Ahwahnee Dining Room

Wonderful stay. Wonderful restaurant. Embarrassing for Unilocal to indicate that it is closed.

Killer French Onion soup. Best I ever had. Super professional staff. Beautiful décor.

Let’s be straight.
The place is beautiful.
The service is pretty good.
The pricing is usurious.
The food was always cold. Every meal.

Food was good and atmosphere was good. Service is leading to a 3 rating. We made a reservation for two for 11:45 on President’s day. We ordered two sandwiches and the calamari. All the dishes came out at the same time and the whole experience felt like they were rushing us out.

We always stop by the Ahwahnee for lunch each time we visit Yosemite. Good food, great service, awesome location. Just a tad bit expensive but then you’re dining in a restaurant at an upscale resort. The BBQ Pulled pork burger and the Ahwahnee burger are both very good. I found the chicken breast sandwich a little dry. My daughter loved her penne pasta and the fries that came with my burger. On the whole, a great experience in a beautiful surrounding.

went there for a quick lunch in the yosemite national park.
Food: good food but nothing special. for the prices they have totally reasonable and good for a quick lunch while visiting yosemite national park.
Service: ok-​service. nothing special but nothing to complain about. the only special thing was, that the food and the drinks were split on two waiters.
Atmosphere: this is where the ahwahnee has its strength! nice big dining hall with wide windows where you can see the mountains. really nice!

I had dinner at the Ahwahnee. The place was packed and if you did not reserve a spot ahead of time you probably would not get a table. I was able to easily reserve online. The food was decent in my opinion and I think you pay more for the experience than the food itself. The hall looked awesome and reminded me of the great dining hall from Harry Potter. The dress code sounds strict but I saw plenty of people who were dressed down. I think it just requires you to be dressed semi decent. I heard another camper mentioned that Yosemite is changing its food handler in March so I would want to come back after to try dinner at the Ahwahnee again. Overall the place was okay it just seemed very old school for me and the food didn’t justify the price but you do get to dine in a sweet dining hall. I much prefer the mountain room dining instead.

No trip to Yosemite is complete without at least one meal at the classic Ahwahnee Dining room at the Ahwahnee Hotel that’s located right inside Yosemite.
Like a scene straight out of Game of Thrones, the cavernous dining hall looks like a hunting lodge on steroids. I couldn’t help but wonder when «The Rains of Castamere» would start playing. Instead, light piano ballads filled the dining hall and started a pretty epic and cutthroat edition of Name that Tune among my friends. We requested California Love, but unfortunately that tune was never played.
Service is very old school complete with waiters in fitted vests and pretty serious. Style can sometimes trump substance at these old relics, but the food was up to par with any modern fine dining place. For appetizers, the artisan cheese board was a solid choice.
One stand out dish was the grilled eggplant and quinoa and the ravioli was also good.
Make sure to make reservations.

The Ahwahnee Dining Room is absolutely gorgeous. You walk into the grand room and there is a man playing piano the atmosphere is very elegant but also very I think Native American is the right word to describe it. You feel like you are about to dine with the highest Chief of an Indian Tribe… it’s very cool. Just that experience was priceless. But I have to admit the vibe of SOME of the staff and some of there other guest is very «nose up in the air… stuck up». Our waitress, was amazing and friendly and the service was excellent, but the hostess was a little… well you get. It’s definitely not a place I would bring kid. not even well mannered kids or a place you can enjoy a glass of wine with friends and laugh out loud. You would just feel stressed like you have to be library silent and make sure you use the correct fork.
The food was just okay… not good, not bad but for the price it could be better. The breakfast buffet hid a wide variety of items but again very pricey. The best thing we had was the veggie omelet. We probably will come here again for breakfast when in Yosemite because there are not many options but definitely not for dinner, unfortunatley.

We were having buffet brunches here on a Sunday. We need to register and wait before we could get in and dine. The food just okay, not many choices but okay. Pricey. This restaurant I think not very well managed when we were there. We were told to wait about one hour to get in but they called us after 15 minutes wait. When we were inside we were amazed with so many empty tables. Maybe understaffed but it’s a buffet brunch. I really don’t understand.

Review is for Sunday brunch only, and we had reservations.
If you’re willing to shell out a little more than average per person for an all-​you-​can-​eat brunch, this is HANDS DOWN the place to do it. A massive variety of high-​quality breakfast and lunch items, ranging from create-​your-​own omelets (so many choices!) to scrumptious little pastries and breads to shrimp and salmon, fresh salads, pastas, and even prime rib. All the basics as well — scrambled eggs, pancakes, eggs benedict, bacon. Every single person in our party made the okay-I’m-gonna-have-thirds-maybe-fourths-and-not-eat-until-dinner decision. Their blintzes with fruit compote were some of the most heavenly pastries I’ve ever had. All the dishes were inherently so wonderful, and for what it’s worth, the coffee drinkers at our table also thought that their coffee was unusually good as well.
The restaurant (and lodge) is gorgeously grand and rustic, and is an experience itself, with it’s high-​vaulted ceilings and floor-​to-​ceiling windows that look out into the forests. Service is A+++; the waiters and waitresses seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs and are crazy attentive, but not overbearing or awkward.
If you go to Yosemite just for a one-​day trip, make it a Sunday, and make sure you have the Ahwahnee brunch! Okay, but go for at least three or four days; you’re missing out otherwise.

Lunch at Boxing Day
Arrived 12:45 and it was approximately 40 mins wait. given it is Boxing Day and hotel is mostly full, I will give a pass to this. What I like is they distribute a device to you to inform you your table is ready so u can walk around the hotel while waiting instead of standing there. It is a pretty hotel and there were piano performance .
I ordered BBQ pork and I would say it is average. Flavour is bit too strong. It charging ~20 after tax and tips. With this price I would expect more. Finally, when we split the bill, it split with the value that we order individually instead of a equal bill. It gives some extra points but still not enough to cover taste of the meal

Great food — if you visit Yosemite, I definitely recommend visiting this restaurant for the food. The only reason I’m giving it only 3 stars is that I accidentally left my scarf draped on the back of my chair when we left, & when I realized & came back it was already gone. I checked with both the hotel front desk & the restaurant hostess, but there was no sign of it. It was completely my fault for forgetting my scarf in the first place, but you’d think that at such a nice place they would turn in a scarf instead of keeping it for themselves.
Anyway, my boyfriend and I got the scallop appetizer, filet mignon, short ribs, & bread pudding dessert. The filet mignon & Short ribs were both super good & the bread pudding was AMAZING. I’m not usually a fan of bread pudding, but I loved the one here. I seriously want to come back again just for the bread pudding. It’s chocolaty on the outside & made from croissants. SO good. Meanwhile, the scallop appetizer is small, with only 2 scallops, & honestly I didn’t really enjoy it that much. However, my bf loved it.

I’ve eaten here twice, once for lunch on a day visit and most recently for the Bracebridge dinner, an exceptional, close to $ 400 pp Christmas event that takes place over 4 hours and has over 7 dishes while a cast of what seems like hundreds put on an exquisite play. It’s full of pageantry and is fascinating. Each time the play takes a break, a dish is served and the cast comes out and, in character, sings songs or chats with you.
Out of the 7 dishes, 3 were truly stand outs with salmon, duck and beef that were absolutely delightful as small plates. So by the end of the night, you weren’t stuffed full, but were not left hungry. The only things I didn’t like was the wassail, a sort of plum drink and I really wanted something chocolatey for dessert and instead got small but delicious cookies. The décor for the event in the dining room were gorgeous.
Big price tag for a big experience.

This dining room is remarkable in that the views of Yosemite are outstanding from your seats. If you can snag a seat near a window you are in for a treat. The truffled eggs with parsley oil, arugula and crispy prosciutto were delicious and calamari was Decent. The sautéed rainbow trout amandine with rice pilaf served with a sherry brown butter was superb and I would go back just for that. Service was quick and cordial and were especially helpful with tips on trails nearby.

We’ve been coming here since 1978, and it’s amazing how it never changes. In fact, I think it hasn’t really changed much since 1927, when the hotel was constructed. The food is no doubt different than it was then, but it’s remarkably similar to the way it was in 1978.
The soups are still rich and creamy, and the portions large. At dinner I enjoyed the short ribs, and the salmon was even better.
There’s a buffet breakfast, but even better choices are available on the menu, including a kitchen sink vegetarian omelet made with three eggs that barely fits on the plate.
Many of the servers have been working here almost as long as I’ve been coming, which is a testament to what a special venue this is. During the day, the tall glass windows offer unsurpassed views of Yosemite valley. And at dinner the enormous windows turn into mirrors, reflecting back the hundreds of candles in the chandeliers.
It’s really a pretty magical place.

Went to this amazing place for both lunch and dinner while on my stay with friends in Yosemite. Most beautiful place to dine in. If you are in the area it’s a must. The room is so elegant and the view is spectacular. I had the ahwahnee salad and their ahwahnee wine for lunch and I thought it was very good. For dinner I had the squash ravioli with some more ahwahnee wine. I would come back here again and again.

Atmosphere is amazing but food is average.
Your choice of food is limited in lower Yosemite and this is a place I simply had to try while in the park. The view is amazingly beautiful with equal service to match. Price wasn’t as high as I’d imagined it would be but the food was somewhat disappointing considering the grandiosity of the dining room. Overall, it’s a place every visitor should experience once.

4÷11÷15: Sometimes I just don’t get Unilocal.Yes, the world’s not fair, and probably isn’t meant to be fair, and Unilocal is definitely no exception… ³⁄₅ for this place? An exceptional gourmet restaurant literally in the middle of the woods… I mean, I don’t even know how they could possibly get all the wonderful ingredients up here and still keep prices sane. Screw going to the moon – this is truly something stretching the imagination!
Look, I’ve grown really accustomed to fancy restaurants in touristy, out-​of-​the-​way places to get amazingly high ratings for amazingly inferior food. For instance we have this place serving worse-​than-​canned soup in Big Sur:
And… FOUR stars!!! And this place with infinitely better food gets 3??? Okay okay, I’m done. Let’s talk about that food:
1. The Firefall $ 12.75: We drove all morning and hiked all day into the night, and wow I was so glad they had hot (both heat and spicy) cocktails! This one is really chocolaty, and it really hit the spot. I can’t say it was especially spicy though the menu says there’s pasilla chile in there somewhere, but I just loved the deep and chocolaty flavor with some other sophisticated spice in there. I think the alcohol is a tad harsh here, so not absolutely perfect, but still really great. ⁸⁄₁₀.
2. Citrus Martini (Classic Pour 4oz) $ 16.50: Nothing especially notable here. Tastes standard. The price is extremely high for such a standard drink. Note there’s a «traditional pour 2oz» for $ 13, but honestly the 4oz version is just about the same size as what everyone else serves, so that 2ox must be tiny. Kinda a rip, but tastes good enough. ⁴⁄₁₀.
3. Fiscalini & Black Truffle Mac and Cheese $ 16: So, I would say this is really good tasting pasta, but I can’t really see how they can justify calling it «mac and cheese.» It’s just not. It’s penne pasta in a white sauce, not too different than what you’d have at a nice Italian restaurant. And yes, I did manage to find some black truffle in there, but as you would expect the pieces are either tiny crumbles or I think my date found maybe a smaller shaving. But anyway, tastes good, but it’s not mac and cheese. ⁵⁄₁₀.
4. California Orange and Pistachio Salad $ 11: Has the ingredients as stated, but otherwise a very average citrus salad. ⁵⁄₁₀.
5. Slow-​Roasted Angus Beef Prime Rib, King’s Cut $ 48: WOW. Frickin’ WOW. I’d have to say, this is the best variation of on the traditional formula – everything on this dish has been tweaked and perfected! The sweet potato mash (instead of potato)… mmmmm… good. Not just straight mashed either – something special and wonderful mixed in. Love the bacon-​braised kale – that’s the right way to cook the stuff… love adding wickedness to goody goody food! The au jus is like none I’ve ever tried. I think it’s closer to a wine reduction, thickened, then with the au jus mixed in. Very thick, and man, now I wish all restaurants did it this way! And finally… the masterpiece: their yorkshire pudding… I dunno how they did it but they managed to stuff it with something and still make the texture completely perfect and airy. Amazing. Ironically, the only weakness is the meat itself – the outside was very flavorful, and I loved the rub so much, but as I started getting deeper into the center and it sat longer, the meat got this really weird texture. Like what happened when I over-​marinated my Korean short ribs once, and it got this strange rubbery feeling. I dunno, maybe they did the same mistake too. But it did taste amazing when it was warm, so I dunno. If it weren’t for that… so near better-​than-​perfection… ⁹⁄₁₀.
6. Triple Chocolate Bread Pudding $ 9.75: Yeah, I never order this stuff. Like I must have had a couple dozens of versions from various high end restaurants and it’s always not good, like either dry, or too dense, or boring, or whatever. But OM F. G… this is THE BEST EVER. Every part of its construction is special! The texture is just phenomenal – the croissant bread is airy and crisp on top, but pudding-​like and creamy in the middle. So chocolaty and rich too! And as I found layer and layer of goodness beneath each other, I eventually uncovered the bottom half revealing what I believe custard injected into the bread! Tastes unbelievable and the texture is sublime! Yeah, never had anything like it, and probably never will. ¹¹⁄₁₀.
So, not every dish is worth remembering, but they have some damn great ones in there though. And for being thousands of feet above the sea, nearly a hundred miles deep into the woods, that’s impressive in itself. Our service was great too – very attentive and nice.
Think about the beauty you saw hiking in the day. Have a drink. Order the bread pudding. Delve into bliss. Sleep happy beneath the heavens.
⁵⁄₅.
#american #breadpudding #primerib

1. We ate 3 breakfasts, 2 dinners and 1 brunch during our 4 night stay at the Ahwahnee.
2. Saturday we arrived at 4pm check in time. Last year we arrived at 3pm, and had to wait an hour for our room to be ready.
3. All the dining hall reservations were filled for the night, and we were put on the wait list, with a pager.
4. Saturday night is the hotel’s busiest night, with people from the Lodge and Curry village driving over, to escape too many consecutive dinners of dreary cafeteria food or pizza.
5. We are there at 530pm and wait one hour, discovering that people on the wait list are not seated until there is a no show. Otherwise you have to wait until all the people with reservations have been seated, for the night!
6. Last reservations are at 8pm, and people on the wait list would be guaranteed to be seated at 830pm.
7. However, after 5 hours of driving, my stomach wanted anything, as long as it was immediate, so off we went to the Ahwahnee bar, a soup, salad and sandwich place.
8. In retrospect, I should have ordered room service, or taken the shuttle to the Lodge and eaten at the Mountain Room Restaurant, which is similar in food quality to the Ahwahnee, but at lower prices.
9. We look over the announcement of Sunday brunch the next day, and discover that Prime rib is being served at 11am. So we check with the reservation officer, and get a 12:30pm reservation, the earliest available.
10. We get up at 8am, and take a 4 hour hike to set us up for the brunch.
11. Sunday brunch is $ 45 for people over 12, and $ 15 for children 6 – 12. Now you know there are way too many 5 year olds and 12 year olds, trying to skirt the rules! If you look like you can eat as much as a 6 year old or a 13 year old then that’s that!
12. The dining room must have what seems like a 100 foot red carpet down the center, with 20 foot tall windows, dozens of 18 bulb chandeliers, and 40 foot cathedral ceilings! Views of Glacier Point from your chair! Yosemite Falls is obscured by the tree tops. Magnificent ambiance!
13. Waiters in black pants, brown vests, white shirts, black bowties to provide impeccable service.
14. Entrees include Cajun catfish served hot, and way too salty –will lead me to an early death! Cold shrimp cocktails, cold poached salmon, and an omlette station.
15. I gobble up the prime rib, and large fried crispy shrimp, knowing that this is the only time I can eat like this –you only live once! I’m changing my last meal profile to the Ahwahnee brunch! And I’m eating like it is my last meal, eating fast and furious, outdoing even my cat Bubba with my mouth glued to the plate! Exceptional orange juice comes with the meal.
16. The Sunday brunch is so good and filling in the middle of the day that we waddle over to our room, and take an afternoon nap, with fruits only for dinner.
17. The next three mornings at 7am we have the standard $ 25 breakfast buffet, with scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, stringed potatoes, sliced fruits, and an assortment of pastries. Gone this year is the omlette station.
18. Minimum dinner attire: collared shirts for men, with long pants. For both sexes no shorts, no t-​shirts, no tank tops, and new for 2015 –no flip flops nor baseball caps. I guess they didn’t want to see my toes in my Chaco sandals again! Women and women only can wear a collarless blouse, but not a T-​shirt.
19. The first dinner we both have the $ 34 seafood special: 6 large shrimp over pork fried rice, 5 pieces of sliced pork about 4 inches in length over mango coconut rice. Absolutely delicious and well worth the price. Add on a $ 11 orange pistachio salad, and it’s $ 98 out the door, after tax and tip.
20. Our second dinner over white table cloth, candlelight and fake flowers again starts off with the orange pistachio salad, with me tossing the Greek olives to the wife, and she tossing the raw purple onions over to my plate.
21. The wife get the $ 28 ravioli squash, with greens, I try it and it is extremely sweet in taste, This meatless dish is the cheapest entrée on the dinner menu.
22 I get the $ 34 short rib pasta, with sundried tomatoes, and mozarella cheese, which I toss to the wife. The large hunk of short rib, with tendons removed, is so tender that one can cut it with a fork. $ 88 out the door for the second dinner, aftetr tax and tip.
23. No piano player while we were there for dinner, as we got the 530pm sitting, the earliest time, but with seats by the window in the tiny two person tables.
24. For a last breakfast, I wear my white Birkenstock slide sandals with black pants, almost flaunting the rules. But at least my toenails are trimmed and my feet clean from soaking in the hot bathtub water upstairs. And yes, I did trim off the toe hairs also, so ladies you no longer have to avert your eyes!