Golden Gate Saloon — Restaurant in Grass Valley

This is painful for me to write. We love this hotel and the staff. We come here for my wife's birthday and love to go to all the popular places around town. We recently ate at the Saloon after having a really nice dinner at Lola the night before. There were four of us..all hotel veterans, caterers, etc. We all ordered the Chefs Course Dinner. Any restaurant can have a bad night but this was beyond that. The opening "Rangoon" was the best part of the meal. Not good when it was not elevated beyond your local Chinese Buffet. The Halibut course was inconsistent and disjointed. One of us had a tasting sized portion of Fish the rest of us had thumbnail portions. It didn't end up mattering as the fish was cooked medium well. The curry in the dish was tasty but it was a "paint" so there was not enough there to do anything for the sticky rice ball. The carrots were delicious however. The main course of a tomato based Risotto was so heavy we each took two bites and pushed it away. Our server asked us about this and we told her the truth. The pineapple upside down cake desert was dry and the sorbet(or whatever it was) was deemed "medicinal" by all. The wine courses were generous and tasty but don't matter much when the food is so marginal. Our server was a sweetheart however. We will always stay at the Holbrooke when we are in Grass Valley but other than "bar bites" I could never see us eating at the restaurant again. Our meals were not up to the standards of such a special place as "The Holbrooke." Perhaps the chef at the "sister" hotel overseeing "Lola" can help there at the Golden...

Went here on Father’s Day. Thought the Lion’s Mane barbacoa plate sounded interesting. It was 38$. This was easily the worst dish I’ve ever eaten at this price point. Imagine eating dried mushroom jerky, if there is even such a thing, sprinkled with chili powder and served with some breakfast potatoes and over salted avocado. It was laughably awful. California cuisine gone too far. On top of that, the service was terrible. It took us an hour and a half to get from start to finish.

We really wanted to like this place, and have given it a few chances. They have decent small plates (queso fundido) and a fun drink menu, but the main dishes are too overpriced and the service is just sub par, I’m sorry to say. My wife ordered the chicken dish, which was nothing more than a mediocre rotisserie with a side of rice and broccoli (30$).

My suggestion: go to Lola’s in Nevada City for an overall better dining experience, minus the...

Noisy but great ambiance. We ordered the Brussels Sprouts for an appetizer and they were delicious! However our entrees left us greatly disappointed. Both the short ribs and the Thai snapper were over salted. And I mean OVER SALTED. The short ribs were pretty good in spite of this because they came with rice and tortillas. The Thai snapper was the second most disappointing meal of my life! The fish was burned and came skin, head and bones completely on the plate. Had I understood this in advance I would not have ordered it. I'm not a stranger to fish but between the unappealing presentation and my ability to only get 3-4 bites after cleaning it up and discarding the skeleton and skin and burnt areas I felt this was certainly not a $40 plate of food and if I come back I will only order Brussels and...