Gar Woods Grill & Pier

Good view. Good food. Good service. We had fish and chips wedged salad and a crab sandwich. Very good

After a great two family bike ride along the river, we decided to go to an old favorite for lunch and libations.
As usual we got a great view table and great service. Drinks were excellent (if you like rum, the wet woody or stronger rock hard will not disappoint). Most of us enjoyed our lunch but skip the fish tacos– first ever disappointing meal my wife has had at Garwoods. If you are in South Shore try their sister location the Riva Grill– same great food and a great view as well.

The Prickly Pear Woody… holy hell its so good! Fried Oreos??? Tahoe view? This place is my happy place! You have to go, it’s life changing good. They effortlessly accommodated our 17 party group out on the gorgeous patio. The staff is so friendly and our waitress new what she was doing and new exactly what we’d like after chatting for a bit! We will all be back most definitely!

Gar Woods is such an awesome place to go and just relax and enjoy the amazing beauty of Lake Tahoe. The deck is huge and fantastic, food is very good and all of the variations of the Wet Woody — all I will say is be careful, they sneak up on you!
We have been here in a number of occasions,
Most recently Sunday afternoon — and just
Love the place. If you have kids — plan on spending some time on the beach (and likely leaving with a damp to wet child)…

Safeway menu for Ritz Carlton prices. The bread sticks were actually sticks. They were cheap, thin, crunchy. Total cost at Safeway: $ 0.50. Two wedge salads for $ 24, expect a quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce each, a couple slices of onion, bacon and a drizzle of dressing. Total cost at safeway: $ 1 a peice. $ 10 milkshake, was Hershey syrup in vanilla ice cream. Cost at Safeway: $ 1. The only saving grace: the Andes after-​dinner mint.
Save your money. This food does not live up to its price tag. This restaurant is definitely margin driven. With all entrées at around $ 40, you’d expect it was because there was a half decent chef. Not here though, our food was made by a cunning economist who at best, has pawed through a few gourmet magazines in their life.
Everything else at the restaurant, the décor, the views, the ambiance… Great. But I really didn’t expect them to go so half-​heartedly with the food.
Please do not support the current chef. He is taking advantage of people. If you want a great view with delicious food, head down to Tahoe city. There are a couple of great locales. Ask around!
But don’t eat here.

One of the most perfectly cooked lobsters I’ve ever had! Steak was tender and delicious. Husband loved his huge burger too! Crab cakes super yummy too! Deep fried Oreos a la mode compliments of the waitress for our anniversary was the cherry on top of an awesome dinner. All with gorgeous views of the lake.
Highly recommend.

We were lucky and scored a corner seat on the deck (the side that is first-​come, first-​served) on a perfect Sunday Tahoe afternoon. The place was jamming, so there was a little bit of a delay in service but just sit back, enjoy the view and relax. I opted for the fish and chips but they accommodated my wish for no fries with a substitution of a caesar salad. Perfect. I scored anti-​scurvy food with my decadent fried fish, which was thick and tasty.
My friends ordered fish tacos and a burger too — not much were left on our plates. Everything was really tasty. I went wild and got a mango smoothie too — the only downside was not much of a mango flavor to the drink.
This is NOT an expensive lunch — each entrée hovers around the $ 20 mark, give or take, but mostly you are paying for the view. Which is decadent!

We went to this place yesterday for lunch. Even though it was crowded we were seated immediately by the window inside with a gorgeous view of the lake. we drunk the woodie as it was recommended by our fantastic waitress (rum based cocktail) then ate the sliders which were great, a Caesar salad and the quesadillas. All first experience amazing and this restaurant is also great as you can boat to it and come
from pier. We will go back

You definitely pay for the view here! The restaurant overlooks the lake and has a beautiful view of the water and trees! Everything here is pretty overpriced– a burger cost $ 20, and a sandwich cost $ 18. Overall the quality of the food is average. The deviled eggs appetizer was very delicious and was topped with caviar and had a truffle flavor to it. The fried egg blt was alright. It was an interesting concept to combine breakfast and lunch foods but it could have been executed better. It was served on an english muffin that was way too small to fit the enormous fried eggs. The service here was also average. Overall this is a nice restaurant if you are willing to pay a lot for just average tasting food.

I took our family to Gar Wood’s to celebrate Mother’s Day. They were running a brunch buffet special as they were expecting to do over 800 covers. $ 50 for adults/​$ 25 for kids. Sounds expensive, but was worth every bite. Crab, Shrimp, Prime Rib, Lamb, Chicken, Eggs Benny, Waffles, Caesar Salad, a massive dessert selection and even a Bloody Mary Bar. No doubt I missed some items. This is not your typical Tahoe «Pay Per View» restaurant that has location but does not deliver on the food quality.
I understand Gar Woods does this fancy brunch buffet 3 times a year (Easter, Mother’s Day & Father’s Day). We are for sure going back.

Every summer my husband and I go to Tahoe for a day or two and we have eaten here a several times. Like others have said, go for the view and the drinks. The food is usually very, very good but once or twice it wasn’t quite on point; cheap steak, cold soup that kind of thing. The food is a little on the pricey side for what is basically a casual menu jazzed up to fine dining. It can also get very loud here in the evening with loud, tipsy parties and loud music. Go early if it’s a date. Final downside, the customer service usually leaves something to be desired. No one is warm and friendly, service is often rushed and I always feel like the staff is estimating their tip with every interaction. Not uncommon for a tourist hub but still a bummer each time.
All of that being said, such a fun drink menu! I’m a huge fan of a good drink menu and this one is engaging, enticing, funny and varied. The view is glorious but sometimes the people watching is even better! This is an awesome spot for a laid back couple’s meal or even small group of friends. Word of warning, they’re not joking around with their cute little menu warnings about strong drinks! Pace yourself if you don’t want your romantic night on the town to turn into a not so romantic migraine back at you suite ;)

I will forever be a huge fan of their gorgonzola cheese garlic bread. If you order nothing else, get this. You might be tempted to get it without the cheese. You’d be wrong.
Gar Woods has been around for a long time, and you can see that in their menu items and style. It has a very old-​school steakhouse vibe, with prices to go along with the location and atmosphere. They’re famous for their Wet Woody cocktails, which can lay you out faster than you can drink one. Their bartenders wear ties and white collared shirts, for pete’s sake!
However, beyond this rich mid-90’s style food culture is a place that genuinely cares about the taste and quality of the product they are putting out. They’re old-​school Tahoe, they realize that. But they’re still putting out good food that puts the new guys to shame.
Their wedge salad, for example. Fresh, crisp lettuce served with tons of bacon and bleu cheese and all the delicious goodness that goes along with it. The aforementioned gorgonzola cheese garlic bread – salty, creamy, buttery, garlicy. Basically all of my favorite adjectives. Sprinkled with some of those cute confetti red and yellow peppers because you shouldn’t forget to add that pop of color.
If nothing else, you owe yourself a Wet Woody and some garlic bread, don’t you think?

We had planned on having lunch at the Manzanita at the Ritz Carlton, but drove up there to find out the hotel was closed. Asked the front desk of the hotel to ask where they would recommend we go for a lovely lunch with a view. He immediately suggested Gar Woods Grill & Pier. Turned out to be the best!
Food, cocktails and view were all fantastic. We sat outside, after it had snowed all night Friday. But it was a gorgeous Tahoe day, with clear skies and nice weather. The view was spectacular, right on the lake with a majestic view of Emerald Lake and the mountains all topped with snow.

We had a reservation but got there a lil early so we sat at the bar area facing close to the windows and ended up just staying there to eat.
I had steamed clams and my boyfriend had fish and chips.
The steamed clams: it came with supposedly a garlic bread but mine had some cheese on it, which was too much. A bite of the bread then some clams, the cheese just overpowered the taste of the whole dish which was just not good. I ended up just eating the clams and left the bread on the side. Clams was cooked perfectly and broth was tasty!
Fish and chips: i didnt try the fish but heard it was good. Their crunchy fries is definitely something to try out here. It came with the fish. Overall, a pretty decent plate for lunch.
Hot fudge sundae: the whipped cream was old. It literally tasted odd and nasty. We just took it off, and had the sundae. No one should mess up a simple hot fudge sundae but unfortunately here they did with that old tasting whipped cream.
I also had a mimosa which cost $ 15 there was nothing special to it. Would have liked to seen the price in their menu (it wasnt on there) before i ordered my golden mimosa.
All servers were friendly and very attending. Experience here was good and yes would come back for another try :-)

Patio dining heavy with sexual innuendo here at «The Home of the Wet Woody.» Woodies of many varieties are available — rum drinks.
We settled for tea and enjoyed a lunch of salads; large, sweet grilled prawns; and garlic bread with Gorgonzola cheese baked-​in. The cheese was a little much, actually. My wife really enjoyed her wedge salad. My house salad with red pepper vinaigrette was decent but could have used more red pepper and less vinegar.
The service was resort-​town-​slow-​time casual. No one was sure who was waiting on us for awhile. One comment — the patio looks out on a modest little body of water called Lake Tahoe. Maybe we could listen to the sounds of nature instead of rock music on the sound system.

We came here for Valentine’s Day, as I got a bit of a late start on reservations anywhere in Reno, I expanded my search to Tahoe and found they had openings. It was actually great because we were there for sunset (alright, you can’t see the actual sun from that building, but the lake was lovely pink and lavender).
We came in and were seated pretty quickly. It was super busy in there (what restaurant isn’t on V-​Day), and lots of people in post-​skiing outfits. We decided to order the Wet Woody drink (ALWAYS ALWAYS order what a restaurant is famous for!). We didn’t regret that. It was a peachy, maybe rummy, fruity, blendy drink with 151 floated on top, quite enjoyable fru-​fru sort of drink.
So we got the crab cakes as an appetizer– wow, they were fantastic! They had a southwestern sort of flavor with garnishes of corn and beans, large chunks of crab, and a delicious sauce. Super good. Then I ordered the Diver Scallops (when that’s an option on the menu, there is no other choice, I must get scallops!). The were cooked perfectly over a crab risotto which was also quite excellent. There was a blood orange sauce on part of the plate and maybe a basil oil on another part, so it was really nice to dip the scallops in the different flavors. My husband ordered the sea bass on the Valentine’s Day special menu. He really liked it, but mentioned he could tell the fish had been previously frozen– something about the texture in the middle was different, but he still really liked it.
At the end of the meal we opted to order the deep fried oreos, having never tried them before. Neither of us were fans of those. I didn’t know what we were expecting, nor whether they are always served this way, but they were single oreos covered in huge amounts of breading, then fried. There was so much bread to the oreos, you missed any oreo flavor. Despite this, the rest of the food was so fantastic, it didn’t affect the star rating. Just don’t order them. Blech.
The bill came to $ 140 with all the aforementioned items, just to give you a heads up, in case you’re dining on a dime… check the menu prices (I mean, the crab cakes were fantastic, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a $ 20 appetizer). On non-​holidays, the server said they are mostly busy on the weekends with people hungry after skiing and other travelers. Overall quite delicious, I’d return for special occasions.

Decided to do a thanksgiving dinner at Garwoods. Absolutley phenominsl! Traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and pumpkin pie. Tge best part of all… no clean up :)

I LOVVVVVEEEEEEEEE Gar Woods! First things first, this place has some pretty ridiculously beautiful views of Lake Tahoe. Secondly they are home to one of Lake Tahoe’s signature drinks… The Wet Woody! Beware my friends the wet woody is pretty dangerous… Don’t let the fact this these delicious cocktails go down smooth fool you into thinking they aren’t strong! If you’ve never tried a wet woody, I always recommend trying the original first then if your still standing or up for the challenge try one of their 18 other wet woody modifications!
Food is a ok, but lets be honest your not coming to Gar Woods Grill & Pier for a 5 star meal, your really coming for the Wet Woody, amazing people watching, the stunning views of Lake Tahoe and the fried food to soak up all of that rum you just ingested!
Love this place!

I come to Gar Woods all the time with family when up in Tahoe and always have a great experience. Word to the wise: the Woody drinks in any variation are awesome! Favorite? Rock Hard Woody. Now take a moment and visualize my boyfriend having to order that in front of my entire family. Priceless. Buyer beware though while they taste like a trip to the islands they will get you!!! Those babies are strong.
Aside from drinks I find the food at Gar Woods to be very enjoyable! The French Onion Soup is an awesome starter or addition to any meal. Deck Favorite Salads are huge and can certainly be your entire meal! I had the Scallops last night and they were delicious! My only issue with the food is that they use tons of sauces and butter especially on the fish. Next time, I’ll ask for no sauce, so it shouldn’t be a problem. They’re very nice about allowing substitutions (like extra veggies rather than potatoes, etc.)
Oh yeah and did I mention that they have FRIED OREOS on their dessert menu? Served with vanilla ice cream… save even just enough room for a bite of those bad boys!
Service is super friendly, and while on the laid back and slower side it’s what you need to brace yourself for in this area of the lake. No need to be in a rush around here so don’t let it bother you. Grab a friend, get a Wet Woody and have a good time. Ha!

The view is the best!!!
The place is nice, the food is good, but the view is to die for!
We had a group of 8 for a bday lunch/​drinks and at first we sat on the great patio. Then it began pouring rain and we had to move inside.
I ordered the bbq quesadilla and it was just ok. A friend ordered the fries — they are very crunchy.
They were very nice and gave the birthday girl a slice of ice cream pie for free.
We also got the fried oreos — they were way better than expected.