1899 At The Lodge — Restaurant in Cloudcroft

This was our first time coming to The Lodge, and for the most part it was an enjoyable experience. Let me start out by saying that this wasn't my first time in Cloudcroft but it was my fiance's, so I was very excited to show him around and experience new places together. We dined here earlier in the day, and I wish I caught the bartender's name, but he was absolutely fantastic. He was attentive, friendly, and good natured. Whoever that guy was, he was awesome! He really helped set the vibe of the afternoon and gave us a really good experience. We joked about Rebecca, it was great. Lunch bar menu was delish.

We didn't have any dinner plans and after lunch we definitely felt it was worth coming back for dinner, the bartender very kindly helped us with dinner reservations.

Dinner is where it got a little rocky. We showed up 2 minutes early for our reservation. The restaurant had a couple more patrons at tables compared to lunch but not nearly enough to call it a full restaurant. So, we walk up to the host, Brennan. Very sweet, but as we were 2 minutes early to our reservation she said that we would have to wait. My fiance and I kind glanced at each other questionably but did as she said and we waited the 2 minutes. And it wasn't a "let me go get your table ready" or "let me check on your table" 2 minutes, it was a 'we are going to sit here and watch every second of this clock until we have waited for 2 minutes'. So no big deal, but as we were waiting another family showed up to be seated for dinner and the host told them they had to wait while the host took us to our table to seat us. So that kind of caused a jam in the work flow. Not a big ordeal but something that we noticed that could have been avoided. Maybe management is really anal about seating guests early, who knows.

Anyways, our server, Tona, was a delight. She was so sweet, so nice, so friendly. Very attentive. Food: delish, chef's kiss

However, and this is what keeps me from knocking this review to 5 stars, even as a person like me who is mean as hell, this even took me aback.

While ordering, my fiance requested a side item that appeared on the bar menu and not the dinner menu, and I guess we spoke too loud as the wrong person was walking by, but our server glanced to the side with fear in her eyes at I'm guessing who was the manager on shift. Blonde lady, 30's maybe, Tona asked if they would be able to add that item. The blonde lady abruptly said "nope!" (rude) and we sat in silence for a moment until she said "the chef won't let us" but if we wanted to go to the bar then we can order it there. So she walked away, and we kind of just sat there and looked at each other like "is she really just gonna mic drop and walk off?"

I know, crazy right? Not really lol, again, let me emphasize that this is not a super huge ordeal, but at least humor me and say "let me go ask the chef" and kick your feet in the back and pretend like you went to go ask him before you tell me no. Second of all, the food in the bar comes from the same kitchen as the food in the restaurant, and you're gonna tell us we can't have some dang French fries? We can order a drink from the bar and they would bring it to the table but evidently no food items. Tona was very apologetic and discussed some options with us but ultimately decided to forgo the side item. Not in any way, shape, or form a dire situation, but it definitely was something that we couldn't get off of our minds all night and couldn't seem to shake, it was a negative part of our experience and had I not wanted to let the rest of our time in Cloudcroft end on a positive note I would've come down a little harder than I did letting it roll off our shoulders. I decided it wasn't worth ruining her night like she did ours.

To end on a positive, the food was great, the atmosphere was awesome and unique, go eat here...

They only deserve 1 star rather than 0 stars because they comped our meal.

I made a reservation for my wife and I's five year wedding anniversary for 7pm, a month in advance. We came to Cloudcroft from Houston just for this dinner and a little hiking. We got there at 655pm. The hostess said she was still seating the 645 reservation and would we mind waiting about 10 mins. We told her we would be at the bar - fine. We waited 25 mins. Hostess came back around and said "almost!". 5 more mins she came back by and said "almost!". This happened 3 or 4 times. Then didn't see her anymore. Finally at 745 I asked the bartender if this was normal for reservations. He went and got the hostess...who told us that "someone had passed her a note that 2 people at the bar didnt want their reservation anymore and she assumed that was us". Uh what?? She sat us then...and we couldn't help but notice there were many empty tables. The waitress came and as soon as she heard us say we were allergic to cheese she copped an attitude, saying no substitutions could be done even for food allergies. (ALL of the starches on the menu have cheese in them). The waitress went to the kitchen, came back, told us she could give us a double side instead of the starch. When the food finally came, 40 additional mins later, the waitress brought a plate with meat on it and nothing else.

We made a reservation for our 5 year wedding anniversary, a month in advance, and then had to wait almost an hour and a half to get any subpar food. Def won't be back nor would I recommend it. One star for...

The whom it may concern my experience with this food was EXTRAORDINARY. The chef Krislyn did such a great job with her cooking. Oh my goodness i just cannot express my love for this cooking enough. My life changed when i had this cooking one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten in my life. I feel as jesus crist himself blessed this holy food. My life has changed since this experience my whole food pallet has changed i have experienced the best food in the world everything i eat now taste foul. My chef was the best chef in the entire state no, country no THE WORLD. I am currently tearing up writing this review because i cannot express my love for this food enough. When i was just a boy my mother told me stories of the perfect meal i’ve always thought it was just a fib but now i know the perfect meal does exist and it is from the loge. If you take anything from my review take this. Your life will never be the same once this food touches your mouth the sky’s are bluer the grass is greener life gets better. Life will change from this...