I thought the food was good at the lodge, maybe people don't know what to order. The Walleye is local catch and it was delicious with a lovely presentation. Everyone else at our table loved their food. Tony was our server he was right on it. We did not have to wait for anything. We met the cook Coyote, he was nice and fun to talk to. We were hoping to get the lemon ice box cake but they w ere out. We got the Apple Crisp it was good The atmosphere at the lodge was nice, you can't see the lake but it's in the trees with the rocks visible. read more

Sylvan Lake Lodge Restaurant - This was the Walleye - New American Near Me

Beautiful location with great view. Super friendly staff great atmosphere. Food was excellent. Must try if you are in the area. read more

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Beautiful restaurant and views! The food is decent but a little pricey for what it is. I will keep coming back for the ambiance and experience you can't beat the views and friendly people read more

We got seated by a window and froze to death. The air was on the sides of the wall and blasting. One of us had it shooting at our back and legs. It really made it uncomfortable. One of us had the Walleye and it was tasteless. The other the Buffalo medallions and it was great. The service was not great. We were hardly checked on and it took forever to get our bill. It was not busy. read more

The people were friendly. The rest of our experience was bad. It started with a vodka flavored water in a martini glass. I asked them to remake it and our server made a fine one. 1/2 of our table had cocktails that were similar or worse. The bartender did not know what was in a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned. Our food varied from too salty to no flavor. I would recommend getting a beer and a hotdog at the general store. The setting and views were okay. read more

Food was terrible, service was not good. Ambiance was outstanding. Prices were reasonable.

Thank you Louis for a lovely dinner. Prices are reasonable and the setting is lovey. Food is decent for a public lodge and covers most diets. Save room, the deserts look yummy. read more

I had high hopes for Sylvan Lake Lodge Restaurant, but sadly my hopes were dashed. With a pricier menu I was expecting a great cocktail and flavorful food. I started off by ordering my go to cocktail--a Manhattan. It came out bright red and distinctly cinnamon flavored. I wondered if they had used fireball instead of the Woodford Reserve listed on the menu so took it back to the bartender to inquire. He offered to remake it and I watched in shock as he used two shots of maraschino cherry juice and mixed it with less expensive whiskey and vermouth. WTF? I just paid $18 for that? Bummer, but I still have my dinner to look forward to, right? WRONG! I ordered the limoncello pasta at $32 and got dry noodles, a few beans, dehydrated mushrooms and about a cup of salt. I thought maybe it was just another one off error, but two other people in my group ordered the pasta as well and rated it dry and flavorless. I guess I should be glad the salt shaker spilled in mine? Out of our group of 12 they managed to make 50% edible...hey that's not zero! Roll the dice on those odds at your own risk...you've been warned! read more

Breakfast menu. A bit limited. Some of the items seems overpriced, but the dining room is beautiful and the Sylvan Lake setting is spectacular, read more

Sylvan Lake Lodge Restaurant - Breakfast menu - New American Near Me

If I could give this restaurant zero stars, I would! I'll start with the server being pleasant and I don't think our experience was really his fault. We started out for lunch ordering drinks, which they were out of a lot of beers. After ordering a glass of rose and what was supposed to be a lager type beer, we were given a rose that we didn't order and an IPA that was not ordered. On to the food...or more like, barely edible food. We had ordered three burgers and a Philly steak dip. One of the burgers and the Philly steak dip were delivered an hour later, and not correct. We kindly asked for it to be corrected and why it was delivered was almost comical..... If our bill hadn't been so high, the burger was over cooked... even though the server had recommended getting it undercooked. The Philly steak dip was delivered for a second time, basically, with steak nuggets, and a little piece of cheese between two sandwich slices of bread. The worst thing I've ever seen. The server did apologize for the time that it took to be delivered, but when we complained and showed him the food, he apologized, but really didn't do anything to fix it. By that time we needed to leave to go to our next destination and didn't feel like spending anymore time there. waiting for our bill, we expected the Philly steak tip to be removed off of our bill. This was not the case. On top of this, we both have bad stomachs now. read more

Two friends & I dined here while visiting the Black Hills. It's a lovely spot, but dinner was not a good experience. Our server was sweet, but clearly had received no training. She said she'd watched a YouTube video to learn how to open a bottle of wine. Moments after bringing our salads, she brought our main courses. We asked her to take them back; and, of course, when she did serve them, they were a mess: The walleye was cold & the very thick breading could barely be cracked with a sharp knife. My friend reported the elk osso buco was so tough, he could hardly cut it, let alone eat it. I can't recommend this restaurant: have a drink on the terrace instead. read more

A real chef's menu - great food. Elegant dining room as always. Good, friendly service. The classy and classic Black Hills resort!

Disappointing and overrated. People are untrained and rude. Food is very bad and often served cold. Front desk is unmanned at times

Read below for details, but I would only go back for a drink. Service: - We were seated outside right away, however no one approached our table for 10+ minutes. Even then it wasn't our waiter, just waters. - When our food was delivered, two dishes had the wrong sides and they said they would be right back with the correct sides. Everyone finished the rest of their meals before the correct sides were brought, and we had to ask a second time. - I ordered the Elk chop, but only had a butter knife. I asked for a steak knife, by the time it got brought out my food was cold. - They claimed they were very busy inside, we went inside to the bathroom and the restaurant was not busy at all. Food - everyone else at my table got burgers and they said they were ok. I got the $36 Elk chop and I asked them to have the chef prepare it however they thought was best. It was awful! Burnt on the outside and so well done on the inside it was difficult to cut and chew. View - We sat outside because I thought that would provide the best view. It was nice to be in nature, but there was a wall of trees blocking the amazing views advertised for being so high up. After dinner we were able to explore past the trees and got the attached picture. It was beautiful, but again I'd probably come back for drinks, but nothing more. read more

Sylvan Lake Lodge Restaurant - View exploring after dinner - New American Near Me

Settled into our room after some wonderful driving and hiking through the beautiful Wyoming and South Dakota countryside. We ordered the bison and beef burgers as we just wanted something simple and filling and they were absolutely delicious! The burgers were cooked exactly as we asked (how often does that happen?!). Both the beef and bison meat were flavorful, the buns were fresh and the tomatoes were fresh and red. Accompanied by a draft IPA and for a moment I thought I had died and gone to heaven (I am a simple guy). Both the lodge and restaurant are staffed with very nice, thoughtful and conscientious people. During these COVID challenged times, I appreciate great service and great food. If you are looking for a place to get away, especially when the world around us is a little crazy, this is a place that will make you forget it all. read more

Substandard food in a fine dining establishment truly a culinary failure as this establishment has so much going for it. Likely a failure to train kitchen staff. I had the Elk which was dry and over cooked. The vegetables and potatoes were served cold. The wife's entree was equally disappointing. This is dining room to avoid. read more

We stayed at the lodge which was underwhelming but I very much enjoyed the restaurant, a saving grace as you are very far from anything else. We had two breakfasts here, one dinner and dessert one night. We had very attentive service, wonderful menu choices and very good food. My favorites were the Eggs Benedict with chipotle buffalo sausage and the salmon with wild rice. Very comfortable and well maintained, unlike the rooms in the lodge. read more

Sylvan Lake Lodge Restaurant - the dining room - New American Near Me

My wife and I ate here on the last night of our S Dakota vacation and it was a mixed bag. We started with the fried mozzarella. Three disks of fried cheese, but the cheese was cold and solid. We asked for a redo and we got a replacement which was warm but now way over fried. Our waiter seemed like we were really putting him out. He almost acted like we inconvenienced him the entire time. Next came the tomato bisque soup. It tasted pretty good, but was only luke warm. I got the chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes. Very tastey both. My wife got a bison steak, she said it tasted good along with her potatoes, but it was WAY too small for $22. We never got a grind refill and in general felt from our waiter like we were unwelcome. We would have gone somewhere else in Custer where we were staying but most places there close by 7:00pm. Unfortunate end to an otherwise enjoyable vacation. read more

The service is rough, and the food is rougher. They're not at their best right now, I've been coming for over a decade and the place is on a steep and steady decline in quality. You'll spend too much on bland, under-seasoned, or soggy food (I didn't know grilled chicken could be wet?? Watery chicken...is hard to achieve) not to mention they might not even bring out everything you ordered or stray from the listed ingredients on the menu. Waitstaff is also untrained or uninterested, never cleared a plate or checked back in to help correct any mistakes despite the little dining room being mostly empty with two other waitstaff on duty. Pretty disappointing from a place I used to love so much. One star because though covid's been hard, understandably, the issue was not understaffing. read more

Buffalo short ribs and elk chop very good. Service reasonable. The bar is limited but tries hard to deliver. Atmosphere is wonderful.

Food was average. Service was beyond bad. Waited almost 30 minutes for our order to be taken. Another 30 minutes for sandwiches to arrive. Wait staff overwhelmed and not particularly friendly. I couldn't wait to leave. Looks like it might have been nice 30 years ago but no more. read more

Pretty disappointed because beautiful Hotel promised a nice dinner but my Wall Eye w "Orange Buerre" tasted too sweet, like from the frozen OK can. My husbands Elk chops were very tough. Service wasn't much better, she was wine ignorant but nice. Probably won't return. Too bad cuz we want more than the heavy pub food offered every where else. read more

We arrived at 4:30 pm for an early dinner. The place was completely empty at that point. We have been informed that walk-ins are not possible. Ok, this would have been a nice information on their web site.... soooo, we would need a reservation but "we are fully booked at the moment". Again, the place was EMPTY. And since they do not offer any apps... how long do they expect us to have a one-course dinner so that we would get conflicts with their apparently massive amount of reservations? I also tried to be as friendly as possible, but did only get some rude tone. Sigh. Happy to bring our business elsewhere then. For now I would recommend to avoid this abysmal level of service until they get it to the same level as the beauty of the location. P.S. : We did not get the food obviously, but we have been warned that it is mediocre at best. Mediocre food AND bad service? Good luck :-) read more

I enjoyed the dinner we had here more than the breakfast. I had a buffalo steak which was really good. I tried to eat as much buffalo as I could on this trip as hey, we were only going to drive the 3,000 miles once, might as well live it up. Service was very good, all of our servers were very attentive and friendly. Best part of the lodge is definitely the restaurant. read more

Just had our second dinner here and like Rich, had the buffalo steak. Done to perfection at medium rare, it was lightly doused with a subtle berry reduction. The walleye I had the night before was also perfectly prepared. And the staff, including Barbara, our server, provided upbeat and genuinely attentive service. We stayed in the lodge and I would guess the rooms have been updated since Kathleen was here. It is a historic hotel, so the rooms in the original building are small but clean and comfortably updated. And the setting is beautiful. read more

Sylvan Lake Lodge Restaurant - Sylvan Lake, just below the lodge. - New American Near Me

Early May vacation not many visitors at the park yet. Stayed at Sylvan Lake Resort for four nights. Had dinner last night and breakfast this morning at the Lodge. Food is good above average but the help is way above average. Seems every single person from the bar tender to the wait staff are genuine kind people. I know it's early in the season but I hope they don't change a bit as the crowds intensify!! read more

I couldn't give this place any higher than a 1-star. Here's my honest personal opinion about this place, based on my own personal experience. Food: 1/5. Terrible! Their pancakes were way over cooked that it was extremely dry and crunchy. Their sausages were extremely bland. Well the eggs were OK since egg is very hard to mess up. Price: 1/5. Not cheap, specially for the quality of the food they serve. Service: 1/5. Slow, extremely slow. It took them about 15 to seat us while there is only one family inside the room. Then another 30 for our order to be served. Again, there were only us and one other family in there. We also had to flag one of the server to fill up our water. What is wrong with this place? Ambiance: 5/5. The place is nice but we came for the food. Overall, I don't see me coming back to this place. read more

Nice staff. Warm and welcoming. Lovely drive up from the main highway which includes a little tunnel through the rock. Grounds are unkept with derelict vehicles in the parking lot and so is the outside terrace. Absolutely terrible expensive food so you've been warned... The lodge is not on the lake but high above it with a treed barrier so you don't see water from the building. To go down by the lake you will have to fork out $20.00 to the park staff. read more

Beautiful lodge with a wonderfully newer dining room. After hiking for 8 hours, starving for food other than protein bars, went inside for a great meal. We weren't disappointed. We had diet cokes (barely any fizz due to elevation) and Lodge Buffalo Burgers served with steak cut fries. Excellent! The burgers were cooked to perfection, tasted super, came with tomatoes, pickles, red onion and a lettuce leaf. Had a slice of peanut butter pie for dessert....dreamy! Definitely recommend this restaurant! read more

Had a reservation at 7pm on 10/13/20. Was seated promptly and noticed there was one server for the entire restaurant. There were six tables being served and I must say the server did a wonderful job! I ordered the Buffalo short ribs and the wife order the Buffalo burger. Salad with short ribs was nice mix of greens, tomato, cheese. The tomato bisque was very tasty. The burger was lost on this enormous bun...so if you prefer bread over meat, you will enjoy this burger. The ribs were ok....a lil tough but a decent flavor. The green beans were cooked enough to provide warmth but still have the "crunch." Cook those beans! While the restaurant provides a convenience since options are limited around the lodge, we would most likely not depend on the lodge restaurant for meals. Kudos to the server...she did her best to ensure all in the restaurant were cared for. read more

We stopped here on our way to Custer State Park to see the buffalo and wild animals; we were pretty hungry and wanted something quick but also filling so we would have time to spend in the park. This place gave us that, on top of a beautiful setting and good customer service. Had we been in town for longer, we would have wanted to stay at the lodge; it's very beautiful and rustic. When we were there, there was no one else in the restaurant. There were about 6 staffers, though, which was good to see. We had the turkey melt and tomato soup. Both were delicious, though nothing completely out of the ordinary. The flies were pretty annoying, but nothing we couldn't handle. A good place to stop by and have lunch before you head on over to the park, for sure. read more

Wow. Great food and great service and great setting. We are vegetarians and although there is not a ton on the menu, they worked with us and we were able to have three really good dinners there. Breakfast is wonderful on their patio. Best lodge in the Black Hills. Staff were well trained and very good. read more

I ate here with 2 friends from the South of France and another friend from Pasadena after a hike, we were all very hungry. It was a long wait for our food, surprisingly long since we arrived at 2:30 pm. We were grateful they were still open, the waitress we had was very kind and attentive. My french friend loves american hamburgers, unfortunately when this one arrived, it was basically black and charred, completely inedible. We told the waitress and it was redone, and it ended up tasting very good to her, but it was careless to not inspect the hamburger before serving it, it showed lack of concern on the part of the cook and the waitress for not verifying before that it was not burnt. I shared the portabella mushroom sandwich with my other friend, it sounded delicious by the description on the menu, when it arrived, there was no boursin cheese at all in the sandwich as described, a very very tiny portabella mushroom was all the sandwich had. The outside patio was very nice but I would hesitate before coming here again. read more

We have been coming to Sylvan Lake for 35 years. This year we were extremely disappointed in the service and food in the dining room. Do NOT order the buffalo chislic! It was 7 very small pieces of buffalo that were cooked to jerky doneness! It was horrible! I also had the buffalo short ribs and they were cooked so hard I could not chew the meat. It was two small pieces and they were mostly fat. The few bites that were left were not edible!!! Our waiter was very nice, but they did not have enough help so the service was very slow. This is considered fine dining and it is priced as such. I expect to get fine dining quality food!! It's not likely we will go back. read more

Went here for breakfast yesterday. Food is good and the homemade blueberry pancakes is so delicious. The place is bright and clean with a nice mountain view. Like I said, nothing special with the food (except for the pancakes) but because of the ambiance and fantastic service (shoutout to our server, Robert!) I'm giving it a 5-star. It's the best breakfast place in town! Worth the drive, even when you're staying a little far from Custer State Park. read more

My boyfriends says this place gets five stars for the coldest beer. We stopped in after an 8.5 mile hike through Custer State Park. This place was just what we needed to unwind. The sandwiches were also very delicious. read more

I have eaten here four times over year, and the food is outstanding. They have beef sirloin, but they also serve bison, elk, and walleye. The service is excellent and the prices are fair. If you are looking for a great place to eat with something different, this is the place. read more

The food was good, but not worth the price when compared to several places one could eat in Rapid City. The setting is nice but if you are inside you lose the benefit of the scenery - so sit near the window or on the terrace. Now, for the service: it started out poorly. The hostess was a real snot - she was pissed off apparently because she could not find a customer who ordered a to-go meal. The manager had to reign her in. She gave us the impression we were wasting her precious time. Overall, she gave the impression of being too good for the job she was forced to do. Our waiter Marco was fine, though. He saved what otherwise would have been a service nightmare. Would we go back - probably not. I would rather picnic at the lake or just grab a burger in Hill City. read more

Excellent dinner. Buffalo steak w/asiago mashed potatoes & asparagus. Had a berry reduction sauce that was killer. Couldn't have asked for better service. Would definitely go again. read more

Great apps like the tomato bisque and the curried shrimp, but then things get looney: the "pheasant with rattlesnake and rabbit sausage" is so clearly an ode to chicken, and the stuffed pepper is, well, a pepper with quinoa, blandly with an off the shelf tomato sauce. Service was confused and out of their depth, so we cried uncle before desert could even occur. Oh yeah, and wear a parka into the dining room read more