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Basin Cafe

4.3 (126 reviews)
Open • 7:00 am - 2:00 pm

Basin Cafe Photos

BASIN CAFE ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Dogs allowed
Good for groups
Outdoor seating

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Recommended Reviews - Basin Cafe

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Rebecca M.

Omg what's not to love about this super cute cafe with delicious food !! Everyone working there was super sweet,the inside was so cozy and clean, even the bathroom.. omg the outdoor front seating was AMAZING . 1st time here but not our last , so glad we came here . HIGHLY RECOMMEND . Thank you so much Basin Cafe

Plenty of outside seating
Colo C.

Great little cafe in a little quiet town. Food was delicious and the location is serene

Tri tip w/ macaroni salad
Justin K.

Basin cafe was such a welcome surprise! Definitely the spot to eat at Lee Vining. Friendly staff with a nice outdoor dining area. We stopped by after leaving Yosemite and had such a great experience. The tri tip sandwich was delicious and the tostada salad was perfect. The menu offered a lot more variety than one would expect, but the quality still exceeded expectations. Very unassuming spot that will deliver you a smile. Definitely worth a visit if you're passing through and need a bite. Would visit again!

Menu
Christie S.

The food here was very overpriced, especially for what you get. Our salad and bbq chicken sandwich were each $20 and were bland. The cafe itself was very cute and their garden was lovely, but that doesn't make up for below average food.

Ribs and elk burger in the back
Juanna F.

Went here for dinner with my husband and the food was solid and flavored well. The servers were friendly. My husband ordered an elk burger cooked medium rare with a side salad. I ordered the half ribs plate. The portions are huge but my husband and I finished all our food pretty quickly as we enjoyed both. The elk burger had an interesting taste since it was elk and not beef. It was slightly gamey but less gamey than lamb. It had onion rings in it and the overall flavor was really good with all the toppings in it. My ribs were sweet and also had an interesting marinade - blueberry and blackberry sauce. The ribs came with cheesy scalloped potatoes and vegetables. Yummy food and big portions.

PeiJen C.

Wonderful patio for outdoor dining. Grilled burgers and hot sandwiches starting at 12 pm - delicious veggie burger and BBQ pork sandwiches. Homemade coleslaw is strongly recommended as well. Friendly service! Will be back when visiting in June Lake

Philly cheesesteak
Vivian H.

5 for the service - the girls at the counter were killing it on a busy night and still super friendly, helpful, patient. 5 for the oatmeal cookie we ate while waiting for our meal. Have a feeling all their baked goods are gonna be good 5 for the carne asada southwest salad, my only gripe being that the plate was too small (don't wanna say the salad too big because I finished every bite) so it was challenging not to make a bit of a mess 3 for my partner's cheesesteak - may have been end of night (they stopped taking orders a little after we placed ours) but partner reports insufficient cheese and veggies, and the meat in cubed form (which was disclosed upon ordering by our kind servers). Their burgers and sweet potato waffle fries looked bomb and they have mammoth beers - next time!

Indoors
Bianca V.

Such a quaint cafe! Friendly service! We ate here before we headed to Yosemite for our camping trip. I got the tri tip fries and the tri tip was so flavorful and tender. They smoke all their meats in house. It was a large portion and I shared them. My fiancé got the basin burger with a side of onion rings and I'm still dreaming of them. When we are in Lee vining, we will definitely stop by and return.

Kids grilled cheese
Ali A.

Absolutely loved this place! There is local honey, art and T-shirts!! Small intimate dining inside but ample outside. Staff were very polite.

hungry bees  lunch time
Samuel L.

Swing by this restaurant while visiting Mammoth Lake; it's only a couple of minutes away from the visitor center. The restaurant has a big garden where you can enjoy your food under the shade. I ordered a burger and fish tacos. When the burger arrived, it was missing the beef patties. Luckily, this wasn't a to-go order, or I would have paid $20 for just a burger bun. The burger was average, and the fish tacos were okay. Service gets no stars because the staff made an unacceptable mistake, and the food gets 3 stars for being average.

Super dog--foot long chili with onions and fries.

Really cute place with good food and large portions (which is especially good because it's a bit pricey). Happy to have found it because we were starving from the long drive up the NV/CA eastern border. Staff was efficient and friendly.

Pancakes with fresh whipped cream & strawberry

Food and service was amazing! What a great find. We sat outside while we ate. It was a beautiful location. Clean bathroom. The staff working there were so friendly and sweet. It will be our new place we will stop by heading to Lake Tahoe

Burger with a side salad

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8 months ago

BRO !!! 6 buck for a drip coffee crazy expensive, fix your prices, wont be coming back.

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Pino Pies - Steak Pie, flaky buttery crust, so good!!

Pino Pies

(146 reviews)

$$

What a great spot! All the pies and pastries we tried were incredible, including the refrigerated…read moreones we took home to re-heat ourselves. We tried the breakfast, apple, lamb, and butter chicken pies plus a sausage roll. All were delicious, balanced, and obviously rich but never greasy or heavy. Coffee was also good though of course the baked goods are the stars of the show. Once you get your order, take a few minutes to enjoy the mountain air and views from the patio, too. Doesn't get much better!

This place is amazing! We came here on a Friday after hearing about this place and we liked it so…read moremuch we came back on Saturday and also bought some frozen pies to take home. The crust is perfectly flaky and buttery, not too flaky and not too buttery and is the perfect thickness and texture for accentuating the fillings inside. But what makes these standout is the fillings. They're an explosion of perfectly balanced flavors, and you can really tell that they were made with care. We talked to the owner and he says he sources his ingredients locally which we really appreciate, he says the beef is from a ranch near Bishop and he also gets bones to boil the beef stock to make the gravies. We tried pretty much every flavor they had, every single flavor was superb but personally here's how I rank the pies: 1) Lamb - Lamb is often tough or gamey, but this lamb was neither. Each chunk was moist and tender and perfectly seasoned. The gravy it was in was phenomenal. If you like lamb or are even just okay on lamb this is a must try. 2) Steak - Besides just meat, the inside of the steak was more like a shepherd's pie. There was peas and potatoes, and the meat was perfect. 3) Ground Beef and cheese - The beef had a really nice deep flavor, you can taste it's high quality ground beef. 4) Butter chicken - This is a hot take because I think he said butter chicken is one of their most popular flavors, and I can see why. The chicken is perfectly cooked and the flavor is great. 5) Lentil - Okay this one was actually really good, I'm just a meat eater so of course it's going to be bottom of my list but if you're just going to get two I think this pairs well with the lamb. The sausage roll was also really good, the sausage was not some cheap sausage there was real meaty flavor to it. If you have the room in your stomach I would definitely add on a sausage roll. Unfortunately they were out of apple pie and the potato top when we were there, but I definitely want to try that next time.

Tom's Place Cafe

Tom's Place Cafe

(291 reviews)

$$

I have been to Tom's Place too many times to count. It is one of those few surviving old school…read more(literally ... it is over 100 years old) roadside cafes that are precious little gems. The food is very good. Not spectacular, and not gourmet, by any means, but very good American fare. The service is also very good, and the current owner is an asset to the community in many ways. But it is the ambiance that really makes it special. It dates back to 1917, and looks it. The dining room has a big fireplace and is paneled with knotty pine. There are a lot of doo-dads about which give the place a lot of character. Next to the dining room is a small bar, similarly festooned with a lot of entertaining doo dads. Tom's place is an official watering hole of ECV, and that alone tells you something about the place. They also have a small general store with convenience food and supplies, as well as simple souvenirs like t-shirts and coffee mugs. Have a look there while you are at it. To give you a sense of the place, consider the attached photograph. It is of the stairway to the restrooms downstairs. That doorway is low enough that a tall person might possibly hit their head, hence the admonishment. That's it in a nutshell. This is either your kind of place or not. But it is surely mine!

Okay I don't even know where to start currently in a food comma and in disbelief of how good this…read moreprime rib was to die for the seasoning and the taste on it is honestly the best best prob rib I've ever tasted. I can say now I have my spot where to get prime rib and not overprice but I honestly wouldn't mind paying way more for the prime rib it was to die for. Service since I got here I was to die for I felt part of the family the ambience is so nice and cozy like I am in a cabin so nice!! So glad I found this place last minute. But it's definitely a must if I ever come down here I get and I will for the prime rib !! Served on Saturday after 5.

Basin Cafe - burgers - Updated May 2026

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