Lumber Mill Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Idyllwild-Pine Cove

I come here about 4 times a year for special occasions and I was very disappointed with the food and service provided by a waitress with short hair yesterday. I’ve never seen her in the past but the odd way of her charging our card and holding on to it after we told her we would dine in instead of taking out kind of gave it away that she was new. I waited for a while to get the card and the receipt back since she had charged us already and she just kept telling me I can go sit down. I asked her politely if she still had the card and she said yes, but didn’t give it to me and began to fill up our drinks instead. After she filled up our 3 drinks she set them on a random table inside along with the receipt and card. That was very rude since I had just told her we were eating outside. I had to call my husband and brother to come help with their drinks. We ended up eating inside since we thought maybe the waitress got mad. She brought us our food and made a comment to me about knowing or guessing which burger was mine and she left us two almost empty bottles of ketchup. The burger patty was so over done, dry, super lumpy and tasted bad. The burger had some thin flappy burnt bits of unidentified stuff on the cheese, lettuce and patty. The pickle looked like it was old or from another plate and had some avocado and sauce on it which was not a part of my dish. After 3 bites of the burger, eating half of the fries and some ranch my lips and inside of my mouth began to burn! It wasn’t caused by the food being spicy or having spices, it was like a chemical burn. I got an allergic reaction as well and rushed to the car to get an allergy pill. Taking my allergy pill usually works but it barely helped this time. I always get the same thing and I never get an allergy. This is definitely different though since my stomach/ throat is still hurting/burning today and my lips and mouth feel like they got burned. I have red marks on my lips since yesterday. I will be taking a toxicology test as soon...

My wife an I were in an adventurous mood. We decided to take a drive to Idyllwild and see if we could find a nice place to eat. Considering it is a place meant more for tourists, we assumed that it would have some decent restaurants.

It was a pleasant surprise to find ourselves at Lumber Mill Bar & Grill. A nice, cozy place, with understated décor, and old fashioned, rundown tables and chairs. Place didn't promise much. There was only one patron sitting at their six foot wide bar and I made the joke that he may be the owner, passing time, waiting for the rush to come in. It was a little after 8 PM, so I guessed the rush was going to be, probably the following day.

My wife ordered a ribeye steak and I ordered their bowl of chili. We were fairly underwhelmed by the tight place, but when the food arrived, we were amazed. Great steak, well-done, good flavor, great texture. My bowl of chili was probably the best chili I have ever had. My wife tasted some of my chili and I tasted some of her steak and we both wanted to order more. Even the cheesecake turned out to be special. Coffee was very nice. The waitress went out of her way to accommodate our request for warm milk.

All in all, a very pleasant experience. Much better than we had expected and worth going back for, maybe on a routine basis. You see we live in a big city, don't laugh when I tell you that we are from Hemet. It was an amazing adventure to leave the kids at home and drive through the mountains to come to this "magical" place. You should try it....

Honestly, some of the best burgers on the hill. But the brew pub has an excellent straight up cheese burger and the mile high cafe has excellent ones as well. However, what this place lacks is service... Greatly...

It's sad because I want to like this place... I do and the food is great... But anytime I think about going here, I have to be prepared to lend myself at least an hour to eat. Then when I drive by if, I see even 2 tables taken, I know the wait for food will be even longer, so I generally skip the place for another option.

If you go, expect a wait for: food, server, asking for refills if you get the server, check, any added condiments you need to ask for... And anything you ask for in general.

When the food comes out, it may be cold, but waiting for your server again or hot food request may be more of a hassle than its worth.

Often times, you may see the workers shooting the breeze at a table instead of checking on tables. It always seems like they are understaffed and rushing around but nothing has been done to improve service.

Their other restaurants on the hill (ie Fratellos) don't seem to have this same issue... So I don't understand why the mill is so different.

My opinion, if you have unlimited free time to kill, don't mind the occasional cold food, or having to ask then wait for refills, then go for this place. The burgers are great.

But if you want decent service, hot food, and to be free of the headache, choose the Idyllwild brew pub or Mile high cafe for...