STEPH JUDGEMENT: Well-heeled bar in a beautiful historic hotel…read more A friend had recommended their martinis, and they sure sounded great after a dusty 7 mile hike! The bar was beautifully maintained, like the rest of the hotel, and luckily they must be used to weary, wind-whipped hikers rolling in, because the bartender didn't bat an eye and treated us very courteously despite our disheveled appearance. The said martinis were excellent, and we ended up getting some food as well: Sandia salad (watermelon, arugula, queso) fresco--very refreshing) and caramelized Brussels sprouts (tasty, but a bit over-oily). Prices are in line with what you'd expect at a fancy hotel, but it was a wonderful reward after a long day out in the park.

Summer 1975 I worked for a family owned hospitality company out of Mineral, California. It had the…read moremanagement concession for Drakesbad Guest Ranch, Lassen National Park. A Stanford University Law student dropped in, interviewing our manager about management concessions of the Park Service. He was researching consolidation, economies of scale, and of course, generating cash flow. An immense concessionaire, Xanterra, grabbing the Fred Harvey mantle operates concessions in National Parks. We have not crossed Death Valley for at least 15 years. We arrived at Furnace Creek Ranch, finding a slick international tourist destination. The dining room of old was gone, we found nothing in our drive through that bespoke "Dining Room." If one does not bring victuals or eat at a Death Valley property, or have a large supply of personal water, it is a long journey between the Lone Pine-Olancha megalopolis and Shoshone, Beatty, or Pahrump. The Timbisha Shoshone have inhabited the Valley and surrounding region for centuries. That is another story. Looking for a place to stop we found "The Inn at Death Valley, formerly Fyrnace Creek, a unit of The Oasis at Death Valley on the grade out of The Valley. The Timbisha lodged here first, along a creek. A date farm followed, then a Fine Hotel. It is Fine. It has clearly marked dining, with dining hours posted. It also has a golf course, creek fed pool, etc. The Inn is a 20th century tourism classic. Architecture, is Spanish SW modern, original adobe, Shoshone-made. The beamed lobby and dining room are floored with saltillo tile spaced with small talavera tile beauties, maintained, gleaming, perfect. Do you enjoy the art and photography of 19th and 20th century Western Art? The Inn at Death Valley is a gallery of the early west's best jnown artists, plus a guide sheet for Bierstadt, Russell,Remington, Miller, Dixon and many more. We arrived in the dining room about 1:30, 30 minutes before dining room closing. The staff were all helpful, many modern "Harvey Girls" interns from university hospitality programs or hired through Xanterra's web page. Our food. Three Sisters soup - corn, beans, squash, seasonings. It was fine. A visitor from Europe or Far East might savor it. I suggest Xanterra send a chef on an internship among Southwest Pueblos or hire a Native American Chef. AmericanRails.com writes, "The (Harvey) houses were designed to appeal to all classes of society, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner being served at set times. Meals were prepared using fresh, locally sourced produce,..." The Timbisha people could provide great tips in local foods, including mesquite, pinon pine nuts, some atriplex (spinach cousins) etc. We split a burger - double patty house special cheeseburger. We requested no cheese. It arrived with cheese. We ordered the celebrated sweet potato fries. First, regarding local food products; the region has a few stellar cattle ranches. Xanterra I encourage you to send a chef to Phoenix's 5th Avenue Cafe to learn what excellent sweet potato fries are all about, them move on to Hamburger Works or My Mother's restaurant, Bobby Q's or even Longhorn Steakhouse to create a flavorful, grilled, thoughtful hamburger. I favor desserts. With coffee. Coffee excellent. Flourless chocolate cake, decent. Hotel 5 Architecture and art, 5 Food - good enough, not great.

We had drinks and dinner here. Ended up having a great chat with Hutch, a fellow hockey fan. When…read morewe said we were originally from Rockford, he changed into a Rockford Icehogs jersey! Pretty wild for a small restaurant in Death Valley. But on to the food. We'd seen recent pictures of Alien Bread in reviews but they didn't have it anymore so we started with an order of garlic bread. Sorry but it was pretty subpar. Mighty dry and hard. Oh well. We then split a pizza. It was way too much for us but it was cheesy and delicious. Since we were traveling, we had to leave quite a bit behind. We enjoyed our experience a lot despite the uneven food.

The breadsticks were slightly burnt, and the atmosphere leaned heavily on awkward, outdated boomer…read morehumor that made us feel anything but welcome. Hutch referred to my wife as "my friend," a couple times which immediately set an uncomfortable tone. Things went further downhill when the chef (if that's the right term, given the state of the breadsticks) approached us aggressively while we were boxing up our food. He raised his voice and said "nobody told me it was for takeout," despite the fact that I had already had a full conversation with Hutch confirming takeout and requesting everything to-go. I hadn't even said a word to the chef and didn't mind packing things up myself due to a simple miscommunication, but his confrontational approach was completely unnecessary. It's hard not to wonder whether the discomfort we experienced had anything to do with the fact that I'm obviously gay, because the overall interaction felt weird, unwelcoming, and tense. I went across the street later to the BBQ place to get food and they treated us like family, so it's not a small town problem. The only reason this isn't a one-star review is because the wings were decent, but I could never imagine coming here again. They also did not have homemade desserts like the other reviews claim (one of the reasons we even came here).

Now I'm used to very good quality food, and I will say the food here isn't five star quality. More…read morelike 3 but that's because you are in the middle of nowhere! We were staying in the park for two nights so we had a couple of dinners and breakfasts. I tried to be healthy and get the stuffed poblano peppers and those were decent but I wouldn't reccommend them-unless you're vegetarian. The next night I gave up and just went with a bison burger which was solid. For breakfast if you get to the breakfast bar early enough there are fresh mixed berries and plantains which were a unique touch. The prices weren't too bad either. The staff were all very friendly, the meals came out quickly, and the restaurant and Saloon had a rustic decor that went with the locale. Since we weren't traveling with children I preferred the Saloon with the beautiful views. Considering all that has made things difficult lately, tariffs, wars, etc... the fact that you can get a decent meal in a remote location is pretty impressive.

TERRIBLE SERVICE! Got seated, given menus and was ignored. Bartender finally came over and took our…read moreorder with an attitude. I asked him what beers he had on tap and he responded with "I'm not going to tell you all of them!"... so I got up and walked over to his bar and looked... I then met him at the bar and told him what I wanted and he didn't even make eye contact and just mumbled "ok". Then he brought our drinks without a word and we were ignored. We waited over a half hour just sitting there. Finally I walked up and asked for our check as we had waited long enough. These people have a lot to learn about the service industry. They may be able to get away with this with foreigners who frequent this place, but not Americans. Below is a photo of the "too many beers to mention". Seriously!

Okay... who would have thought to pop into the VFW for a bite to eat? Well, thanks to Yelp and…read morethe fact that the "other place" I had been recommended to eat at was too busy to take my order, I was able to come on in and partake at this Beatty, NV hidden treasure. Walking in I was immediately welcomed by the waitress who was up to her eyeballs in customers and orders. It was obvious she ran a tight ship, and knew how to keep it running smooth. She informed me that they were at capacity, but as luck would have it, I had already called in my order. I had a few minutes to wait and I spent the time perusing the place... a local hangout where everyone knows your name. I am sure that you are only a stranger once in this place. Once I had my dinner and made it back to my room I was pleasantly surprised with the oversized serving of French Dip and Onion rings. The rings were a bit salty, but the flavoring allowed for eating them solo... no need for ketchup or other dipping sauce with these babies! The French dip itself had an abundance of meat, cheese, peppers and onions all cooked to perfection. The au juice was beautifully flavored and they gave more than enough in the order. It's definitely a place I would go back to. Next time I hope to saddle up into a chair and sip on a soda as I chat away with some locals. I am sure this place has some great stories for those who take the time to visit! Well worth it on your trip through Beatty, NV!

Cigarette smoking in the front at the bar. We sat in the back at some tables and chairs that had…read moreseen better days. Anything fried you could want. Although I did have a pretty good wedge salad. But there's not a lot of choices in Beatty for places to eat. Buy food at a grocery store before you get to town and cook at home.

Excellent variety of food! It was all delicious--crepes, burger, enchiladas, fajitas. It doesn't…read morestand out from the road but don't pass on this one!

The service here was good, but the food unfortunately missed the mark for us. The rice and beans…read morefelt like they were straight out of the microwave--the beans lacked flavor and had a strange corn-like taste, while everything else had a dry, chalky texture. The salsas had a solid kick of spice, but the consistency was very different from what I'm used to. With only two restaurant options in town, I'm hoping things improve, but for now, we'll likely wait to see what the other local spot brings. Chips were stale and I'd call that salsa more of a tomato sauce with garnish. When the cook asks why you're asking for lime in Spanish thinking you only speak English speaks volumes as well her words "the lime is in the salsa" "why didn't you cook the rice" was an good to hear from her

As others have shared there are limited dining choices inside Death Valley National Park. The…read moreOasis in Death Valley is literally an Oasis in the valley where there is the only lodging in the National Park as well as any dining (and a gas station). The other dining options were far too crowded (with longer wait times) so we make our way over to the Wild Rose Tavern. There are many large TVs with sports playing (not our cup of tea) so we opted to sit on the outside covered deck with views of the mountains in the distance. We enjoyed a Caesar Salad and an oder of Chips, Queso and Salsa. Prices were reasonable considering the location - the salad was a nice sized portion and tasty. The chips were accompanied by fire roasted salsa and poblano Chile queso dip which I really enjoyed. Service was friendly and attentive - we were there in the mid-afternoon and I believe it can get crowded closer to traditional meal times. We would return here on a return visit to Death Valley.

Honestly, this place was pretty underwhelming. With limited dining options in Death Valley, it's a…read moredecent choice by default--but that doesn't mean it's a great one. We didn't even think to take pictures because the food just wasn't memorable. My boyfriend ordered the sliders, and I had the burger, and both were just... okay. The presentation was nothing special, and the flavors were pretty lackluster. On the bright side, our server was fantastic--funny, attentive, and genuinely made our experience better. We also got a table by the window, which offered lovely views of the palm trees and golf course, giving the place a bit of a Palm Springs vibe. If you're dining at the Ranch Plaza, I'd recommend skipping this spot and heading to the ice cream parlor instead.

Looking for a place to eat while in town for a night. This was recommended. Both my wife and I…read morehad the fish and chips (the special) and ordered some fried mushrooms also. Both were well prepared and very tasty. Drinks were good and the bartender Collata was very engaging. Only down side was they allow smoking but after a few minutes hardly noticeable.

Good and service hit the spot after a long day at Death Valley. Shaved Steak Au Jus was very good,…read moresays my spouse. I had a cheeseburger that was nicely prepared. Thank you!

Best tourist area 51 food and snacks stop. Decent lbathrooms. Sandwiches and frozen yogurt along…read morewith tons of alien souvenirs!

Sandwich stop. BLT and ham and cheese!! The staff was amazing. Friendly and welcoming. She…read moremade it fresh and the taste showed how fresh it was!! Glad we stopped!!