The Mountain House — Restaurant in Belmont

Don’t expect your request to be seated in the Forest Room to be honored, but more importantly, don’t expect the level of service you’d expect at a restaurant with this price point. When reserving on OpenTable, I indicated that we’d love to sit in the Forest Room and that we were celebrating our anniversary. About two hours before our dinner, someone called to confirm the reservation. I didn’t think to confirm about seating the Forest Room because I had another question about their corkage fee. The guy on the phone at first told me he didn’t think they had one, but when I clarified, he asked someone and came back to inform me that it’s $40. I found it a little odd that this guy didn’t know what a corkage fee was and almost told me they didn’t have one. But also was a bit surprised that it was $40, which is one of the highest I’ve heard of in this area.

When we arrived, the host seemed to just be reading the note that we requested the Forest Room for the first time and then informed me that unfortunately they wouldn’t be able to seat us there! She was honestly very uncaring about disappointing us. I expressed my disappointment and I said I was super confused why this wasn’t mentioned when they called two hours earlier. She basically just shrugged it off and said we’d have to wait like 2 hours to sit there. What the heck!

To make matters worse, the table we were seated at was about as far from a window as possible, near the fireplace. And the dining room is just not that nice. I was actually surprised how dated it felt.

Our server was perfectly nice, but again, just so many touches that don’t align with the price point of this restaurant. Other upscale restaurants pay attention to when you book and note you’re celebrating something on OpenTable whereas our server asked us upon greeting us. It’s not that big of a deal, but it’s just a lack of care and attention overall that surprises me for what this place is trying to be.

Our food was very good, thankfully, though the pork tenderloin was very, very pink in the middle. Really hoping it was sous-vide or something and that’s why. It was dark in the restaurant so I couldn’t see how pink it was until we got home with some leftovers.

After we left, I wanted to give feedback about the service without posting a public review. I took the time to write all of this in an email to their contact on the website. Never heard anything back and it’s been a few weeks.

I know staffing is tough right now and maybe they’ve just hired too many inexperienced people, but it was just such a letdown compared to other places of this level that we’ve been to for special occasions. Personally, I would skip coming here because you can’t guarantee to be seated in the nice part of the restaurant and the service is just lacking for a special occasion, which is probably why most people would come here when the prix fixe is $85 per person. (Also they need to get their numbers straight…the price is listed differently across their website, OpenTable, and what was confirmed on the...

Tried The Mountain House for the first time to take my girlfriend and I out for our anniversary. The experience was mixed, to say the least.

We made a reservation for 5:45pm, and we were seated right on the dot in the Forest Room. The view was nice and felt like you were in a cabin in the middle of the woods. The server (I apologize to her as I can not recall her name) was extremely friendly and asked if either of us had food allergies. I told her that I do have a nut allergy and she was happy to accommodate.

For the first course, I got the Seared Scallops w/o the pine nuts, and my girlfriend got the Yellowtail Crudo. The scallops were cooked perfectly, and everything on the plate paired well. My girlfriend noted that the Yellowtail Crudo was really good, although the citrus (I think it tasted similar to grapefruit?) was way too bitter for the dish and was very off-putting. The sourdough bread that was brought out had great flavor. However, I believe it was a bit overcooked since the crust was a bit too burnt.

Second course, my girlfriend got the Scottish Salmon, and I got the Briased Short Rib. Both dishes were solid, but I think they both could use a tad more seasoning. After the second course, things went a little downhill.

One of the servers comes out and serves us a complementary chocolate tart with walnuts, almonds, etc, w/ a bourbon cream on top. Due to my nut allergy, though, my girlfriend was the only one who could eat it. Although it was complementary, it was still a little off-putting that they would serve this at a table with a person who is allergic to nuts and was aware of this. I didn't want to make a scene, however.

Creme Bruleé comes out for me, and my gf got the pistachio cake. My gf was full, and we asked for the cake to be boxed up to take home. The creme Bruleé was really good and paired well with the Satuma mandarins. Our server comes out with another complementary puff pastry dish from the kitchen, but she realized halfway through explaining that there were nuts in it. She was apologetic and offered to bring out a sorbet for me, which was fine. Again, this was a little off-putting, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I just wish there was a little more attention to detail, especially with someone who has a food allergy.

tl;dr food was good, The Forest Room is lovely. However, if you have a food allergy, I would be a little vigilant into what you are being served, especially if it's a serious allergy. I would hope that for a $200+ dinner that worrying about allergies wouldn't...

Came here for Easter brunch… and to echo another review, the whole experience was disappointing.

TL;DR: Unacceptable service for fine dining. Food was decent but had prepackaged mixes and overall nothing special. You have way better options in Woodside at a similar price range without the long drive into the mountain.

FOOD: No bread before meal. Pastries were an additional add-on. All the pastries were of a cakey texture — really surprised that there were no puff pastries at all. Cornbread tastes like it’s out of a package mix. Waited 45min with no check-ins from the waiter before the starter. Big yikes! I had the duck, which was good. Too much oil on the lettuce underneath though. Then we had to wait another 30-40min after they cleared out our starters for the main. At this point, we were just baffled by the slow service when the restaurant is not even half full. I had the steak and eggs. Same sides as one of their add-on starters, which was disappointing and felt cheap. My dish was decent, though the steak was a bit stringy. My mom had the pancakes, and she said it tastes just like the pancake mix from Costco.

SERVICE: The host left people frequently at the door, forming a long line out the door when everyone there had reservations and the restaurant was quite empty. Absolutely no care to seat people down when we get texts before we arrive that the table is ready. Once we are seated, the greetings from the server were cold. Didn’t even bother asking if there was another occasion we were celebrating (we were actually there for my mom’s birthday, but I guess they assume everyone must be Christians celebrating Easter). Awfully slow food service. Waiter didn’t even bother to offer to check on the status of the food or check in as we waited. In the bill, they charge a 20% service fee, and waiter who showed up twice to our table through the entire service and who didn’t even bother asking why we were there had the audacity to specifically ask us to leave an extra tip that goes just to her. No sorry, I’m leaving you this review instead.

AMBIENCE: The forest was pretty cool, but beware that the glasshouse they have heats up a lot on a sunny day. The main part of the restaurant is really dark for reason, kind of...