Freshies Restaurant & Bar

Excellent tacos! But service is spotty!
We waited to place a to-​go order, had to wait 10 minutes before we were acknowledged. The waitress walked right past us to seat the people behind us without acknowledging us or asking if we would like to be seated or place an order. She then ran credit cards for checks of customers before coming back.

Loved the views from this cute rooftop café! It was quite a wait and then we had to wait some more to get our food but I really liked the phở and red curry. Didn’t really like the quinoa cakes much.

First things first, the view is worth the price of admission. The seating area is on the second floor roof and is tiered so you have a very nice view of the lake.
Now the food, had the blacken cod on a sandwich and it was delicious. We also ordered the fish tacos and they were also on par with the sandwich. Loved the Hawaiian influenced menu and was tickled to see a «plate lunch», I will get this next time.
Ordered the coconut cream pie and didn’t feel it. Not sure why, just wasn’t for me, but this is no reason to not go to Freshies. This is a small restaurant and there were only two waitresses who were busy taking care of all the tables on the roof. While we may have waited longer for our drink order or bill, go here, enjoy the view and don’t be in a rush.

Decent food. Nothing extraordinary. I had the shrimp tacos. Pretty tasty but overpriced. Small place.

If you’re vegan, this is a great restaurant to visit. Plenty of choices for meat eaters as well. I got 2 tofu tacos, nice amount of spicy. They were pretty good, but not new. Hubby got sweet and spicy veggie stir fry with tofu and tempeh. I kept stealing off his plate and will definitely order this next time. The mix of peanut and hoisin (vegan) was really good. There’s many other dishes I can’t wait to try, especially the buffalo cauliflower.

Very slow service and the wait staff was rude. We actually left after an hour so can’t comment on the food.

Bad service OK food. We sat and waited for 10 minutes before anyone even acknowledged or greeted us to give us water or menus. The pork is sweet which is weird cuz real Hawaiian kalua pork is salty, I know, I lived in maui for years. The crunch salad was pretty good, but the terrible slow service was not worth it.

I’m super disappointed. I came here the other day with my family and was totally let down. We order the same thing pretty much every time. Fish tacos, this time we spent $ 175 on tacos. and the tacos weren’t great at all. The service was poor, we had children with us and we asked to sit inside out of the sun. Wasn’t happening. Food took forever to get to us. It’s fish tacos for goodness sakes. Sub par quality at that. We could have went to a steak house for that price.
Unfortunately I think freshies is now off my eat list in Tahoe. The price is way to high for the service and quality of food. $ 175 for tacos is insane! We didn’t even have a single beer

I came when it wasn’t packed — around 1:30 for lunch. The view was ok — kind of novel to be up on top of a building and you can see the lake if you look. A local told me they had super fresh fish so I got a small Crunch salad with one fish taco. Hit the spot! Loved the chill music and vibe. Give it a try.

First day of the upper deck and I bring a party of 10 at 7 pm with low expectations. You guys had us sat in ten minutes and the halibut tacos were so great! Thanks for our Birthday weekend! Always so nice!

Best curry on the planet! Eric the owner has done an amazing job with this hole in the wall spot. Pliney the Elder is on tap and that is rare in itself! The halibut curry was addicting, tacos were delish, and the staff were very knowledgable of the menu. Go here ASAP!!!

Typically I don’t write the negative reviews, however this situation calls for it.
My wife and I are major foodies, we are very active thus we are able to eat out daily without the regrets.
So here we are in Tahoe and we have experienced most places, however we have heard good things about freshies– however this was not the case with our experience.
As you notice all the negative reviews, if you take the time to read them– they all hymn the same mantra. –the waitress’ are awful, rude, uncomfortable, uninviting, arrogant, mean, snide, and flat out disgraceful to this business. We overheard the restaurant owner leaves for summer to Hawaii and little does he likely know; how his staff is running this place– and I assure, if it continues, it will be its demise.
This was our experience:
We waited 10 minutes at a sign that said please wait to be seated for the upper deck. Several waitress passed us, didn’t make any eye contact or acknowledgement we wanted to spent 50 dollars in 50 minutes for a lunch. Do the math, and what that ads too and equals every time you waitress’ get your pay checks and understand there will not be a next if you don’t treat people who spend this type of money for a lunch and you can’t even say hi or hello? Really?
When one finally did acknowledge us she was so rude. No one else was there, and she said we weren’t the first people to be seated (ok and fine with that, but the lack of care was just arrogant and rude). Not to mention the tone in her voice. And trust me as you read here, this isn’t just the behavior issue with one waitress or 1 person having a bad day.
We followed her up and were seated. The next server arrived. I swear I’ve never seen a more naccasitic person before. It was becoming clear the staff all thinks they are entitled to be rude to there customers, and they have the right to be careless about the people who pay for there wages.
We took it because we wanted to try the food and the location. Location only on the roof deck is good, however, inside is in a very weird location (in a hallway of shops no one goes too), and unknown if you were to drive by. Fair enough. Again — here for the food and the roof deck.
The food comes, my wife got a salad with ahi. We kid you not, this was prepackaged Safeway greens, under dressed with dressing, and a few extremely small pieces of poorly seared ahi — mind you– this was a 16 $ salad I could have walked next store to Safeway and made for 3 dollars plus 2 for the tuna. I go to restaurants to take it a step about the grocery store. This was rediculous
I got red curry. This is extremely hard to mess up when everything is covered in a sauce/​thus, it was good.
We also got fries as appetizer and extremely dissapointed was a 7.95 $ plate of fries. Are you kidding me? And basic fries with a shake of seasoning on top. What makes it worst was when the bill came, the fry plate they charged in excess of 10 dollars
Rather than complaining to jackass waitress’, I paid it and left.
Aweful experience. Food poor. Recommend firing the entire serving staff and starting fresh. As a business owner, this is what will need to happen to break the cycle. Best of luck.

Freshies is one of the best restaurants in Tahoe. They have fresh and delicious food for all preferences~ vegan, vegetarian, paleo… etc.

Surprisingly great vegan find!
While I’m all for seeking out healthy style vegan places, once in a while it’s nice to eat in a traditional restaurant and allow your non-​vegan friends to order something besides tofu. Freshies definitely handles that!
We were really impressed with the long list of modifications to the popular dishes to make them veg/​vegan. Ended up getting the tempeh wings and then the tofu platter with mushroom and tofu tacos. The tempeh wings were unreal! Tacos were really great too but they accidentally put ranch on one of them. I brought it up and the staff handled it perfectly, making a new taco and bringing it out very quickly. I don’t have any problem with mistakes like that and appreciated their fast action.
One warning/​advice: The spice level of the food was just about my limit. Good flavor in the sauces but it definitely had me sweating and there wasn’t a great option for a vegan sauce to help cut the spice. If Freshies could add a sauce like that, I’d be stoked!

We ended up eating here bc the other place was too long to wait. We liked the specials on the board. By the time we got seated, we literally sat there for 10−15min before anyone came over to acknowledge us! It’s a small place & not all the tables were even full.
They finally came over to take out orders & a lot of the stuff we wanted were out! I wanted the ahi poke bowl on the special, all gone. We wanted the crockettes which they were also out of. No ahi.
We ordered a bunch of the noodle soup which no one liked at all. I got the ½ Jamaican salad which was decent. The dressing though tasted like ranch. I did enjoy the mango habenaro chicken wings which had a good kick. Other than that, not so hot.
Slow just like the other helpers said.

An institution! Can’t beat it top to bottom my go to for fresh delicious locally owned food!

Food:
— red cod fish with rice, house salad, and sesame dressing coleslaw — nay nay nay. Fish didn’t taste fresh and I hate the fishy smell. House salad was just greens with your choice of dressing. I chose creamy basil dressing and it wasnt bad. Sesame coleslaw was another downturn here. Its just a mixture of different color of raw cabbage. Mesh
— Kahlua pork sandwich with fries — the pork was very sweet. The fries was homemade and it was pretty decent.
— kombucha green tea & lemon — if you thought of getting this, think twice. Its a canned drink and I paid $ 3 for this. Haizz.
Price:
— two people lunch was $ 32. Acceptable american meals.
Service:
— family owned business that use this ‘homey’ style décor. Its not bad but its a small place. They put the table so close next so it might be a bit tight to walk especially when its crowded.
— the servers are nice (+1)

Freshies is the kind of place you go to for the amazing view and the delicious, unique food. If you can’t handle slow service even for the best view of the lake and a really really great meal, then don’t bother coming here. Be prepared to wait for a table and for service once you have a table. But let’s be realistic here: There is a small, crowded deck with a fantastic view that waiters have to run up and down two flights of stairs to get food and drinks to, and everything is made fresh, of course it takes time!
Now that that’s out of the way… OMG the food! I could eat their tacos every day, and the ribs are succulent and tender. Even their beans and rice are so good I can’t resist them, and I normally hate both! Plus they have a huge selection of vegetarian and vegan options.

We decided to come a second time after first coming here two years ago and I had notably good experience being able to order gluten-​free food. Now that I am vegan, I noticed that many of their dishes can be easily made vegan.
As I normally do (and as encouraged by the back of their menu), I informed our server that I am vegan and gluten-​free (to which she nodded and ever-​so-​slightly rolled her eyes as if she was a little impatient to have to listen me preface my order) and I asked for the Rippin’ Red Curry with tofu as long as it was both vegan and gluten-​free. She said I didn’t need to tell her my dietary restrictions because the Rippin’ Red Curry was both of those things. I’m pretty sure she meant it in a way to assure me to not worry about my food, but it just didn’t come across in a friendly way.
I remember the curry being really good last time, and my memory did not fail me. It had a nice kick to it but still flavorful and creamy. All of the vegetables were chopped finely … in fact, I’m pretty sure my brother’s Udon noodle soup with cod and my mom’s Teriyaki beef all had the same finely chopped vegetables. So, it just makes me wonder about the variety of vegetables they use. Just a minor thing I noticed. Regardless, the curry was very filling and I couldn’t finish it (and the leftovers made a substantial part of my dinner the next day), and both my brother and mom enjoyed their dishes as well.
I like that Freshies uses fresh, healthy and sustainable ingredients to make their dishes and that many dishes are gluten-​free (even the tempura apparently!). Their menu also says most dishes can be made vegetarian, and many can be made vegan. I like when restaurants are flexible with their offerings.
Food is pretty darn good, nice selection of items to choose from even with dietary restrictions. Service could be a little better but maybe depends on the mood of the server. Decent prices. Would come back more.

This is by far my absolute favorite restaurant in S. Lake Tahoe!
Both times that I’ve been here, it’s been packed with some people waiting. For being a few miles away from the stateline, they know how to bring people in!
They have an amazing selection of vegan options, with tofu and tempeh dishes to fill in as protein.
I’ve had the Mana Meal, which is the «go-​to» for vegans and vegetarians. It is hearty, comforting, and delicious. Very good quality tempeh is served here and you get a generous portion.
This time around I had the Jerk Tofu. The rice is vegan friendly so I added that as a side. I thought the spices were very delicious, but think I might go for the tempeh next time to make the meal more substantial.
You MUST go for the Hot Tempeh wings! They put a warning in the menu and they are not joking, These are HOT! I’m a big spice lover and my tolerance is pretty good, but these had me blowing smoke out of my mouth and my eyes watering. But they were soo good I couldn’t stop eating them. I was pretty sad when I saw that I had eaten the last one, so had to sit there in my painful spicy state.
Luckily I was able to put out the fire with a giant pitcher of PLINEY THE ELDER.
Yup. You heard me right, The best IPA to ever be made by the hands of a man (could be a god, who knows) exists right here in this quaint Hawaiian restaurant. If you’ve never had Pliney, you haven’t lived yet. If you’re not a fan of IPA’s, you’ll love this one. (Trust me).
Even though the choice was obvious, the owner didn’t make it easy. For having only 8 taps, they have one of the best draft selections I’ve ever seen. Deschutes? Duvel? Drakes? Yum yum yum. Don’t forget about their bottled selection. Youngs Double Chocolate Stout? Chimay? I could sit here all night and drink myself silly.
You could be like the 2 guys next to us who drink Coors Light and never know that they’re living a life in the dark. Or you can ask for a good recommendation for your appetite and reach beer nirvana.
The staff here is awesome and very helpful and I give them props for working very hard even when they seem understaffed and still making a good connection with their guests. I will recommend this restaurant to anyone who takes a trip to Tahoe and I will be here again the next time I come back!