Alpine Tavern and Grill — Restaurant in California

On a trip from LA to Arizona, my wife and I were a bit hungry and looking for a drink by the time we were passing through San Diego. We could have easily stopped at a chain restaurant, or something similar at any point, but we usually rather try out smaller, local stops along our trips.

We made the decision to pull over outside of San Diego to avoid traffic as much as possible. We decided we'd stop in Alpine as we usually love the area and places we've been before. My wife googled a few places and we thought we'd give this place , a new one for us, a shot.

We arrived and sat ourselves down without a problem after the bartender let us know "Wherever you'd like!" A young man took down our drinks. This young waiter was awesome. Took our drinks and asked if we needed anything else to let him know. Really friendly and easily approachable. He actually came around again, asked us if we were okay, and we tried to order with him. He let us know he only took down drinks and that our waitress would be around to take our food order. We thought that was kind of odd, but not a problem. Again, this young man was great and I really regret not remembering his name. A+ for him.

We waited a little while longer and finally a waitress by the name of Kelly came to our table. She took down our order and my wife asked if we could hold on to a menu because we'd probably order something else in a bit.

Food came out a few minutes later and it was great. I recommend the Blue Cheese Avocado Burger. It was delicious. Whoever the cook was did an amazing job. A+.

My wife and I were about halfway done with our drinks, wondering about what to order next. Suddenly, Kelly arrives to our table with our check and tells us whenever we're able to pay, to go ahead. My wife, who's been in the restaurant industry for 15 years, was appalled. Right away, she tells Kelly, "Well I guess we're ready to go now". Kelly leaves the table and my wife looks at me and we both ask ourselves, "Are we being kicked out?" I, personally, was puzzled. Did we overstay our welcome? Did I do something wrong? I looked at other tables and realized there were parties who were there before us. So that couldn't be it. We decided to leave, didn't feel welcomed. We paid in cash (+ tipped) and left.

In short, I'm still confused as to why Kelly pushed us out like that. I'm positive we didn't say anything wrong or rude. We weren't bothering any guests. Maybe it was because we weren't familiar faces? Maybe it's because we didn't fit their primary demographic? That's really all I could think of and to be completely honest, it's a feeling both my wife and I shared. To leave this establishment feeling judged and insulted isn't what I expected going in. Service from our...

The Alpine Tavern and Grill,

I wrote a glowing review of this place just about two years ago. It is with much disappointment that I have to write this new review.

First off, it was hot in the restaurant. I could venture to guess they have lost the AC or that it’s a swamp cooler and just can’t keep up. When I said something to our server, she said, “Nothing I can do about it”. Not a sorry, try over there, it might be cooler. Not sorry our AC is not working. Just, “Nothing I can do about it”. That started our meal off on a bad note.

I ordered the “Works” pizza, tots with cheese to dip, and we also had the chicken quesadillas. All have which we have had before and enjoyed (mostly).

Everything came out at once. I would have had the tots come out first, but I didn’t say that. So I can’t hold that against anyone.

The tots came out slathered in cheese. All I had to do was try to pick up one, and it disintegrated in my fingers. It was drowned in cheese. Just way too much liquid. When I explained we wanted the cheese on the side. It felt like we were asking them to go out of their way, and it was our fault for not being clear. Read up top, I said to dip in. But she took them back to have them remade.

I switched to the pizza, and one half of my green pepper was cold, the other half was… “Not” cold, but not really hot. Then the next bite was a mushroom, and it was dead cold in the middle. I again asked to send it back. The look on the server's face was that I had caused the issue. Not even a “sorry about that”.. It is the second visit that we have had this same exact thing happen when part of the toppings were cold.

Well, I had the tots to eat while they remade the pizza. The cheese was a jalapeno cheese, and it was so hot that it was harder to eat. Meh, I like spicy so for me it was fine. My spouse couldn’t eat that cheese at all. But at this point, I was afraid to say anything more about the food.

My pizza came back in less than 8 minutes, and the piece that I had the uncooked veggie on was still on the plate in the same spot. Ok, I get it, why make a new one when you can just reheat an older one? But I guess, I don’t know, perhaps my expectations of quality food are higher than theirs. I didn’t order a reheated pizza, I ordered a hot fresh pizza. That is sadly not what I got.

I asked if management or the cook had changed. The server said no, they have been there for years. I would say they had a bad day, but this was two bad days weeks apart. I can no longer recommend this place. My spouse who is a ranger at an RV park nearby by used to recommend this place. But I feel that might be finished as well. I am truly sorry to see this place go...

We just had lunch there today. Everything we ordered was delicious. Good portions, too. The place was packed, so we didn't really get drink refills unless we asked, but to be fair, we were also asking our server for a lot of items...extra tartar sauce, malted vinegar, etc. He brought us what we asked for right away.

Now...about the food. We started with fried zucchini. It was so good. I don't know if the ranch dressing was bottled or homemade, but it was good.

I ordered the fish and chips. It came with cole slaw that had chopped apples and raisins. It was sweet and delicious. The 3 pieces of fish were perfectly battered and it tasted fresh and was flaky. The tartar sauce was great. The fries were a good portion and great too.

My cousin ordered sliders with onion rings. She loved her food.

My son's girlfriend ordered the buffalo chicken wrap and it was huge!

My son ordered the carne asada quesadilla. It was very large.

We were all very happy with our food. Our server was very nice and accommodating even though we kept pestering him for items.

We had an extremely good experience. We will definitely...