Wolf by Vanderpump at Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe — Restaurant in South Lake Tahoe

Our first visit here on June 21, 2024 was a 5 star experience, so we returned. This visit, about a month later, was a ZERO star.

Made the reservation for our July 19, 2024 visit 2 ½ months before the reservation date. When we arrived on July 19 at the 7.15 PM reservation time, we were seated at a table next to the hostess stand where everybody being seated had to walk around our table. We were unable to see most of the beautiful bar and dining room decor, and the line of people without reservations were staring straight at us. Absolutely zero atmosphere so, before we placed our order, we asked for a different table. The waiter explained that he would ask the hostess, but they were very full that night with reservations. I guess our reservation, made 2 1/2 months ago, didn't count? Were we treated as last minute reservations or walk ins? Alas, the manager took mercy on us and seated us at a nice table mid-to-front of the dining room.

Our new waiter took our drink orders. They had to "find" dinner menus for us, of which one was torn and covered with several stains. Wolf seems confused as to whether it's a bar or restaurant... or maybe I'm the confused patron, thinking it's a dining establishment with fine crafted cocktails? Staff searching for dining menus suggests that I’m not the confused party.

Our drinks were tasty (the Huff and Puff arrived in a cool looking wolfhead holder), but the Big Bad Wolf was not the same berry delight as last time, absolutely inconsistent with our prior visit. The Garden Greens were tasty and consistent with our last visit. We had the drinks within 35 minutes of arriving (including the table change before ordering), then the salad arrived in a reasonable time thereafter. So far, starting with the re-seating through the drink and salad, 5 star. The waiter checked to see how we liked our items, we were happy!

As a side note, the table that we were originally seated at remained empty until after 8 PM. Several other tables for 2 slowly filled up before the 'dog' of a table at the entry way was seated. Tall tops for 2 remained empty along the west facing windows; only one was seated during the evening. In other words, there were plenty of tables for 2, so why drop us into the entry way table and then fib about being all booked up that night?

After receiving drinks and the salad, we waited for our entrees: Mac and Cheese and Fish and Chips. Seems simple. About 20 minutes after we finished our salads, the waiter told us the food was coming right up. then, about 20 minutes later, he said he would look into where our food was. Our food arrived about 8:45 PM, a solid 45 minutes AFTER we FINISHED the salads and an hour after we ordered the entrees. Our drinks and salad arrived about 7:45 to 8. Our reservation was 7:15. We moved tables about 7:25.

When the food finally arrived, the Mac and Cheese was good and hot. The Chips were good and hot. The peas were not as tasty as the prior visit. We waited another 5 minutes for the malt vinegar to arrive for the Fish. The Fish was cold, flat, and soggy; super soggy on the bottom. Not the fluffy, hot, and crisp offering from our first visit. The waiter must have known this, because he didn't ask how the food was.

Tables turned over 1 and 2 times while we were at Wolf last night. The waiter realized that an hour and a half wait for food was unreasonable, so he offered us a dessert, on the house. We accepted the offer (Hot Cinnamon Rolls, to go). After flagging down the waiter to pay the bill, waiting for the dessert to arrive (it was cold, but nicely packaged to go), we left Wolf at 9.25 PM, more than 2 hours after we arrived. I appreciate a slowly paced dining experience, especially in a beautiful venue such as Wolf, but we will not return. A 45 minute wait between food courses is unacceptable. We will not return.

P.S. The cinnamon rolls warmed up nicely at home, with the Wolf chocolate banner on top adding a flavorful touch. Can't imagine eating the sweet, and a bit dry, bready rolls at night...

We ate there early in the week, and it was fully booked that day with the floor completely filled up by 7pm. Despite the high price, the appetizers were not sharable with only 3 small pieces per plate. Charging at around $20 dollars, 4 pieces would be more reasonable. The flavor was great however, and they came out hot and fresh since it was still early in the evening with over 1/4 the tables still open. The $20 Whiskey Cocktails “Huff n Puff” and “The Big Bad Wolf” have a very impressive presentation, served in fair portions, well balanced and not overly sweet. The flavors however were good, but far from great in comparison to something like a classic Final Ward. After 7pm when the entire floor filled up, the service and food quality noticeably changed. There was only one cocktail runner and only one food runner for over 75 diners sitting at once, and due to the popularity of the cocktails, the cocktail server was unable to assist the singular visibly overwhelmed and distressed food runner, and the food quality took a major hit at this time as a result. The servers became very noticeably stressed at this time also. At this time we ordered the Wagyu Steak Medium Rare for our main entree, which took over 1/2 hour to come out, and when the food runner rushed by and dropped it off, it took me 1 second to tell that it was very overcooked at almost a medium well, but before we can take it back (which we rarely do unless its really that bad) the food runner as well as the ENTIRE FLOOR STUFF was gone into the kitchen for the next 10 minutes. When food comes out like this it means only 2 things; either the cooks don’t know how to cook $45-80 steaks, or it sat under the heat lamp in the expo window for half the time we were waiting for it - killing the food. And when all the staff including the manager (who looked like a host) disappears into the kitchen for a long time, that means the KITCHEN is CRASHING. 20 minutes later, I was able to signal the visibly distressed server and asked to switch our steak out for a rare instead of med-rare. She went into the kitchen to rush the order, got it 2 minutes later, and it was rare in the middle but ver tough and chewy on the outside…not how a Wagyu is supposed to be, which tells me that this is a lower quality of meat and the grill temp was probably set to high, overcooking the outside of the steak. The steak was also very bland. We finished up with the “S’mores cookie” which also took half an hour to get. When the food runner rushed by to drop it off, the cookie crust was hard and overcooked, and the ice cream was mostly melted, showing that this to sat under the heat lamp for an extended time. We loved our server, she did all she could with how the restaurant was being run at max capacity and not being properly staffed with food runners for the amount of diners. There was clearly Ageism going on here as in most places in South Lake/Stateline with none of the staff including the manager looking over 30 years old. The restaurant clearly valued looks over experience in their staff, so being understaffed is not an excuse when I’m absolutely positive that there were plenty of experienced applicants who applied there who were over...

Must state the positive - food was delicious - my party had the Wagyu Ragu, shrimp tacos and wagyu sliders. The Wolf bread is super addicting. We made a reservation over a month ago to have dinner here to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Our daughter found out we were going here and really wanted to go. I spent over 2 hours cumulatively trying to revise the reservation. I sent a message to restaurant via OpenTable (website used for reservation) and called many times. If you call the phone # listed for the restaurant, you get a call center for Caesars's Entertainment and the folks there are obviously not in this country - they had no idea how to help me nor did they listen to my specific concern although I explained it more than one. On a few of those calls I asked to be connected to the property (Harvey's Casino) so I could speak to someone at the restaurant. Each time I was connected, it either rang with no answer and it rang forever and then asked for a voicemail password. Out of approximately 10 attempts of asking to get transferred to the property, I ended up speaking to a male at the hotel front desk (only place call can get transferred to) who said he would see what he could do to help and call back - no call back. Another time I talked to someone at the hotel front desk, her name was Taylor, who said "to be honest" Wolf does not answer their phone but she would walk over to the restaurant when she had a moment and then call me back, she was super nice on the phone but didn't call me back. On one occasion when I called the # that takes you to call center, I was transferred to VIP in Vegas, talked to James, he said he would send e-mail to restaurant and they would either call or e-mail me - that never happened.

We ended up going to the restaurant today for the 6:15 reservation, they let us add our daughter but seated us in what appears to be a lounge area near the door and the bar and 2 of our 3 seats were backless ottomans. Although I had a reservation, I didn't get an actual table with chairs that have backs nor did the restaurant make any mention of our 20th anniversary although when reservation was made, it was noted we were celebrating a 20th anniversary. I asked our server if we could be moved to a table with chairs, he told us they were for reservation, I told him we had a reservation but he ignored what I said. It should not be this much of a hassle to modify a reservation and if a customer notes on the reservation that something is being celebrated, the restaurant should do something to make it special. Very disappointed...