the steinbeck house / best cellar gift shop

Of course we had to go here for lunch after visiting the National Steinbeck Center. It was so cool! The house is completely staffed by volunteers, which is amazing. Lunch was good...but my favorite part was going down to the Best Cellar Gift Shop, finding some unusual Steinbeck books and books about him, and then getting them embossed! John Steinbeck books from the Steinbeck house?? So wonderful. I can't wait to delve into them and get to know who he was as an author. You gotta just go.

I had lunch with friends here. It is a beautiful old house. The food was very good. We had great service. The cellar gift shop was fun to browse in, but the selection was limited.

The Steinbeck House where author John Steinbeck was born and raised is a rich piece of Salinas,CA history. To see the roots of his childhood and learn that he started writing before any formal schooling was so interesting. The docent led tour is enriching and informative. The house is a restaurant run by a guild of farmers' in Salinas. The ingredients are locally grown and the recipes look delicious. It is well worth the time to stop and peek at this world famous author's formative years. It's too bad that his memorabilia was left to his third wife who then left it to her daughter. The daughter did not see fit to donate the artifacts to this museum or John Steinbeck's son, Thomas, so sad.

We were fortunate to see and hear the story of John Steinbeck's boyhood home. The restaurant is closed on Mondays - we had just visited the fantastic National Steinbeck Center, and walked a couple of blocks to the house. A docent was just coming to the shop and opened the home and gave us a marvelous and very informative tour. I highly recommend both the house and the National Steinbeck Center. Next time we will visit when the restaurant is open.

Really interesting to hear Steinbeck's story from the enthusiastic women who look after the house.Gift shop is well stocked although the Steinbeck books are a bit pricey.

Wonderful food, I enjoy reading steinbeck books, love that I got to learn more history of Salinas and got to just be where steinbeck lived. Wonderful experience, thanks.

The Steinbeck House, John Steinbeck's boyhood home, has been renovated and maintained by volunteers. The lunch menu changes weekly and volunteers serve the delicious lunches in the parlor and dining room. The gift shop is located in the basement and it, too, is run by volunteers. Proceeds go to charity and the maintenance of the home.

We were able to tour the downstairs portion of the house after our meal. (A large tour group had just left as we finished) The proprietresses were a wealth of information and the food was delicious.

This is a great museum. Thought it would take maybe 30 minutes but stayed over 2 hours. Have only read a few Steinbeck books years ago. Now am enthused to read many more. Learned a lot about history of the area as well as WWII also. Well worth getting off the freeway in Salinas to see. And, there's a great Welcome center on N end of town which will give you a map to find your way easily through myriad of one way streets.

A beautiful Victorian house frames a delicious and inexpensive meal. You should not miss this experience.

This is the perfect way to conclude your visit to the National Steinbeck Museum. The staff is excellent and went out of their way to recommend locations for my next stop in Monterey as well as providing directions.The selections in this shop are totally different from those found at the National Steinbeck Museum.If you are a Steinbeck fan, you will be interested to see his home.I recommend the walk from the Museum. It is just a couple minutes away. I would go to the National Steinbeck Museum first as you will learn a great deal about the house there which will enhance your visit to his home.

I was quite excited about seeing this sight...but never went in because there was a dude sitting on street corner, outside the house, snorting cocaine. The entire downtown area around this house and the National Steinbeck centre are in bad bad shape....and I'm not a wimp when it comes to travelling on my own but no way. So bloody sad 'cause it could be amazing.

We walked here from the Steinbeck Museum which is only a couple blocks away. Unfortunately, we could not eat here because they had a special tea going on. However, one of the volunteers ushered us into the front room and explained that Steinbeck was born in that room. The staff was very friendly and apologized that we couldn't see more of the house. There is a gift shop in the cellar. Be sure to stop here while visiting the main museum.

We turned up at the John Steinbeck house at 1.55pm hoping to have lunch in the former home of John Steinbeck. We almost turned away when we realised that it closed at 2pm, however we checked with the lady on the front. desk who welcomed us in without any issue. While the house operates as a restaurant it is primarily run with the aim of preserving the legacy of John Steinbeck. All of the staff are volunteers who are only too delighted to point out the pieces of furniture original to the house and to explain how the Steinbecks lived there. Photos of John Steinbeck and his family are everywhere and you do feel as if it still contains an essence of those who lived there. The food was excellent and very good value but I would have been happy to pay even more for the experience . The interiors are beautifully restored with period wallpapers and great attention to detail. As we were the last customers of the day instead of being hurried out the ladies gave us tour including behind the scenes explaining how it was in Steinbecks day. We finished in the little gift shop which is in the cellar and which closes at three pm where I purchased a 1939 edition of The Grapes of Wrath for 12 dollars. A great visit and well worth the drive to Salinas!

While cooling our heels one day after a whirlwind tour of Northern California, we discovered this delightful Steinbeck museum close to our motel. Stayed quite a while and enjoyed much of what was on display. One negative was that several of the video displays were broken, which apparently nobody knew about and did not seem too interested in fixing. Interesting B&W photography exhibit in same building, included in admission price.