Our go-to Mexican Restaurant in San Juan Bautista is Jardines de San Juan. The outdoor dining patio offers a spectacular garden oasis filled with green foliage, succulents, and flowering plants. The old western style building with its green trim, posts, and railings blends in nicely with the garden setting. Vibrant flowers and umbrellas, and a bright blue door add pops of color to the sea of green.

You may wonder why the street and restaurant look empty. We are masters at visiting places at off-peak hours, days, and seasons. We like to feel like the place is our own secret garden. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. On this particular day we were rewarded with a peaceful, low-key dining experience. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, the town of San Juan Bautista and Jardines de San Juan Mexican Restaurant are top on our list of places to visit.

This post was inspired by Thursday Doors and the WordPress Photo Challenge: It IS Easy Being Green.

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature sponsored by Norm Frampton allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world.

For more photos of San Juan Bautista see The Doors of San Juan Bautista and Wordless Wednesday – Mission San Juan Bautista.