Where have you found the best meal in the National Park System?/Rebecca Latson file
Where in the National Park System have you had your best meal?
That can be a tough question to answer. So many restaurants, chefs seemingly always on the move, seasonal help not always that helpful. Those and other reasons can lead to a wide variety of meals in the parks. I've had wonderful meals at the Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite National Park, the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park, at Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park, and at the Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park. I've also had unimpressive meals at Far View Lodge, Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone, at Big Meadows Lodge in Shenandoah National Park, and at Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park.
And maybe that reflects the greatest problem park restaurants have: inconsistency. And yet, I've also encountered some incredible efforts by restaurant staff to provide a satisfying meal under trying conditions. There was the time at Crater Lake Lodge in Crater Lake National Park when the power went out and greatly limited the menu items that could be prepared for dinner. The staff at Grant Village in Yellowstone did a good job during the height of the covid pandemic to deliver satisfying meals in to-go boxes. And I've never forgotten the dinner at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge in Yosemite when I was told they were out of lamb chops but could substitute lamb tenderloin.
Where have you encountered your best meal in the National Park System? It can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And have any restaurants in your park travels been reliably consistent?
Comments
I am usually in total awe of the interior of National Park Lodge restaurants and I don't even remember the food. Incediibly thankfull for the CCC and other groups who deigned and did the work who beautiful natural materials.
My husband, our teenage daughter, and I were eating dinner at dusk next to the windows in the dining room at Yellowstone's Lake Hotel. The waiter heard us wishing our daughter Happy Birthday. Unbeknownst to us, he brought her a huge slice of chocolate cake with a candle on it and had other wait staff join him to sing Happy Birthday to her. She's 40 years old with a family of her own and considers it her most memorable birthday.
Yes - Lake Crescent Lodge and Paradise Lodge at Mt Rainier are excellent.
Many, many memorable U.S. national park dining experiences, but five immediately come to mind: 1. Several dinners at Jenny Lake Lodge in Grand Teton, 2. an amazing pork shank in the dining room at Grand Canyon Lodge (North Rim) with a view down into the Canyon, 3. several breakfasts at The Ahwahnee Dining Room in Yosemite, 4. wild game at the Mural Room in Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton, and 5. the first time I had ever eaten trout more than 50 years ago in the diniing room at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge in Yosemite. If we're including Canadian parks, the I'd add dinner in the Walter Wilcox Dining Room with a view of Moraine Lake and the Valley of Ten Peaks at Moraine Lake Lodge, Banff National Park. I agree with others: I really want to like the dining room at the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone, but it consistently runs from MEH to terriible!