The food was alright, but the service was terrible. We'd just come back from a long trip in the woods and could have eaten a bar of soap for lunch, so everything looked good. Even then, the food was only moderately good. The service was really bad. We watched table after table get their food before us even though we'd been seated before them. Our waitress had to come over to us twice to tell us our food was coming, even though it wasn't. I think we waited between 30 and 45 minutes for a couple of sandwiches. Then when we were ready to leave and get the check, our waitress was nowhere to be found. We had to track down a waiter, and then another waiter, to get our check and get out of there. Maybe it was a fluke, but I'll never know because I don't plan on eating there again. read more

The food was decent and service was ok. We wanted to support local business in Lee Vining and chose this spot.

Nicely's-- where it's nice to be nice. Had a delicious breakfast on a rod trip. Garden Omelet and a pancake. The pancake was, and I can say this with some authority on the subject, excellent. Very nice server. Do it. read more

Not sure why this place only has 3 stars. We ordered fried chicken, grilled ham and cheese and navy bean soup. All were great. Food came out quickly and I was happy with the service. read more

I only came in for coffee and desert. This is the only restaurant open in town for dinner. The first cup of coffee I had was burnt the second tasted like chemicals. I was trying to think which was worse. I had an ice cream sundae. The ice cream and the chocolate sauce were of inferior grade. The service was poor. read more

Went to this place twice when we stay at Lee vining . The one star not for the food , actually the food is pretty good ! The only reason why I gave this place one star because of the waitress (the old lady with blond hair ) first time we went there , we ask for the ketchup , when we wave the hand and she look at us just said " I'm not ur waitress" . Ok , I do understand they may just have different section . After that she start to walk around , ask her customers if everything doing ok ( guess what she just pass our table and the other few tables which have Chinese people there , yes these people they don't speak English at all ) she don't even look at us ! ok you are not our service but only serives the table in front of us. Cool lady , keep ur attitude like this , Give this kind of "good service "to ur own people ! read more

food sucked, coffee was worse, service was indifferent. They should close this place if they hate running it. read more

We were on a bus tour and did not have a lot of choice in regard to what we were going to eat. When I Yelped this place before leaving on the trip, I had definitely wanted to try their fried chicken. But that was not an option. So I opted for a Roast Beef sandwich and what I got was more of a grilled cheese sandwich with overcooked roast beef in it. It tasted okay but I would not have ordered it if I would have known how it would be prepared. The people who ordered salads got a huge portion and seemed to be quite happy with their meal. read more

Good food, my husband and 12y old. likes hardy comfort food. My 10yr old and I are vegetarians. They had food to accommodate all of our needs. One of our favorite trip to Tahoe stops. read more

My boyfriend and I stopped here today on our way to Lake Tahoe and had a mixed experience. The food was decent and fairly priced and they had a pretty good selection. I ordered wings and the menu said they come hot or mild. I asked the waitress, Nat, if there was a way to get them medium. She wasn't sure but said she would have them give me both sauces. When the order came, I had a cup of barbecue sauce on my plate. I asked the waitress if I could have some wing sauce and she said that was the wing sauce. She went back to the kitchen to see if they had anything else and I heard the chef give her a hard time about it. She ended up bringing me the "hot" option that was just barbecue sauce mixed with some kind of hot sauce. She could tell that I still was not happy and mentioned it to the kitchen staff and another waitress. The other waitress told her she could get wing sauce from the restaurant next door and went to get it. When the other waitress brought it to me, I thanked her and she proceeded to tell me that the menu says the wings come with barbecue sauce. I told her it doesn't so she grabbed a menu to prove her point but then saw that it does not say that. All she could say was, "Oh, they took it off" and she walked away. It's unfortunate that she felt the need to try to make me feel stupid or like I was a bother for asking for the wing sauce. I would've been perfectly happy if she would have kept her mouth shut and just brought me the sauce even though I was halfway through my meal already. They managed to make the situation better and worse all at the same time. As we were leaving, we found out that the waitress with the attitude has been there the longest. She should know better. There seemed to be a lot of tension between the staff members there which made it a little uncomfortable. I don't think we will return there again. read more

Don't judge a book by it's cover, nor a restaurant by its exterior. One look at Nicely's and you'll think to yourself, "This place puts the grrrr in greasy spoon." The food is good, but the service is barely satisfactory. Getting served shouldn't take so long, especially when it's the off season and the place is two-thirds empty! Maybe it's the surroundings. Life in Mono county is generally slower than anywhere else. It's diner food: burgers, sandwiches, and the like. The only rip-off might be the pie. It's $4.95/slice. My son ordered a slice with his meal. I figured for that price the waiter would roll out a huge slice of homemade deep dish. Not even close. My son was served this little wedge of crappy store bought pie, like a Sara Lee. Live and learn. read more

My family stopped here on the way up North. It was dinner time and they accommodated 12 of us. The restaurant is very interesting as it is a shop and restaurant. It also connects to the bar. Our server was nice but she seemed in a hurry to get us out of the restaurant. Most of my table had the fried chicken dinner. The chicken was amazing ! It was hot, juicy and crispy. It came with a salad, potatoes, green beans and a dinner roll. All of that was ok. The mashed potatoes were dry and the green beans were either from a can or frozen. I would probably stop by there again for the chicken if I was in the area. read more

Good, great diner food, friendly, fun folks. This is my second time eating and it's always enjoyable.

We had breakfast here when we spent the night in Lee Vining. Friendly service and they made a good short stack and spinach omelet!

Fried Chicken!!! We come here once a year after our annual fishing trip and everyone (all 30 of us) order the fried chicken. My grandpa has been coming here for over 20 years and I will always continue the tradition. read more

This was our first meal in lee vining and we were very disappointed. We ordered a chicken salad and chicken parmesan. The lettuce was not fresh and the chicken was bland and seemed to be boiled. The chicken parm was super bland and the sauce was actually a salsa from a jar, chicken also seemed to of been boiled, no flavor. The service was ok. But everything was waaay overpriced. $38 total for bland food. Very very disappointed, especially because it is a very small town and there arent too many choices on what to eat. read more

They stop serving breakfast really early and once breakfast is over there are no decent options for vegetarians. If you don't eat meat definitely avoid this place unless you want a grilled cheese. For a restaurant in a tourist town in California you'd really think they could offer at least a couple nutritious options read more

What's wrong with all the bad reviews? Great food, great service, great location. Blueberry pie with ice cream was so heavenly

Nice little small town diner if you ever get hungry in the Lee Vining area! I had to check out the local food spots while out here on a work assignment, glad to have decided on this place! I had the 1/2 pound burger w cheese and bacon and it was great! The service was fast and the people were friendly! Definitely has that small "homey" feeling, I'd grub here again !! read more

Honestly, where the hell else are you going to eat? The name, the diner feel, small town... Boom. You're in for a treat. This spot gets mega high marks because of the relative goodness considering its TINY town location. We had great chicken taco salads here, nice service, homemade food, and the price is excellent. Very helpful folks. Really liked it and honestly would stop by again just to check out the specials of the day and grab a homemade dessert. read more

The waitress was very nice, but the food was disgusting and overpriced. Steak felt like a shoe sole. The salad leaves weren't washed, and you could feel sand on your teeth. My son had to throw it away. The only good thing was that this is the only opened restaurant in Lee Vining. read more

The most welcome surprise on our trip. We stopped in here on our way out of Bodie and we were all hungry. Mono lake is nearby, and we learned the hard way that Mono is an old native American word for "fly". (Not really, but the place was infested). The food was exceptional. Hardy mashed potatoes, face-burningly hot fried chicken, huge, tasty burgers, crisp fries, and thick malts. Everything you'd expect from a diner like this, but never expect to actually get. Well worth the stop. read more

We always make it a point to have at least one meal here when in the Mono/Mammoth area. Either as burger lunch or a breakfast.

I've never been there but from the internet, it looks like a good place to eat. Next time I go up the backside of the Sierras on 395 and onto Yosemite, I'm going to stop in for sure. read more

Eat there. If you must. I think it was the only place in town to eat. we try very hard not to go back. Cafeteria food at best.

Not the best value for the serving but decent classic diner selection and local mineral water. Always a table available though!

Ah... okay I guess. The place itself is really cool looking but the food is nothing special and a bunch of the breakfast items on the menu weren't available when I stopped by. read more

Great food, generous portions, great service, open all year (although closed on certain days of the week during the off season). Would highly recommend. read more

Still the same nothing special, but the prices went up. The service is really random - not very friendly, but they seem to try, I'm not sure they know how to be friendly. read more

The meatloaf was the size of my head, and it was decent, but everything else was enh. The salad was bagged iceberg and croutons, the side of fries was a meager handful of frozen crinkle cuts. The pasta is frozen. Worst of all, the server treated us like we were brain damaged. My coffee was never refilled. Skip it. read more

Such a ripoff! Extremely rude staff. They auto put in 15% tips while it did NOT worth any tips at all! I understand there're only two restaurants here but plz at least hand in the check within three times when your guests asked for it. read more

A diner that must be little changed since the 70s - interesting. Service was spotty, seemed inexperienced. Strangely small water glasses. Ordered a Reuben Sandwich, should be an easy fix for a diner. Unfortunately the sandwich lacked flavor. The meat was unnoticeable and the sauerkraut lacked the tart pickled taste. Not bad, just nothing to order again. There aren't many choices in Lee Vining, but this isn't a 4 star anywhere. Sorry. read more

This is the best restaurant ever if you are a lizard. There must have been 50 flies to be seen here. I swear, one ate more of my plate than I did. The service was awfully slow. They did seem nice once they talked to you but otherwise don't expect many smiles here. The food ranked a 5 out of 10. read more

I would keep driving. This restaurant is horrible. The food is bad and the service is worse. Have you ever heard of ruining a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? They did it - unreal! I would make sure to skip this very dirty lousy restaurant. read more

I can only speak for there milkshakes. They were terrible. Almost like there was a chemical in them. It was the worst milkshake I have ever had and I think I will be getting some kind of cancer or desease from it. There was something in it that wasn't supposed to be. It was disgusting and my family and i will never get another. It is sad because I have been coming here for over 30yrs and will not be going back read more

It was the only place open on NYE. I got the patty melt. It was pretty solid. I wish they would do breakfast all day.

I understand that a waitress wants to go home at the end of the day but it is no reason to be outright rude. We came in an hour before closing time. There were just two other tables finishing their meals. She demanded we sit next to the drafty door (shortest way for her from the kitchen) and was clearly in no mood to serve us. At the end, she just added the tip to the bill and told us this is how they do it. There were four people in our party. I didn't care to discuss it because of her confrontational style. The food then matched the service quality. Worst steak I had in years. read more

When in Lee Vining, CA eat at "Nicely's Restaurant" - it's that simple. While it is true that it is the only restaurant open year round (so you have few options) it's also true that it's been around over 50 years (which says something). My meal was very good here. read more

great diner with reasonable prices! closes at 8pm. House wines are fine. It's an old school diner with really decent good. Just skip the Chili, that was not so good. Fried chicken is good. Baked goods looked outstanding, we were just full. read more

Great for breakfast. Large portions. Excellent sausage and the real green vegetables in the veggie omelette were an unexpected plus.