Wally's Desert Turtle, Rancho Mirage
"Overpriced, but probably worth it."
Our star rating: 4.0 (out of a possible 5)
Address: 71775 Highway 111 Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
I’ve been curious about Wally’s Desert Turtle ever since I moved to Palm Springs in the summer of 2020. As I drove past the restaurant on Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage I wondered, “What in the world is that? Do they serve turtle soup or something?” Smart marketing because the name stuck in my head and I started asking friends about this turtle restaurant… and got an earful! I heard that it was “a Coachella Valley institution, popular among the golfing and country club set…A solid old-school type menu of standbys such as steaks, chops, shrimp cocktail, escargot and caesar salads… A nice place for a well-prepared cocktail and people watching… Overpriced, but mostly worth it… Interiors as dated as its clientele… Possibly another small business victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Its website describes Wally’s as having “fine linen, heavy silver service.” Call me curious!
Our meal with two golfy friends proved most of those opinions held up. Overall, our evening meal was very satisfying. Service was right on the mark, even if we were seated in a pandemic-purposed parking lot under the spell of a full spring moonrise. The menu was quite extensive, with all the good old standbys we expected, and much more. The final tab for four of us, with cocktails, appetizers, entrees, wine and desert came to about $420, to which we added a 20 percent tip, so about $500 total, or about $125 each. Expensive, yes, but worth it.
Our meal began at 6:15pm on a balmy Saturday evening in March and was a lengthy affair, as we had a lot of catching up to do with our friends, so we ordered up a round of Maker’s Mark Manhattans and Old Fashioneds to start. One of our companions asked for a Captain Morgan’s Rum with tonic, lime and bitters, but oddly, the waiter checked and found out that the bar did not stock Captain Morgans, so she settled for a Manhattan on the rocks. The four drinks came out quickly and the waiter left us alone to our loquaciousness, appearing back at the table at just the right time to take our food orders. In the meantime, busboys kept us plied with iced water and delicious crusty, warm rolls and generous pats of butter. (Warning: Refuse seconds as these tasty morsels fill you up!) By the time we ordered, the restaurant, which was about a quarter full when we walked in, had just about filled up with a well-heeled and vivacious crowd, very see-and-be-seen and not the least bit dated. My guess is that the average age was about 50.
Our app and meal choices were quite diverse: Shrimp cocktail ($18), escargot ($20), tuna tartare ($18) and caesar salad ($15) to start. All of them were as eye-catching as they were good tasting, with the winner being the tuna tartare, which looked like a rectangular slice of a big ruby red brownie when viewed from the side showing off rich slices of avocado inside and served with crackly herbed bread medallions. Yum! My shrimp cocktail was perfectly presented, with the shell removed all the way to the tail fins, in an iced bowl. The serving of five jumbos was probably too much for one person but I was happy to share. The fragrant escargot came with the special instruments to grab and stab the little buggers, and we enjoyed dunking corners of our crusty rolls in the rich buttery garlic broth left on the plate.
By this time, we’d ordered a bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay ($76) to go with our meal. (Go ahead and gimme grief about it being cougar juice! I still like that big, oaky, butter bomb!) The first taste disappointed as the bottle was not sufficiently chilled, but after about five minutes in the tableside ice bucket, all was well. When a small bug took a nosedive into our companion’s glass, the observant waiter swooped in, snatched it off the table and returned with an oversized pour from the bar. Nice save!
Our entrees included Loc Duarte Salmon ($40, probably the prettiest dish), a crab cakes appetizer ($20) served as a main with roasted vegetables, and Dover sole amandine ($60). Since I’d filled up on that lovely bread, I was hoping for a lighter vegetarian option, but none appeared on the menu. Our waiter assisted with the suggestion that the chef could put together a nice plate of roasted and steamed vegetables, which came out looking like a rainbow, including roast orange carrots, yellow summer squash, emerald spears of asparagus, purple cauliflower florets, leafy roasted bok choy, and a butter-rich portion of deep green sautéed spinach.
When we first sat down, we noticed waiters delivering perfectly puffed souffles to a neighboring table. Our waiter informed us that if we wanted them, we’d have to order them at the start of our meal, which we did. They came in six different flavors, and we chose one chocolate, which the chef kindly split into two separate smaller portions and a single apricot souffle. (All $14.) After placing the pretty puffs in front of us, the waiter came around with creme anglaise (a warm vanilla custard sauce) spooned into a hole he cracked into the top. A warm, light, fluffy and sweet cloud that and melted in our mouths.
Overall, we had a lovely First-time Diner meal at Wally’s and will go back again when the budget allows. We lucked out dining alfresco on a warm spring evening surrounded by a classy crowd bathed in moonlight and the company of old friends. Thankfully we learned that the restaurant has survived the pandemic, and that the current owners’ daughter plans to take over operations when her parents retire later this year. (Even though Wally’s website still states that this is its “farewell season.”)
Oh, and by the way, Wally’s Desert Turtle (which opened in 1978) is named for Wally Botello, the founder of California’s famous fine-dining Velvet Turtle restaurant chain, and the father of the current owner Michael Botello. The Velvet Turtle chain started in Menlo Park, California in the 1960s and once numbered more than 20 locations in California, Arizona and Washington. The chain was bought out by Marriott in 1986 and subsequently closed.
Well done! We dined there in February... we also had never been .....
But when we heard it was closing in December, we made a commitment to get out there - and it is a bit of a drive from Palm Springs! We we had a wonderful experience.
Though I don’t know that we will rush back. But we also were in a temporary Covid related elevated outdoor dining covered terrace, (it was cold) so we didn’t get the full experience of their indoor dining room, which we’d really would like to try.
Thanks for this!