Bridgetender Tavern and Grill — Restaurant in Tahoe City

This was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve had in awhile. We travel around the country for work on a regular basis and are more than used to being treated as tourists in a tourist town, the least popular group to be waited on, but this restaurant (and our server Austin) took this to a whole new level. First off, when we all ordered waters we were greeted with an audible sigh, and then Austin proceeded to bring us four plastic disposable cups and a disgusting looking pitcher that was obviously not meant to be left at a guests table. When he sat the pitcher down on the table he said, “Oh, gross there’s a piece of lettuce in here.” before walking away to get us a different pitcher. After looking around I realized we were definitely the only table in the restaurant with throw-away cups so I thought that was somewhat strange. We had to stop Austin to ask if we could order, and he replied with an annoyed “sure, yeah”. After taking our order he blatantly ignored us, avoiding all eye contact even when walking right past our table, until he brought our food. There were two orders of chicken wings and when I asked which order was the crispy cooked ones, he said they all are. Okay…. then when I said I really wanted blue cheese with my wings another audible sigh before walking away and getting us blue cheese. Again we didn’t see him until our plates were empty. Half of our party wanted another glass of beer or wine, and when I finally waved him down to ask for one he said “yeah” before walking briskly away never to return with the drinks. When it was time to pay that’s when things really went downhill. He brought us one check, and when we asked him very politely to split it he walked away before we could even tell him how and he loudly said “I mean… I guess”. There was nothing on the menu about not splitting up checks, and we had eaten here the day before without a single issue splitting the check. He came back with the checks not split up correctly, and that’s when we noticed there was an 18% tip automatically added. We had read in the menu that they added gratuity to parties of 8 or more (standard) but we only had a party of FOUR and when told Austin that we had just eaten there the day before he said about as rudely as he could “we just started doing it today, you can call my manager and ask”. Someone else at our table asked if everyone in the restaurant also had gratuity added to their checks and he just laughed and said yeah while walking away.

We could hear Austin talking about our table with the rest of the waitstaff, several girls made comments about our table. I find it very hard to believe the tip policy had changed in one day, and if it had it’s something that we should have been made aware of ahead of time. It’s not hard to be a server, several of our group have waited tables for years at very busy restaurants… this was just plain bad service. We went to the Bridgetender twice, both times because of the amazing reviews we had read online. so I felt that it was absolutely necessary to write about our experience. We felt completely disrespected and in awe of the general lack of caring that we experienced both times in this restaurant. Austin was a straight up jerk. I hope he isn’t like that to all of his tables, and I’m not sure what we did to make him hate us so much, but something tells me there’s not much upper management vibes happening in that place to give him any type of incentive to do a better job.

Later we realized that he had put in our total guest count as 8 which is how he was able to add the automatic gratuity to our checks. This is so wrong. How about, instead of lying about how many people are at the table you just do a good job waiting on us and we would've tipped you more than 20% because we're all service industry workers. UNBELIEVABLE.

Overall: food was decent bar food, overcooked burgers, good chicken wings and french fries. HORRIBLE service, two times in a row. The first time wasn't great but the second was really bad... like bad enough for me to write this...

Cross-posting a review I shared on Yelp on 10/13/2024:

I drove up from Sacramento today to go to an event about 15 minutes inland from Tahoe City. I figured after I was done at the event, I'd run and grab dinner in Tahoe City, both so I could see the lake a little bit, and so I wouldn't be hungry on my drive home afterward. I chose Bridgetender on a whim because it was near the water, open, and had decent reviews and didn't look too pricey.

The parking lot looked full enough that I expected to maybe have to wait a little while to be seated, but when I went in, the hostess was able to seat me right away. My server (I'm bad with names but my receipt says Bailey S., so I hope that's right) was attentive, patient, and friendly.

Their elk burger, which states it comes medium rare with a blueberry BBQ sauce, caught my eye, both because I rarely get a chance to have elk and because the blueberry BBQ sauce sounded so unique. When I ordered, I asked if the burger could be done medium instead of medium rare. My server said of course it could, but did politely suggest that because elk is very lean compared to beef, medium rare would have a better texture. I agreed and ordered it that way, and I'm glad I did, it was just right and if I had gone with medium it wouldn't have been as good. The blueberry BBQ sauce was quite good, although I do wish it had been a little less tangy, a little more sweet. But that's personal preference, nothing was wrong with it at all.

I also ordered a side of seasoned waffle fries and one of their summer cocktails... the BT Rum Punch. Those were good as well. Also, it did not take very long for my order to come out, and everything tasted fresh. The fries also came with a little cup of ranch which was nice. The tables already were stocked with basics like ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. When I asked for a box and the check, I also asked for a quick refill of water. The server brought those over, and as an afterthought I asked if I could have a bag to put the box in. I explained I'd be driving back to Sacramento and didn't want to risk any leaks in the car. The server brought me a bag and also kindly offered to get me a water in a to-go cup for the road. I told her I had a bottle of water in my car but just wanted a little more icewater before leaving the restaurant, but it was a really considerate thing to offer and I appreciated it!

The atmosphere is nice and cozy. Dim interior lighting but with plenty of windows for natural light in the daytime, kind of your typical pub-type place. It seemed like a lot of locals were there because several customers seemed to know each other and the staff, and that kind of gave it a cheerful atmosphere while I was quietly sitting by myself and enjoying my surroundings. Nice location, right by where the Truckee River meets the lake/the dam, lots of trees, I actually ran across the street before going in to get some pictures of the lake and scenery. Decent size parking lot.

Would go again if ever in that part of the...

We used to love this place pre covid! It was a must stop whenever we would come to Tahoe City. However, this will be our final time coming here because of our most recent experience.

We waited an hour and a half to be seated, the hostess finally called our name quietly. We walked up as we were only sitting about 5 feet away only to find the hostess had already given our table away.

When we finally got to the table we were told they were out of basic menu items such as chicken strips, and tater tots. We asked for a few more minutes to change our order and our waiter decided to take 20. He was busy taking shots with his fellow employees and chatting. The staff here cares more about having a good time drinking than taking care of paying customers. When our drinks came out the beer was flat and the margarita tasted like there wasn't any alcohol in it. The bartenders were probably shorting pours because their employees were drinking on the job and had to offset the alcohol.

We finally ordered after sitting at the table for 30 minutes. We waited another 30 minutes for our food only to find when it came out we were missing our sides. When we asked for them, the waiter informed us they had just run out of what we ordered. At this point we were so hungry we decided to eat what they served us only to find one of the burgers was raw after biting into it. we brought it to the waiters attention and she offered to take the burger that had already been bitten into and put it back on the grill! Waiter said burgers here are served MEDIUM RARE and she had no problem cross contaminating the grill if I wanted it cooked a little more. The other burger was so well done that it was burnt on outside yet cold..

We waited 2.5 hours for raw burgers and drinks. The staff is extremely unfriendly, and theres inconsistencies with the drinks as well as the food. We are never dining here again. This was by far the worst experience we have had at any restaurant we've...