Simon’s Cliff House

Simons cliff house is nestled inside tge historic Columbia Gorge Hotel. I’ve visited here many times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner… and this place is a must stop for any of the above! The Monte Cristo sandwich, coconut shrimp, lounge burger, and chicken chardonnay are among my favorites. However, overall nothing beats the delicious burger served in the lounge area. Toasted buns, a ½ pound of beef cooked medium topped with melted cheese and veggies… what’s not to love? And of course served with a ln ample amount of their delicious ranch fries. Equally important the view is to die for! If you have family in town and are looking for a breakfast or lunch spot that will be a big hit go to simons cliff house, not only is the food delicious, but the view is unrivaled and the staff is propmt, professional, and very friendly.

LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION. The pork oso bucco was great. Steelhead good. Ribeye good-​thin cut style. Scallops gritty… Ceasars salad excellent! Staff always professional, friendly and the piano player entertaining.

Average food at best. Had lamb chops and they were ok. My wife had pork and it was off flavor wise. The crime brûlée was poorly executed and probably out of a box. My margarita was sub par and priced at $ 16.00. Overall the meal was over priced and average at best.

I had hopes for this place. The food was very good overall, and the view was nice, but that wasn’t enough to offset the bad service. Our waitress was actually somewhat snotty in a passive-​aggressive way and seemed to go out of her way not to be very helpful. It was weird, the strangest experience I think I’ve had in a restaurant, as if she resented having to serve us. I wish I had asked her name, she certainly didn’t offer it. She had straight medium brown hair all one length, clearly parted, pulled back in a plain pony tail. Terrible service, we won’t be back. The two young men who assisted her, however, were really friendly and on top of it.

You must try their Salmon Eggs Benedict for breakfast! I wish that we had the time to have again. I also had their ½ turkey croissant and clam chowder. Their chowder was also outstanding!

I ordered Rib eye She orderd T bone. Rib eye was awesome the T bone was set on BBQ sauce kinda ruined the taste. Service with John was a 10 the view was awesome. However 2 things bugged us we were a party of 2 we sat at a table for 4 the place settings were never removed… then there were 2 loud ladies (being polite here) doing shots chanting laughing and in general veru loud and obnoxious kinda ruined the atmosphere.

I’ve been here for their Sunday Brunch and that was great. But any other time you attempt at having breakfast here, it will be less than desirable.
Perfect view of the Gorge to have breakfast with. Service was slow, food was slow getting out. Not a wonderful breakfast, but it was decent
Waitstaff needs better training

This review gets 3 stars not so much for the food, but for the view. Wonderful view of the gorge. Service was excruciatingly slow for an early Saturday morning. The highlight was a scone that we were hoping to have with our coffee, but instead it came out 30 minutes after ordering, with our omelette.

I would give no stars if I knew how. I was all excited for a good dinner. I order the scallops with french onion soup. The french onion soup had big chunks of onions and bread slices making it hard to eat. Although the worst was the raw scallops that they fed me with disgusting rice. Also my husbands medium rare steak looked like it was cut off the steer still mooing and day old mashed potatoes. I will never go back for a good dinner go to the Mesquite Steak House they are better priced great happy service and amazing food!!!

We stayed last night at the Columbia Gorge Hotel and it was a little late to go out and have dinner, we were a little skeptical after reading such a bad reviews but decided to give it a try anyways.
The service was excellent from the host that made sure that the kitchen was still cooking everything even though it was so close to closing time to the server with the best suggestion for the night.
For appetizer we had the spinach dip which had a twist by being blended but tasted really good. I had for main entry the Chicken Chardonnay and my boyfriend had the BBQ Pork chops, both portions where big and both meats were cooked to perfection, I don’t like pork but tried his meal and it was nice and crispy on the outside and super moist in the inside.
For dessert I had the lemon cake one of my favorites, I was a little full but made room for a little extra sweet.
The ambience is super romantic specially with the view of the river just with a little light left.
The next morning we also had the breakfast there, I called front desk to let them know it was my boyfriend birthday and they made sure that when they brough the food to the table his breakfast had a candle to make his morning extra special. Server excellent and friendly!
Thank you very much to everyone at the Columbia Gorge Hotel and the Cliff restaurant for such a beautiful experience. Can’t wait to go there again but for a couple of nights.

We had our ninth wedding anniversary dinner at Simon’s Cliff House. The dinner was great and lasted about two hours. We started with the lobster cakes and fundido fondue. Both were good but we could have skipped the lobster cakes since we had lots more food to eat. My wife ordered the butternut squash ravioli with a la carte lobster. She enjoyed the ravioli and loved the twin lobster tails. I ordered the duck with a la carte steelhead. The duck was perfect and great with the maple glaze. I also enjoyed the butternut squash mashed potatoes. The steelhead with pear sauce was the highlight of my meal. The sugar and spice rubbed stealhead went together with the pear cream sauce perfectly. The night ended with a complementary tuxedo cake to celebrate our anniversary. The huckleberry lemonade (with and without vodka) was also top notch. We also enjoyed being waited on by Todd. He was a great waiter and took care of us very well during our dinner. Thanks for a great dinner!

My wife and I were visiting the Columbia River Gorge area, east of Portland OR, with family for the first time and were looking forward to lunch at Simons Cliff House restaurant in the Columbia Gorge Hotel. I’d read mixed reviews about the restaurant and hotel but decided to give it a try anyway as the hotel had once been once of the «Grand Class» of hotels and was situated on a «cliff» overlooking the Columbia river.
Sad mistake! The restaurant was not busy but was already sold out of one of two featured salads. Three of us ordered Caesar salads which were dry and essentially tasteless. Mine and my daughter-​in-​laws cheeseburgers were dry, overcooked, under seasoned, and pretty much tasteless. We tried ordering the burgers to a specific doneness but were told the kitchen would only serve burgers «medium well» to «well done». My wife’s grilled smoked turkey and cheese sandwich was served on burnt bread and was barley edible. My son-​in-​laws chicken pot pie seemed to be the best of the lot although it was served without a crust and with marginally acceptable ingredients. No rolls, or bread and butter of any kind were offered to us throughout the meal. The sweet potato fries were however some of the best my wife has ever had.
Altogether a thoroughly disappointing meal which I would rate as a maybe a «3 or 4» at best on a scale of 1 to 10. Service was acceptable although a little slow which I blame on the kitchen as the restaurant was not busy.
However, the view of the Columbia River outside and the waterfall on the property was spectacular. Might come back for cocktails and the view but never again for a meal.

Old school menu with the fancy classics (beef Wellington, whipped potatoes pipped with a star point tip, shrimp cocktail, filet, ny strip, chicken piccata, bearnaise, Demi glacé etc). I go for the local pan seared salmon and trout which is reliably well prepared and the chocolate banana bread pudding which is to die for! Order 2. Sit on the patio for an awesome, semi secluded, romantic ambiance, inside resembles the Stanley Hotel from the Shining. The service is good, very polite staff.

I have to say that the outside of this place is quite beautiful. Set right alongside the Columbia River, this place offers an old world charm experience. And why wouldn’t it since this place is considered historical. The restaurant, however, was a little dated. I know it’s historical place, but it looked kind of run down. Nonetheless, they had duck confit and I was ready for it. The duck was a little rubbery but overall a pretty good dish. Their side bread was so moist. This is definitely a great place to come with friends and even a date.

My husband and I decided to treat ourselves to the Farmer’s Brunch at the Columbia Gorge Hotel restaurant, Simon’s Cliff House, for our wedding anniversary. We’d have stayed the night if our budget allowed, but alas we could only afford a meal. I’d never been to the hotel before, but was excited to visit the place where my parents had honeymooned 30 years ago.
The hotel itself was beautiful, with well-​kept grounds and spectacular views of the Columbia Gorge. Unfortunately, the food was less than impressive. In fact, the atmosphere is what saved this review from two stars. While the yogurt and mimosa courses of the brunch were pleasant, the cheese plate was disappointing (just cubes of cheddar, pepperjack, and swiss with a few crackers — not really the gourmet presentation I was hoping for) and the fruit plate was quite small for two. The entrees were decent portions and not terrible, but not terribly thrilling either. I had an omelette, he had steak and eggs. It was more like something I’d expect to be served at a Denny’s. Also, although my husband ordered his steak medium rare, it was well-​done.
The dessert course also left much to be desired — the random assortment of small desserts included half-​thawed mini-​eclairs like you might buy at Costco or Trader Joe’s. Certainly not the splurge I had in mind!
A hotel this lovely really deserves a menu to match. With the amazing quality and availability of gourmet and inventive dining in nearby Portland, there’s really no forgiving a lackluster restaurant experience at what could be a fabulous destination restaurant & hotel.

Simon’s Cliff House (also listed as Simon’s restaurant) is located in the Columbia Gorge Hotel. The hotel is great. The restaurant is not. The atmosphere is nice, but the food is on life support. An uninspired salad drowning in a gloppy raspberry vinaigrette, a rib eye steak that takes a chain saw to cut, and a just okay crème brûlée. I guess what really disappointed me was the steak. I’d try and write a longer review, but there’s not much more to say.