The River Restaurant & Lounge

Worst dining experience I have had in years. The salmon I ordered was so overcooked and burnt that Santa wanted to gift it to all the bad children.

This honestly felt like an experience out of Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen nightmares… I ordered the Primavera which was SO bland and tasted only of milk, as if they poured milk into the pan and called it a day. You’d think a simple pasta dish would take 15-20 minutes to come out but no, it took the kitchen an hour to serve all our food. Not to mention, we saw the staff just wait in the kitchen doing absolutely nothing. Whilst we were waiting we saw other customers also walk out because of the long wait time.

It looks like there’s a mix of high and low reviews here so look, maybe the staff here are just inconsistent. It is one of two food options at the lodge so unfortunately people are deprived of options. If you’re happy with sitting for a long period of time and ultimately eating unseasoned food, then come here! Otherwise, save your time and money and go somewhere else.

The food is okay. It's pretty much the only restaurant to get food from in the area unless you want pizza everynight. The steak has been the best flavor wise by far. The salad bar is pretty good variety wise. Service is pretty good, fast, mostly correct, they don't write things down so we did get a couple sides different than what was requested. Anything with Alfredo sauce tastes like lightly seasoned white nacho cheese. I've attached a photo of their $18.00 Wings with BBQ sauce. They forgot the BBQ sauce 🤣

First time having food here. We were staying in the lodge and wanted to pick up some hot wings.
This is the saddest piece of hot wings i have seen for $20 (check image). When i ate it, i found it very dry and felt like left over pieces from days back. Is rhis a joke ?
The person who took my order, asked me if i need a bbq or buffalo style. I said buffalo. And i got a container filled with regular hot sauce!!

I don't know how the vibe is inside. I just waited in the bench until i got the order.
Not sure i am going to try the wings here again in future.

Over priced. Food is meh. Went to place a ToGo order and was told to come back in 20 min. to place the order.....? Why couldn't they have just taken my order at that time and then told me it would take 30-40min? Feel like since they are dealing with a lot of tourism that they would have a better system in place. :(

We had a great dining experience. I enjoyed the creamy Alfredo fettuccine, while my family had the black bean burger, sautéed veggies with rice pilaf, tomato pesto and wild mushroom ravioli, and a kids’ cheese pizza. Everything was flavorful and well-prepared. Though there was a 20-minute wait, the fresh salad bar that came with our entrees was a nice touch. A soup was offered, but we skipped it since it wasn’t vegetarian. The staff was friendly and the atmosphere was welcoming. We left satisfied and would happily return

I could not believe how unfriendly every employee was. Service was bad. The place was filthy. My feet were sticking to the floor at the salad bar (bagged lettuce).
Surprisingly, the entrees we got were very good so I wanted to point that out.
Clean your restaurant and hire friendly, attentive, FUN people. Put just a little effort in, management and this place would be famous. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options so people will keep coming. Ugh.

Dinner was average! We both ordered the Charbroiled Chicken Breast entrée. The chicken was basically a frozen pre-broiled chicken breast that was warmed up with choice of sauce. Meat was dry, rice pilaf was pasty and vegetables were zucchini and yellow squash. Can’t speak to other items on the menu. Service was good and friendly. Atmosphere was cozy.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

Very accommodating service. The food is okay and the selection is varied. Unfortunately, a few standard dishes such as Caesar or spaghetti Bolognese are missing. The portions are very large.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 5

We had the breakfast buffet it was ok but for 2 people $50

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 1

Brunch here was delicious. I enjoyed the meal here with family. I appreciate the service here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Oh my gosh best waiter so nice perfect seats and nice vibe loved it had the steak and torellini yummy ?

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge and ate breakfast at the River Restaurant the next morning. The food was acceptable though not outstanding. We are vegetarian and there was fresh fruit, oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs with vegetables, potatoes, toast, etc. The oatmeal toppings were left in a windowsill that felt dingy. My wife described the pastry she ate as greasy and she could not finish it. To their credit, the oatmeal was cooked well.

The waitstaff (there was a gentleman and a lady) were very cold and disrespectful to us and our visit to this restaurant was the low point of an otherwise enjoyable trip. Others were led into the restaurant and seated. However, my wife and I were ignored since we entered. Despite a $22 price tag, nobody asked if we wanted a refill of our coffees. We were given the check for payment and put our card inside but nobody collected it from us. The restaurant wasn’t exceptionally busy. After lingering awkwardly for more than 5 minutes, we went up front and paid. In any case we had no interest in coming back the following day.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 1

We decided to come straight to our hotel from the park and get dinner in the area. It took about 1 hour for our entrees to come out, it wasn’t until I told a lady who came to refill our waters after I had noticed the tables who came after us were receiving their meals. Our server did come to apologize for the wait, my husband did ask for steak sauce to come with his steak which never came. I want to give the benefit of the doubt because it was busy but the service at the restaurant that night was subpar. We realized we should have gone to the lounge to get drinks and food instead. Just disappointed with dinner experience especially for the steep price.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 1

My husband and I ate both nights during our stay at Yoseminite View Lodge. We sat at the bar which fit perfect for a Lodge Feeling. Both meals were excellent. HIghlights were: My husband had the flat iron steak with a compond butter sauce and I had the seared tuna over seaweed salad. SCARY GOOD. Highly recommend

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5