Elk River Inn and Restaurant

We booked one of the last available rooms in the area here for Valentines Day. When we did, the hostess asked on the phone if we would like to take the last reservation at their «Five star restaurant» so we said yes as it is difficult to get a last minute reservation three days before Valentines Day. We didn’t really think that the restaurant would be as wonderful as it was in the middle of West Virginia. We walked in at dinner and the restaurant was packed with locals, always a good sign. We had a table in a quiet corner near the roaring fireplace. My Osso Buco was delicious, and fell right off the bone and the sides were to die for. The filet mignon by boyfriend had was cooked and seasoned to perfection.
We also had breakfast here the next morning (included in your stay) and I was impressed by the variety of food available. Way more than we were expecting and way more than you would get for breakfast at a nearby ski resort. The produce at both breakfast and dinner was also very fresh. Nice to see such a pride in food quality when the cost of transporting to the mountains is so high.
Only complaint is that the beds were a bit squeaky for a romantic getaway. :)
The food is a bit pricey but super worth it!

I went on New Years Eve with a party of eight. We arrived a little early and they had us wait in a very comfortable sitting room of the Inn with a fireplace and very comfortable couches. They brought us drinks there as well. It was very nice and I would have been happy sitting there longer but they had our table ready right on time!
The food was all wonderful. They had a very interesting variety of great salad choices and a wonderful variety of entrée choices from pork belly and scallops with mashed potatoes, to freshly caught trout with creamy polenta, to wonderful steaks and a great lamb stew. Nice assortment. Everyone enjoyed their choices immensely!
The dessert that was absolutely to die for was their Sticky Date Pudding. It was one of the best desserts I have had in quite a long time (and I love to cook and am always searching out new creative recipes). I had never had this entry, but afterwards ordered it somewhere else. The other did not come CLOSE to being as wonderful as this one (much drier and just ok). Theirs was so, so moist and just heavenly! It was served with a dollop of fresh whip cream and a dollop of French Vanilla ice cream. What a perfect addition! I cannot say enough about how delicious this was. The service also was awesome! And we were right near a fireplace. Such a lovely atmosphere. All around great experience!!!

Great spot. Cabins are simple, clean, and cozy. The restaurant is great. We had two meals here for dinner. All first rate. Had the duck breast, which was the special that night. Outstanding. The apps are worth making a meal out of. Deviled eggs with crispy exterior, meatballs, grilled caesar. Nice wine list. Worth checking out.

We will NOT be back…
We went to this place after reading good reviews. Unfortunately my experience was vastly different. In short — food was mostly ok, but extremely overpriced for what it is, and service was just terrible. Terrible to make it to the top of my black list this year.
The full report:
We were staying near Snowshoe for a perfect summer getaway weekend. We wanted good food, we saw good reviews about Elk River, so it was an easy choice. As food lovers we were very excited about eating in this nice restaurant in the middle of nowhere, WV !
We came in at 8pm, well after main dinner rush. The place was pretty full, may be 8 out of 10 tables taken. But half of the people already eaten. Just a few couples came in after us. The place was run by, I assume owner, 4 waitresses, 1 waiter/​barmen. Pretty adequately stuffed you’d think.
Our orders was taken promptly. Then it took *20* minutes for drinks to arrive. We talked to a waitress after 10 minutes, she assured us drinks were coming. Than it took another 10 minutes. Mind you it’s not a 200 people bar. It’s a small restaurant with may be 10 tables. My heart sunk, as I knew waiting 20 minutes for drinks to arrive is a sure sign of badly run place. Yep, unfortunately I was right.
For our table of 3 adults and two kids we ordered
drinks
— 1 glass of wine, one local beer, and one gin martini
appetizers
— calamari ceviche appetizer ($ 11)
— (one) soup de jour ($ 6)
— (one) macaroni and cheese from the kids menu
main entrees
— filet mignon ($ 30)
— trout ($ 19)
— stuffed trout ($ 25)
It took 35 minutes for ceviche and soup to arrive. Soup was lukewarm but quite good otherwise, some kind of french onion soup variation. Ceviche was terrible. Calamary was extremely funny tasting, and there was not a drop of lime/​lemon juice in it (the main ingredient of ceviche). Instead there was tortilla chips mixed in, soft and falling appart by the time dish arrived.
Macaroni and cheese for kids, despite a couple of reminders, only arrived with main entrees. Actually After appetizers arrived, our waitress completely vanished from the room for 40 minutes. To order more drinks, I had to actually walk to the bar and order there.
And yep, main entrees arrived in another 40 minutes, and a whooping 1 hour 15 minutes from placing order. Sure sign of amateur chef in the kitchen, who doesn’t know how to run it. Again there was like 8 or 9 tables occupied the whole time. And for those 40 minutes only 3 tables still needed food. We were watching as there was nothing else to do… And the dishes we ordered were extremely simple things to cook. Should’ve been a breeze.
As for the entrees themselves — the filet mignon was good, but the zucchini it came with were pretty much raw and not eatable. The both trouts were, well, tasting like trout :)
Long wait for drinks, looong wait for the meal, disappearing waitress, strange taste of ceviche, raw zucchini — all in all it was well below average. Considering the prices — our bill was $ 129 (and they didn’t bill us for 3 more glasses of vine) — completely unacceptable. Go to (or stay in) the Snowshoe village, which is just a few miles, and you’ll have better experience. This place look promising when you arrive, but incompetent management/​chef/​stuff will ruin your evening.

Absolutely delicious! My husband and I were so delighted to find this great restaurant. We started with the grilled calamari ceviche, it was amazing. I had the salmon special which was served over wonderful roasted vegetables and my husbands trout was oven bake and filleted at the table. We sat out back on the patio. It was lovely and quiet. Our server was informative and attentive and the wine lost was impressive as well. We would definitely return there if we are in the area again.

The food was very good and the atmosphere was relaxing and casual. My only mention would be that the menu shown on their website is only a sample menu, not what they may currently have. I am a vegetarian so that only left one choice under the main course menu. I fell in love with the vegetarian option online and was disappointed to find it was not the item they had at the restaurant. The waitress did offer some other suggestions, however I just ordered the vegetarian option on the menu. It wasn’t quite what I wanted, but the situation wasn’t exactly life or death.

a great place to stay if you are skiing at SnowShoe. its probably a 15 minute drive. the breakfast was delicious. we did not get a chance to eat dinner at the on site restaurant but the menu sounded wonderful. i noticed the drafts were all local WV beers. that’s my type of place! for the price you really cant beat this place. this place is cheaper than The Inn at Snowshoe and is probably an extra 5 minute drive max. They also own Fiddlehead which every local said was a delicious place to eat dinner.

Terrific food, fun atmosphere, and reasonable prices for a vacation area. Go on Thur evening when they have live music. One time, we had ordered and were waiting on our food and the power went out. We thought our evening was ruined. But, the server pulled a headlamp out of her apron, brought more candles to the table and said everything would carry on as usual. We ended up having a fabulous time and a great memory of that trip.

Absolutely worth every penny. The food is excellent and the menu changes seasonally. The chef uses as many local ingredients as possible. Small locally owned restaurant and flavors that are worth the 20 minute drive off the mountain. 8 thumbs up from the 4 felals who came away overly satisfied this evening.

I’ll BE BACK… What can I say it is 5 stars.

We returned here after a great stay in less than two months. Great in the summer and a GREAT restaurant! Stunning food nearby to Snowshoe but a great bike rental and ski shop as well. Love their property and has a great trail right out back. Stay in the lodge as the cabins are a bit rustic… And worn around the edges. They outfit so many folks and made our trip perfect. Even a tag a long bike for our five year old. Get them to give you a set up for the Greenbrier River trail. Last, Pocohontas County is amazing. Go!!!

Superb! The Salmon special of the day and pork were delicious; the side veggies as well, seasoned and cooked exquisitely. There was no AC so we sat outside and lingered over dinner. Gus provided excellent service. We highly recommend!

Amazing food! That pretty much sums it up. If you are visiting the Snowshoe Mountain area, you must get off the mountain and venture over to Elk River Inn. The four of us in our party, each tried something a little different; duck, trout, steaks. Absolutely wonderful food, worth the wait. Did I mention they create each dish from scratch per order? Come with time to enjoy your date or company and have a bottle of wine or two.
Can’t wait to come back! I wish they had another location say, in Falls Church, VA???