Taste of the Gorge

The atmosphere was warm and relaxing, the food was very good. I had a lg Ceasar salad with steak strips ($ 18) and hubby had a nice bacon cheese burger and fries ($ 15) we enjoyed our food but it was a little pricy, the steaks smelled delicious and there is a full bar.

A hidden treasure… food is fantastic. Owners are wonderful people. Small menu but they do it right. Burgers are the best around. Get out and support the local community!

We are from a long-​line of foodies and we were blown away by the superbly prepared dinner we enjoyed during our stay at the Gorge. The ingredients were fresh, well-​prepared and beautifully presented. The portions were generous and the smattering of tastes, textures, colors made for a delightful experience. This is undoubtedly one of the best kept secrets and out-​of-​the-​way finds in the entire Gorge experience. The chef is masterful and could go toe-​to-​toe with any chef here in the SF Bay Area for a fraction of the cost. Yes the dining room could use a bit of sprucing up but you will go there and come back for the dining experience and the friendly and accommodating wait staff.

OK? What?! I moved to the area and have visited for years… but never made the special trip up to the golf course. I made a trip up based on the last (and only) Unilocal review. And… I don’t get it. I’m not sure how it got 5 stars.
The flowers on the tables are plastic– and need to be dusted. The chairs are broken and in need of repair. There’s two TVs (complete with Duck Dynasty) on, quite loud, so the cooks have something to do while they wait for customers. There’s not one customer there– on a Saturday night. Try me. Walk in. See what your first impression is. I’m super-​sorry if you are the owner reading this, but it really needs to be updated… or cleaned and a lot of stuff tossed. It went past «character» some time ago and now it’s sliding past the «dive» restaurant. I’ll agree on the fries though– they were really good. The rest of the two meals… not so good. The fish & chips was super-​soaked in oil and so oily it was hard to eat. I had the steak. The green beans were from a can (if they weren’t– those were some really miss-​colored beans!) The steak was overcooked, but I’m pretty sure that was a good thing. If the kitchen is anything like the dining room I think I want stuff pretty well-​done. This place is a perfect candidate for that «save my restaurant show» on Food TV. It really needs an injection of life in there– you do that and the customers may come back.

We are visiting from Southern California and went here for lunch yesterday. Quaint but classy, excellent service. We had Italian ices, huckleberry flavored — yumm! Then the boys and I had cheeseburgers and fries (the wedge kind — my favorite) and Casey had the salmon B.L.T. Everything was beautifully presented and and tasted wonderful, nice, because we were tired of the traveling food :). If you are heading up the 141 from the Columbia River, it’s on the right hand side at the same entrance as the golf course. ENJOY!