Elements Eatery & Bar — Restaurant in South Lake Tahoe

i’m typically not the type to leave a review… and definitely not the type to leave a karen like paragraph about a restaurant. but this place SUCKS. the hostess. she was standing outside, not in uniform, (nobody wears a uniform here) walking around and doing everything but her job. we were led through a restaurant that was more like a maze, tables less than a foot apart with not even enough room to pull out your own chair. when we finally got our table, we were met with a BUSSER who took our drink order. our drinks took 20 minutes to come out. once the drinks came out, we still hadn’t been greeted by a server. 10 more minutes pass, so we pull a random person on the floor to finally take our order. we had breakfast menus, since we had been here about 35 minutes with no order taken. and she was not happy about it. we were immediately met with attitude and passive aggressiveness about “the kitchen not serving breakfast anymore”. but she decided it was fine with her. when our food did come out about 30 MORE minutes later, only 2 of our 5 plates came out. it took 10 minutes for the next plate, and it was made incorrectly. we once again had to pull a random person from the floor to remake it. got the remake, still were missing one plate. by the time we got the final plate of food most of us were done eating. not to mention, the food was MEDIOCRE AT BEST! especially for the ridiculous price. finally, we pulled ANOTHER person to ask for our bill. we were met with a shocking $140 bill for our terrible experience. the woman who gave us our bill asked if we even needed a paper receipt, then stormed off and grabbed one anyways when we were trying to decide how we wanted to pay. she dropped the bill, and disappeared. once again, we pulled a random person to run our card and got out as fast as we could. i have been a server, and been served at many many restaurants. i have never had an experience NEARLY as bad as this one. the beautiful view is completely ruined by the terrible service and mediocre food. DO...

Edit: To future diners, please see management’s response below to my review. “I’m sorry, but…” is not a genuine apology. First off, age does not matter as a server; good service is what matters. Second, food taste is subjective, and the food is average. Drinks are also subjective, but a bad cocktail is still a bad cocktail, a dirty glass is still a dirty glass. Third, instead of being so defensive as management, take the time to use the constructive criticism to properly train staff, this will increase their tips and give you a more packed restaurant during dinner rush, we wondered why it was pretty empty, that’s telling. I have a lengthy background in the restaurant industry as well as doing PR for restaurants for years, and pro tip, this isn’t how you respond to customers. Best of luck.

Original review - Weirdest experience in Tahoe. The atmosphere is great, beautiful view of the lake. The food was average. The service was really awful. We had two servers, it seemed one was in training, but they were both really subpar, a bit abrasive at times. And one had on the shortest shorts with her butt cheeks hanging out, super professional look around children. They both pushed the tequila espresso martini (don’t do it), and when our friend wanted to swap it out with a vodka one they left both on the bill. Same for our friend who needed a new cocktail glass because hers was dirty, it was a struggle at the end to get the bill corrected. And just know ahead of time they don’t split checks in any easy manner, which is fine but that added an extra layer of frustration at the end trying to sort that out because they leave it up to you to do. It was all around a very strange experience and for the amount of money you spend on dinner and drinks, it’s best to go elsewhere with much better food and much much better service....

I came in for Happy Hour which is from 3-5pm M-F and 2pm to close Sundays! Not bad. It's true about the ambience: beautiful lake views abound here. Sitting at the bar is nice too. They have two person bar chairs that are more like loveseats and very comfy! But you can also sit out at the edges so you can watch the action on S. Lake Tahoe Blvd if you like.

Service: I was lucky to be to have Jake as my bar tender. He had great energy and it was infectious! I asked for something off menu: a vegan version of their veggie soft taco ($3 on Happy Hour) and requested jalapeños be added. The taco's ingredients (black beans, saute'd zucchini & pico de gallo) had great smokey flavors. Not only did I get jalapeños but they were grilled and delicious. That was Jake's suggestion. He definitely has some regulars who come for his drink slang'n and I'm gonna be one of 'em!

Jake also modified the drinks a bit to accomodate my request for a "minimum of sugar". So I got to try to their custom drinks ideas without a massive sugar spike. Very nice.

Now, plant based eaters (vegetarians/vegans) will find that there's plenty for them if you just ask and specify your self-imposed dietary restrictions out loud. Oh yeah, and they have a nice hot sauce offering there that you can see in my photo attached here.

The only reason I don't have 5 stars here is more personal. Since I'm an herbivore I really wish they would have markings on the menu, if not a special menu, for those of us who are trying to lessen our impact on animals and, ultimately, the environment.

I wasn't sure going in whether vegan stuff was possible as nobody had written a review so much as mentioning the lifestyle. I was pleasantly surprised.

Jake deserves 5 stars, hands down....