Spottswood Dining Room — Restaurant in Virginia

While on a trip to Shenandoah, we wound up having dinner at the Spottswood Dining Room one night, and breakfast here another morning.

While the lodge building appears to be well maintained, the dining room could use a little TLC. The windows facing the valley appear to have been tinted at one time, and with age the windows now appear cloudy and distorted meaning some panes are hard to see out of. The tables and chairs also seem to be older as many creaked and wobbled slightly. The tables are good sized and afford plenty of room. The decor is minimal, mostly because the two largest walls are floor to ceiling windows, but the wood work it is warm and inviting. A nice addition would be to have some partition walls to hide the bussing station as well as the spare drying racks of dishes, tray holders, brooms, etc. that sit at the one end of the dining room. The view is pleasant out the windows, but not as nice as the view at the Pollock Dining Room at Skyland.

We did not really encounter a host or hostess on either visit. One visit a staff member from the hotel sat us, and on the other visit we were sat by one of the servers. The servers we had on both days were efficient and we didn't have to wait too long for service, food, refills, etc. Our server at dinner was very outgoing and made our meal that much more enjoyable. Our server at breakfast barely spoke to us and was very reserved, which seems to be common place for this area.

Prices are higher than what you would expect to pay for the same meals at a restaurant that is not located inside a national park, but the food was at least plentiful and enjoyable. The dinner menu has a variety of options including fish, pork chops, turkey, meatloaf, a couple of pasta options, and some salads. It's not the largest menu, but it does have a decent variety. Portions are quite large and both of our meals were properly prepared. The seared trout was perfectly prepared, with a nice selection of sides (butternut squash, spinach, quinoa). The turkey dinner came with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, & cranberry sauce and was a ton of food but was also very tasty.

The breakfast menu was somewhat small, with only six options including a traditional breakfast (2 eggs, toast, breakfast meat, and potatoes), overnight oats, french toast, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and a breakfast hash bowl. We both had the Shenandoah Overnight (overnight oats) which came with honey, blackberries, candied pecans, and roasted apples. Breakfast was enjoyable and was quite filling.

While the meals here were very good, we'd recommend the 20-minute drive to the Skyland area and enjoying a meal at the Pollock Dining Room instead. In comparison, the service is about the same at both restaurants, the prices are equally higher than they should be at both, but the decor at the Spottswood Dining Room is lacking and the breakfast menu is...

We ate here three times. The location is wonderful if you're staying in Shenandoah National Park. Our first night there, my daughter and I split mushroom ravioli, which came with five ravioli drowned in cream sauce, thankfully with lots of fresh mushrooms. The flavor was pretty good, but for the price I would not order it again. Five small, mediocre hush puppies for $10 were a waste of money. Our waitress was friendly and efficient, but the cost for so-so food was a let down.

For breakfast the next morning, the hostess was MIA so a random person from the lodge's staff seated us. It took over ten minutes to get waited on and another 25 minutes for coffee and water to be delivered to the table. The coffee was full of grounds (as was the refill!) and only half full. I had to go ask someone for cream and sugar and then go ask for butter and syrup for pancakes and French toast. Both dishes came out too cold to melt butter. I would not order French toast here again, as the bread was from a cheap loaf from the grocery store. The fruit on top was good with the exception of the overripe, mushy blueberries.

Our waitress took no responsibility for anything, blaming the kitchen, though they obviously had nothing to do with the serving of water, coffee, cream, sugar, and syrup. She said she didn't know why our food was cold because she brought it out right away. The pancakes we ordered the day before were on the table within five minutes and were hot. I'm just saying.

To solidify the poor score, a boy at the table next to us knocked a glass off the table and we were shocked to see his dad come back with a broom and dust pan and sweep it up himself. I don't even know what to say about that. So, while I do recommend Big Meadows Lodge as a wonderful place to stay, for dining I recommend Pollock Dining Room at Skyland Resort, which had exceptional service, large portions, and phenomenal food for about...

Ambiance was great. Views are awesome. Service was amazing. Abby was both awesome and gorgeous. Now, the food is expensive... yet excellent and exceptional. We had trout and pork chop. I first feared servings would be too small. Pork chop was huge, and I had two trout fillets. Both were expertly cooked and well seasoned. From the first bite, it was a pleasure to eat. They were served on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes. Now, what the heck did they do to these potatoes? I don't know. They were, simply, the best sweet potatoes I've EVER had. The only normal part of the meal were the accompanying veggies - I wish they had been sautéed in spicy garlic oil. I wish the tomato had been slightly roasted and placed over the meat. Would have been a better complement. Oh, they have military discount! Expensive - or I'd rather say a bit costly, but I'll definitely return. Great way to spend the evening after a decent hike. Dessert was pretty good as well - blackberry cobbler with blackberry ice cream. It didn't last enough...