Alpine Inn Restaurant — Restaurant in Enumclaw

I honestly thought we were being stereotyped as bad-tippers from the very beginning--and therefore received poor service--because we have three kids, we looked harried from a miserable hike, the kids were grumpy but not misbehaving, and we only ordered water because, again, long grueling hike. Whether we were pegged (wrongly) as poor tippers or not, we waited longer than usually is acceptable (sorry, I didn't time it) for our server to come and she quickly said "Do you know what you want?", which we did, so we ordered. Only as we sat there waiting for our food did I notice her go around to her other newly-sat tables and engage in pleasant conversation with them, tell them the specials which were never told to us, and continue to make sure their drinks were filled (ours ran out) and continue to schmooze them with chatter and kindness. We were largely ignored and never felt anyone was friendly toward us. As I again wondered aloud to my husband (who used to be a server, so not only do we tip very well ALWAYS, but he affirmed that yes, we probably were being categorized as "not worth the effort" by the staff) I had to take the baby outside as he became cranky while my husband waited on the check. It took forever for the check to come, and he was appalled to see that we had been billed as a party of 12 (check the receipt - meals for 5 people and the gratuity had been added for a large party). Clearly they expected us not to tip well and treated us poorly because of that. Normally, regardless of the kitchen, we would tip between 30-50% for excellent service, and still 20% for lesser service. Either way, more than the imposed 13% they tried to force on us. I was disgusted.

As far as the food goes, the goulash was good but not anything outstanding. The veal had a beautiful sear but was dry without enough sauce to compensate for the dryness, the potatoes served with it were underwhelming and too few, and the cabbage was also underwhelming and too small of a portion to really add anything to the dish. The kids were charged $9 for plain pasta with butter, and $16 for my two oldest to split none other than a box of Kraft mac and cheese.

We'll never be back, though we frequent this part of the park. I'd been dying to try the Summit restaurant later in the summer but nope, never again will we go here. Or ski here....

We stayed across the street at the Village Inn and had our our complimentary breakfast at the Alpine Inn. The breakfast wasn't anything to write home about: apples, yogurt, bagels, muffins, cereal...your typical complimentary/"continental" breakfast...but, it was better than nothing. I guess I just expected a bit more: scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, along with the rest. We also had our dinner there too. The Swiss mushroom burger was excellent...the side of chips, not so excellent. When a burger costs $15, you better have French fries along with it. That is so standard. So, Alpine Inn, take it to the next level (and I don't think I'm asking too much) and learn how to make French fries and add it to all of your burger orders, please....the chips are horrible. Step it up. From what I read, even the Summit House has French fries...and to get them, you have to take the gondola. So, there is no excuse.

Okay, outside of the meals, the Alpine Inn and Restaurant really had a very nice feel to it. I really liked the Bavarian theme. The main entry, walking across the bridge to the Inn was well done. First impressions go along way. We would definitely stay there. The lobby was very nicely done...nice, old school mountain chalet theme going on. Overall, the Crystal Mountain area was beautiful and the Alpine Inn was a very inviting, quaint mountain Inn...just have better complimentary breakfasts, have those fries ready when we come back and/or lower your menu prices. Trust me. You will make your customers happier and they will spread the word. Take care of your customer just a bit more...it can go along way. I...

My Fiance and I were doing a sunrise hike on Mt Rainier and decided to pop here for breakfast. (As it states it is a restaurant).

Breakfast option was a basic buffet style breakfast for 11 dollars a head. Stale bagels, cold, boiled eggs etc. Waitress was lovely to be fair.

However when trying to pay, 4x of our bank cards were declined. We are Irish and live in Oregon and never have issues with our bank cards.

Unfortunately they would not work, so the staff had to call the general manager and handed him me the phone. "Could it be that you have no money, or just a technical issue on our end" he patronizingly asked me. Absolutely brazen to ask.

We had to wait 5-10 minutes to come on site and rectify the clear technical issue. With basically no sincere apology, and swatting away my accusation of being unfair to question my finances.

Embarrassing behavior by management for severely subpar breakfast. Having worked in hospitality before this would immediately be comped if there were issues. Perhaps times are tight at this...