Black Diamond Grill — Restaurant in Alaska

We were greeted and seated right away, which was great. We were brought waters with the menus and left to decide what we wanted. No drink order was taken at the time the menus were provided, or at the the waters were dropped off. By the time anyone came back around, we were all ready to order.

We ordered drinks, an appetizer, and our entrées all at the same time. 4 of the 5 drinks were brought out. Dinner salads were then brought out, at which point my step-son had to ask for his drink as they still had not brought it. The dinner salads and appetizer arrived in a timely manner and were pretty good.

When the entrées arrived, the portions were hearty, and everything looked delicious. We were about one bite in when the server came back and asked how the food was. Again, at that point, everything was fine. After that, no one came back around. A few more bites in, and my step-son realized the burger he had asked to be cooked "well" was still pink all the way through.

No drink refills were ever offered during our entire time there. When everyone was done eating and we were all just sitting around, I had to go track someone down and ask for to-go boxes. I thought that would indicate to them that we were done and getting ready to leave. Yet again, no one came around.

I had to go find someone to ask for the check. I informed them that our check would need to be split two ways. They said that wouldn't be a problem, and they'd let our server know. The server came out with one check and had no clue we needed it split. After two attempts of getting it split correctly, the server brought out the two checks and let us know a 20% gratuity had already been applied to each one.

Normally I have no problem tipping 20% (or more depending on the service), but in this case, I felt there was no way that amount of a tip had been earned. The food was delicious for the most part (minus the undercooked burger). All of the food was delivered hot, and in a timely manner. That is the only reason I am giving 3 stars. At the time we arrived, the restaurant was nearly empty. By the time we done, we were the only ones there. There was no reason the service should have...

This review is for the Black Diamond Covered Wagon Adventure With Backcountry Dining which is booked through a nearby resort. There is no place to post this review on the resort's website, so it's going here until I figure that out. Please recognize that this experience is separate from the actual restaurant listed here.

I felt like the Backcountry Dining experience was a low point for our time in Denali. First, we arrived as a group of 5, and we were merged into a group of 25 strangers. It was immediately clear this was not as intimate as we had imagined.

Second, the wagon ride was fun for about 5 minutes. Things turned south when we realized the chuck wagon attendant was going to lecture us about all-things-Alaska for the entire duration of the 50 minute wagon ride. I recognize that the girl was just following instructions, but my whole party found her chatter to be annoying - especially because 90% of the things she talked about we had heard before. There were some attempts from her to get us engaged but the passengers in our wagon all seemed disinterested.

Third, it took forever to reach the dining area. We had booked the experience for 6:15pm, but it was nearing 8pm by the time we arrived at the pavilion for dinner.

Fourth, there simply wasn't enough food for our tables. I was under the impression it would be buffet style, but this was not the case. The servers bring out a limited supply of each dish, and when it's gone, it's gone. We had some "big" people at our table and dishes like the chicken thighs and chili ran out fast. Refills were requested for both, which the servers said would be fulfilled - but they were never brought out to us.

Fifth, the wagon ride back to the starting location was too long. It was closing in on 10 pm by the time we got back to the start. Again, the wagon attendant spent the entire trip talking about Alaska and I think most of us would have preferred to...

Horrible service. when we first called to get a table we asked for a reservation and they told us they “don’t take reservations but we better get there fast because there is reservations coming” so then we went in and asked for a table and they told us it was going to be 20 minutes then came out and told us it was going to be 45 to an hour thankfully they got us in within 20 minutes though. although we did wait very long just to get drinks not to mention the waitresses were very unprofessional and they were not rude but they were very much not polite. when they finally came to us acting like it was an inconvenience to take our food order we put in orders for food and it took at least 30 to 45 minutes to get the first plate out. The last plate came out about 15 minutes after that. The food is very overpriced for what it is... the food was flavorless besides the fries which were not specified as curly fries as they were “fries” on the menus. i will admit the portions were big but a little extreme for kids.. especially because we barley ate our flavorless food. when we first got there we were served water which is a nice touch until i realized my water had CHUNKS and stuff floating in it. I chose not to eat my food and just politely asked my waitress for a fruit cup which she said would be free considering i had one so i just asked for a refill which i figured wouldn’t be a problem but then she charged it on the receipt which was a struggle to get considering the waitress ignored us the whole time. my sister was asked if she wanted a refill and she said yes and the waitress rolled her eyes at her. it’s overall overpriced overhyped and horrible....