Big Sur Inn - No!

Anne B. wrote:
| [.....]
|> waxed on about good, old, solid, American cooking and gently smoking
|> fireplaces. IT WAS ALL A DREAM! A figment of my imagination. There
|> really is no such place on earth.
|>
|> Nevertheless, there is a Ventana Inn and Nepenthe's. ;-)

I don't know about Ventana Inn, but I've been to Nepenthe's twice, the first time just for drinks and a view, the second time included dinner.

The view, the fireplace, the atmosphere, all very nice.  The food,
*very* disappointing.  The menu is quite limited.  My companion and I both opted for one of the evening's specials, grilled salmon. The chef obviously learned his presentation skills from Denny's. Imagine!  A generous portion of salmon fillet .... served with a little dish of tartar sauce and garnished with a raw (somewhat dry) carrot stick, and, get this, a slice of dill pickle!  I felt like I had ordered the kiddie plate or something.  The salad was a little bowl of green leaf lettuce - period.  No tomato, no nothing.  The blue cheese dressing was more like oil and vinager with a few little bits of blue cheese tossed in.  I get irritated when I think about how much it cost .... bleh.

On the other hand, the hot buttered rums were very good, and the view, as always, spectacular.  I would highly recommend the outdoor seating by the fire pit for drinks ... but I will never go there for dinner again.

Anyone else eaten dinner there?  Was it just a bad night or is this normal?

Missy

Missy I. wrote:
>Anne B. wrote:
>| [.....]
>|> waxed on about good, old, solid, American cooking and gently smoking
>|> fireplaces. IT WAS ALL A DREAM! A figment of my imagination. There
>|> really is no such place on earth.
>|>
>|> Nevertheless, there is a Ventana Inn and Nepenthe's. ;-)
>
>I don't know about Ventana Inn, but I've been to Nepenthe's twice,
>the first time just for drinks and a view, the second time included
>dinner.
>
>The view, the fireplace, the atmosphere, all very nice.  The food,
>*very* disappointing.  The menu is quite limited.  My companion and
>I both opted for one of the evening's specials, grilled salmon.
>The chef obviously learned his presentation skills from Denny's.
>Imagine!  A generous portion of salmon fillet .... served with a
>little dish of tartar sauce and garnished with a raw (somewhat dry)
>carrot stick, and, get this, a slice of dill pickle!  I felt like I
>had ordered the kiddie plate or something.  The salad was a little
>bowl of green leaf lettuce - period.  No tomato, no nothing.  The
>blue cheese dressing was more like oil and vinager with a few little
>bits of blue cheese tossed in.  I get irritated when I think about
>how much it cost .... bleh.
>
>On the other hand, the hot buttered rums were very good, and the view,
>as always, spectacular.  I would highly recommend the outdoor seating
>by the fire pit for drinks ... but I will never go there for dinner
>again.
>
>Anyone else eaten dinner there?  Was it just a bad night or is this
>normal?
>
>Missy

It is not a place to go for great food.  Their hamburgers and French dips are about as good as it gets and they are served only until 4 p.m.  Their french fries are great!  We like to go late afternoon on our camping trips and make a late lunch of FD/fries and salad (I think the salad with blue cheese is really good).  The place is beautiful and probably least crowded at that time.  If we get hungry later in the evening, we always have cheese and cracker sorts of stuff to keep us alive until breakfast at the Big Sur Inn (cheese omellett w/red onions and bacon), home fries and toast that is way out of this world.  With fireplaces burning, and great coffee.

JW