Ricochet

Four stars just because the food was excellent (far better than the spendier breakfast we had the previous morning at Crossroads Café). The service however is atrocious. On the morning we went, the daughter of the woman prepping the food was running the front counter and acting as waitress. I’ve never seen anyone so incapable of following direction, or for that matter working, in my entire life. She not only botched every single interaction with us, and with other diners, she also treated the other girl like crap blaming her for problems that she caused, and interacted with her mother in the most unprofessional manner. If you’re in the mood for a cringeworthy show and some delicious food, muster up all your patience to eat at this place, or better yet, order take-​out and speak v.e.r.y. s.l.o.w.l.y. And pay cash. And check your order before you leave.

Bad, bad food.
Slow.
Disorganized.
They didn’t have 4 of the 8 items on the menu.
Styrofoam? You pack things in styrofoam?
Terrible food + Awful CFCs into the environment?
great work ladies.

We were staying on Joshua tree for a few days, had a coupon for this place, looked up the Unilocal reviews, and decided to go. I wish we wouldn’t have. It was around 11am, and we were very excited to eat breakfast there, hearing all of the great reviews on Unilocal.It’s a cute little store, but barely a restaurant. There are three small make-​shift tables in the almost 300 sq. ft. area. We were kind of iffy about actually sitting down to eat when we looked over to see the window five feet from our table COVERED in flys. We decided to try and push through it, since the reviews were so great… Not a good idea. As I was eating, a fly landed on my cheek and grossed me out… I couldn’t get out of that place quick enough…
We ordered a shake and a half slice of chocolate cake… Totalling about $ 10. I’d give the actual food about ³⁄₅ stars. Average. But the ambiance, I’d give ⁰⁄₅ if I could.
-$ 5 minimum of credit cards
–as for outdoor seating, there was one black metal table out in the hot sun

Stopped in on Christmas Day for a little Joshua Tree home cookin’!! Vegetarian biscuits and gravy were a happy & delicious xmas surprise, and the veggie scramble wasn’t bad either. Service was very friendly albeit turtle (dove) slow. Think these guys were a little over their head with the # of hungry Christmas drop-​ins. But overall it was a delicious surprise.

I would like to give this place more stars, since it’s so cute and funky, and it’s heart is in the right place, but it’s uneven.
The hubs and I have been going out to JT pretty regularly lately, and when we just want a quick coffee or such, we head or Ricohet. It’s a tiny place (2 tables), and probably 2 out of 3 times everything works out fine. If I bring in a thermos to fill up, for ex., they estimate how much it is, very accommodating.
Now, the previous times I went there, it was laid back but professional. The waitress there was friendly and efficient. Plus, I always leave a tip — I know how it is.
But a couple of weeks ago we stopped in for a coffee and a hot chocolate, and it took 25 minutes, plus the hot chocolate was pretty light on the chocolate, and minus the whipped cream the previous waitress cheerfully offered. The problem was the waiter — he just didn’t know how to work efficiently, to deal with five clients in a timely way. He seemed like a nice guy, but he wasn’t fully present or trained.
A couple was waiting for a meal they ordered, another pair of girls ordered date shakes, and then there was me. The waiter just could not multi-​task. And I know what I’m talking about, since I’ve worked in catering between film jobs for a long time. From what I heard and saw, the waiter was a nice, chill, musician, but he had definitely not been trained to hustle when there was more than one thing to do. He was friendly, and chatted — but man, was he slow.
Besides that, they were out of a few things: regular milk (for me), ice cream (for the date shakes), and black beans (for the diners.) That last one was ironic, since there were huge cans of black beans on display along the wall. Maybe those were fake. They had lots of $ 100 vintage aprons and vintage clothes for sale, and that’s cool — but if their main business is food, that side was falling down.
I will say the diners’ food looked great when they got it — hearty and healthy-​looking.
I love the look of the place, I love the spirit in there, but they need to make up their mind what kind of business they want to be, and step it up. I’d like them to succeed, but they need to improve their work flow. It’s just very uneven.

Most vegetarian /​vegan-​friendly menu in town!

I stayed in Joshua Tree for a weekend, as a base camp for hiking San Jacinto, and ate here two days in a row. It’s a pretty awesome place that fits right in to the feel of the area, if not the desert scenery.
The place is pretty comfy and welcoming, with a few small tables set up in the front and in the back. Lots of random crap is on all of the walls, from vintage clothes you can look at or buy, to local artwork, to local music, to coffee mugs and tasty treats to buy, to just random vintage decoration. There’s a lot going on, but it makes it feel homey.
The first day I ordered a breakfast wrap and the second day I ordered a sauteed vegetable wrap. They were both delicious! The breakfast wrap came with egg and I think some other veggies, and a bunch of fresh spinach (and sausage if you opt for it, but I didn’t), wrapped in a sun dried tomato tortilla. It was simple, it was tasty, and the spinach was a good touch, especially with the crunchy texture. The tortilla was a tiny bit dry, but that seems to be the standard for just about every wrap I’ve ever had. The sauteed veggie wrap was the same, but with veggies and rice. They were super tasty and it went well with some hot sauce (be wary of the hot sauces… two looked like they were older than the people working, but the common ones like Sriracha and Tapatio were safe).
The food is simple but the thing that makes this place shine is the ingredients that they use. Lots of organic or vegan ingredients and a ton of their offerings are vegetarian, so you non-​meat-​eaters will be right at home (and there’s plenty of healthy meat for you meatarians). The service is a bit slow, but that’s more a product of everything being made from scratch and the place being popular, so it’s not a big deal. Overall, the place has a nice atmosphere and delicious food (with an A rating, which is more than can be said for so many other nearby places). I came back a second time for a reason, and I’m sure I’ll be coming back more.

It’s been almost a year since I wrote my last review!
Anyways, Ricochet is one of two favorite spots to eat in Joshua Tree. The food is fresh, organic and tastes so delicious. I usually bring my own food for trips to national parks because most of them have some crapy old diners filled with highly processed foods and fast food. So I am so pleased to find JT to offer so many vegetarian friendly eateries that I look forward to dine at. Yummm!
Last time I ate at Ricochet I had the most amazing german cake on earth and a smoothie. For dinner I had pretty good veggie wraps with a side of sauerkraut.
The only annoying thing was the waiter, he was just kind of weird and asked odd questions. But maybe it is just a local thing ;)
I’ll definitely be back as soon as the summer heat passes away.

wow, what a little gem! We had 3 meals in 2 days here. That’s how much we love their food and dessert. Amazing breakfast tamale and eggs, dessert treat and date shake! Note– the ladies are highly entertaining, but the service is a little slow for you to enjoy the vacation. Don’t come here if you are in a rush.

Best fresh organic wheat apple brown sugar muffin I’ve had– it came warm out of the oven and was served by the friendly waitress that baked them. As if my crunchy granola hippie self could get crunchier, I had a soy latte. (Look, the chai or mate were tempting, but I refused!)
After Crossroads has become severly disappointing since the owner change and unwelcome to the climber community, I was happy Ricochet could provide that good old Jtree spirit and a cup of coffee.
Wish I got that muffin recipe though!

A coffee oasis in the desert! Yeah. I had to go there. Wonk! Wonk!
I had finished bird-​nerding all day in Joshua Tree and needed a major happy-​pick-​me-​up for my drive back to L.A. So I thought I would check this place out.
I admit that I’m usually a little leery of coffee places I haven’t tried before. However…
First of all, the servers here are very personable and present. They also have a very local vibe, which makes coffee taste even better – in my opinion! It’s the kind of place «where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.» Know what I mean?
I ordered a soy latte to go. I was very happy. Like some of my favorite places in L.A. my drink was velvety, nutty, and smooth. No bitterness here! I was NOT disappointed.
Also, what I really like is that their coffee is sustainably grown and helps farming communities. :)
Not bad at all for trying this place out for the first time. You can bet I’ll be back.

A tiny little place, Ricochet is vegetarian comfort food in «downtown» Joshua Tree. Steffie served us and was super duper friendly and fun. Apparently it is Hannah and her Sisters who do the cooking– they take turns =)
I had the coconut milk, pea, carrot and potato soup– phenomenal! As was the eggplant parm and the veg lasagne my bf ordered. Huge spinach salads were topped with a light lemony olive oil. The home made Kombucha was a rare treat and so delicious. Wish we could go back every weekend!!!

Wow, I knew Rosa was the heart & soul… let me emphasize HEART & SOUL of this place, but wow, something bad has happened since she left.
Last time I was there was 3 years ago, while she was chef. I hadn’t checked to see if she was still there, I just assumed she was. When we showed up, it was dark inside, the energy in the place just was not at all the way it was with Rosa, and the variety of food choices was subpar.
To top it all off, the coffee was pretty horrible. Tangy & metallic, they probably haven’t cleaned the coffee makers innerds in a while.
Such a shame… I want Rosa food!

I don’t know about the food because I wasn’t hungry but when I see «Espresso» anywhere labeled about the premise I feel like I have an obligation to order a latte or cappuccino, depending on how good I think their espresso’s going to be. Got the latte, didn’t have much faith and I was right. Please remove the espresso machine from the business if you can’t make a latte good enough to drink with out five cups of sugar flavored BS syrup.
Latte:1.5 stars (I’ve defiantly had worse.)
Location, decoration, originality and uniqueness: 4 stars, cool place I doubt the food is as bad as the espresso.

Someone has to say it: Ricochet without Chef Rosa is like breakfast without coffee and eggs. There is a special alchemy that happens when a special person does what they love, with love, that makes anyone and everyone who is touched by it, in some way, feel the love.
I mean that literally, in this case: Chef Rosa gave great hugs.
Sadly, it appears that Chef Rosa no longer helms the kitchen at Ricochet. At least I haven’t seen her in months and months and months. In her place are a bevvy of young gals who say all the right words, and give big enthusiastic smiles, and are delightfully quirky in the most desert of ways… but overall they lack something, the authenticity and soulfulness that made Ricochet my top pick for eating breakfast in the desert is still there, but it’s shadowed somehow. I can’t explain it, but I feel it when I visit. I think the word is ‘different.’ And as all my weird desert neighbors can attest, different is just plain difficult to swallow sometimes.
Part of the problem is that I’m really sensitive to external environments in intimate settings, and the energy has subtly shifted in Ricochet — the place feels busier; there’s a momentum, a pace to things, that didn’t exist before. In the old days, I could lose time by sitting down to breakfast. So far, in Rosa’s absence, I haven’t felt the urge to sit down at all, though there are more seats inside than ever before.
Tawnja’s clothing empire a few doors down is a mighty fine thing indeed. I love Ricochet Wears. And the concerts she throws out back are what living here is all about: a loving community of people all warming themselves by the same fire at night.
But the person who takes over the food-​part of Ricochet is going to have to be pretty mighty, too, to cook a mile in Rosa’s shoes.
p. s. the shady outdoor courtyard out back is a great space for people watching on Farmer’s Market Saturdays.

Waitress was really nice, but the food wasn’t super amazing or anything.
I was disappointed because of the great reviews it had gotten but theres not much in Joshua Tree so I can see how some people might think this place is mind blowing see as how theres nothing really to compare it to

I love this place and the women that work there. Ask for a «trust the chef.» You will be happy you did.

This is a review of breakfast by a vegetarian.
3.5 stars rounded up for location degree of difficulty
It’s a homey *little* place with a 4-​top, a 2-​top, and some seats along the pass to the kitchen. What the staff lacks in professionalism they make for with enthusiasm.
Had an on-​site baked multi-​berry muffin. Great texture but lacking in taste. Maybe add a pinch of salt in the dry ingredients or macerate the berries in some sugar and lemon juice before mixing. Or just go with nuts and/​or spices during the winter season.
Hot chocolate was redolent of cinnamon, which I could do without, but otherwise creamy and pleasant.

I really wanted to like this place, especially after reading all the reviews, but my experience and food were not up to par and I left very disappointed.
I realize that it was a cold Saturday at lunch time, but they were under staffed and there was no organization what so ever. The inside has 3 tables that are on top of one another-​so be ready to sit with strangers and listen to their conversation.
I do not think the staff knew how, when or who took our order, was responsible for bringing our food or checking us out.
Once you get past all of that then you are dealing with server calling you all sorts of «pet» name-​sweet checks, honey doll and baby cakes-​really? My mom doesn’t even call me those names-​it was just weird!
The food was mediocre-​I got the veggie soup and the curry chicken salad. The soup had no favor except bland!
The salad was okay– I could definitely make a better salad.
I would pass on going to Ricochet when visit Joshua Tree,

Ricochet is a unique place, for sure. It’s very small, with only a table and three chairs, and three stools at the bar, which overlooks the tiny kitchen. Eating there is like eating at a friend’s house… that’s the only way I can describe it.
The menu is very limited, but we ordered the mustard-​encrusted salmon and it was delightfully moist and cooked perfectly, yet pretty bland. The bowl of vegetable soup was really nothing special, in fact, it was also pretty bland. I had to ask for salt and pepper! I thought the prices were a bit on the high side.
Unfortunately, Rosa the chef was not there when we came in (around 2:00). I would have liked to meet her.
Before we left, I browsed the selection of goodies they sell, everything from Virginia peanut brittle to locally-​harvested honey. I purchased some mesquite honey, which I can’t wait to try.