The Grove Beach Bar & Grill — Restaurant in South Lake Tahoe

Mediocre, pricey food and hostile atmosphere (1/5 Green Stars)

The Upside: Carnivorous retired white folk who loves to talk about boats seem to love it here!

It was July 5th and we were on a tight schedule, so we called around to find a place that had tables open. The guy who answered my call to the Beacon assured me that it would be no problem and I him that we would be there in 30 minutes. Thirty minutes later, we arrived and were greeted by a teenaged-looking front of house staff (team RBF) who told us with attitude that there was a wait time of 45 minutes. I’ve worked in a holiday camp before so I can kind of understand their misery, but it’s not happy experience when you’re starving and really need to start driving back to the bay area soon.

We eventually found out (after not being told initially) that we could get drinks at the beachside tables. We received drinks and were waiting for our credit card to be returned when our buzzer went off, telling us to come back to the front desk. We couldn’t find out waitress and asked a different waiter if our card could be brought to our new table. He, like all the other staff, just seemed to be under so much pressure that he barked out a response (“You’ll have to check that with your server!”) as if we were all in a war zone. The whole point of me asking was that our server couldn’t be found!

Anyhoo, we got to our table and my first experience was a sinking one – I looked at the menu and there was almost nothing to eat for vegetarians. I felt like I was back in 1980’s rural Ireland. So, I got the salad minus chicken and a caprese appetizer (tomato and mozarrella drizzled with balsamic) and my friend ordered fish and chips. We agreed that the salad was quite good, the chips and caprese were fine (but honestly I would have eaten cardboard drizzled with balsamic at that point), and my friend thought the fish was not great.

All in all, the food varied from mediocre to “surprisingly quite good,” but I definitely wouldn’t go back for it. It wasn’t cheap, considering the quality – $66 (including tax and tip) for an appetizer, salad, and fish and chips – but maybe that’s typical for Tahoe, these days?

A few of the staff (esp front-of-house) made it almost unpleasant to be there. But perhaps the blame lies with management for creating the whole atmosphere of harried and disgruntled workers. The vibe was also harshed by the clientele, which seemed to be all cloned from the same white, retired couple who liked to drink rum and talk about hydrofoils and folding SUPs. I’m only joshing – there were also younger, white, angry-looking men wearing T-shirts that read things like “Don’t mess with Liberty.”

The atmosphere seemed so weird and homogenous compared to the state park that we had just come from, a few miles away. As we left, a local sheriff had come to investigate some kind of fracas.

I’m also giving the Beacon 1 out of 5 “Green Stars” for social and environmental impact, based on this:

· The menu is dominated by meat and fish – more than any place I’ve encountered in a long time. This is of course terrible for the planet and also not very inclusive for vegetarians and vegans. · The restaurant provides no information on food sourcing (on the menu or online). · For $18, I’d expect the salad to be made with organic greens – not the case. · Drinks are served in plastic cups, adding to our plastic waste stockpile. · Staff seemed miserable and the whole atmosphere was weirdly hostile. · Tables are really close together, maximizing profit over comfort or Covid safety.

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We have been coming to this location since 1997. My wife and I met there and it holds a special place for us.

Sad to see “The Beacon” go but gave “The Grove” a chance.

PRO’s - Always a lovely location which is nearly second to none. Run runners always good. Service was fine. Fish and chips were good but have changed. All pieces seem identical in size and shape and that points toward precision manufacturing. Again still pretty good but point toward careful bulk buying from a cheaper vendor perhaps.

CON’s - We used to love the calamari and I know several other folks that swear by it as well. However….it has sadly changed for the worse. What used to be a nearly one inch wide x half inch tall slab of calamari breaded and fried……is now the diameter of a pencil or marker with heavy breading. You almost feel like each bite is more breading than calamari. I think the price increased as well. Super sad. PLEASE PLEASE change it back. The chicken strips were mediocre and my kids refused to finish them….that never happens. The shrimp tacos were attractive but subpar. They lacked flavor once you but i to them. The light shmear across the top was ok but 75% of the cross section bite was bare cooked shrimp. Improvement sorely needed for the price. The burger was not made onsite but a perfect manufactured circle of uniform thickness. More careful cheap supply chain decisions perhaps.

We left having felt good for the visit and view but hurt by the changes and the $185 bill for a family of four with rum runners. I fear our future will be to visit for a drink having already eaten to soak up the ambience of old…..unless critical...

Have dined here twice since they re-opened as The Grove Bar and Grille. The first was shortly after they re-opened during the winter. The second was today (6/8/24). We've had the calamari (good but we preferred the Beacon's version), the Club Sandwich (very good an easily sharable) and the Shrimp Tacos (excellent the first time, only so-so the second time as the shrimp was a bit overcooked and they failed to add the sauce and gave us very small portions of the rice and beans compared to the first time and another person's in our party). We were seated quickly and our waiter was very pleasant and helpful. The food runner (bald male with lots of tattoos) could use a lesson or two in customer service. He was very abrupt and dropped the food quickly and rudely on the table and turned before asking if there was anything else we might need like condiments, etc. Biggest complaint that we REALLY don't understand is that you can not dock you boat at the pier while you visiting for lunch. They offer to come get you at a guest buoy at no charge but the pier was empty and they were paying their staff to run around telling boaters they can't park there. We were told it was because the new owners want there to be room for guest to drop people off but, although we used the buoy, we watched as 4 other boats that were told the same thing drove away. View of course makes this a must visit and we're sure they'll get the challenges with staff and food reliability ironed out but PLEASE allow boaters to visit and use the pier as many, like us, have been doing...