The highest-rated independent restaurant in Maryland, according to a new survey from OnDeck, is located right here in Montgomery County, Maryland. Gardenia’s Cafe, located at 8377 Snouffer School Rd. In Gaithersburg, opened in 2020 and has become a local favorite.
On Deck used Yelp.com to retrieve publicly available ratings and review numbers for 149,099 independent restaurants within the most populated cities in every state and across the following categories of cuisine served: pizza, vegan, burgers, breakfast and international cuisine (e.g., Chinese food). Gardenia’s Cafe was the highest rated restaurant overall, across all categories. More on Gardenia’s, including a video below from our very own Mr. MoCo:
When you enter @gardeniascafe in Gaithersburg you are immediately given a warm welcome by Genesis Gardenia Ortega and/or her mother Maritza. The Ortega family (husband and wife Fernando and Maritza and their kids Gardenia and Joshua) opened Gardenia’s Cafe one month before the pandemic shut downs in early 2020. Gardenia says “walking in those doors is just like walking into my house. From the bright colors, cleanliness, flowers, the smell of fresh food, and fresh ingredients.”
The menu is described as homemade, multicultural cuisine made with clean ingredients. Breakfast is served all day and they feature a rotating selection of cakes, pies, muffins and whatever else Gardenia feels like baking that day. For lunch and dinner, they offer a variety of burgers (veggie, lamb, beef), cheesesteaks, seafood, pastas, salads, and pastelles (Mom’s recipe). The café also includes a wide variety of vegan and gluten free dishes to choose from.
Both of Gardenia’s parents immigrated to the United States from El Salvador in the 1980’s. Before opening the café, Gardenia’s father Fernando worked as a sous chef at Columbia Country Club; “My Father Fernando decided to quit his job of 30 years to pursue a dream of ours. Our dream has always been to spread love and happiness through food. I have always dreamed of having my own bakery, but I did not imagine I would be owning a business at the age of 23 with my family. To be honest, I did not think I was ready for the challenges and responsibilities. Until one day I realized that you are never really ready and if you wait until you are, it’ll probably be too late. All I could do was give my business everything I have in me in order to succeed and to keep an open heart.”
The food is delicious and the love you feel from the family is what will make you a regular. Joshua Ortega, the head chef, has put together an amazing menu guided by the expertise of his father Fernando along with Gardenia’s baking to top everything off. I absolutely loved everything I had in my most recent visit (seen in the video below):”
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