There are restaurants that occupy buildings, and there are restaurants that inhabit places. Spencer's Restaurant — set within the grounds of the historic Palm Springs Tennis Club at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains — belongs firmly to the second category. The outdoor dining room, shaded by enormous Washingtonia palms and lit with the soft gold of desert evenings, is one of the most genuinely beautiful places to eat in all of Southern California. The mountain looms behind you. The desert air carries the scent of night-blooming jasmine. Everything else falls away.
The kitchen delivers polished New American cooking with confident Pacific Rim touches — a colossal shrimp cocktail that sets the tone for the evening, expertly handled duck and rack of lamb, sea bass preparations that sing with precision, and short ribs slow-cooked to absolute tenderness. The brunch menu has been voted best in the desert multiple consecutive years, with a Benedict program and egg dishes that outperform anything in the surrounding valley. The wine list is deep and considered, with strong representation from California and the Pacific Coast.
Spencer's has been voted Best Breakfast, Best Sunday Brunch, Best Outdoor Dining, Most Romantic, Best Power Lunch, Best Wine List, and Best Chef by Palm Springs Life readers — a collection of civic endorsements that reflect genuine affection from a community that has dined here for generations. The service operates at the calibre you would expect from a restaurant this decorated: attentive, warm, and knowledgeable without ever being performative.
For celebrations that require a setting commensurate with the occasion — a significant birthday, a proposal, an anniversary that demands to be remembered — Spencer's delivers in ways that few desert restaurants can match. The combination of extraordinary natural surroundings, excellent food, and impeccable service creates evenings that resist being forgotten. This is the restaurant you return to ten years later, on an anniversary of the anniversary.