Cascade Dining Room — Restaurant in Sandy

I feel it is my civic duty to write this review. What. The. Hell. We reserved the chef’s table after seeing the menu. This was the last week of October. The menu at that time looked interesting, a little more intriguing than the regular dining room menu. So we reserved a spot (non-refundable, btw. This will be more relevant in a moment.)

We stayed the weekend of Nov 3rd - 5th, a relaxing birthday getaway for me, courtesy of my amazing boyfriend. So we arrived and settled in. We went up to the Ram’s Head for a drink, which is a great place to have a cocktail btw. 4.5 stars for that experience due to the atmosphere alone. As we were relaxing after our drive, we decided to see if the chef’s table menu had been updated for the new month. To our horror, it had been.

The new menu was actually shocking to us both. Completely unseasonal and so… random. It looked to lean vegetarian, which is not what we signed up for at all. We tried to remain optimistic and hoped that the silken terrine was not a terrine of silken tofu but would have at least some sort of meat component. This was honestly the only dish I had any hope for. It was the worst one. There was one other couple suffering through this experience. When the tofu terrine came out the woman next to me took one bite and got up. She was gone for about 5 minutes. I should have joined her. I cannot describe how badly the flavors of this particular dish clashed with one another in what was maybe one of the worst things I have ever eaten.

Everything else was almost as bad, except for the muffuletta with salmon mortadella. It was a bit chunky, but the flavor was good. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of this one.

Once the “faux gras” came out looking like whipped oatmeal and not tasting much better, we started documenting. It got worse from there. I feel like we were being trolled. This guy was so confident when he would come out and describe his “artistry”. The cannoli was when I really started to lose all hope. A “savory” cannoli filled with apple risotto? Just so very strange and unappetizing. Edible? But not enjoyable. The “gazpacho” tasted like puréed Granny Smith apples topped with frozen corn. The sashimi cube was what really upset me when we viewed the menu ahead of time. I dreaded this. This is what made me lose all hope and want to cancel. We could not. Now I like sushi. I love raw meat in general when done well. But this was just a baffling main course, especially for a late fall menu.

I had hope for the dessert, despite being put off by the idea of peanuts and citrus in the same dish. Cheesecake is good, right? The peanut flavor was so overpowering that I ended up being glad it was mostly separate from the edible parts of the dish. I ate the yuzu curd, but the rest of my plate was mostly untouched. Peanuts and citrus is an abomination.

In the end, the chef came out for what I think was supposed to be an ego stroking on how great the meal was. We didn’t really engage because… yeah. The other couple did ask some questions and everything was made clear to us. One particular highlight was the chef mentioning that he sees food as a math problem. He uses a grid to match flavors together? I was half listening at this point until he said something that caught my ear. He apparently puts these menus together with such confidence that he doesn’t even taste the dishes he concocts. He believes he has such an understanding of what flavors go together that he just puts it all out there with no testing, nothing. I feel like a lab rat. My stomach was unsettled for hours after this meal. I’ve been to many tasting menus. Some with 10, even 15 courses and felt great if only a bit full afterwards. This was just so bad on almost every level. The severs were nice, and so was the wine.

After the meal the other couple approached us, and I am glad they did because I think we all needed a sanity check. They wanted to know what we thought. I was truthful. They agreed. We should have had a drink with them.

This felt like a very expensive...

Absolutely terrible place by any measure. Mediocre pretentious unattentive, and extremely uncoordinated service, below average food, menu is waaaay overpriced, for a restaurant that is located on top of a mountain, views are very limited and almost claustrophobic. And the tables chairs uncomfortable and cramped.

I made a reservation for two ahead of time and requested a window table. we were seated in the very back of the restaurant as far away from the window as possible. when I asked the maitreD about possible window seating, I was informed it would be at least one hour and 15 min before a table may open up. I took a quick look at the 5-6 window tables and found two that were finishing dinner (the maitreD didn't even bother checking). When I asked again if we could get one of those tables should they become available, he was disinterested and indicated we can only sit there if they happen to be on our server's section. we were lucky that one if them became available within 5 min and requested to be moved. I won't tell you how the maitreD made us pick up our unused silver wear, wine glasses, napkins and water glasses because he did not want to set up the new table for us. I will tell you the windows are extremely small, fogged, and do not provide the best access to the amazing panoramas. Oh and before we moved, we were approached by three different servers claiming to be our server for the night.

We wanted to order two winesby the glass at $17.50 and $18 respectively but wanted to make sure the wines came from relatively fresh bottles. the waiter obliged us with the first wine as it came from an unopened bottle. the second wine came from a bottle that was almost gone. I asked the waiter not to pour it so I can order something from a fresher bottle, buy he went ahead a poured it anyways

The waiter then recommended their very high quality steaks for the night which came in two cuts, a tenderloin and a new York steak. Both were priced at $46 each. while the tenderloin was average and passable, the New York steak was absolutely the worse cut and tasting meat I've ever had. It reminded me if the Chuck roast that you buy at WinCo for $3.98 per lb. It was grizzly, and tasted way too bloody,. I ordered medium well. additionally we were told that the dinner salad that was priced at $12 was large enough to share and ordered one. The sever literally brought us two plates with three small pieces of butter lettuce and a few hazelnuts.

I offered a piece if my new York steak to my friend and she agreed it tasted terrible.

I left 3/4 of my steak on the plate and no one bothered to ask if everything was okay. when I finally had the chance to inform the waiter, he offered us a free desert.

I ended up spending $141.50 on the meal and primarily had two pieces of butter lettuce and several slices of bread (which we had to ask for several times.)

oh and to make this seem like a high end restaurant, they serve a sorbet prior to dinner. ours was this jumble of coconut, orange sorbet that looked like a failed science experiment and frankly should not have been served period. the food came befire we were even done with our sorbet.

summary, save your hard earned money and...

Throughout the meal I found myself asking “ I wonder what their cooks do for a living?” I rarely review, even if restaurants are poor quality. Honestly I pondered what went wrong? The food and the price leave a bad taste in your mouth. The drinks were great and the views were better than great, which I completely understand accounts for a large portion of the hefty price tag. I think they were hoping for a 1920s vibe with the music and ambiance, which could work IF they nailed the food, the year was not 2025, and jazz washing so jarring against the panoramic views of the vales. At one point I asked my wife if she knew how to dance the Charleston with the jazz blaring in the background.

The drinks were great and seemed to have been a craft they mastered. Be sure to get a few in you to forget the meal, or at least enough to not care. I’d recommend asking for salt once you arrive at the table to avoid the awkward ask once the food arrives.

The salads were good bordering on great. The fresh butter lettuce and zested lemon on the Caesar were a nice touch, as well as crumbs over croutons.

The “wagyu” was 100% just a regular choice cut, I would have sent it back to the butcher if they tried to sell it as American Wagyu. Their largest mistake of the evening was not probing the steak but rather cutting it in half then put it back on to cook for what I would guess was another 3-4 minutes when it was too rare. This is a big no-no if you aren’t just BBQing for yourself. I have had, no exaggeration, 2 steaks in my life that were better than my own, and never once in my 36 year on earth, until today, not finished a steak, I am not picky. I’d eat it straight off the cow if my wife would let me. You could cook it to jerky and I’d eat it. I didn’t even finish 1/3 of the steak. The potatoes were cold, and I don’t mean not warm, I mean cold.

The 2nd dish was a “subtle” dish to put it kindly. No flavor, bold move!

I will give the head chef credit, I see the vision of the menu, but it has to be hard to find consistent sous chefs and kitchen help that want to travel into a forest and up the highest mountain in Oregon to learn the vision, buy into the vision and most importantly execute the vision, then show up to the next shift. This menu may be suffering from grandeur, and would nestle nicely on the mountainside traveling back in time the rip roaring 20s, and going basic while tossing in some modernity, instead of the inverse.

I have already given this restaurant enough time and far too much money so I hope this helps you understand what you are in for if you choose to accept this mission. Just remember, it’s dining, and it’s fine, it’s just not...