Cedar Grove Lodge

Staff was incredibly friendly and helpful — 5 stars for them. The lodge was basic but had great decks overlooking the river, and wading, fishing, unique swimming spots, hiking spots all over with no crowds on a holiday weekend. A thousand times more relaxing than Yosemite. Caught a few trout too.
With a little help, the place could be even better. Didn’t know til the last day that horses were available, or where the best swimming spots were. Tell people!
The food choices were basic American fare. Glad they had veggie burgers, but think the food could be much better with more options. BBQ chicken was dried out. Restaurant needs renovated.
Lodge had new bedding, but some new décor is badly needed in the restaurant.
One outdoor grill was available, but rusted all the way through. If there were 2 – 3 functioning grills, people would use them!
Wifi was SO SLOW to be unusable, even next to the router. I guess it’s tough getting internet out there.
Lodge is really 2 stars, but the location and staff are 5 stars!

Delicious pork ribs, see my photos. Nice room, old but clean. No bed bugs definitely. Quiet even if close to the creek.
WiFi provided, BUT so pooooooooor, you can do nothing but Google search, can NOT even check in there.

Kings Canyon is beautiful, even with the semi-​freak hail storm on our hike to Mist Falls and overnight. Hence the reason why it would be so nice to have a working heater in our room to keep our 3 month old boy from freezing. The electrical may be the issue as the outlet is ajar and there is duct-​tape holding the power supply in place. Hmm.
Room was not very clean, there are only fridges in ‘deluxe’ rooms, and there are peculiar and somewhat frightening smudges on the walls in bedroom and bathroom. Little things need upgrading throughout, but when you are the only game in town I suppose you only need to keep the roof from leaking to stay in business.
Provided you set the expectations bar significantly lower than what you are accustomed to, then it is fine. I will say the niceties include free Wi-​Fi, edible food in the restaurant, a pack-​and-​play made available to us for the boy, and linens that are mostly clean (found a few hairs not ours), very friendly staff! and the icing on the cake is the awesome proximity to the river… unfortunately we were in a room overlooking trees and parking lot.
All-​in-​all a beautiful setting with sub-​par accommodations that did not make (certainly) or break our experience. Would not stay again

The location is the main draw of this motel in Kings Canyon National Park. The motel itself leaves much to be desired so you would only want to stay here if you have plans inside the canyon. We just returned from a week-​long stay here and we never felt that the place was over-​crowded so if you want to escape the crowds, this place is for you.
Room:
The room is standard 1970s motel décor. All but 3 rooms are located on the third floor. They do have a luggage cart but you’ll have to ask nicely to get it as it’s not something they offer to everyone. There are no television and while the walls are sufficient to keep noise down, the connector doors between rooms are paper thin and you will hear everything in the room next to you. Couple that with the fact that parents’ do not discipline their children and allow them to use the hallways as a playground and you might get frustrated with the noise levels. I would suggest asking for an end-​room (with no connecting doors) but then you would be next to the outside doors which will be constantly slammed by everyone. It’s amazing how inconsiderate people can be when it comes to slamming doors here.
Bathroom:
Very small shower where hot water can either be scalding or lukewarm. Other than that the bathroom is sufficient. The outlet in our bathroom kept resetting itself but once we became aware of it, it wasn’t a big deal.
Staff:
We found everyone on the staff to be incredibly friendly and helpful and I have no complaints in that department. By the way, I saw many people wandering the motel looking for the registration desk. It is located inside the market against the wall closest to the door. They also offer free ice to guests at the motel, just go to the snack bar with your cooler and they’ll fill it up for you.
Wifi:
We stayed here for 6 nights and I think I was able to check my facebook maybe 3 times the entire trip. I’m not even sure why they offer WiFi because it does not work. Do not come here expecting to keep up with civilization beyond the canyon. I would complain that they offer this free wifi to the public but even at 1am I was still not able to get a connection. Think of it as a good time to wean yourself from facebook. ;-)
Common areas:
The patio area is decent for hanging out but the river itself is a better location to sit and enjoy nature. The river is about 40 yards from the hotel and has plenty of picnic benches and rocks to sit on.
Restaurant:
I wouldn’t really call it a ‘restaurant’ because it’s just a snack bar but the food was decent. The prices are reasonable, especially for a National Park. We ate breakfast there a couple of times and had a burger at one point and while it wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad either. They did have an outside BBQ set up which was a good value and tasted good. I’m not sure if they always have the BBQ but you should opt for that if they do. Note: The lodge does not allow cooking of any kind on the grounds and you will have to go to a picnic area if you want to cook your own food.
Entertainment:
The only real ‘entertainment’ you will get is campfire talks with the Rangers at the amphitheatre (short walk from the motel). If you have kids, I would recommend bringing some movies and games to keep them busy. The park itself provides plenty of natural entertainment with miles and miles of trails to explore. The canyon is gorgeous and you will not be disappointed in that respect.

Didn’t stay here, but spent a bit of time using their WiFi for a project I was working on for work. The WiFi was kind of weak, but you really need to suck it up when you’re on vacation sometimes and just avoid that stuff. Seriously. (That includes ME)
The people that I spoke with, and I spoke with at least 5 employees, were really nice and friendly. This place is strictly no frills, but if you’ve gone this far into the park, I hope that you get that this is the gig. Most people we ran in to were, as I refer to it, «gamers.»
Anyway, showers and laundry in the back of the parking lot, a nice porch to eat some basic food while looking at the river, nice people, and I really mean NICE PEOPLE, and of course the Park Itself. What a beautiful and serene place. Maybe 10 percent of the number of people in this place that you would see in Yosemite at the same time. Just serene, quiet, and very beautiful.
Thanks for being really cool, people of Cedar Grove Lodge.

We stayed there one night but I wish it was seven. The staff was very nice and the views were amazing! The WiFi was down but if you are looking to be on Facebook the whole time you are here you are missing the point. Such a great place!