Eruption Brewery & Bistro — Restaurant in Lava Hot Springs

Here’s my honest and detailed review.

Lovely atmosphere and great service. Our waitress had a pleasant smile and consistent energy and frequently checked in on us. I love that she didn’t disturb us while we were eating and chatting away because that can be a little irritating having someone ask how the food is when you’ve got food in your mouth. However, I found it rather odd that our waitress didn’t print out our bill but stood before my husband with the POS device and waited for him to pay. It would been better off if the device was left at the table and for us to go through it at our own convenience rather than having a waitress awkwardly standing there waiting for us to pay. I noticed another review that had a similar comment so I hope this changes. For all I know our waitress could have added extra charges and had us pay more. I’ll be honest, the food is extremely overpriced for its little portions but I am assuming they charge so much because it’s a tourist town. However, I feel the portion sizes can be increased to make up for such high prices. I got their non-alcoholic white wine that costed $13. It wasn’t anything exciting or over-the-moon and came of rather underwhelming. I’d suggest they offer a better selection or simply reduce that to $8 or lower because it surely wasn’t worth the price. We got their pulled pork pepperoni pizza and while it tasted good, it was again overpriced for such a tiny size. It’s a literal rip off because it’s a small sized pizza in reality. I felt a little robbed paying $15 for a small pizza and while it was good, it felt like daylight robbery. The caprese salad was another underwhelming dish that shouldn’t be $12 for 4 slices of mozzarella, regular store bought tomatoes and some basil leaves with their balsamic dressing. It was good but for the price I think I expected more. I loved the atmosphere regardless of the above. I enjoyed my night and had a great time interacting with other families in the restaurant. The Christmas tree was such a beautiful sight and so was the gingerbread house (or whatever it was...

The most important improvements this restaurant can make is adding fans to the interior because the kitchen is open and makes it very hot, and to FIX THE CHAIRS they are VERY uncomfortable, so much so it makes it hard to enjoy the meal. The High top tables are at an awkward height so it’s hard to eat your food and the wood of the chairs hurts. Second… the waitress didn’t think I was paying for my party and gave us less than mediocre service. I asked for 2 pitchers of water because everyone was thirsty and the pitchers are small. She said “I’ll see what I can do” and then brought us 1. We then finished that immediately and waited at long time for another. I also didn’t order a meal because I thought this was a meat-smoking place by the smell and wasn’t hungry for anything on the menu which is pretty limited to pizza and burgers. Instead I ordered a side of pickles when everyone’s food came out. Everyone else had finished their meal by the time i got them because she has forgotten about it. I don’t think a side of pickles and water is a hard ask. The waitress then lamented to my mom about how “hard the food service industry is” when she found out that I was paying. I have worked in the food service industry and I don’t think that her service was acceptable. I did tip her 15% on a big bill because i know that the job is hard. If I were to come back here, I would not order the marinara bread. For something so small and that I can make at home 6$ was a lot. My recommendation would be to add more bread. The pickles were good and my party told me the burgers were “better than in-and-out” and I tried the Peach mango thyme drink and it was very impressive. I hope this review helps them train their staff better, hire more people, add fans, more bread, and...

I really wanted to love this place. We drove 30 minutes for a rare date night without the kids. I had checked the menu, planned for peak times, and was fully prepared to wait for a seat on the deck to enjoy the river and some good food.

When we arrived, it wasn’t that busy, which made me more excited. I asked the hostess if we could sit outside, but she told me it was too sunny. We went back and forth a bit, and while I made it clear I preferred to be outside, I eventually gave in and decided we’d sit inside, order drinks, and scope out the deck ourselves.

They were out of the drink I initially wanted, but the staff was kind enough to suggest an alternative. After ordering, I went out to the deck and was surprised to see it was nearly empty. Several tables were mostly shaded, and the sun was clearly going down. I asked our waitress if we could move outside and was told the hostess said it was full despite it clearly not being.

At that point, the heat from the pizza oven inside was pretty uncomfortable, and the overall vibe just didn’t feel worth it anymore. We paid our tab and walked past multiple open tables on the deck on our way out.

If the tables were reserved, I would have happily waited. But I was never told that I was just shut down and made to feel unwelcome and not valued as a guest. We ended up driving 30 minutes back home and having a very romantic fast food date instead.

Honestly, I’m still tempted to go back because I had such high hopes for this spot. But right now, I’m just really disappointed and burned out from the experience, it would take a big gesture to return.

Very...