Eat and Drink

Flora Farms: Is It Worth It? I'd Go Once, in Daylight

By Cabo Wander

"Is Flora Farms worth it?" is the question I get from almost everyone staying near San José, usually a day or two after they've seen the photos of the string lights. My answer is yes, once, and go while the sun is up. Book brunch, or the first dinner seating with an hour to walk around beforehand, and you get a really nice two or three hours.

It took me a few visits to work out that Flora Farms is a garden with a restaurant in the middle of it, and how you feel on the ride home depends on which of those you thought you were paying for. Every time I've left happy, it was about the place: the mango trees, the bread, a slow morning. Every time I've winced, it was about the check. So now I go for the place, at an hour when I can see it.

The answer flips if you'd be coming from Cabo San Lucas by taxi for dinner after dark. That's the most expensive way to do Flora, and it shows you the least of what you came for. The farms get one shared entry in my list of the best restaurants in Cabo. This post is the close-up on the famous one.

What Flora Farms Actually Is

It's a compound. There's an open-sided restaurant called Flora's Field Kitchen with a wood oven, a very small bar, a wine and coffee shop, a grocery, a spa, about ten shops and a cluster of vacation houses, with vegetable beds and a mango grove around all of it. It sits in Ánimas Bajas, a farming area 10 to 15 minutes from San José's plaza, and the last ten minutes of the drive are on a dirt road.

It is a real farm. The beds are worked, the bread is baked on site, and the pork and chicken come from the farm's own ranch. That ranch is somewhere else, though, and the houses are private, so what you walk through as a visitor is lawns, shops and the restaurant with some growing beds beside them. The property is about 25 acres, and that figure counts the buildings. If someone in your group is expecting goats, tell them before you get in the car that the animals are turtles and koi.

The other thing to know before you book is that the food isn't Mexican. It's American and Italian farm cooking, so think pizza, pasta, sandwiches and a pork chop.

Bottom line: you're booking a pretty morning out with a good meal in the middle. Go in with that picture and you'll like it.

What You'll Love

The grounds are the best thing here, and I'd say that even on a day when the food was perfect. You walk in past vegetable beds to a mango grove, there are ponds with koi and turtles, and when the lights come on at dusk it's as pretty as the photos. One morning I was handed a glass of watermelon juice at the host stand, which was a nice way to start.

The food is good, too. The bread comes first, it's all baked in house, and it's the thing I'd tell you not to skip. The wood-oven pizza is the best thing on the menu and the beet salad is right behind it. There's a gazpacho when it's in season that I'd order too. At brunch I'd get the lemon ricotta pancakes or the huevos rancheros, plus the ricotta toast with habanero honey for the table. The pork chop and the sea bass are the dinner plates I'd point you to. Michelin gave the kitchen a Bib Gourmand, its award for good cooking at a moderate price, and I think the cooking half of that is right.

The drink to order is the Farmarita, a carrot margarita, and it's better than it sounds.

The staff are warm, and they're very good with a crowd. I've been here in a group of thirteen and we were well looked after. I've also watched them come out to the curb to help someone who had trouble walking. If you eat gluten-free or vegan, say so, because they handle it well. There's live music most of the time, too, and on most of my visits it's been a highlight.

What I'd Want Different

The check is the big one. The cooking is good, and the prices are what I'd expect to pay for something more ambitious than pizza and pasta. Some plates are also smaller than the price had me expecting. A vegetable sandwich, a piece of focaccia and one drink came to about US$80 for me once. That gap between the plate and the price is the reason some people leave annoyed, and if you came only to eat, I think they have a point.

It's also touristy. It's big and lively, almost everyone there is on vacation, and there are shops between you and your table in both directions. "Tourist trap" is the phrase I hear from people who went for a late dinner and judged it as a restaurant. I don't think that's fair to the kitchen. I do think you should know it's a busy, polished place and nothing like a quiet table in a field. Families, big groups and first-timers tend to love it anyway, and so does anyone who enjoys a morning of wandering and browsing.

The service is friendly and sometimes in a hurry. On more than one visit my plate has been lifted while I was still eating, and one meal was over in under 45 minutes. Another time our server went missing for a long stretch and then wouldn't split the check. None of it was rude. It's a very busy restaurant and you can feel it turning tables.

The free farm tour is pretty basic, and on one visit it wasn't running at all. And the band, which I've loved on some nights, was flat on one.

Brunch or Dinner?

Brunch, for almost everybody. It costs less, you see the whole place in daylight, the shops and the grocery are open, and you can add the tour. Brunch runs Tuesday through Sunday, from the morning into the early afternoon, with a later start on Sundays. A weekday at opening is the calm version. Sunday is the busiest brunch of the week.

I get there 30 to 45 minutes before my table and walk the loop first: the beds, the mango grove, the ponds, the grocery, a quick look in the shops. Then I sit down, order the bread, and take my time for as long as they'll let me. With ice cream or a coffee afterward, the whole visit is two to three hours.

If dinner fits your trip better, book the first seating and arrive an hour or more ahead for a drink and a walk while it's still light. Dinner is served every night from about 5:30. The farm's own site gives two different start times for high season, so check when you book. The reason to go early is the grounds in daylight and then the lights coming on. There's no ocean or sunset view to plan around. That first seating is also the family one, with a LOT of kids, which you'll either love or want to know about.

A late table in winter is the one I'd skip. It gets dark early then, so you arrive in the dark, eat a good dinner in a pretty room, and leave having seen nothing of the farm.

A few timing things that catch people:

• Monday is dinner only. There's no brunch, the shops don't open until late afternoon and the spa is closed. It's also the quietest evening of the week.
• Nothing is served in the middle of the afternoon. The kitchen closes after brunch and reopens for dinner. I've made this mistake myself, turning up at 3:30 to a closed kitchen.
• It stays open in late summer. You'll read that it shuts for the fall, and it doesn't. Hours can shift then, so check them, and know that it's an open-air room with fans and misters and no air conditioning. In September, after a big storm, the dirt roads out here can be a mess for a day or two, so I'd call before setting out.
• Bring a layer for dinner in winter. The nights are cool and you're outdoors under a roof.

The seasons are laid out month by month in the best time to visit Cabo.

Thursday is gallery night in town from November through June, and I wouldn't try to fit a Flora dinner and the San José Art Walk into the same evening, because they run over the same hours. Pick one for the night. If you're staying in San José, brunch here and the galleries that evening is a great day.

What It Costs

Flora doesn't publish a menu with prices, and I wish it did. So these are my own rough numbers, per person, with tip:

• Brunch with one cocktail: about US$55 to $80
• Dinner with a cocktail and a glass of wine: about US$90 to $140

Dinner can run past that. One night two of us had a pasta, a special and two glasses of wine, and the check was about US$315. And a breakfast with no alcohol at all has cost me about US$70 a head, so the top of the brunch range is easy to reach.

The pieces run roughly like this:

• Cocktails: about 300 to 360 pesos, so US$17 to $20
• Wine by the glass: about US$20 to $25
• Starters and salads: about US$15 to $25
• A 12-inch pizza: about US$30 to $40
• Mains: about US$30 to $60, with pasta at the bottom and the roast chicken at the top

The pork chop is sold by size, so ask what it weighs before you order. The small one is about 15 ounces and the large is a kilo, which is a lot of pork for one person to discover at the table.

The inexpensive way to do dinner is a pizza and one drink, which comes in around US$55 to $65 a head. You can also bring your own wine. There's a corkage fee, and you have to email to find out what it is.

On the check itself, I can't tell you for sure whether tax is already in the menu prices or whether service gets added for a small table, so read the check before you tip. If there's a line that says "propina" or "servicio", the tip is already there. For a table of six or more, an 18% service fee is added automatically. If the check is in pesos, pay in pesos, and say no if the card terminal offers to convert it to dollars. I go through tipping and the rest of the budget in how much Cabo costs.

At brunch it's worth the money. For US$55 to $80 you get the morning along with the meal, and I think that's fair. At dinner prices it's a closer call, and that's the reason I keep steering people to the daytime.

How to Book, and the Terms That Catch People

You need a reservation for a table. You don't need one to walk the grounds, look in the shops, buy bread at the grocery or sit down at the wine shop, and that's a perfectly good way to see the place if the restaurant is full.

Book through the farm's own website or OpenTable. In high season, roughly December through April, I'd do it as soon as your dates are firm. Sunday brunch and Thursday evenings in Art Walk season are the first to go. Summer is the easy time of year to get in.

The terms are stricter than most restaurants here, so read them:

• A card holds the table.
• Cancel at least 24 hours ahead. A no-show or a late cancellation is about 925 pesos a person, which is around US$50.
• Be on time. The table isn't held more than ten minutes.
• Your whole party has to be there to be seated. If two of your six are still in an Uber, you wait.
• Six or more means the 18% service fee.
• Holidays are set menus. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day and Easter all work that way, and half of a set menu is charged up front and isn't refundable.

Ask for the farm tour when you book, because it's free but it's arranged with your reservation, and the farm doesn't publish times for it. Flora is also a wedding and private event venue, so I re-confirm my table the week before. And wear flat shoes. It's gravel and grass.

One thing that won't work is the bar as a way in without a table. The Farm Bar is tiny, just a few chairs, and it doesn't serve food. It's for a drink before dinner.

Getting There and Back

From San José this is easy. It's 10 to 15 minutes from the plaza, over the bridge toward Puerto Los Cabos and then about ten minutes of bumpy dirt road. An Uber gets you out there with no trouble. That short ride is one more reason the old town is where I like to stay, and the rest of the town is in my San José del Cabo guide.

For the ride home, plan on the taxi stand. There's one right next to the farm, and the farm points its guests to it. I've never seen its fares posted anywhere, so ask the price before you get in. Uber does pick up here. The spot is just east of the main entrance, by the little brewery, with a picnic table and an umbrella to wait under, and the staff will point you to it. What I can't promise is how fast a car shows up late in the evening, so after dinner I treat the taxi as the plan and an Uber as a bonus. You can also ask the driver who brought you out to come back at a set time. Every other ride on this coast is compared in getting around Cabo.

If you're driving, an ordinary rental car handles the road fine if you take it slowly, and there's a parking lot at the farm. There are signs after the bridge, but they're hard to spot at night. The road is unlit, and cattle wander onto it after dark. That's one more point for brunch.

From the San José end of the Corridor, around Palmilla, it's still a short enough ride that I'd go. The farther west your hotel is, the less sense it makes, and I cover that stretch in my Tourist Corridor guide.

From Cabo San Lucas it's the best part of an hour each way, and the taxi quotes I've heard for the round trip run about US$150 to $180. Put that on top of dinner for two and you're somewhere around US$400 to $500, with two hours of the evening spent in a car and most of the farm hidden in the dark. Uber is cheaper, a little more each way than the 550 to 650 pesos it costs to reach San José, but then the late ride home is the part I can't vouch for.

If you're staying over there and still want to see it, come for brunch, by Uber or rental car, and make a day of San José while you're on that side. If there are four to six of you, a driver who waits is worth pricing. It's about US$275 to $300 for a four-hour block in a Suburban, which beats two taxis. Otherwise, honestly, I'd eat closer to home, and my Cabo San Lucas guide covers what's within walking distance over there.

What to Do Besides Eat

Most of this is why you came early.

• The farm tour. Free and short, and you set it up with your booking. It's a pleasant add-on. I wouldn't come out here for it alone.
• The wine shop. It's a wine bar and coffee shop on the grounds, open into the evening, and it's where to sit with a glass and no reservation.
• The grocery. Bread and pastries from the bakery, plus bacon, sausages and chicken from the ranch. The vegetable selection changes by the day. One morning there were five kinds for sale.
• Ice cream. It's made in house and it's good. The scoop is small for what it costs.
• The shops. About ten of them, and the mix surprised me: a Los Angeles clothing brand, a men's denim store, a fragrance studio, soaps, jewelry and Mexican craft. They're expensive, and the sales pitch gets repetitive. Twenty minutes covers it.
• Cooking classes. These run from late morning into early afternoon, with a theme that changes by the day of the week, like tamales, tortillas, or salsas with fish tacos. It's about 2,800 pesos a person, roughly US$155, with tax included, and that covers a farm tour, a cocktail, a family-style lunch and a recipe booklet. Kids have to be five or older, and ages 5 to 11 are half price. You can book up to 90 days ahead, and a same-day cancellation is charged in full.
• Other classes. There's a watercolor class at about 2,400 pesos, around US$135, with breakfast, lunch and a glass of wine, and a two-hour walk with an herbalist at about 1,300 pesos, around US$70.
• The spa. It's small, with two treatment rooms and an outdoor soaking tub, and it takes day visitors by appointment. Packages start around US$200 a person. It's closed on Mondays.

You'll also see cottages and haylofts on the property, which are owned in shares and rented out by the week. Their section of the farm and their pool are for the people staying in them, so don't pack a swimsuit.

How a farm meal ranks against everything else is in my list of things to do in Cabo.

Flora Farms With Kids

This is the easiest of the nice restaurants here to bring children to, and I'd do it at brunch. There's a playground, there are turtles and koi to look at, and the staff are used to families. There's no kids' menu, but there's pizza, and that usually settles it.

The first dinner seating works too, and it's full of other families, so nobody will look twice at yours. I'd skip the later tables with kids. It's dark, and it's a long evening for them.

For older kids, the cooking class takes ages five and up. And if you travel with a dog, well-behaved dogs on a leash are welcome.

Where a farm brunch fits around the beach days is in my 5-day Cabo itinerary.

If Not Flora

There are two other farm restaurants on the same dirt roads, and for some of you one of them is the better pick.

Acre is the one I'd book for a grown-up dinner, with the best cocktails of the three and a room that feels like a night out. It also costs more than Flora, and it's the wrong choice for small kids at dinner.

Los Tamarindos has the most Mexican cooking of the three and the smallest check, in an old brick farmhouse with far fewer people around. It's the hardest one to find, especially after dark, so I'd go for lunch or an early dinner.

Flora and Acre are neighbors, a couple of minutes apart by car, so a drink at one and dinner at the other is a real option if you can't decide.

If you're staying in Cabo San Lucas, El Huerto in El Tezal is the farm restaurant on your side. I don't know it well enough yet to rank it.

I put all three side by side in Flora Farms vs Acre vs Los Tamarindos.

The Verdict

Flora Farms is worth it once, as a daytime outing. Go for brunch, get there early enough to walk around, and think of the check as paying for the morning as much as the meal. Done that way, it's a lovely two or three hours.

Here's who I'd send:

• First-timers who've heard about it and want to see it: brunch, Tuesday through Saturday.
• Families with young kids: brunch, or the first dinner seating.
• A group of six or more: yes. The place is built for it, and remember the service fee is already on the check.
• Anyone staying in San José or at the Palmilla end of the Corridor: yes, it's a short ride.

And who I'd send somewhere else:

• You want Mexican food: Los Tamarindos.
• You want one dressed-up dinner for two: Acre.
• You want a bargain or a quiet table: this isn't it.
• You're in Cabo San Lucas with no car and a short trip: skip the dinner. The fare and the dark take too much out of it.

Liking the idea of a farm brunch ten minutes from your hotel is a point in favor of basing yourself in San José, and I go area by area in where to stay in Cabo.

I'd go back for brunch, with someone who hasn't seen it yet. For my own big dinner out, I book Acre.

Here's how I'd text it to a friend: Flora Farms, yes, once, for brunch. Not Monday. Book early with a card, ask for the free tour, show up 40 minutes before your table and all together, they only hold it ten minutes. Bread, pizza, a Farmarita. Read the check before you tip. Uber out, taxi stand next door for the ride back. Don't do it as a late dinner from San Lucas... you'd pay the most and see the least.

Quick Answers

Is Flora Farms worth it? Yes, once, if you go in daylight and treat it as an outing with a meal in the middle. I'd skip it if you want Mexican food, a bargain or a quiet dinner, and I wouldn't taxi over from Cabo San Lucas for a late table.

How much does Flora Farms cost? About US$55 to $80 a person for brunch with one cocktail, and about US$90 to $140 for dinner with a cocktail and a glass of wine, tip included. Dinner can go past that.

Do you need a reservation at Flora Farms? For a table, yes, with a card, and a no-show costs about 925 pesos a person. You can walk the grounds, the shops, the grocery and the wine shop without one.

Is Flora Farms closed on Mondays? No. There's no brunch on Mondays, but dinner is served, and the shops open in the late afternoon.

How do you get back from Flora Farms? There's a taxi stand right next to the farm, so ask the fare before you get in. Uber picks up by the east entrance too, though I wouldn't count on a fast one late in the evening.