The Lodge Restaurant

We have been coming to BBR for 10 years now. We frequently eat at the restaurants at BBR, because there really isn’t many other options. I honestly don’t understand how such a beautiful place can have such mediocre restaurants, with the exception of the very recent addition, Lakeside Bistro. Let me give you a few examples: Employees talking loudly about how terrible management is. When I asked them about what they were talking about, they completely unleashed there frustrations on us. Management, if your reading this, I suggest you listen to your employees, a lot of times they know best, they are the ones in the trenches and when they feel like they are contributing to making a work place better, something magical happens.
Your probably wondering who am I to give advice, well, I have been managing restaurants for 20 years.
Two more examples: last night we did eat at the Aspen lounge, we wanted to watch the World Series. The menu is exactly the same as the restaurant. WHY? Why do this! They did have specials, which were printed on plain white paper with lots of spelling errors, really? I’m pretty sure if Michael Chiarello came in to see his protégés work, he would turn around and walk out. Your servers have not been trained. They don’t know how to open a bottle of wine correctly, or serve dishes. My server handed me my dish, she didn’t set it down in front of me. I spent 38 $ for a ribeye and it was over cooked. Your servers and managers look less than thrilled to be at work and this gets translated into the badly written menu, and the terrible service, and management that has no desire to make it better.
Then the Lakeside Bistro opened. Wow! So refreshing. Great ambience, very good, yet still needs some polishing, service. The food is great, full bar. What’s wrong with this place? It closes at 3pm.
With that said, I honestly think this place could be so much better. If you had the right team; executive chef, general manager and trained employees, this place would be incredible, as incredible as the view and the scenery that surrounds it.

We’ve been vacationing at BBR for over 20 years, and it has been something of a tradition to have dinner at the lodge on our last night of vacation. We started on the deck at the Aspen Lounge and we were treated to one of the most spectacular sunsets we’ve ever seen anywhere! We went down to the restaurant at our reserved time and were immediately seated at a very nice table for two. I really wanted to be seated in whatever section our favorite waiter, Michael, was working, but he was maxed out, and the table we were given was terrific.
We had a little hesitation about coming to dinner after having read some less than favorable recent reviews. But tradition is tradition. There were enough favorable reviews for us to roll the dice.
Okay — the menu is definitely different than from years past. It is limited, but something to appease most appetites. I think the restaurant is still trying to find its stride, develop a more diversified menu as they figure out what works. My girlfriend started with a nice salad, I opted for the baked oysters. Salad was very good, the oysters were very tender but the breading or coating on them was a little on the mushy side and would have been better a little crispier. She had a filet, I had a New York steak. Both were perfectly cooked to our requests. Roasted baby Brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes completely a generous plate. The food was very good. The wine list is fairly expansive and seemed about right on price points. Our server was friendly, competent, informative and engaging, rounding out a pleasurable evening. For the life of me I cannot quite remember her name, though I know it began with an «A». I’d love to recognize her by name for the wonderful service she provided, sorry about that. For the sake of tradition, I am happy to report that a couple small chunks of the famous Ranch fudge came with the check, as always.
Michael managed to stop by our table to say hello for a few minutes and it’s always great catching up with a true gentleman.
True, it isn’t the Lodge restaurant of 20 years ago, but that isn’t really a bad thing. The physical trappings of the restaurant still capture the traditional Ranch ambiance, and of course, the views are perpetually jaw dropping. With the right leadership in the kitchen, along with the continued great service, the Lodge restaurant while still a work in progress, is definitely headed in the right direction.

The big picture: You can’t beat the view. Service is very attentive. And the menu has options for light and hearty eaters. The vibe is what we’d call «relaxed upscale». You are dining in a Lodge… and you’re in the mountains… so it’s not too fancy by any means.
The details: We’ve been coming to Black Butte Ranch since the 1970s! And this was the first time we’d dined at the Lodge in several years. It was terrific. We had a 4 adults and two small children in our group. All were happy.
There are 2 parts to the menu: the all day menu and the weekly dinner specials. It’s a good mix. The all day menu covers all the protein bases and has options for vegetarian eaters. The specials portion ups the gourmet factor with at least 3 appetizer additions and 4 entrees. Our healthy eater ordered the grilled vegetable appetizer, an entrée salad with perfectly cooked northwest salmon and a side of Brussels sprouts. All very good. What we all really noticed were details. For example, the calamari appetizer came with sliced fennel and farm greens. Nice surprise. Super good. The jumbo prawn appetizer was flavorful and well presented as well. Steak, fish and chips, starter salads, and a burger were also ordered. Portions were generous especially for the starter salads. We also like that extra veggies and starches can be ordered on the side. The rosemary bread is another extra touch that is well done.
The only item that received mixed reviews was the «shrimp toasts» — We liked the spice, but some of the group found it salty. Additionally, we found it odd that the starter salads came in big bowls, while the entrée salad was on a somewhat small plate. The entrée salads should be served in a big bowl and should look bigger than the starter salads.
We recommend dining here. This was the best meal we have had here in years. Entrees are $ 15-​$ 35. Sides are $ 7. Appetizers are $ 10-​$ 15. It can add up fast.

Hard to complain when you’re looking at that view, and for the most part we were very happy. Would have liked a little more variety on the menu but I was very impressed with my Elk dinner. My guy was not quite as happy with his tenderloin, which was overlooked and didn’t have a lot of flavor. Everything was pretty expensive. Dessert was pretty basic but yummy.
Would go back for the view, but only order apps and vino.

Great setting but so VERY slow with service. Recommended for long relaxing seating but if you need to eat and get on the road it’s not the best stop.

The overall experience here was good; however the restaurant was very cold. We had to put our jackets on to make it bearable. Menu was rather eclectic and pricey… I enjoyed my burger, but the others thought meh. The service was EXCELLENT from the hostess, to busboy to the server, Paul. All very personable and helpful. We’ll probably return. If for no other reason… we’ll visit with the staff. ;-)

Breakfast review
A surprise and great. Everything g is homemade down to the jelly. Omelet was great and not too big, cinnamon roll to start was fantastic

This was our 2^nd year doing Thanksgiving dinner here. Last year we had reservations for a party of 10 at 2p. When we got there about 10 – 15 min early, we checked in and then waited for almost an hour for our table. They did offer us a glass of champagne or wine, which ever we preferred. It was nice, but we were hungry and drinking alcohol wasn’t helping. Once seated though we had a great waiter and the food was amazing.
This year, however, our reservations were for a party of 8 at 3p. I advised the guy I spoke to when the called to confirm about what had happened the previous year. He said, «Well we can’t ask a table to leave.» I say why not? Can’t you let them know that there’s another party waiting? I digress… So we got there 15 min early. We checked in and they said it would be about 10 minutes. We expected to wait about 15 min. There were people milling around the waiting area… lots of people. From what I can gather, the 2 – 3 women who were checking people in seemed to not know how to make it all work. We were not happy. When we were shown to our table, the hostess said she had wanted to put us in the lower level of the middle floor. There were quite a few vacant tables available and we wondered why she couldn’t. Once seated our waiter came to take our drink orders. We went downstairs to get our buffet meal (it was better last year), and it appeared to be the gentleman cutting the prime rib’s first day. It took a good part of 3 minutes to cut one slice for the person ahead of me. The ‘sweet potatoes’ were anything but. We all got back to our table and drinks still had not come. We waited another 10 min before drinks arrived. No bread of any kind was brought, nor was there any at the buffet. Other than the ‘water boy’ filling our water glasses, that was the last we saw of our waiter until he brought us the check. My husband laid down his credit card, and again, we waited almost 10 minutes for the waiter. When he didn’t show, my husband put his credit card back in his wallet and laid down cash; then we walked out. Very disappointing. Next year we’re going to either Pronghorn or Brasada.

My husband and I went to the Lodge @ Black Butte Ranch. The scallops were delicious and I also had the pub Mac And Cheese with shrimp. The whole meal was scrumptious! The best part about it all was that the bartender made me my favorite drink. A Bees Knees with tequila instead of gin. If you are ever in the you have to stop buy.

Ok Food. Very slow delivery of food. The wait staff is nice and tries hard. The kitchen is the problem in my opinion

Extremely disappointed.

I’ve been going to the lodge for years every summer and to sum it up the quality of the food fluctuates. The wait staff is always really nice and personable and the view is absolutely to die for. There really is no better setting for a restaurant. The food is good but it’s really expensive and for what you pay it should probably be better. It’s a great place for a date or family dinner though and one of only a few options around black butte. If you’re looking for something a bit more casual and slightly less pricey check out Roberts pub at big meadow.

Went to The Lodge for an anniversary dinner with my husband and had a wonderful experience. Of course the view is gorgeous but the service and food were excellent as well.
The calamari appetizer was a delicate and well balanced plate (actually was my favorite item we ordered). Grilled romaine salad was equally tasty. The chicken entrée was a little sweet for my taste (it would have been nice for the menu to mention the sauce was more sweet than savory). My mixed drink was well balanced.
Our server was welcoming, knowledgeable, and prompt. Drinks, bread, appetizer, salad, and entrée all came out with perfect timing in between each new plate.
2 drinks, appetizer, and shared salad and entrée totaled $ 65. Both my husband and I were perfectly satisfied by the end of our meal. I feel my time at The Lodge was worth the price and I look forward to my next visit.

The food was great but the service and drinks were not. We didn’t get our drinks until 45 minutes after we ordered them! And then we asked to get the drinks for free, he said to go ahead and order another round right away… Telling us our first round was taken care of. When we got the bill, it wasn’t. We all refused to pay for our first round and they honored that, but it was a pain to get to that point.
However, the food was delicious. Brussel sprouts, the scallops special, the salmon special and the filet were great. So happy about our dinner. The whole experience was not what we expected for a $ 30 – 35 entrée and $ 10 drinks.

We arrived just before they closed for lunch. We were greeted with a smile and offered the best seats in the house… oh, what a view! Our service was excellent during our stay. Our group ordered everything from soup and salad to Lamb. We had no complaints! Our drinks we refilled regularly and we were never rushed. Would love to go back if we are visiting Sisters again.

Mixed results for food and service. Prime rib was not cooked to order and prime rib was missing au jus. and was not. warm. Lamb was fatty. Scallops were good, coffee was tepid. For the price, it should be memorable. Neither the food nor the service was.

Still the best breakfast at the ranch. And the take out pizza is a great home option. I always like to come early and have a drink at the lounge upstairs.

Just had the Best dinner tonight. It had been years since eatting here. Michael, the server, still here and also the greatest. He always remembers us. Loved new menu options. Had beet salad with brussel sprouts… amazing! Also had shrimp salad… fabulous! And they serve village baker of bend bread! And after 42 years, still serve a little fudge to end !

Always a great meal at The Lodge!
We had the lamb which was excellent and the smoked salmon had a terrific presentation and flavor to match.
Great views and friendly service to match.

I am beyond frustrated and angry with this restaurant! We have eaten here for over 25 years, but never have I seen the portions get so tiny as they have the last 2 years.
We ordered the halibut which came with some kind of grain like accompaniment which did not sound great to us so asked for the mashed potatoes instead. Thank God we ordered small caesar salads first which were extra. Had we not we would not of been even a bit full. Im a small person and was still hungry as my husband was upon leaving. For $ 30 a plate let me tell you what we got. One tiny piece of halibut about 2 «x 3» and a tiny scoop of mashed potatoes with a little tiny cup of some kind of gravy /​sauce for them and a tiny little cup of some kind of hollandaise sauce for the fish! THATS IT! No parsley garnish, no slice of fruit, no steamed veggie-​NOTHING but a white plate. The bread offered is just a sour dough they probably bought at the local supermarket. Blah tasting and plain. Why not serve some nice home made bread or rolls? While good but not the best by any means I have had –NOT worth $ 30 bucks a plate! Im glad I didn’t have any wine or drink other than water. As it was with tip it was a $ 90 bill and we had no dessert ! My granddaughters quesadilla looked and tasted better for $ 5 bucks and she at least got full .
All I can say is SHAME ON YOU for ripping customers off! Just because you offer beautiful scenic panoramic views does not justify serving out tiny portions. You use to be SO MUCH BETTER than that!
With that said we will not be coming back to your restaurant again!