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    The Mountain House

    4.2 (775 reviews)
    Ultra High-EndNew American, Steakhouses
    Closed • Closed

    The Mountain House Photos

    Business Info

    THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Romantic
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - The Mountain House

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    Lemon drop
    Patty S.

    Driving through the mountains we found this beautiful place . They have a great view and food was amazing. The service staff were very friendly and helpful. The wine list is also excellent. I definitely coming back with reservations for a great dinner and view.

    Basque cheesecake
    Audrey C.

    The food was amazing. The service was a different story. We had 7:30 pm reservations and didn't get seated until 8 pm. And once we got sat, our server didn't come to our table for a good 15 minutes. We never got her name. The only reason she came was because I got up and told the manager. The only employee that was attentive to our table was the busser/water guy with glasses. Our server never checked up on us, and she only came to our table to take our food and drink orders. We didn't end up leaving until 9:30 pm. While we were waiting for our check, other employees started stacking chairs and moving tables in the same dining room. We were going to talk to the manager after, but it looked like she left already.

    pan-seared scallops
    Nat P.

    Came here for the first time and it did not disappoint! First all, I love how remote the location is. Right in the woods over by Skyline so it makes the drive quite fun. Just look at the restaurant inside. It just surrounded by trees which makes it so warm and cozy. Such an intimate vibe that feels like you are in another world. We got the three course prix fixe which was delicious! Started off with the pan seared scallops and the Texas quail. The scallops were perfection honestly. It was very light and buttery at the same time. I honestly was close to ordering another one of them because it really hit the spot. The texas quail was very interesting, but the salad that came with this dish was the star. It paired really well with the quail. For entree, we got the grilled venison loin and their off menu special which was the 16oz New York Steak. The venison was amazing. It was medium rare and it was just so smooth when you cut into it. It mixed so well with that vanilla parsnip puree that was included. The New York steak was also just so good I could not stop eating it. The best thing was also the mushrooms that they actually forage here in the area. It was just another added bonus to the dish! For dessert, I got the panna cotta and their off menu dessert, the German chocolate cake. Just devine! The panna cotta was the best way to end the course. I left wanting more! And that chocolate cake, WOW. Just so rich and decadent. Service was amazing and each staff was so friendly and attentive. Tip: Parking can be difficult. You may be able to park in their small parking lot or may have to park across the street right on Skyline.

    Michelle T.

    When in the world did this place exist! I never even heard of it until my friend had her wedding there and I'm so glad she did! What a hidden gem. The best wedding food ever! Then my friend told me the chefs are ex Michelin chefs! What?! No wonder. The lobster roll and scallop blew my mind. Better than any I've ever had. And you can tell they know how to cook when the sourdough is made to perfection with the crunchy fall apart exterior and the soft chewy inside. Not to mention it's out in the wilderness so it's such a peaceful way to enjoy life. I will say getting there was a pain! I did not anticipate such a crazy windy drive. But I would suffer again because the whole experience was magical!

    Venison
    Kai W.

    Talk about an experience. We decided to try this place out for a friend's birthday and were able to get reservations pretty easily a few days prior. We had no idea a restaurant like this was out in Woodside. The unassuming cabin led to a rustic bar, which then led into a greenhouse room, surrounded by redwoods. Our friend and our toddler loved the views. Food itself was fantastic, everything was very well prepared and there were plenty of vegetarian options as well. I had the quail as a starter and the venison, as my entree. The quail was very well, seasoned and well cooked with very juicy and tender and flavorful meat. The crust was perfectly crispy and was flavorful as well. The venison did not taste gamey at all and was melt in your mouth tender, i really enjoyed this dish. Finally, I had the panna cotta as a dessert, which we confirmed with the restaurant was vegetarian without gelatin. Very light panna cotta without being too cloyingly sweet.I really enjoyed this one too. Everyone else really enjoyed their meals as well. And had nothing but good things to say. If you are looking for a unique restaurant for a special occasion, I would highly recommend this place.

    Carving outside
    Kevin D.

    The Mountain House is a restaurant that takes you back in time to a peaceful, tranquil setting in the forest among towering trees. It's a short 25 minute drive from Half Moon Bay to a place far different than the waves and sand below it. Set in the forest it makes its name with excellent service, a rustic environment, and food offerings of superior quality. We throughly enjoyed our cocktails, the bread with whipped butter that we absolutely loved, and a prefixed menu with options that we really found enjoyable. The quail - amazing as well as the heirloom tomato Burrata salad. The salmon, very nice and they kept the skin on at our request. The Venison, nicely done, great reduction sauce. The rib eye unfortunately was the only miss here as it didn't seem like a good cut or quality piece with far too much fat. The dessert was excellent, and we loved so many parts of this experience.

    Summer squash soup
    Ananya N.

    This review is long overdue but I am still thinking about how incredible our experience was at mountain house. The restaurant is beautiful, the food was presented beautifully and tasted even better, and the service was phenomenal. We were celebrating our anniversary and our host and waiters went above and beyond in making us feel special. I especially appreciated that not only were there vegetarian options for each course, but the vegetarian options were actually delicious and unique! I find so often at nicer establishments like this one, the vegetarian alternatives are underwhelming, if they exist at all. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to celebrate or just enjoy a lovely meal!

    Mocktail
    Quin B.

    Truly a magical wilderness experience. I felt like I was in a cottage in the woods but so in a castle at the same time. The dinning room was beautiful. When i went it was foggy so it felt like a bob ross painting. Overall I really enjoyed it. The food was also good. I had the vegetarian pasta option. The stew was a bit too smoky for me. Definitely a great date spot. Parking lot was good. Easy to find parking

    Kaylee T.

    The view was amazing, I really liked the quail and how it went with the salad. It wasn't too heavy and not too light. I got medium rare (not a steak connoisseur but it was one of the top steaks I've had.) The portions were a good amount and I wasn't able to finish it all so I took some home. My boyfriend got the pistachio cake and I liked how it had a nice light nutty flavor.

    Sohrob H.

    Having been here a few times, I can say the experience is consistently really good, mostly because the food is phenomenal when cooked correctly. Service can be hit or miss, its been a recurring theme usually a few things are forgotten and the servers need a gentle reminder that things are missing. Also some tables get checked on more frequently/often than where I have sat. Inside it can be loud the tables are close and some groups are louder than others, so it can be challenging to hold a conversation at times. The food is good, just seem to have difficulty doing a medium-well steak.

    Sourdough bread
    GiGi G.

    Destination restaurant great for special occasions. Beautiful setting, attentive service and lovely ambiance makes the food taste even better. Love the special extras such as the amuse bouche, extra birthday dessett and parting sweets. Sourdough bread was fresh and delicious. Scallops were excellent and loved the flavor combinations. The mains (we had pork chop, short rib and butternut mushroom pasta) were flavorful and generous. The dessets (chocolate bombe, pistachio cake and cheese course) were lovely endings to a great meal.

    Always on point!!
    Terry R.

    Amazing food always hits right. cocktails mixed to perfection, staff friendlier than a Disney greeter and don't get me started on the views!!

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    14 days ago

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    This place is so good! Food and wine are outstanding! Very nice place for a date night or to celebrate at Birthday! Must try!

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    Page 1 of 20

    Ask the Community - The Mountain House

    On Google, there is a statement that says this restaurant is permanently closed. Is that true or not?

    It reopened with a new Chef

    Are the trees lit up at night?

    Yes they are! The food and surroundings are great there! I hope you enjoy

    Is it a kids friendly restaurant ? We have a six months old baby in the stroller and we don't know if we can bring the baby with us.

    Yes, it is family friendly restaurant. I would recommend to let them know ahead of time, so they can give you appropriate table to accommodate.

    Did this use to be Bella Vista Restaurant?

    No, different location. It's on the opposite side of Skyline.

    Does this restaurant serve venison?

    When we went there about 2 months ago, I had Venison Medallions with a Cherry Compote. Was pretty good.

    View All 13 Questions

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    Everything was perfect, from start to finish. Complimentary valet was a nice touch since it's…read morelocated and a residential neighborhood it seems like and parking looked scarce. We arrived early but we were seated shortly. The decor and ambiance to the place was classy and intimate so great for date night. The food was flavorful and tasty. The sea scallop mouse was delicious. The cabbage had a smokey herb crustlike outter layer that paired perfectly with the mouse, great starter. Moving on to my grilled black cod, it was cooked and salted to perfection. Who knew, dry aging cod for 6 days would be so tasty! My hubby had the veal strip loin and it was perfectly seasoned and tender as well. He thoroughly enjoyed it. Desserts were heaven! I wanted to eat more but by that time, I was stuffed! I also had two martini's so I'm sure that contributed! You can't go wrong with chocolate cake. We also tried the stone fruit tart and it was very good as well with plenty of fresh fruit. I am one of those crust eaters and usual eats the crust if pies and tarts, my husband hates it because it's the best part sooo I'm a creature of habit abd continue to do what's expected of me.. I eat the crust! Ha! It was delicious as expected, didnt soften up even with the berries compote. Solid! Service was impeccable. Andres was very friendly and accommodating a long with the other workers attentively waiting and assisting as needed.

    Celebrated my wife's birthday here and disappointing is an understatement. Considering the price…read moretag, I was expecting the food to be somewhat decent or at least unique. It was shockingly bad. First, my wife got the Chou Farci expecting some scallop - turns out it was a black piece of cabbage or whatever vegetable that is, with scallop mousse on the inside... The Maine lobster (+$35 add-on on top of the $130 price tag) is basically a steamed de-shelled lobster tail on top of baked beans. My beef Wellington was...beef Wellington. Nothing special. Nothing unique about it. I'm giving this 2 stars instead of 1 because their service compensates for what the food lacks. We told the waiter about the lackluster lobster dish, and they offered to serve another dish of our choice. We chose the Black Cod and not only is it cooked poorly imo, it smelled fishy and tasted a little too salty. But at least service was good, staffs were friendly, so there's that. If you only care about drinks and atmosphere, this may be the place for you. If you're looking for a decent meal, you can easily find a better fancy meal elsewhere at this price tag.

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    Alice's Restaurant - Cornedbeef hash with fruit, ginger beer and iced coffee. All deeelish! The cornedbeef hash and eggs were phenomenal.

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    This is Alice's, it is an institution and I would always recommend anybody to go there for the…read morewhole experience. I have been many times, and I don't expect much from the food. I'm leaving this review because the meal that I just had was terrible. Hoping the owners see this and make adjustments to the ingredients. I had the Redneck Benedict. It advertises applewood smoked bacon, however, underneath the eggs was a crushed pile of bacon bits, and this was no thick, tasty bacon that people are used to when they are promised Applewood smoked bacon. It looked like the thinnest, oiliest, crispy bacon you could imagine, crushed down into tiny bits, with a pile of it placed under the egg. The country gravy was extremely salty, as was the bacon. The country gravy had no true country gravy flavor, and was quite dark for a country gravy, which should usually be some shade of white. The eggs were properly cooked, the biscuit was mediocre, and the rest is history. Go to Alice's, don't order the Redneck Benedict.

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    I had to come visit here after BTS raved about how good the pizza was. They have many vegan options…read moreon the menu! I went with the vegan margherita, which was pretty good, in particular I loved the crust which was super thin with good chew and lightly crunchy at the edges. However the pizza otherwise did not really blow me away. I enjoyed it however I would say there are many better vegan pizza options in the area. I think their regular pizzas are probably more standout, the people I came with also tried the sausage and honey pizza and seemed to really enjoy it. The service was great, the waiters are very friendly and professional. They are quite busy, we came around 12:30pm on a Saturday and seemed to take the last open table. We were seated outside which was very pleasant. By the time we left there were multiple parties in line. I also saw they had Vesta/BTS stickers inside but I forgot to ask our waiter for one before we left :')

    Food: Sausage and Honey Pizza | Carbonara Pizza | Scrimshaw Pilsner | Arugula Salad | Mexican…read moreChocolate Bread Pudding Price: $27 EA for both pizza | $9 | $16.25 | $11 Overall: You already know I had to try out the pizza spot that BTS ate at THREE TIMES during their stay in the Bay Area for the Arirang Tour. I booked a reservation on OpenTable and we got seated immediately outdoors. I wanted to note that since it was chilly, we asked if we could turn on the heater but it took about 3 times for that to happen (peak dinner times, it's okie!). The food took about 20 minutes. The flavors were great but I wish that the pizza came out hotter and crispier. The salad really took me by surprise and was amazing. My favorite pizza was probably Sausage and Honey. We ended off with Mexican Chocolate Bread Pudding which was a great end to the meal. Was it the best? In my opinion, I think it was a very solid pizza spot!

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    We had a wonderful experience at Fleming's for a professional dinner event. From the planning…read moreprocess through the evening itself, the team was incredibly accommodating, attentive, and professional. The private dining space was perfect for our group, the service was seamless, and the food was excellent. Our guests felt very well taken care of, which made it easy for us to focus on connecting and enjoying the evening. Everything felt polished and well organized from start to finish. I would absolutely recommend Fleming's for professional dinners, networking events, or special occasions, and we look forward to hosting another event here!

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    The Mountain House - newamerican - Updated October 2026

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