The Pines Tavern On The Lake — Restaurant in Big Bear Lake

We sat outside and after 15 minutes I went inside to ask the bartender if there was someone to serve us. She seemed busy and said that there was only 2 of them on staff. Being in the restaurant business myself I felt compassion however why would a restaurant only staff 2 people on a Saturday night? With live music playing also? I returned to my seat and all 6 people at our table waited patiently. Another 15 minutes went by and the bartender came over to get our order. Finally we clocked in at 50 minutes before we saw a drink! We only stayed because my dad had his dog and we could sit on the patio. Very limited menu and the food is like picnic food. Plastic utensils, paper plates. Wine served in plastic cups. The $12 Chili comes in a small paper cup. Not hot. Our food came out all at different times. We were eating with no napkins. I had to ask twice for napkins. Then when we got some we got 4 for 6 people. We didn’t even THINK of trying to order a second drink! Nor were we asked if we would like one. I can understand if I see the service staff running around busy, but this didn’t seem to be the case. I saw the server taking pictures for one of the tables down from us. She was at their table several times, and we were lucky to get a plastic fork to eat with. I honestly don’t understand how a restaurant can run like this! The plus side The music seemed fun inside at the piano bar, and the views are nice...

We live in Big Bear but work down the mountain several days a month. We didn't know The Pines Tavern had opened at this location on July 4th until this week. We have always wished there was a restaurant that was on the lake for a good casual lunch and a beer. I was impressed with the view and the the music. Yes at first the service was slow to find us. But once they did we had no more issues. This is the only place to sit at an outside patio that is ON the lake in BB. I like the Santa Maria style BBQ. Its a dry rub that is great. We had the tri tip sliders and the tri tip "tid bits". Both very good but for some reason, probably Covid, they only had sliders the day I was there with no full sandwiches. I would have preferred to order a full tri tip sandwich. The Coleslaw and potato salad was good. They could use an Amber beer instead of all the IPA's. Overall I will be back. It looks like a great place to spend with a group of friends. I respect they are true to what they want to do. Please do not cave in to everyone wanting a regular burger and fries. That is what is at every other restaurant in town. We will be back on regular basis and when my family come to visit. View and patio 5++, food4,...

This restaurant is 50/50 for me personally. The location is beautiful and the employees are very sweet. However the service was very slow and food was burnt. It's a great place to come if you're traveling with a dog. The outside setting is just beautiful. It's mostly a bar so not really kid friendly meals aside from the pizza. But they were out of pepperoni..?? Seems odd to me as that's probably the most popular choice people would order seeing there's only like 4 or 5 choices of pizza. You'd think they'd be well stocked. But reading other reviews this seems to be a common issue here. So had to find another dish. But the employees are so sweet and welcoming. They were great with our young kids and our dog. It's open seating so you seat yourself, first come first serve style. They were extremely slow with their service however. Food was just ok. Only ordered the pizza though so I'm not sure about anything else they have to offer. Our pizza was way over cooked and burnt on the bottom. Looking around others looked the same. With that being said I would say I may come back to give it another chance but not a place I would say you gotta try. But it's a good experience in terms of having drink that over...