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

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Wow! Amazing breakfast!! We stopped by on the way to Convict Lake and thought let's give this place a try. Man, what a great place!! The chicken fried steak is so yummy. Probably the best gravy we have ever had. The eggs were cooked perfectly and the potatoes were tasty. Hubs got the bacon egg burrito and devoured it! It's also huge! The employees were super kind and happy to answer our questions about the area. The restaurant inside is very nice. Outside is gorgeous! Thank you Basin Cafe! What an amazing place! read more

Basin Cafe - Chicken fried steak is amazing and huge! - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

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The FEMALE MANAGER was absolutely obnoxious - rude, argumentative, totally unprofessional. We arrived and Kris C. was lovely as she took our order at the counter. We ordered a blue cheese burger, a regular burger and Mac n cheese. The total was $73.79 so this is a pricey menu. We paid, gave Kris a nice tip, and said we forgot about the 10% discount for being guests of the motel. We asked for a cup of soup to cover the discount so the manager was called. The manager looked at the order for quite awhile and we explained we had forgotten about the discount. The manager barked at us saying we already asked for extra blue cheese for the burger! If we wanted soup we had to pay for it! We were so surprised by her answer as she was loudly barking at us. I said no problem, how about a cookie? She grabbed the bag of cookies and threw it at us. We were so shocked. Our order was served and it "looked" okay. The beef smelled as it was not fresh. The onion rings were probably heated in dirty oil because it had burnt bits stuck to it. The Mac n cheese had a strange grainy texture. We could not eat the meal. Hoping for something good, we opened the cookie bag to find the cookie so hard and inedible. All three of us have traveled around the world experiencing different cultures and cuisines. We have spent time in many different small towns in the U.S. This experience with the manager was by far the worst ever in our traveling history. THE WORST. We like the town of Lee Vining very much. We were happy after having toured Manzanar National Site, and a great travel day enjoying Owen's Valley and the beautiful mountains. The next morning we had breakfast at "Nicely's Restaurant" and it was wonderful. The people were lovely and the food was very good. We shopped next door and bought some nice jewelry. The store manager was very friendly. We left on our road trip feeling very happy with our morning in Lee Vining. Beware of Basin Cafe. Go to Nicely's for a nice time. read more

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. read more

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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 read more

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Was staying in June lake and kind of exhausted all of their dinner options. I always look at the negative reviews first because they tell the bigger picture. In the case of Basin Cafe, the majority of the few negative reviews were complaints about price. What do people expect? The quality and quantity far EXCEEDED my expectations!!!! I had the rib dinner--held the sauce. The fresh veggie mix accompanying was fresh and well seasoned. The side of 'potatoes' was not a throw away. They were scalloped--so delicious!!! My husband had a burger---cooked perfectly accompanied by a side salad. We shared the carrot cake for dessert--a generous serving and delicious!!! You do place your own order at the counter but everything is served to you. Nice people and a quaint setting! read more

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We stopped here after driving from Lake Tahoe and we ordered their special of Barbacoa Burritos and that was the most delicious burritos I have ever eaten! The service was nice and so welcoming! The place I cute and it has outdoor seating with a great view! read more

Stumbled upon this place while taking a walk from our motel. Tucked away nestled amongst the lush and beautiful landscaping of the adjacent Lake View Lodge. We ordered the porterhouse cooked to a perfect medium rare, with fresh roasted vegetables that included squash, carrots, broccolini, cauliflower and asparagus, a baked potato topped with melted butter and cheese, a side soup bowl salad, and some fresh baked apple caramel and cherry pies. The food was delicious , service was friendly, atmosphere was serene. read more

The shareable burrito is massive, definitely shareable, and tasty, however they were.out of a core ingredient (Mushrooms) by 11am and the "bottomless" mimosas are capped at four (but they don't mention that until after you buy. The bubbles are Andre (Cost = $5 /bottle) read more

If the Eastern stretch of the Sierras, from Bridgeport to Lee Vining, is a culinary desert, Basin Cafe is the dreamed of oasis. Sometimes one has a good hunch about a place and my hunch about Basin Cafe proved accurate. The grounds were immaculate and the menu intriguing. My decision to begin with a glass of wine at an outdoor table with a Mono Lake view proved wise. As I finished that wine, the owner came out to see if another was desired prompting a fun conversation. The weather was changing rapidly so no further al fresco alcohol was needed. Inside, I ordered a thoroughly delightful Southwest-inspired salad made with my choice of protein (carne asada) and house-made Buttermilk Ranch dressing. Delicious. A Cheeseburger with fries received similar accolades. Basin Cafe - the food they're serving and the surrounding property - are lovely enough to have left me wishing I dined here for each meal during my stay in the area. They might not be quite 5-star worthy if found in a more densely populated area but in this area they outshine everything for miles around. read more

Basin Cafe - Southwest Salad is very good - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

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My husband and I were here a few years ago when it had different owners and the name was Epic Cafe. The owners of the hotel next door bought it and are running it now. What we love about Basin Cafe is the outdoor seating area it's really pretty, grass and flowers. They also have indoor dining. We sat at their tall tall to look out the windows to the beautiful park like seating outside. I ordered the Pulled Pork sandwich with coleslaw on top and onion rings for the side, it was good, big portion. My husband ordered the Turkey sandwich. Had lots of Turkey, he said it was very good, he had French fries as his side. They also have great looking baked goods. We bought the brownie, it looks so good, will eat it later. The food took about 30 min, that was fine with us, their kitchen is small so they gave us a heads up. read more

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Best food in town with huge portions, great service, and delicious food! This place fed us while we stayed at the Lake View Lodge next door. Pro tip is if you stay there you get 10% off at the basin cafe. My favorite thing here was the breakfast burrito which I didn't get to take a picture of because I inhaled it! It was thick, cheesy, and delicious. Perfect for filling you up before a long day of hiking in the area. The service is also spectacular here where they were very accommodating to my partners food allergies. You can also order from the toast app for easier take out orders. Although it's better to order on the phone or in person as there were some mistakes when I used the app. I recommend this place whole heartedly! read more

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Just visited today for breakfast. Amazing food. Highly recommend biscuits and sausage gravy. Excellent. Price right, great friendly ladies upfront, carry on kind conversations, outside shade trees and lots of grassy areas, tables to eat at. Peaceful breakfast. Beautiful cafe, people, clean, honey all natural was something we bought too. Coffee tasted nice too. Thank you Basin Cafe for taking awesome care of our munchies. Will visit again for sure. AndrewJG read more

Everything about this place is great. Nice outside dining, great views from inside the restaurant, the food was great, great menu selection for being a small place, location isn't that bad, a little of the between path but not hard to miss. Order the breakfast burrito for a quick bite while at work and it wasn't bad at all. I definitely recommend this place for breakfast. read more

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I can see why this place gets all the positive reviews. I stopped in today for lunch and had a BLT outside on the lawn. The food was great. The service was great and a great atmosphere. Definitely a place to try while driving through read more

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

Food is really good!! Kids got burgers...they were gone in 2 seconds...so I guess they liked them. We just ordered the gobbler, we should had ordered something hot, but it was a really good sandwich!! My friend ordered onion rings....they were some of the best I have had. Not huge onions that fall apart and seasoned perfectly. Their baked goods looked delicious, but I'm already summer fat... Now the service...it is an order and bring to the table type of place. But dang they were so nice and competent- so very nice! Ambiance?!!! Out on a lawn with wildflowers and trees everywhere...yeah, that's awful... LOL. It is a beautiful spot, especially on the gates of Yosemite and Mono Lake. Thank you Basin Cafe for being apart of our Eastern Sierra! read more

Stop in this beautiful setting for big portions and great flavor. Tritip and apple pie were the highlights for sure! read more

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I recently ate there with a couple of friends. The counter service was fine. The atmosphere sitting outside was fine. But the food was barely edible. And what was sad is that I had eaten here years ago and I thought the food was fantastic- which is why we returned. I made the mistake of ordering the chicken fried steak. It was pounded quite thin with barely any protein sandwiched between fried batter. One of the worst dinners I've had in the last decade! I would have sent it back, but we didn't have time to wait for a re-order . In addition, the vegetables that accompanied it were cooked to death -especially the asparagus and broccoli within the mixed vegetables which obviously were cooked earlier in the evening all night.. (If you're gonna cook vegetables early in the evening to serve all night, they need to cook them less and dip them in cold water immediately after cooking to keep them fresh and green). It was obvious they were pre-cooked because my entrée came out so quickly, and the overall condition of the vegetables. . My friends entrees were equally below average. Great outdoor ambience for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch perhaps, but I cannot recommend this destination for dinner based on our recent experience:-(. read more

So... you want me to tip but also buss my table? I can see why they make you pay and tip before you eat. I forgot to clock in for my shift to clear tables. Will the manager fix my time? Food was mediocre at best. More sysco dominated ingredients, not that I was expecting more. The picnic style area was nice and shady. Local honey was a nice sight to see . Too bad they done use it in their food. The waitress or... food runner had no clue. read more

Basin Cafe - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

We shared a chicken fried steak, twisted wedge salad, and butternut squash soup. The dishes were all quite flavorful, though a little bit too salty. The portions were quite generous and the sides went together well with the main. The night we went, the kitchen was super slow - so slow that they had to pause taking new orders for about 15 minutes while waiting for the kitchen to catch up. read more

4.5 stars - this was a great little find during our stay in Lee Vining. Actually, I can't really say that we found it since it's located on the grounds of the Lake View Lodge where we spent the Labor Day weekend. There aren't a lot of restaurant choices in town, and to be honest we didn't have high expectations during this short vacation. We decided to give this a try after reading the almost uniformly positive Yelp reviews and getting tempted by the 10% discount offered to hotel guests. What we sampled during our two days here: full rack BBQ ribs - tender, a little fatty, but well done in the fall-off-the-bone style that marks a properly cooked rib. It's topped with a blueberry BBQ sauce that was an original taste with both sweet fruit elements with just a bit of spice. It came with a baked potato and seasonal sautéed vegetables. Be aware that this is the rib rack from the ventral part of the hog (not back ribs), with the rib tips (cartilage) still attached. As such, it takes a bit of cutting/pulling to get the ribs apart. My only quibble with this dish is that it was served on a plate that was much too small. The ribs were piled on top of the vegetables, and it was a little difficult to work the rack without food spilling off the edges. A big oval platter would be a better presentation. Macaroni and cheese - white cheddar sauce, good flavor but a little salty. A little more cream or milk would have made for a smoother texture, but overall pretty good. Cheesy omelette - not sure how many eggs were in this, because it was pretty large. Four eggs? Five? With the home fries and sourdough toast it made for a filling meal for two people. Breakfast sandwich - bagel stuffed with egg, bacon, and cheese. A pretty standard item, done well but nothing special. Full stack of buttermilk pancakes - light and fluffy the way pancakes should be, topped with some fresh fruit and powdered sugar. I really should have gotten the short stack but I was certain that others would share this with me. But for only $2 more for twice as many pancakes, how could I resist? With regard to dining ambience, there are several tables outdoors in the garden that is theoretically a lovely place to enjoy a meal en plein air. However, the yellowjacket activity here, at least in the evening, was IN-SANE. No sooner did we get our food that we were beset upon by these nasty little beasties. We were able to mitigate the problem a bit by putting a plate of decoy food off to the side, upon which at least dozen of the evil critters began to feast. It bought us a precious few minutes of peace before they turned their attention back to us. We elected to pack up our meal and take it back to our hotel room to eat in relative safety. The next morning at breakfast we wisely chose to eat indoors, and were able to enjoy a leisure meal without fear. This is not a criticism of the restaurant at all, it's just a fact of nature that they have no control over. To their credit, they have put out a lot of yellowjacket traps in the trees, which were all pretty full but at the same time it's like throwing a bucket of water on a high Sierra wildfire. Prices here are mixed. The ribs and pancakes seemed reasonably priced, for example, but the mac and cheese and breakfast sandwich were more expensive than I would prefer. Service was pretty good, especially the woman who helped us at breakfast. read more

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Been wanting to review this restaurant for a few weeks but been busy. I stayed at a little cabin right behind the restaurant while on a 2 day hiking trip. I was looking for a fresh salad and boy did they deliver. I ordered the Cobb with turkey and subbed out the cheddar cheese for blue cheese. This salad was so fresh and delicious. I always appreciate crisp fresh lettuce and this was the best. The salad was huge and I was only able to eat half. Shout out to the 3 girls working there. I was traveling alone and they made me feel so welcome. They were very friendly and engaging which I love to see in young adults. Their boss should be proud to have these young ladies working for them! I have a new favorite place to stop in when I am in the area hiking! read more

What a great find! Looking for some great food with doggo friendly areas? Lee Vining's Basin Cafe is where you MUST GO. The entire restaurant was encased in beautiful floral gardens and wondrous shade (yes there are flies, but you ARE still on Earth). Save your road trip stop for this place- and of course dine Al fresco! I had: - fresh apple pie slice: not too sweet and so fresh - tri tip sandwich + Mac salad: tri tips a bit chewy but the sauce was just sweet enough. Maybe I should've gotten fries - mac cheese: creamy and delicious read more

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I pulled up because it had great reviews. Don't come at 11:00 if you're hungry because they switch from breaky to lunch and take a lot of time in doing so. I got hangry in that time low key but it's chill. Other than that, food is great and the place is really nice with outdoor seating area that is captivating to the eye. Just don't expect to get a quick meal. read more

Yesterday on our drive back to San Diego from Bridgeport we stopped in at the Basin Cafe in Lee Vining. It was our first time eating there. The service, food, and grounds were all wonderful! The two gals working were so friendly. We sat outside which was really nice. Beautiful grounds with lots of shade trees. I would highly recommend this place to anyone driving through Lee Vining. read more

Basin Cafe - Beautiful grounds - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

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OMG this is a hidden gem in Lee Vining. 1) Food - Their burgers are the BEST burgers that we have ever had in our lives. Their patties are home made and they use the best tomatoes and vegetables ever!! Their burgers look like those famous celebrity chefs burgers!! Sweet potatoes fries are the bomb!! Cobb salad is so generous and great taste too. Ribeye steak is just ok given that their seasoning is very light. 2) Staff - super nice and friendly that you feel like home!!! Need to say no more!! 3) Environment - super cozy and super peaceful inside and outside - just look at the pics. This is such a wonderful experience for us! read more

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Food tasted pretty good, burgers, hot dogs, but the mac and cheese was a bit bland. Price is on the higher side for me for that type of food. But very good service and the outside, shaded seating was great! Because of the price to food taste/quality, I'm just grading this average. read more

The place is very quaint as we came in September. We ate outside under the trees and it was great except for the bees. I had the Cobb chicken salad. The lettuce was good but the chicken was dry. The wife had the grilled cheese and liked it. Said it was a little shy on the cheese. The staff was very nice and food came quickly. read more

We came with 4 kids and ordered 3 kids Mac n cheese and 1 grilled cheese. All were weird. The Mac n cheese tasted strange and spoiled. None of my kids wanted to eat it (they aren't Kraft obsessed kids either). I ordered a Cobb salad. What I got was a garden salad with egg on it. Plus you bus your own food after eating (after tipping). $90 wasted. The garden was beautiful though. read more

Delicious biscuits and gravy!! My friend had a breakfast sandwich and said it was good. We also enjoy lunch, especially the French dip. Beautiful spot. Locals who enjoy grabbing food here. read more

Basin Cafe - Biscuit and gravy - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

Great food! Beautiful outdoor area to eat. There's indoor seating as well. Large portions so definitely rec sharing unless you have a place to store leftovers. read more

I have found the food taste and variety to be satisfactory here. But this time I am compelled to give a low rating purely for the store hours listing. This place is listed as open thought the day till 9 PM, but they close the kitchen between 2-5 PM ( actually earlier than 2 PM) due to which almost 80 percent of the menu becomes unavailable during this window. Nothing warm or cooked is available. No burgers, no grilled sandwiches ... basically for that duration this place is serving morning left overs like soup of the day or else all cold / ready to eat items. I don't know if this is an issue with the restaurant or yelp due to lack of options to mark kitchen closed hours, but someone got to sort it out. I am inclined to feel this is intentional, due to less options around the area, customers might plan and bank on eating here knowing it's open and skipping going to other places. And once they are here at 2 PM, they are left with not much of choice and end up eating whatever is available ... which is unfair. read more

Basin Cafe - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

I loved finding this little spot. I stopped by on a random weekday and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it. The cafe was located at a high point which offered views of the lake. There's a small garden outside too, which I enjoyed. The woman who took our order and served us was friendly and welcoming. I tried a salad and sandwich, which tasted great! The mac salad that came with it was refreshing and light! I would 100% come back here. I'm a bit sad that I wasn't staying in the area to come back and try more. read more

We had two chicken ortega sandwhiches for lunch. The food was great-- two chicken thighs per sandwhich with flavorful peppers that weren't too spicy. The shop itself looked spotless and they had s beautiful garden where we ate lunch. read more

Basin Cafe - Garden - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

I drive through Lee Vining around once a month, and often stay in the area. There aren't many good options for food. There's two places just south of the Mono Lake Bookstore that are, well... awful. I won't name them. But I refuse to eat at either place. I wanted to give Basin Cafe a try. It's clean, with a nice garden area with picnic tables. It looked good. I ordered a chicken "Sierra Wave" burrito to go. I drove a mile or so, and pulled over to eat it. It was barely lukewarm. It was about 80% refried beans (with lard, I think) and rice. The chicken was gristly, and had two pieces of bone in it. The beans were borderline inedible, especially considering they were barely warm. I'd return just to see the beautiful smiles of the people behind the counter. But I probably wouldn't eat here again. read more

Great views! Country style dining! Food taste great and authentic! staff are happy and shares good vibes!

Cute! A Gem of a Stop through Lone Pine. Eat on the lawn, the prices are a bit high for a sandwich, but we hared it with the French onion soup, the soup for the day. Cole slaw was ok. the sandwich we had was a chicken breast with onion rings on top. lovely bread. Had their packaged cookies. read more

We had the tri tip sandwich and French dip sandwich. Both were yummy. The staff was pleasant and helpful. We will be back. read more

Basin Cafe - Burgers Near Me - Lee Vining, California

This place is fantastic. I chose it for lunch for my family while on vacation, knowing nothing about it. The food was delicious, fresh and well made with good portions (not too much, not too little). There was a decent variety of sandwiches to choose from. The staff were very friendly and the seating outside was so relaxing. It gave New England vibes in terms of getting to sit at a table on beautiful green grass, surrounded by gardens and trees. It was calm and quiet. If you're passing through and are hungry, this is definitely the place to go. read more