Pasadena Dining

Pasadena Restaurants

We were very pleased with the restaurants in Pasadena and we spent most of our time in Old Pasadena. There are a number packed into a cute little area of alleys. Running in between Union St. and W. Colorado Boulevard are Smith and Miller Alleys. Running across them is Hugus Alley which runs into DeLacey Avenue.

Sushi Roku

This one is my wife’s favorite. The decor is modern, simple, Japanese of course as well. We have eaten there several times. Our first night there we had a wonderful young waiter who suggested a number of dishes to try. Most were excellent. It has been too long ago to remember exactly what we had but it was a really wonderful meal.

Il Fornaio

A few feet across the courtyard from Sushi Roku is Il Fornaio. Turns out it is a chain that is primarily in California but has locations across the country. Whether you get pizza or one of the dinners you can’t go wrong. The food is consistently good. The pollo Toscano is very good and a friend had the grigliata di pesce misto which was a mix of seafood and got good reviews.

Cafe Santorini

Once again, a few feet from the first two restaurants. It focuses on Greek dishes. There are pizzas which are quite good. Try the stuffed grape leaves, they are excellent. You could do a kebob or moussaka but there pasta dishes are quite tasty as well. The penne con pollo is pan roated breast of chicken with shiitake mushrooms, leeks, tomatoes, arugula and creamy garlic white wine sauce.

Kings Row Gastropub

This is on E. Colorado on the other side of Fair Oaks from the first 3. It has a fun casual atmosphere and usually has live music. It has sort of a Tapas flair since the portions are small and not that expensive so you can try a number of different dishes. As a family we tried a number of different things and had a wonderful time. They also have good wines and beers.

Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop 

They have almost every type of candy you can imagine. They had candy from my childhood that I didn’t think was made anymore. They have a huge selection of salt water taffy and you can pick and choose which ones you want. There are also a wide variety of sodas. I was intriqued to find out that root beer is a mixture of birch beer and sasparilla.

Green Street

There are a number of restaurants on Green Street and we have eaten at a couple of them. One I believe was the Green Street Tavern.

Cheesecake Factory

We have fond memories of this not so much because of the food but the experience. I think we had just gotten back from Los Angeles and it was late and we ate here, possibly because it was the only place open? I can’t remember for sure. The food was good. But what was great was that we had a window seat and it was Halloween and we had our own private show watching all the people in costume walking by outside on Fair Oaks Avenue. There were some great costumes.