The River Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Oakhurst

I think Benny B. Below summed up our experience perfectly about this restaurant, I'll copy and paste his review below mine.

TL;DR: Prices resemble that of a fine dinning restaurant, the food resembles that of a college kid cooking food (to quote Benny). The pizza place next door's left overs had better flavor.

We came here for our engagement dinner with 2 friends and thought it was going to be a nice evening. Our friends told the waiter of the occasion , and he seemed indifferent on the big moment (not a big deal, but it was a special night to us). After waiting an average time you would expect for our food to come out, my steak I ordered was over cooked and well done, I ordered medium rare. Our server apologized and took it back no problem. My parties food was lukewarm when they received it and it seems to have sat for a while before making it our table. My fiancée's meal of pesto had an odd vegetable pairing of peppers in the meal and the pesto was soupy and bland. The pasta did not seem like the water was salted and our friends alfredo was also under seasoned and soupy as well. When my second plate of steak came it was also overcooked, had the juice pouring out and covered the plate, telling me they did not let the steak rest before putting it on the plate, and it was tough and the meat was bland as well. The veggies were steamed and only had oregano sprinkled on them so they were bland as well, with the mashed potatoes being the okay part while also every portion of the dish being lukewarm. The server comped two meals, but we still paid with tip $25 a person for (4 people) for 3 drinks and 3 meals. I did not eat and had left over pizza from the pizza place next door,( which I would go to over some of the pizza places in my hometown!). The food was not great, and the prices reflect that of a restaurant that would have salted their food and know the basics of cooking. I am assuming that the food was pre frozen for the amount of liquid at the bottom of all our plates, and they make the other sides in bulk and just keep them warm until it is served. Overall from reading the other reviews, they are a tourist trap and think they can charge what they want with minimal effort since they are the closet sit down restaurant to the national park.

Benny B.'s review as promised:

We were charged about 130$ on 2 pasta plates, a burger,some fish and chips,wings and a couple of juices... The food quality and preparation was worth 30$ all together and that would still be overpaying...I wish I took some pictures but the food literally looked like it was made by a college freshman on a hot plate in his room...weird vegetable combinations that don't belong on a pasta, sauces out of the clearance section of the dollar store and lazy meat preparation have showed me that this place's attitude is pretty much: we want to maximize our profits by selling cheap food and we're the only place to eat around here so we will charge you whatever we want for it. so here's a nice view and some tv dinners you can either pay us top dollar or starve...on the upside the staff seemed chill and the atmosphere was relaxed so the only way I'd recommend anyone to go eat there is if they're...

The restaurant isn't always open in convenient hours, especially in winter, but when open, stays fairly busy. It appears fairly clean in the dining area. They have an adequate soup and salad bar. The menu is not extensive, but usually I can find something I can select from. While I consider the food fairly mediocre, I realize we do not have a world class chef from New York or Paris. We are in a little drink water town...wait we're not actually "in" a town, we're at a hotel, so we have a cook who lives in the back woods and we wonder why we don't get haute cuisine? Personally, I'd be happy with a really good chuck wagon cook--we didn't even get that, so I give only 3 stars. SECOND. I wish people would stop complaining about how much everything costs. Think just a minute will you. Where did the food come from? Out there grown on those rocks? No, it was trucked in in trucks at a high cost of gasoline as everyone well knows. Then tack on that the labor of loading and that of the driver to get the food here. I have driven behind some of these trucks going 10-15 miles per hour up the long hills. IT TAKES FOREVER! How much do you think that costs? Wait. We haven't gotten the food to the restaurant yet. Get it here and pay to get it unloaded. Refrigerate it (oh yes, higher electricity bills because the power lines are far more expensive to place, here.). Now, clean and pay the overpaid cook to waste what shouldn't be wasted and cook the meal, cook the wrong meal, recook the meal, and lose the tips for everyone because of complaints about the slowness and poor quality of the meal.Costs rack up in a variety of ways. Just remember, though, everything is expensive up here because it ALL has to be trucked up here--hence, the higher prices and fewer choices. Complain about the cooking, yes, but be aware of the why of...

This review is about the breakfast service. We didn't return for dinner because we opted for frozen burritos from the hotel's minimart instead of subjecting ourselves to more of this restaurant's "cuisine." Hopefully, you'll read this review before your trip (there's no reception in the area, so no way to check reviews on-site).

We arrived at the River Restaurant & Lodge in the morning, gearing up for a full day in Yosemite. The place was empty except for a couple with long faces after their meal. We were seated quickly, and the server mumbled something we couldn't understand, so we asked to see the menu. There was no menu or other indication; the only option was a breakfast buffet, with the price undisclosed (found out when we got the check, $21.95 per person before tax/tip).

We made our way to the buffet and picked up some items. All the food was unlabeled and looked very unappetizing — we should have left then. Grabbed some pancakes and French toast — how can you go wrong with those? Well, it turns out you can. The pancakes were lukewarm, rubbery, flavorless, the same size, and the same shape, suggesting they were frozen pancakes. The syrup was extremely watered down. The powdered sugar on the French toast had a grainy texture and was clumpy. Unsurprisingly, the French toast was dry and had a weird consistency. We also picked up a mini poppy-lemon muffin, and somehow it was slimy and wet on top.

The food gave the impression that it had been cooked days prior and just reheated over and over, then served to a captive audience with no other options nearby: the definition of a tourist trap.

If you're in the area, spare yourself from this experience and either grab something from the minimart or head directly into Yosemite for a...