Carvers' Café — Restaurant in Hill City

The one thing keeping this review from being only one star is the gorgeous view you get of Mt. Rushmore, whether dining in or eating on the patio. Huge windows let you see the great faces in all their splendor from nearly every part of the building.

The food was subpar at best considering the ridiculous prices. The prices are to be expected since it's in a major tourist destination, but the food was on par with what you would find in a high school cafeteria. The lady who appeared to be the manager was rather rude and appeared generally unhappy. I found out why.

I am 100% behind employers that want to hire, train, and retain those with disabilities. Being disabled myself, I think it's great. But when literally every employee you have scheduled is moderately to severely mentally disabled, it's blatantly obvious that you're more worried about making a statement than the customer's experience. Quite frankly, it's just ridiculous. On top of the staff being unable to help me with much of anything due to their disabilities, there were random outbursts from several of them every 15 minutes or so. I felt very bad for them.

My advice: save your money, your stomach, and an overall unpleasant experience by dining somewhere in Keystone, the town just down the road from Rushmore. They have plenty of good restaurants to...

We stopped into the food court to get a snack to hold us till dinner. We wound up in the ice cream section. The ice cream was served up quickly by staff who seemed like they didn't mind being there doing their job. It was kind of refreshing. They did a good job and my hats off to them. It cost us $12 for two cups of ice cream. Definitely not cheap. But we've had worse. So it wasn't so bad considering where we were. We sat in the main food court where there were different options for food. They had some employees who obviously had issues that they work through and work productively and with such great attitudes. It made my day speaking with one of them and signing his list of where folks were from. I watched as some of these nice folks worked before I got the opportunity to meet them. I was impressed how well they performed their tasks. It made my day to meet such wonderful people. So that ice cream turned out to be much more enjoyable than it was suppose to be. Anyway, the cafe' had restrooms and such that folks may need. It really was a nice place to take a break and have a snack. It's very convenient for folks visiting...

"We've been visiting Mt. Rushmore Memorial at Keystone for years, but our recent trip with our 2-year-old granddaughter turned out to be the most memorable one yet! The highlight of our visit was undoubtedly the exceptional service we received at the Carver's Cafe, thanks to the incredible Raj.

Raj's hospitality, knowledge, and courtesy were truly top-notch. He went above and beyond to answer our questions, sharing fascinating insights about the memorial, the area, and even the food. His enthusiasm was infectious, and he made us feel like we were dining at a 5-star restaurant.

In an era where exceptional service is often hard to come by, Raj exceeded all our expectations. His dedication to providing an outstanding experience was evident in every interaction. We were thoroughly impressed and grateful for his attentiveness.

If you're visiting Mt. Rushmore, make sure to stop by the Carver's Cafe and ask for Raj. He'll ensure your experience is nothing short of amazing! 5 stars aren't enough – we'd give him 10 stars if we could!

Highly...