Donner Lake Kitchen — Restaurant in Truckee

Ok, so I was a little worried about posting this because it was our first time there, and we were left with quite the impression.

When we first walked in, we were greeted, and that was wonderful. The staff was super nice, but things took a downhill turn from there. The menu had wonderful sounding options, and we made our choices. An order of biscuits and gravy and one patty melt modified with fries. My partner said his meal (biscuits and gravy) was an ok meal. A little last luster but ediable food. That was until I noticed my patty melt had no cheese. Now, I am unsure if this part was my mistake or if it was a miscommunication. On the menu, it said the a Patty melt came with Swiss and Cheddar, and I asked for no Swiss, then I changed the bread to sourdough. I asked my patty to be lightly pink. Nothing too crazy. When I got my sandwich, it had no cheese, and the meat was practically raw. I asked if I could get my cheese due to the reason stated above, but when the sandwich came back... I was... worried. (Still ate it because I was hungry and didn't want to be rude). The sandwich had cheese, alright, but they didn't remake it. They slapped some cheese on the sandwich and put it in the microwave, and it was pretty obvious. It had that flavor you get when you put beef in the microwave for too long and still somehow came out still mostly raw. Now, our server was a kind man. I don't blame him. But health and safety standards were put on a low bar that day in the kitchen. The bread was also somewhat spongy and soggy. I would have given them a much lower rating if it wasn't for how kind the wait staff was. I hope that if management is reading this, please brush your kitchen staff up on training and take better care of how food is prepared to avoid cross-contamination and food born illnesses as things could have gone wrong and still can. The place has such a nice atmosphere, but we are sad to say we will not be dining with you again unless we are reassured that steps have been taken to correct this. We know this review is a hard one to read, but we say it with care and respect. Thank you for the dining experience, and we are sad that we left disappointed and a bit concerned as we were excited to try this highly rated...

Had a very unpleasant interaction with the Donner Lake Kitchen OWNER and one of the waitresses. Visited for breakfast, waited over an hour for two burnt/overcooked meals. The waitress agreed to take 50% off because of it. We handed her our card and then the OWNER went ahead and charged full price!! When asked why we were over charged what we previously agreed upon she yelled “gratuity” from the kitchen and completely ignored us afterwards. This is an UNAUTHORIZED charge. The waitress only came over to ask what I wanted and dropped it off 45 minutes later. Didn’t ask how things were, if we needed anything else, etc. Two groups that came in AFTER us were waited, served and left by the time we got our food. Super bummed, used to go there all the time but now won’t be returning. Paid over $50 for 4 overcooked eggs, a hot coco and a poorly made coffee, essentially. As a ex-waitress, I understand being short staffed but this was blatant disrespect from the owner. Keep in mind, we had a toddler with us this whole time and the owner even made a comment about our toddler crying loudly while waiting for service. She wouldn’t be crying if we didn’t have to wait over an...

This was actually our second time trying to eat here. The first time there was a 45 minute wait.. and we didn't. We were pleased that we were able to get a table after a reasonable wait this time.

I'll start with the good: The host that greeted us was friendly. There was a lovely eating area set up outside where we sat and waited, and would have been nice to actually eat in. Big clean bathroom.

The not so good: The food and the service. The food was not worth the wait. Not the wait for the table, the wait after we sat down. We finally ordered... and then waited again. The food was unremarkable. I asked for a box for my BLT nonetheless and then... waited. Got the check... then waited. Got the box and finally left, but not before asking a different employee for a to-go cup and ... got it AND a straw! Our experience might have been better if that was our server.

I guess now we can say we've eaten there, but we probably won't be going back...