The Inn at Death Valley Dining Room — Restaurant in Beatty

We stayed at the Inn at Death Valley and of course, there's no other restaurants around. Like captives, we are stuck with eating in the dining room. We didn't realize that reservation is necessary, and the first night, the dining room was doubly busy because their sister hotel Ranch at Death Valley was short staffed and had to close. So all their patrons came to our dining room as well. Although it was very cold, we agreed to sit outside as that was the only way we could have a table. The waiter was very helpful and set up the table for us even though the outside section was closed. We had Seared Halibut sautéed in Miso Butter on a bed of Creamy Polenta, with Broccolini, and Yuzu Soy Reduction. It was very good. The breakfast server wasn't has courteous to me anyways, may be because of my gluten free problem. We both ordered steel cut oats. My partner ordered fruit and date bread as well. I had problems with my steel cut oats. We made reservations for dinner. The dining room was not open for lunch. For our evening meal, we ordered Grilled Salmon, and Ariline Chicken Breast. I had the chicken breast, and it was one of the driest and most over-cooked deep fried chicken I had. The baked sweet potato was OK, The broccolini was tough. I'm really glad we only stayed for three nights as we've tried everything we could possibly order since we don't eat red meat. The halibut and salmon is a 4.3 stars, my chicken is a 1 star, date bread is 4 stars, my steel cut oats was 1 star. The service on the first night was exceptional, 5 stars, the service at breakfast was 2 stars, and the service for the second night...

After reading so many horror stories of food in Death Valley, I was expecting such a different experience! You're in the middle of nowhere, you must expect the price to reflect that, so I can't fault them there. The fact that they had vegan options more imaginative than a sad salad and fries was promising. The pasta Primavera was nice - it was light, fresh, and garlicky, but the chipotle basil pesto pasta was the stand out entree to me. It was a little spicy, flavorful, and unique. There was a third vegan option, but it was beet-based and I'm not a beet person so can't speak to that. When they came around with warm rolls and butter, we asked them to remove the butter since we're vegan and Dani came back unprompted with olive oil so we could dip our bread. That was thoughtful! Moises provided fabulous service and along with Michelle sang the praises of the poached pear with vegan vanilla gelato, though neither is vegan. It was incredible! I only wished there was a little more pear. There aren't a lot of options for food in Death Valley, especially for vegans, but this is a place I would choose to go to outside of...

Reservations are required, but hardly seem necessary as the hostess sat people at random before us. After lurking right next to her stand for 1/2 an hour she got nervous and created a 4 person table by (wait for it…) adding a chair to a four sided table. She actually asked if I would be ok if she sat a party of German tourists instead of us because they “looked mad”…kinda funnyish…

The waitress was heroic as she seemed to be the only one capable of independent thought.

Food was hit or miss (2 good dishes, 2 mediocre)

The buffet at the Oasis was better and cheaper. But, it’s a national park so your choices are very limited. Bring a cooler with sandwich fixings and...