Sylvan Lake Lodge at Custer State Park Resort

We stayed in a cabin here in June, 2016 for four nights. The location was woodsy and away from the hustle and bustle, but you could still easily access the Lake and other tourist spots via car. It was nice having convenient walking access to the Lodge restaurant for breakfast or dinner (we didn’t do lunch at the Lodge as we were usually sightseeing).
The cabin was clean, cozy and comfortable. I think the cabins could have used an update in the décor. The bathrooms were really cramped and poorly laid out. The color inside the cabin was a drab brown when it should have been light colors due to the windows being so small. There was a wood-​burning fireplace in the room though we did not use it due to there not being a need for a fire. Again, these are not things which would keep me from going back. If I had to choose between a generic chain hotel closer to one of the tourist areas or Sylvan Lake Lodge Resort, I would choose Sylvan Lake. It was a good home base for our time in the Black Hills and we had convenient access to the best sights and views.
The Restaurant was convenient, and the food was good, but nothing really stood out as great. The wait staff was very accommodating and nice, but really slow, even when it was not crowded, but slow service seemed to happen everywhere we went in South Dakota. The best service we had at Sylvan Lake Lodge was one evening when the bartender was our waitress because we had a late dinner reservation. She was fantastic and made the best Moscow Mule I have ever had!
I would definitely recommend staying here if you plan to visit the Black Hills and Custer State Park.

Just finished spending a July 4^th wedding weekend at this great spot. Food in the lodge is very good, particularly the quinoa salad with salmon and the breakfast buffet. The lake and various trails and swimming areas are beautiful. Staff was friendly and helpful with our large group’s various needs throughout the weekend. Cabins are well-​appointed. Proximity to the various attractions in Custer state park, the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. Will certainly return.

If you appreciate the idea of staying in an 80 year old hotel in the middle of the woods where you can sleep with the window open, this place is great. If you’d rather stay in a chain hotel on the highway surrounded by your favorite chain restaurants and tourist traps, then it’s not for you. The lodge is perched on a ridge just above the other-​worldly Sylvan Lake. You can only see glimpses of the lake because they haven’t mowed down all the trees. Multiple hiking trails are accessed from this point. A short hike at least around the lake is a must, even if hiking isn’t really your thing. The hotel provides canoe, kayak and other watercraft rental to explore the lake. Our room was tiny but clean, and provided all the amenities I’d expect at this price — just in a small, 80 year old package. You can get a larger room if needed, but you won’t want to spend all your time in the room anyway. We were here for a long Memorial Day weekend and things were just beginning to open. They were on-​boarding new staff every day who were eager to please and happy to share their stories: many have come from great distances to experience their summer there. Some were back for their second or third season. Some might say this hotel is too far from all the action; I guess it depends on what kind of action you want. We enjoyed it.

Beautiful setting for a nice long weekend with my new husband!

I was very disappointed in this lodge. The place is old, the beds are terrible, and the food is not that great. It’s close to Sylvan Lake and Custer State Park but far from everything else. There’s no place to eat except at the lodge or the convenience store but if you go there, expect to wait forever for a simple take-​out sandwich. Skip it and stay on Hwy 16.

Second trip there and they were cooking buffalo burgers in the store. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great location, fantastic view, and lots of interesting people to view. However, based on my previous trips there, the new cook does not have the secret to the perfect buffalo burger that the old cook had. Too bad, because the new buffalo burger is just an average buffalo burger at best. The secret was the cook or so it appears.

We stopped in here on our way through the park. It is absolutely magnificent and the views spectacular. The staff was very friendly and we took the time to stroll around and take in the ambience. We were too late for breakfast and too early for lunch so it was suggested that were go to Blue Bell for lunch. We did and it was great.

Sylvan Lake is BEAUTIFUL! One of the most breathtaking sights on this earth. Definitely worth a stop and short hike around it. The lodge/​restauraunt/​gift shop are also beautiful. And that’s where it ends. The «Custer State Park Resort Company» isn’t affiliated with the state park but runs all of the hotels/​restaurants/​stores throughout the park. Poor service, poor management, poor facilities. They don’t care a bit about their customers or employees and are only focused on making money. Prices are through the roof for what you get. It’s really a joke. They just know that tourists will keep coming so they don’t have to change anything. I would encourage everyone to spend some time enjoying the beauty of this wonderful place, but finding lodging and restaurants in nearby Custer or Hill City!

This is a beautiful, beautiful area — and the lodge itself is gorgeous as well… but with that said, I was disappointed that with a $ 200 night room, the room was rather small (and I didn’t get the room I’d reserved, which was supposed to have a pull-​out sofa bed and be in the historical section.) The room I was given was in the new section, did not have a pull-​out sofa, and had a broken screen door on the patio. The front desk didn’t seem concerned when I asked about my room not being the room I’d gotten a confirmation for, and didn’t seem concerned that the screen door was broken. The TV didn’t work well; all stations were fuzzy with static and lines. I was pleased with the dining room; nice menu and good service. There was a large wedding group staying at Lodge the same night as I was and they were very loud, seemed very intoxicated, and that really interferred with my group’s ability to sleep. The loud guests were very disruptive late, late into the night and again early in the morning. Again, really lovely scenic area, but for the price of the night’s stay, I was overall disappointed with the room. The one big plus was strong and easy to use WiFi.

Both Sylvan Lake Lodge and Game State Lodge offered great dining options. At Game State, we had the shrimp quesadillas, salmon pasta, and salads. All were tasty! At Sylvan Lake Lodge, we started with the amazing coconut shrimp — wow! We also had the calamari and penne. There aren’t many dining options in Custer — I do recommend these two!

So my family and I came here to eat after walking around the lake. IT IS SO FREAKING SLOW. OMG. The food took forever to come out and they took just as long to give us our check.
As for the food, I had the cranberry salad and it was so watery! I believe salad shouldn’t be soaked in water right? It’s not a soup! So disappointing. My family’s dinner seemed rather decent though. They all had the soup and sandwich combo. I’d give them a star for the poor quality of my food, but since my family’s dishes where okay, I guess I’d give them a second star…

We were not impressed with the cabins. They were basically hotel rooms. The website says there is a fire pit and picnic table with each cabin, but the picnic table was very old and on a hillside making it difficult to sit at. The fire pit was just a few rocks in a circle. No grate for cooking. The cabin across from us was even worse.
There is no view of Sylvan Lake.
We were particularly disappointed as the cost was 3 times as much as where we stayed previously and not nearly as nice.
The resort was beautiful, but the service was unprofessional, slow, and at times even rude. You did not feel like you were in an expensive resort. In fact we had far better service in the campground and small hotels we stayed in the rest of our vacation.
I would not recommend Sylvan Lake Lodge.

I should have known when we made the reservations and the woman said, «there are NO cancellations allowed». The picture looked beautiful on the brochure, but that’s where it stops. The place is run down, the rooms are shabby and small and the waitstaff in the dining room are understaffed, disinterested and move at a snails pace. This place has ridiculous potential, but we left thinking that the owners must be trying to get all they can out of it before they let it go under.
Priority number one for us was wireless as we needed to make some business calls while there. No problem they said. No wireless is what we got. They claimed there had been a lightning strike the day before we arrived. But I have to tell you there hadn’t been a drop of rain in the week before or the week that we were there, and there certainly wasn’t any storm. We surmised after a few days that the wireless they have couldn’t handle the traffic that was there and thusly would crash. Of course no one would admit to this. At any rate, we ended up having to leave the premises and drive approx. 20 miles to the nearest working wireless to accomplish our business calls.
When making the reservation we were told that our room had a view of the lake, well if you consider a sliver of lake through the forest, then in fact we had a view of the lake. For 250.00/ night, I expect more than a sliver.
The room was very outdated and tiny, even though they told us it was their «best» room in the whole place. They don’t clean your room every day and our garbage was emptied every other day.
The restaurant is grossly overpriced, and the staff are rude. Our last morning there we wanted to eat on the open patio. We were told, we are too busy in the indoor dining room to service the patio, you’ll have to come inside to eat. So the very thing that could make this place tolerable, eating al fresco, was not going to happen. The dining menu is also extremely limited and not very adventurous at all.
All in all I would never stay there again, and next year when we go back we will find a new location to stay. I will be telling anyone who will listen in our location (Minneapolis) not to stay here.

I stayed in the lodge… it was fine though pricey and in need of an update. So, why 4 stars? Because this is simply the most beautiful place in the world, and I was there to just relax and recharge my soul. Mission accomplished! The food was all right, some great meals, some that were just ok, all were pricey. But again, there was the lake. And Harney Peak. So worth it.

A long long time ago I spent two nights in very rustic cabin at Yosemite and gazed longingly at the lodge thinking how utterly idyllic it would be to spend the night there. I finally got to indulge that fantasy when we booked our nights here and darn it all, it wasn’t at all idyllic.
The state park surrounds the lodge but the views are not even decent; no lake to be seen. The rooms are tiny and very rustic with miniature bathrooms and these Spartan accommodations with one queen size bed run over 150.00 a night. Not worth it.
The biggest plus was the lobby where I spent most of my time as the room was so cramped. Oh well, another fantasy checked off the list.

Tasty Buffalo Burgers, prepared and cooked to perfection. A great lunch, with a Fat Tire beer. Delicious.

This was our big splurge after Super 8’s and Best Westerns on our 8 day road trip from California. We stayed at the lodge for 3 nights over 4^th of July. The park is gorgeous. The Lodge, at first impression, is beautiful. However, the rooms are small and outdated, they do not clean them each day (only make the beds and give you fresh towels, the do not clean the sinks or tub, take out the trash, etc). We arrived late on our check0in date, and it was a holiday weekend, so I’m sure we got the last room, but it was right next to the gravel parking lot and there is no view of the Lake, anywhere at the Lodge. You have to drive to it. Also, they entire wrap around patio is reserved for dining, you can’t just go out and sit and enjoy the outside. Annoying.
We tried to eat breakfast there one morning, and after an hour wait we had only been given one cup of coffee and still had no food. While my BF was complaining to the manager, they brought out our food, which was cold. We left and went to Custer (the town) and had a great breakfast. Since you have to drive everywhere anyway, my advice is to stay at one of the nicer places in Custer, it’s only a 10 minute drive to the park entrance anyway, and not any farther from Mt Rushmore, Deadwood, or any other places you are hoping to see.
While the lodge is ok, it’s not worth the money.

After a full day of site seeing, we decided to eat at one of the lodges in Custer State Park. There are several choices and we looked over their menus to see which one seemed to be the best fit. We opted for Sylvan Lake Lodge due to its lovely scenic location as well as interesting menu.
First, it’s located in a fabulous part of the park. The drive in from Custer at 7pm was amazing. We rolled the windows down and enjoyed the fresh mountain air, ripe with the scent of pine. As it was close to dusk, we saw several groups of deer and a lazy herd of buffalo on the way in.
The lodge itself is very beautiful with plenty of rustic charm. We opted to eat outside as it was perfect summer weather. Beyond a few mosquitoes towards the end, eating outside was very pleasant.
The menu is a mix of classic and contemporary American dishes will lots of buffalo and some game fish. My daughter had a buffalo steak tips and asparagus salad which looks very nice, though I didn’t try it. My son opted for his usual burger choice, this time buffalo burger. It was quite good for a kids meal. He also chose strawberry applesauce over fries, which was a cool and unusual option. My wife chose the steak tips marsala with a cranberry spinach salad to start. I went with the buffalo filet also with a cranberry spinach salad. The cranberry spinach salad was scrumptious with a nice balance of sweet and tangy in a very light pre-​tossed dressing. It had a small dice of red onion, some strong-​tasting crumbling cheese and a few mandarin orange segments. Outstanding indeed! The steak tips came well down, were quite flavorful with really tasty asiago mashed potatoes. My buffalo filet was perfectly cooked with a mild, but lovely flavor. I also had ‘naughty’ mashed potatoes which came with the usual baked potato toppings on the side. I did go naughty with them.
We skipped dessert since we had splurged for big desserts earlier in the day.
Service was friendly though slow. I won’t mark this against them as they had two large 20+ person parties that they were trying to juggle.

As far as the bar, lake side gift shop and deli and man eatery it is all great. I have never gotten a room but for food its all good. Even with a group of 20 that we normally bring.

Located in Custer State Park, Sylvan Lake Lodge occupies a great piece of real estate in the Black Hills. Their Web site says that Frank Lloyd Wright picked the location of the lodge after the previous lakeshore resort burned down in 1935. The landscape is really beautiful.
Booking rather late in the game for a summer trip, we reserved the only space left at the lodge which happened to be the Honeymoon Cabin. I guess we arrived at the wrong time because there was a long line to check in and it took more than 30 minutes to get the key to the cabin. The cabin was a very short drive away, and had its own parking space.
The inside of the cabin was sparse, and clearly hadn’t been cleaned from the previous guest’s visit. Gross! We had dinner at the Lakota Dining Room where the tables were so oddly situated, it was difficult to carry a conversation without distraction from other tables. I tried to order and was told the item I desired was not available. So I tried again. No, sorry. So I went with a third choice. The food was less than appetizing, and overpriced.
The saving grace of this whole experience is the lodge’s location. There was a rock just outside the honeymoon cabin which I climbed in the morning. From the rock, you could see far and wide around the Black Hills area. I’m posting some photos of the view. Gorgeous! And the lodge is of course close to Sylvan Lake which is very very beautiful.
I don’t think I would stay here again — or if I was forced to because of unavailability elsewhere, I would take measures to prepare like bringing my own food, and staying away from the cabins. The best thing about this place is its location and scenery, and you can enjoy that without it hurting your checkbook.