Restaurant at Big Sur River Inn — Restaurant in Monterey

Extremely disappointing, overpriced flavorless food that made a couple of us nauseous/sick. Wi-fi is free for customers... for 10 minutes. Very shocked that this place is rated as 4 stars.

Upon arriving, the atmosphere of the restaurant looks cozy and inviting. We went around 7 pm, and our party of 5 was sat right away, inside(the patio looked more crowded).

We had all just gotten back from a long hike and were starving, so we promptly ordered their calamari appetizer. It was pretty small, better for maybe 2-3 people to share, but actually did have flavor(maybe since there were 2 dipping sauces). Easily the best thing we ordered here.

This place is not affordable by any means, all of our entrees were around $30-$40 and even the appetizer, was around $15 for the small plate. If the menu prices are that high, my expectations of the food is raised to match it.

Unfortunately, the flavors in all the entrees I tried were underwhelming to say the least. 3 people in our group got burgers (more than $20), and I would call it an insult to hamburgers everywhere. $20+ for a hamburger that up charges for cheese/sauce, comes with most of the toppings on the side (you assemble it yourself, I guess? for $20+???), and was dry-as-hell even after my friend requested medium rare?! The River Inn's hamburger makes McDonald's look gourmet in comparison.

For myself, I ordered their pesto pasta entree. I didn't really think you could mess up pesto, but you learn something new everyday I guess. The pesto was far too oily and lacking any flavor whatsoever. it tasted mostly like the oil. But I don't even know how you miss putting GARLIC and BASIL in PESTO? That's like the entire flavor profile needed for pesto, man 😭?!?! But, again, we were all starving (and this was my first real meal of the day) so I kept eating it for the sake of fueling up, but because the pesto was so oily I felt nauseous halfway through and couldn't stomach anymore.

My friend's pasta, however, was surprisingly even worse. Not even exaggerating, the worst pasta I've ever tasted from a restaurant. She got the shrimp scampi, and I wish I had taken a photo of it because the "sauce" was just broth? BUT FLAVORLESS BROTH???? It was really just wet noodles with shrimp 😐 She also felt sick and nauseous afterwards. I'm in disbelief that the $35 shrimp scampi was that bad, that feels like robbery.

The server was perfectly nice, but if the food is already that expensive, and lacking that much in flavor there is no way I'm tipping and giving any more of my money to the establishment. 0% tip. You may wonder why we didn't just sent the food back, but mind you: it was already late, we had to get up early the next morning, and we desperately needed food/fuel in our systems from the hike we did earlier.

We actually also had to go to a store to get some necessities for our trip right after, and asked the local shopkeeper for recommendations since our experience at River Inn wasn't great, and even they had told us: "it is better for cocktails and the bar area, and that the food is not it."

I don't usually leave reviews, but I felt obligated to do so to warn others, because this experience really sucked. I feel like the reviews on here are misleading, as well. I'm guessing the rating is more based off of the atmosphere of the place, and the fact that there aren't many dining options in the area. Also, most of the people here were Caucasian, so they may be catering to their audiences' preferred flavor palette (little to no seasoning, and bland flavors). Iykyk.

Maybe I'm a bit spoiled living in SoCal where I have lots of amazing food options all around me, and at nearly every price point; but i think if they're charging so much for the food it had better have SOME seasoning...

If i can give this place Zero stars i would. once we sat on down to have lunch at the restaurant that's when it went downhill the server Vanessa took a long time to come by to take our drink order or to order food. once she did finally stop by she said nothing just stood there we ordered calamari to start and our food and drinks. the table behind us sat before our server even showed up. they got their appetizer of calamari. we had to ask the gentlemen bussing the tables to bring us waters because Vanessa forgot. the table behind us got the food they ordered and paid and mind you we still had nothing on our table no appetizers, no food. Vanessa walked by and we asked her to check on the calamari and she just brushed us off and said "ok ill check" I'm sure she never did. Even the gentleman bussing the tables asked us if we had ordered or if we had been helped already. Vanessa came back and said there's one ticket in front of yours, but the table sat after us and they had already left. the food finally came out before the appetizer and she had the audacity to send it back and tell us oh the food came out before the calamari, we all said so bring the food and take off the calamari from the bill (common sense). she was very attentive to other tables except with us, 90% of the people there were white and our table was brown. which is ironic because she herself is Hispanic. i have had other family members and friend's that went to the restaurant and has had the same experience with Vanessa. i think as a server you should treat everyone with the same attention as everyone else no matter the color of their skin. the food was cold, my vegan burger was extra toasted the half chicken order was dry. we had to ask for ranch and BBQ sauce and mayo three times....

EDIT: I spoke with Laurel the owner who was very nice. She was very apologetic and offered some cocktails as a way to make things up. It was a little concerning that the restaurant manager claimed we took up the table 3.5 hours when that simply wasn’t the case. One star bump from 2-3.

I head down here to see one of my favorite bands, driving an hour to get here. Today was probably my 7th time visiting. I arrived and a friend was already seated. It was not busy, with more than half of the tables open. I sat down and the server, who I believe was named Lupe, asked from behind me if I wanted to order lunch. I said I would like a Bloody Mary for now. I shortly then asked for a menu. He came by after a few minutes and asked if I wanted to order lunch. I said I wanted the cerviche but not right this moment. He smirked at me and grabbed a piece of paper on the table that said something to the effect of “order your lunch and get off the table so we can seat others so they can enjoy the music.” I said fine, I’ll take the ceviche now. My friend commented “what the hell?” I went to see the manager who said “I’ll take care of it.” The way it was taken care of? Lupe promptly brought us our bill effectively closing out our tab so we couldn’t order more. I’m usually a heavy tipper and had planned to order more drinks. Had it been busy I might’ve understood. But there were multiple tables available. That server needs remediation or a new job, as does the manager if this is the way the handle repeat customers. Too bad because the atmosphere right on the river is amazing. Next time I go I’ll be ordering diet cokes and just sit on the benches (the band is worth it). Why patronize an ungrateful...