our food (we watched the entire time). Rather strange given we were the only ones there and sitting in plain sight. Anyhow, the food was just ok, salad had glimmers of hope, but the frozen and processed salmon patty heated up in a sandwich with cream cheese was bland and not worth the money.

step 1: watch the movie food, inc
step 2: make a beeline for Nature’s Wisdom for a tasty and organic smoothie or their apple strudel if you aren’t dieting.
step 3: quit complaining about the prices or get yourself a juicer. seriously.
i’m shocked at how many Unilocalers are cheapening out on small businesses run in idyllwild. if you want a dollar menu head elsewhere. this joint is as unpretentious as it comes when the girl at the counter has 1 inch ear gauges.

Cash only. There is a bank next door. Delicious panini’s. If u sit outside watch out for the squirrels in the trees. The were eating cedar nuts and dropping them on us while we dined.
I recommend the chicken breast with fig panini. It features their green mayo which has an herb mixture and the entire panini packs a big flavor punch. I also had the mozzarella tomato basil with pesto panini which tasted like it had real pine nuts in the pesto.
I appreciate pesto with real pine nuts. A lot of places replace the pine nuts with walnuts because it’s less expensive. Maaaaaaybe the pesto at Nature’s Wisdom really features the cedar nuts those squirrels were dropping on our table. That would be rad.

Delicious sandwiches, even more delicious smoothies, a delicious menu with all kinds of alternatives no matter what you can eat or can’t eat. They even had vegan mayo! This place is definitely a highlight in Idyllwild. If I’m ever back in town, I’d probably eat every lunch here!

Juice was pretty good. Pricey at $ 5 for a 12-​oz 3 juice blend, but I was on vacation so I suckered it up. Apple, beet, and carrot. Who knew that would be good? It was delicious!
Signature roast red pepper sandwich was blah. Sandwich did not live up to the menu description. For $ 9, I expected a more artisan sandwich. This sandwich really looked amateurish and the bread was like cardboard.
Service was horrible!!! The sandwich arrived about 45 minutes after I ordered. How does that happen? They just had to slap on lettuce + tomatoes + onion + roasted red bell pepper + vinaigrette dressing on two pieces of pre-​sliced bread?

We love this quaint, vegetarian venue. Outdoor seating with a spectacular partial view of the tree-​covered mountain.
A soup starter is always on the agenda, cold in the heat of the summer, hot in the winter. Share a sandwich, enjoy the unlimited refills on a specialty tea.
Today, I enjoyed a passion fruit tea, a cup of the mango mint soup, and the tuna salad sandwich. Yum!

Idyllwild has gone through many changes, one is caused by the instability of some of her restaurants. Since it is a small town, there is a limit to what is available, and even more limitations to finding really good food. That said, the past few times we have gone to Idyllwild, we have been pleasantly surprised by the tasty goodness and wholesomeness of the food that comes out of this kitchen. Everything is made from scratch, and with good quality ingredients. They have many vegetarian choices as well as meat choices.
This is a lunch/​early dinner kind of place (closes at 5 I think), featuring smoothies, sandwiches and soups and a few pastries mostly. Their savory and sweet strudels are reason enough to come and give them a try. We had a tuna sandwich (sounds boring, but actually was pretty good) on a sprouted wheat bread, and a nice cup of hunter’s stew soup (with generous slices of a good tasting German sausage and cabbage). We finished off by sharing a large slice of apple strudel. Very nice, made with tart apples.
Dining is casual, with indoor and outdoor seating. As long as the weather permits, outdoor dining in Idyllwild is a good choice. Seems everything tastes better sitting under the pines and watching the squirrels bounding up the trees.
This is a place where you can enjoy a lighter meal and feel real good about it.