1882 Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Truckee

We prefer to travel on train and not do a lot of driving if possible. We wanted to visit Truckee to check out Truckee Thursday and also Donner Lake. River Street Inn turned out to be a perfect place for us. We arrived on Amtrak in the afternoon. We left the station and walked to the Inn, a short distance. ||The sign in the front said come in the bar in the back of the building. We walked in to this neat little bar and the lady said "you must be our guests" and gave us a receipt and room key. She explained how to come and go from the front of the building and told us the restaurant and bar hours. ||We walked up stairs and checked out our room. Was nice. Had a comfortable bed and a view of the river. There was a balcony we could sit on overlooking the river. The room was NOT a cookie cutter chain motel room, it had a charm all its own. Kind of funky, kind of old but in good order and clean. Had a flat screen television although we really didn't stay here to watch TV. There is no air conditioning although the fan in the room did a great job. During the day the room does get a good filling of BBQ smoke but I didn't find it over powering and it did go away at night.||We went down to the bar and met one of the owners. Super nice. Just then the sky opened up and it was raining pretty good so we had a drink and asked about the area. She told us about the regional transit being a great way to avoid getting a car. After the rain let up, we roamed a bit before coming back to try their restaurant. It is a little restaurant with outdoor dining as well as indoor. The food was very good. They make excellent cocktails.||Some people hate train horns and this place is near the tracks. Personally we like trains so the horns were not an issue. The bonus for us is we could look out our side window and watch the trains roll by. Currently the freight traffic is late night, early morning. If you put in simple foam ear plugs, train goes away. ||The noise from the bar and restaurant is nothing. Goes away about 9pm. Was never an issue with our stay.||The transit was a good tip. We went to Donner Lake and drove around the lake and were dropped off at the museum. Driver picked us up and took us all around the area. The buses run very frequently, no one on them and for $5, we went to all the spots we wanted to see. ||Truckee Thursday was a lot of fun. A giant street fair. Runs from 5 - 9pm. ||Old town Truckee is pretty much bars, restaurants and galleries. A lot of fun to check out. I am fascinated with old buildings and there is no shortage of those. ||The nice thing is at the end of the night, we had a short walk to the Inn. They would make a nightcap for us and we would take it up to our room. We opened the windows and turned on the fan and settled into bed. We were asleep in no time. ||The breakfast is not a big deal. It was served around 7:30 and they offered coffee, pastries, cold cereal and fruit. It was perfect for us. We don't usually do a big breakfast so cereal and fruit was just right for us. If you want a big breakfast just go out the front door, cross the street and your at a popular restaurant (JAX). We did that one morning, a ton of food.||The Inn has a common sitting area. We talked with a few travelers there and it was a comfortable surrounding. The owners didn't have an issue with us putting some of our things in the kitchen refrigerator which worked out nicely. That is also were you can find breakfast. The parking is off site. Don't know about it as we didn't drive but I think it is a very short walk. Truckee does charge for parking anywhere. You will find machines all over the place.||I think people who expect it to be like a chain motel are going to be disappointed. The reservation system is very casual. No housekeeping staff. Not a lot of amenities Not a lot of standard furniture and fixtures. I think folks that can go with the flow and like the feel of a boarding house will enjoy it. It is right in the heart of old town so it is where the action is and you do pay for location. And for train travelers, walking distance to Amtrak, in site of the railroad yard and access to easy public transportation make it ideal in my book. We will stay...

My friend and I chose this in because of it's location near downtown Truckee so we could walk everywhere and not have to use the car. I'd stayed here some years ago and enjoyed it. But this time we got the only room with two beds and it was miserable. First off, there was zero hospitality. We had to go to the restaurant behind the building and have a server come give us a key. Second, the windows were not double-paned; one of them would not close all the way and there were no employees in the building. THe train and truck traffic all night were unrelenting; we had to sleep with pillows over our heads. We never saw the so-called innkeeper. Then, the towel rack fell off the wall, the toilet seat was so wobbly it threatened to come off too. The TV was the size of a small desktop computer and had fuzzy reception. There was no coffee in the room. As I was still recovering from knee surgery I wasnt about to set foot in a high antique tub with a curtain all around and no grab bars. . We asked the waitress what time coffee would be served in the moring; she said she thought 6:30. But no...turned out coffee and continental breakfast time as 8-10. Who going skiing would wait until 8 a.m. for coffee? THe other guests went across the street to Jax for their breakfast. For $250 this was a miserable, no-sleep experience. I would rather have been at motel 6 with headlights staring in the window. Tip to anyone staying there: Get a room in the back, facing the river, away from...

The only reason that River Street Inn is getting two stars rather than one is because the bed was comfortable. We stayed in the suite which was quite spacious, but rather dusty with large cobwebs in most corners of the bedroom. It felt like it had been a forgotten room. The noise, however, of the passing and honking trains throughout the ENTIRE night was horrible especially since the bedroom faced the railroad tracks. And flanked on the other side of the bedroom was the busy street traffic. Unfortunately, there was no peace and quite to be found in the room and it certainly does not justify the price. Thinking about the sparsely appointed continental breakfast (no jam, no butter, expired half and half, only low fat milk, one granola and no cereal), you will no doubt find a greater selection at Best Western for half the cost.||||So until the windows and half glass door that faces the railroad tracks can be replaced with high-quality ones to keep the noise outside (where it should be) I recommend passing on this overpriced inn unless you are feeling generous and willing to try your luck in one of the middle rooms not facing the street. Just don't expect much in the way...