Carson Peak Inn

I have to leave a quick review in rebuttal to the 4 and 5 star reviews regarding the food and the waiter.
Food: One of the worst steaks I’ve had the displeasure of eating. They were out of potatoes and several other items on the menu.
Waiter: Yeah, he was nice, but holy crap that guy is weird. He didn’t come off like an «adorable…nerd» like some have reviewed. He was just straight uncomfortably quirky and creepy.
If you want bad food but an interesting experience with a waiter who is reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter… by all means…

We ate there a few days ago with a group of about 10 people comprised of two families. We had a wonderful time. This is a cozy restaurant just up from the town of June Lake. Philip, our host and server, was as charming and attentive as could be. The food is very good and we found the prices to be very reasonable, especially for a mountain setting during peak ski season. The night before, we ate at the Eagle’s Landing restaurant, which is further up the road and much more expensive. The wait time for our food at the Eagle’s Landing was interminable and the prices were higher than at the Carson Peak Inn. We will definitely return to the Carson Peak Inn the next time we are in June Lake.

Very cool place and great find! Cassidy is fantastic and Phillip is just pure entertainment and delightful. For these reasons, it should be 5 stars. The food was okay, Kale chicken soup awesome and surprisingly there are no vegetable sides other than an iceberg lettuce salad.

Very expensive and not worth the money. The steak had little flavor and the salad was blah. The ribs were pretty good, but very overpriced. The service was okay. Next time We are in June Lake we will skip this place. Oh well, we gave it a try.

This place is not about continual improvement. I bet this was good in the 60’s. I ordered the halibut and it looked like it was microwaved. Also they put way too much salad dressing on the salad. Way overpriced. With all of this said, I have not been able to find a good restaurant in June lake.

Nobody greeted us except for the drunk guy coming from the bar to go to the men’s room. We left. Looked a little pricey anyway. Thanks but no thanks.

Excellent food and great service Tuesday night. Thanks!!!

We have been going here for over 15 years now. Excellent service, excellent food!
Our little family of 4 (2 adults 2 kids) was able to share the hearty appetite of the Hawaiian ribs and we left so stuffed! Such a wonderful little gem tucked in the June Lake loop!

You get lots of food can easily share. The croutons are homemade and very addicting. I would like to see an option instead of just a bake potato with the meal. The pineapple glaze sauce on the ribs is excellent.

This place was good. Our waiter was AMAZING. Very personable, sweet, nerd kind of a guy. He hummed a song EVERY time he put dressing on a salad, I wasn’t sure if it was cute or weird but his personality was so lovable I decided it was just adorable. I made the mistake of ordering the chopped steak… Mistake… I dont like chopped steak, it was like a burger. I didn’t know. That was my fault. I tried my mom’s Filet Mignon and that was really good. The baked potato is ok, I prefer mashed potatoes. The meal also comes with a soup, which was chicken noodle that day. It was very good. I cannot comment on price.
Overall, the service was great. The food was good and the lack of side choices is what makes me give this place ³⁄₅ stars.

I felt compelled to write a review solely to address some of the other outrageous reviews. First off, the price is incredibly reasonable considering how much food you get. Clearly most of the people writing a review here have never been to a steakhouse other than Outback or some other suburban chain restaurant. For $ 40, you get soup, salad, a generous cut of steak, baked potato, and seasonal vegetables. So, at a normal steak house that would run you about $ 70. I’d consider the price point reasonable.
I was a little upset that they did not have baked potatoes available and I did not feel the substitute (french fries) was satisfying enough. The server was wonderful; I honestly think this is one of the best waiters I’ve ever had. My steak was overcooked (despite asking for a medium-​rare) and a little on the bland side. Small selection of wine by the glass but they were decent and cheaply priced (like $ 5?). They also gave us a free piece of cheesecake. I did not need that but obviously ate it because I’m a load.

Horrible place. I am 35 and felt like I needed to be 65 to enter. It’s definitely a throwback to a different period in time. The menu offers a small variety of food and all of the seafood is fried. Good luck trying to find anything healthy on the menu. They offered «Deep Fried Sea Scallops» for over $ 27.00. That’s just insanely priced.
Also, they put a bowl of croutons and raw green onions on your table. My wife and I were so disgusted by the overwhelming smell of onions that we couldn’t concentrate on anything else. I guess if you are over 65 and have lost your sense of smell and ability to rationalize the cost/​value equation then this place is for you. Otherwise, there are LOADS of other, better, more reasonably priced options in June Lake.

This place is simply the best.
A throwback to the continental steakhouses your parents used to take you, we were so happy to find it on our recent trip to Mammoth. Tired of the overpriced bistro/​brewhouse selection in the Village, we made the twenty minute drive to June and were so glad we did.
This place has a great menu of artery-​clogging goodness just right after a long day of hiking, a menu that includes a good salad AND soup AND garlic bread… all in a cozy, warm cabin-​like atmosphere. We only wished we could be here with the snow falling outside, it’s that cozy. One can make up their own combo, which is what I did — opting for the pork chop and ribs. I was amazed at the portion I received — a huge perfectly cooked chop along with a half rack of what might possibly be the best baby back ribs I’ve ever had. My GF chose the halibut, and her portion was also huge and delicious, with house-​made tartar sauce. Service was personal, friendly, and efficient.
No, the prices are not cheap. But the value was the best we found on our trip. Now, we’ve dined at Convict Lake, The Lakefront, and the Bistro and honestly we were consistently underwhelmed… especially by the value of the experience for the price paid. Only Toomey’s in Mammoth comes close to the CLI, but it offers a much simpler, more casual meal.
We ate for two days from the leftovers, savoring the memory of one of the finest meals we have ever experienced during our many trips to the Eastern Sierra. Heartily recommended!

I was visiting June lake and searched Unilocal for a nice dinner restaurant and found this one… absolutely fantastic! Friendly and very personable service and the dinner was great. Probably the best clam chowder I have ever had, creamy and rich with fresh clams and just slightly sweet. The salad had a wide choice of dressings all homemade. My ribs were slow cooked and very tender and delicious, everything homemade. What a great find, I will recommend this place to everyone.

Unilocal really needs a half star rating as 3 and ½ stars is what I wanted to give. And this is for the area, not big city competition i.e., don’t seek sophisticated, upscale fine dining in June Lake. Period. But then we weren’t looking for similar in June Lake. After hiking all day and wanting to stay in casual clothes (actually casual clothes were all we brought with us on this rugged camping, hiking trip to Mammoth Lakes and June Lake areas), we only wanted a bit nicer venue than the typical burgers and BBQ found in outdoor adventure environs. We read the reviews and took off to Carson Peak Inn. It was delightful. Our server Phillip was simply wonderful, on top of his game, attentive, informative and jovial; we loved him! Atmosphere was as another so well described; old fashioned, clubby, 50’s style, table clothes, relaxed and comfy.
Now to the food: we had the halibut with baked potato for an entrée, salad and the beef barley. All was good. Nothing too creative, just very nicely prepared simple food. Also, as others have commented here, the croutons are truly decadent!
As I say «it’s about the WHOLE experience» and it was a lovely one.
And btw, the prices for both wine and food were most reasonable and well matched indeed. At least IMHO.
Thank you Phillip and Carson Peak Inn for another enjoyable time in an incredibly beautiful area!

I would give this place five stars, not because its the best I’ve ever had, but because there wasn’t anything I didn’t like about it. And for that reason I think it deserves the five stars.
The atmosphere is not exactly a fancy Beverly Hills restaurant, but you’re also not in Beverly Hills. You’re in June Lake and the place is decorated appropriately. But I have to say that the staff could have been hired directly from the finest restaurants because they never missed a beat. Impeccable manners, courteous, attentive, knowledgable and catered to our every need even before we knew we had a need.
We started off nibbling on some croutons that were sitting on our table waiting for our salad to arrive and I’ve got to say that this place has the BEST croutons I’ve ever tasted, seriously! We ate most of them before our salad got there :-) The rest of the meal was amazing, everything came out perfectly timed and tasted great.
If you are more concerned with trendy looking places, this might not fit your style. If you want great food and amazing service at a reasonable (not cheap) price, then you have to put Carson Peak Inn on your list of Dining places to stop at. It’s well worth it!

After hearing all the rave reviews from my friend whose family goes up to June Lake from San Diego at least once a month, I was excited to try this place, especially since it was Valentine’s Day. A huge group of us went for dinner and we decided to splurge a little on food and wine.
Carson Peak Inn isn’t your typical steakhouse. Instead, it has a very homey, mountain cabin feel. There’s pictures of fish and other outdoorsy stuff hanging on the walls. It’s very fitting for the locale.
Our reservation was for 8pm, and we were seated pretty quickly upon arrival. After looking over the menu, I was pretty set on the ribs. Unfortunately, they were out of the ribs, so I settled for the prime rib. I ordered the combo dinner, which comes with a side of soup, salad, and baked potato.
Sadly, we were told that there was only one cup of clam chowder left. One cup. Who runs out of clam chowder, especially on Valentine’s Day and President’s Day weekend?
Miraculously though, they ended up having three cups of clam chowder available, which was a pleasant surprise. Our waiter brought the clam chowders out, on the house. I have to give credit where credit’s due: the service was impeccable. Our waiter was very attentive and personable. He checked on us multiple times and cracked a joke here and there.
However, the service couldn’t save the food. The clam chowder and the chicken noodle soup were both way too salty. It was like eating canned Campbell’s soup, full of sodium and more sodium. All I could taste was salt. Very disappointing.
The salad came next. Well, it was more like dressing with salad instead of salad with dressing. The lettuce was drenched in dressing. It would’ve been great otherwise. The blue cheese dressing mixed with the honey vinaigrette was surprisingly delicious and had lots of flavors, the vinaigrette balancing out the blue cheese. There was just too much of it on the salad.
And finally, my prime rib arrived. Huge portion. No complaints there. However, I had asked for medium rare, but the meat came out overcooked. It was very tough, not tender at all like prime rib should be. The meat didn’t seem like it was of good quality. The baked potato was also overcooked and extremely dry. It looked like it had been sitting out for awhile, not freshly baked.
The food ended up being a huge disappointment. Everything was either too salty or way overcooked. It’s unfortunate because Carson Peak Inn has quite the cute, charming atmosphere. I just wish the food was cooked better. For the price you pay, it’s really not worth it.

Excellent service and food
Writing my first Unilocal review on my 16^th wedding anniversary after reading all the good reviews about this place and agreeing with them all.

Dined here 25 times and hope to 25 more Lord willing… Visiting from LA on fishing trips.
Adjust your thinking people… They can’t staff for huge crowds so if its busy relax and take your time. The food is good and resonably priced unless you are CHEAP! The chicken is great, the steaks are okay… the soup, salad are great (blue cheese is a must) and the croutons… oh the croutons are the best! If you spend the day out on the lake or hiking this place is heaven! The waiter (have him most of the time… might be the owner) is always a gentleman and great to have helping us. He has waited on us when we were the only people in the place and he should have just kicked us out to beat the snow home and we still got an awesome meal. Forget BLT Steak, Mastros, RC, Cut and the others (I have to take clients to those and they are all great) something about this place, when you set your expectations right, causes me to dream about it all the time and I can’t wait to go back!
Enjoy but be patient and remember where you are:)

This place is a family favorite whenever we visit Mammoth for vacation. Aside from cost, everything here is just perfect. Our waiter (assuming he was the manager) was very friendly, even cracking a few jokes here and there. The décor is very «Mammoth» with fish trophies on the walls. The prices seem to be outrageous (25 – 35 $ for a meal), but is definitely worth it.
The food came quickly and fresh. The garlic bread was okay; there was enough garlic but a little crunchy for my liking. The soup comes in a small little cup, which is fine for what grand meals are to come. The salad was standard; I thoroughly enjoyed the honey mustard dressing. The ribs were to DIE for. The meat slides right off the bone just from holding it. The sauce is sweet and tangy. Overall best dish from here. I ordered the Filet Mignon, and it was very tender. Cooked perfectly with a wonderful glaze and sauteed mushrooms. Everything was delightful; a must-​have place whenever we are in Mammoth.
– Absolute best Honey BBQ Ribs
– Wonderful variety of quality food
– Has a very «Mammoth» environment
– Very pricey