June Bug Cafe

Dinner was great! I had a steak that was too salty, but overall everything was great!
Breakfast was less amazing, but still a pretty solid breakfast. I love the space, though! I always grabbed a table by the window.

«It’s like if Patagonia opened a café.»
–Abraham Lincoln
«It’s like a more granola version of the Prancing Pony in LOTR where the hobbits meet Aragorn.»
–Beyoncé
I was staying at the hostel and was kind of expecting just generic hotel food, then I got a breakfast burrito one day before going into the park and it was killer! I ate every meal here afterward, and everything I had was well above average. Great menu variety, beer on tap, awesome atmosphere to hang out in after a long hike even if you’re not staying at the hostel. Seriously, everything is good, would give it 6 stars if I could.

Absolutely marvelous. Great, simple and hearty meals. Always something vegetarian. The staff are fantastic, helpful and friendly. The ambience is friendly and convivial. We want to move here forever.

Absolutely outstanding food! I was skeptical looking at the place, but this place is a hidden gem. I had the pork chop and my wife had the salmon… and they’d rival any fancy restaurant on the central coast.

I recently stayed at the Bug for two days and two nights. The Hostel itself was delightful. The Café was delicious. Ate breakfast and dinner there both days. The food was ample in quantity, and very well prepared. Delicious and filling. Great place with great atmosphere. Definitely recommend the Hostel and the Café

EN: Really bad food! You do better having bread and cheese/​bacon on our room in stead of having food at the bug resto.
FR: mauvaise nourriture, j espère juste né pas être malade!

The food was excellent! My friends and I stayed at Yosemite bug and came here for dinner and breakfast twice. They use fresh, organic & local ingredients, and the service was great. It’s like a cafeteria style where you order your food and they will bring it to your table. The prices for dinner is anywhere from $ 12-​$ 26 per entrée. I thought was a bit high but then again it’s CA and it’s worth paying it when the food is so good. There are two areas with couches and fireplace, there is outside seating. There are shelves filled with board games. A nice cozy atmosphere.

We were at the Bug recently for a family wedding. We had breakfast two mornings. The food was tasty and cooked well. Opening for business at 7am was very convienent. What worked well for us was having our group (quite large) be able to drop by the Café at the Bug and have things be yummy, quick and casual. Even if you’re not staying there, it would be a good place for breakfast before hiking or touring Yosemite.

Huge high five to the Bug! We are locals and go here several times a month. The menu is always being recreated with fresh, seasonal foods. Prices are reasonable and portions are generous.
I love the variety of international travelers who visit the hostel, and the peppering of locals who we see at the Bug Café. From time to time, there is often live music played in the café which is wonderful. Our family loves going here!

We stopped at the Bug after a LONG day of hiking Clouds Rest. This was one of the recommendations from where we were staying as «where the locals go.» I always like to go where the locals go because it is usually good. We got a beer and dessert to start dinner (we got there around 4 and dinner is served until 5). Homemade Peach pie and locals beers were delicious– then we had spicy chicken curry soup and ahi tuna with rice/​quinoa and grilled summer veggies. It was a tasty bite to eat. Great, relaxing atmosphere and wi-​fi!

Review is for service only
After driving over two hours we excitedly arrived to look up at the menu and see that lunch ended at 2pm it was 2:03pm there was a woman at the counter just completing her order and then sat a a nearby table. I stood there at the counter with a petite young lady at the register wearing a beanie completely ignoring me. Yes I completely understand lunch stops at 2pm. I get it BUT???
Couldn’t she have looked up and at least said maybe something like «sorry folks lunch ends at 2pm but you can still order drinks» she said nothing. I stood there for approx 4 – 5 minutes with her continuing to move things around clean etc. No acknowledgement, really?
How sad that you can work in a customer service business and not give a rats behind about someone standing right in front of you within inches for goodness sake. Just an acknowledgment would have made our wasted drive seem okay and we probably would have laughed all the way back to the car at our silly mistake but ignoring us was hurtful.
I work extremely hard for my money and sometimes I have to be nice and friendly when I’d rather not but that’s what I get paid to do. It’s called a job, if you can’t be nice to people go work where you have no personal contact.

I thought the food here was good! There was a computer for internet, free wifi, a mini library and board games. There was even a band playing that night. Fun place!

We stayed at the hostel a few days while hiking in that park up the road. Take away lunches are good. Breakfast is good too.
We were told the café was good before we arrived but our experience doesn’t reflect that. Everyone at the Yosemite Bug is oriented toward making customers happy. However, they wouldn’t have to work so hard at that if they delivered a better product.
The night cook is a mess. On our first night, my husband ordered salmon. When it was delivered, my eyes shot up at the thick black burned layer at the bottom of the salmon. I had pasta, which was just boring. The next night I ordered tofu and it came to my table with a thick black layer at the top and no cooking at the bottom. It was so burned that char was the only flavor. The tofu was not marinated, nothing done to give it flavor. I took it back, they made the pasta for me and returned my money. They only had two vegetarian dishes on the menu versus four meat dishes. After 6 hours of hiking, I wanted protein, not carbs. There are several items on the lunch menu that easily could transition to the dinner menu but the menu is different.
Portion size… most of us are in Yosemite to participate in outdoor activities like hikes, which require a lot of energy and calories. I was still hungry after all of my meals and ended up supplementing from the big box of granola bars I brought with me. I cannot even tell you the number of granola bars I ate while staying here.
The kitchen gets really backed up at peak times but sometimes your dinner companion’s meal arrives several minutes before yours does. There are certainly pacing problems.
The man that I think is the owner was strolling through the café looking at people’s food the night my husband received charred salmon. I wonder why he is looking at burned food and not discussing it with his cook?
This café is attached to a hostel and as such, offers a kitchen for you to cook your own food. If you won’t be exhausted after your day in Yosemite, I’d suggest that you cook your own dinner.

This little café that accompanies the «Yosemite Bug» hostel is in the middle of nowhere. So you expect that the food is going to anywhere from bad to mediocre. After all, they have absolutely zero competition and they already have hungry guests on the premises. I expected to go into here paying top dollar for terrible food.
Thankfully I was completely wrong. The food here is not only reasonably priced but it is excellent. I ate here for dinner and breakfast for 2 days and I was never disappointed. For breakfast I had eggs and bacon with toast and another day I had the breakfast burrito. Both were very good. For Dinner I had the pork loin which was pretty good and the salmon which was absolutely excellent. Breakfast ranged from 5 – 9 dollars and dinner was 10 – 18.
This is cafeteria style ordering but they bring your food to you. Can’t really rate on service here. However, I will say that the food came out very quickly. Average of 10 minutes from ordering to the table.
If you’re staying at the hostel you will be delightfully surprised. If you’re on your way to Yosemite and you’re hungry this is a worth a special stop.

Come one and come all! Hiking and eating great food. Nothing gets better than this! Remember every item is ½ priced for kids and yet the portions don’t seem much smaller.

I’m a local and come here every time I come home from college in San Diego. This place is so delicious and can easily compare to any of the restaurants down there. Even though the menu is small, it makes the food THAT much better. I love that they use local ingredients and even items from their own garden.
It is pretty pricey for a café at a hostel and you can easily expect to drop around $ 30 per person (unless you get a smaller plate like Mac and Cheese). The last time I was here I had trout with a romesco sauce and seasonal veggies, which was grilled zucchini. I’m a huge foodie and have eaten all over the world. This trout plate has definitely won my heart over for top 10 favorite meals!
It’s a really cool place to eat and definitely worth the stop on the way back from the park!

The yin to the Bug’s yang!
A delightful café/​restaurant with a decent beer selection, delicious food (vegan friendly), and a warm environment. They set us up with a packed lunch for our day of snow shoeing and even wrapped the bread separately so the sandwich wouldn’t get all soggy.
Ate here for every meal and was never disappointed!

I am a local, and I love this place. Dinners are consistently good (trust me I eat there at least once a week) and there portions are out of control, I always bring a to go box when I eat there! There is always a vegan/​veg. option. They try to use local ingredients and they even sometimes use items from their very own garden, totally cool!
I usually expect to drop $ 20 on dinner and a drink, but I usually get two meals out of it, and it is so good. I had pulled pork last night and it was hot and spicy! The coleslaw was a good pairing with it, somewhat sweet to tame the spice of the pork, and the mashed potatoes were to die for!
I usually do a combo Bug experience on Sundays– restorative yoga, spa, and dinner at the café-​what a great way to finish the weekend!

TIP: Stop by on your way to or from Yosemite – you’re welcome at the café even if you don’t stay at the hostel!
One year later, and the Café at the Bug is still, thankfully, exactly the same as it was when I last visited!
It’s so comforting to eat here after a long drive or after a long hike. My boyfriend and I were so bummed that we got out of Yosemite too late for dinner – the kitchen closes one to two hours before the café does, so while drinks are still available for order, food is not.
What did we miss out on? Plates come out hot and stay hot. For dinner, my boyfriend had the pulled pork ($ 12), which was tender and juicy. I had the roast chicken ($ 12), which was equally tender and juicy. The mashed potatoes still had some lumps in it – that didn’t bother me because it meant that they actually used whole potatoes. The roasted vegetables that came with our meat were flavorful. Every bite was delicious, even til the end!
For breakfast, I forgot about what I saw last year and ordered a blueberry buckwheat pancake ($ 6.50). I didn’t regret it because it was perfectly cooked and fluffy, but it is HUGE! My boyfriend ordered a breakfast burrito ($ 8), which came in a sturdy tortilla so it didn’t fall apart. The black beans, egg, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and cheese came together nicely and each warm bite was full of yummy fillings.
I will never hesitate to return to the Café at the Bug!

The Café is A-​OK.
This review is only for the breakfast menu, so don’t jump to any conclusions about the other food.
overall the prices for breakfast range from $ 5 – 7.50.
on the low end ($ 5) you can get the continental: Two eggs (scrambled or fried), two pieces of toast, and a drink (no refills). When I had the eggs fried they were cooked perfectly, but the scrambled eggs were bland. I was able to exchange my toast for hash browns, but they weren’t crispy enough for my liking. The coffee was underwelming, go with one of the other juices.
on the higher end ($ 7.50) you can get a pretty big sized omelet. Lots of egg cheese and potatoes.
overall, The food isn’t fabulous, but its what you would expect given the context and convenient if you are staying at the bug. The food took a while to come out, but the staff was friendly. I think the food came out slowly, because they essentially have 1 person taking orders, 1 person cooking, and 1 person cleaning. So they aren’t doing bad.
note: to use a card you must make a minimum purchase of $ 10
They also have a computer if you need to use the internet.