High's Restaurant — Restaurant in Monterey

For Maple Festival, I would recommend going to one of the Ruritan breakfast locations instead. Overpriced and Underdelivered.

Review is ONLY of Maple Festival weekend experience as I think it may not reflect High's Restaurant's usual.

Based on a great experience at High's for the 2018 Maple Festival, I insisted that our group rise early and get to town in time to eat at High's. One small red flag was the man on the street who told my husband that the place had the best breakfast in town as if he were not connected with it but then turned out to be the person who unlocked the door and seemed to be running the place. He was super friendly and was kind enough to let us in early to avoid a freezing cold wait. Once we were seated and the restaurant opened up, we were handed a single menu for ONE choice of a breakfast that cost $18!!! (You can go to the Ruritan breakfast for $12.) I have no problem with the management attempting to streamline their breakfast service, but the price should have been more like $8 for what they served. We all received a very small portion of eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, Wonderbread and 2 small pancakes. And honestly, all but the box mix pancakes probably came straight from the freezer. I can't verify, but we all suspected the eggs were reconstituted, and the maple syrup was not real maple syrup...at the maple festival....for an $18 breakfast!!! Again, had the price been much cheaper, we would have just been a little disappointed, but for this price, we should have had a very different experience. The waitresses were very friendly, and the place was very cozy, but it should be skipped for the festival weekend. Maybe try it...

This establishment gets 3 stars based on a culmination of visits. Tried their breakfast package the previous year and also this year for Maplefest. Also dined in for their regular menu a couple times during hunting trips, and what a difference. The festival breakfast (the only option, priced at 18$ per person) is horrid. Scant portions, over salted items, poor quality. Not enough gravy to cover a small biscuit, 3 bites of tasteless egg, tiny dry toast and an overcooked hasbrown thing. This year featured AUCE boxed mix pancakes that were small, oddly flat and we were actually able to "snap" some of them in half due to being overcooked. If you are going to make pancakes it's pretty simple to do it well homemade (especially if you are featuring buckwheat pancakes) . The OJ (served from pitchers left sitting on the counter) was room temp. The breakfast the previous year at festival was equally overpriced and poor quality. Conversely, we have dined here and absolutely loved it, during times where they just have their regular menu available. Totally different experience. Portions were good, food tasted amazing. I can see why they get tons of great reviews throughout the year and I will also say the service is always great. We tried the festival a second time because the regular menu is so darn good! That festival breakfast needs a complete re-do though, and I do not recommend it to anyone.After spending 100 dollars for 4 people for breakfast (tip included)we left, apologizing to the guests we brought and hunted down more food elsewhere 2...

Just edited, read to the end:

First visit to High"s Restaurant: New Year's Eve 2022.

We ordered the smothered chicken and chicken parmesan with side salad.

Pricey but tasty, and too filling to explore the dessert menu.

Edited from five to three stars because 20 hours later, we came back for those desserts.

Not greeted entering.

Not feeling particularly welcome while ordering.

$30+ for a slice of store bought pie, a piece of store bought cake, a couple scoops of ice cream and an order of fries?

Dessert shouldn't double the cost of your meal when it's straight out of a box.

And when someone complains about the price of your store-bought desserts, don't lie about your meals being "chef cooked".

Inquiring about an application shouldn't be a major effort when you're advertising for help on the front door. No worries, I'll take 20+ years of experience elsewhere, along with my money.

I won't recommend this place on any of my three local social media pages or in my next climbing guidebook list of area eateries, which I had planned to do after our second visit.

Do yourselves a favor: don't come back the next day expecting to find the same restaurant where you dropped a sweet tip the night before.

Gratitude is HIGHly overrated.

The gas station has comparable food and they're always glad to have...