The Sur House

Beautiful view as expected. Food was good, not great. Lots of construction going on. Also wanted to see a bit of the resort for future vacations but could only see the one restaurant. A nice lunch but had higher expectations.

Underwhelmed...The food was just okay and the ambiance was not as pretty as I expected. It was pricey and not worth it.

Horrible service at this restaurant. The outdoor bartender was incredibly rude. We sat in front of her for 20 minutes and received no greeting, no”I’ll be with you in one minute.” Only after we finally attempted to order one glass of wine and a coke did she acknowledge us -rudely - by telling us she needed to get some drinks out before getting to us. That never happened. Once seated, waiters never return to check on you. If you want something you have to track them down. The food was not nearly what it should be (ordered cioppino and the clams had not yet opened: a sure sign they weren’t cooked properly and shouldn’t be eaten.) The only saving grace for this place is the view, but the view isn’t worth the horrid and rude service. It wasn’t that crowded and there was plenty of staff on hand, so that wasn’t the issue. Save yourself the trouble and go elsewhere. I’m not a person to ever write a bad review, but this place more than deserves it. Management needs to pay attention and make some changes.

Beautiful Location, Excellent Service, Menu could be more broad...

Overall it was nice, good staff and service, the views and location are stunning.
Food was good but not amazing and was very slow to come out of the kitchen .

World class view. Elegantly casual atmosphere. Excellent meal, outstanding service.

Best view of any restaurant I’ve been to. Food was equally as good. Highly recommend.

Amazing views, beautiful atmosphere, delicious food and drinks!

Beautiful location, wonderful, creative food. Excellent service. If you want a window view book the earliest seating.

I was enchanted by the view and elegant patio decor, and wanted to fall in love. Our service was not as consistent as I'd hoped from such a high-end dining experience. Our appetizers arrived within minutes of ordering, but we waited quite a while (half hour, 45 minutes?) for the mains. Our server was polite but didn't seem to know what course we were on or if we were staying at the hotel (though the hostess had already asked). We were not planning to drink much, but it felt as though there were an expectation to add onto the meal or order more--our server phrased it more as a statement than a question. I had hoped for service with attention to detail and earnest hospitality.

Our food was, on the whole, lovely. We enjoyed the focus on local, seasonal flavors. The squab and tagliatelle nero were two favorites. A few dishes were oversalted and the butter for the bread was shockingly sour from the addition of something pickled.

We enjoyed ourselves and had a nice evening, but left feeling that the experience wasn't commensurate with the price to dine there.

Vacation travels thru Big Sur

The menu and the food or not very exciting

Great food but inattentive service particularly at the bar. Pricey as you would expect for such a dynamic setting.

We had dinner here sitting out side, the view was beautiful. Service was very attentive and friendly. We couldn’t enjoy our food, it’s not just overpriced but quality of the food was underwhelmed. Some kind of spices were all the dishes, taste everything same dishes.

A must when you travel to Big Sur. The food, the ambience, and the incredible vistas all make for a perfect lunch.

4 friends on cycling trip from Monterey to San Luis Obispo. Great food, wine and service and the setting is incomparable

Had dinner here for my wife’s bday which was not acknowledged. Screaming kids running around. Food was so average or below with the exception of the mussels which were excellent t. Couldn’t find a dessert we were interested in and had a difficult time understanding our server. Big disappointment

Went to dinner but no one mentioned the wedding going on at the same time. Was an expensive waste of money and time. Awful experience!

Our idyllic evening at Ventana was flawed by the inflexible attitude of the hostess. We had a reservation for a table for four, overlooking the ocean. My husband and I arrived a little ahead of time and checked in, but the hostess declined to seat us until our guests arrived. As they were new to the property it took them longer than expected to walk over from the inn. Meanwhile the hostess was seating other parties of two or four at the prime view tables.

I asked again if we could be seated and she refused. Her logic was that even though she was seating other parties of two, if she seated us and we waited for our guests, we might take too long to order! Her logic escapes me! Our guests arrived shortly thereafter, and we were seated at last!

Our server was very professional and helpful, and our meal was delicious. We all loved our entrees. Our guests however, felt very badly about being a few minutes late and causing such an awkward situation with the hostess.

We've been staying at Ventana and dining at the restaurant nearly annually for over 30 years, and this was by far the most capricious and inflexible staff member we've encountered. We hope you will better train future staff members.

Beautiful view. Nice outdoor bar. Warning, while children aren’t allowed in the resort, they are allowed at the restaurant.

This restaurant’s answer to the triad of ‘Location-Food-Service, pick two’ is answered by making Food and Service both mediocre. The location and view is so over-the-top that they can afford to serve dried-out branzino for $72, offer just decent wine at $140, and offer zero acknowledgement of a milestone birthday (despite mentioning it in writing and verbally in advance and with the host). That last one is a proposition we have, by its nature, tested only a few times, but didn’t expect the failure to come at a luxury resort at a dinner of multiple hundreds of dollars. Disappointing.
Oh, but the view is magical.

Beautiful view from outside deck

The architecture does not reveal the natural beauty of Big Sur which could be seen from this hilltop location. Tear it down and try again.

The location and service was great for dinner. The menu was overpriced and for the money, there are significantly better restaurants in the area. We also had breakfast there in the morning. The food was better, but it's hard to mess up scrambled eggs. While we sat outside and had a great view for the meal, the service was terrible. My wife asked for milk with her coffee that required asking several servers and by the time it arrived, her coffee was cold. Many of the patrons left the scenic view and fled indoors as they were harassed by bees swarming their food.

Nice view from the rooftop. But the bees like our food too and keep come to bother us, which is a bit annoying. Service is good but they could have hired a more friendly greeter for the price customers pay. Nice entree and bread, desert. Ok food for 1st and 2nd course.

Great food. Cocktails — meh. Were very strong. Pristine views.

Chicken dried out and could barely cut it with a knife.

Service was exceedingly nice and our food was spectacular.

The Sur House is great for special occasions. We were celebrating our wedding anniversary and the waiter brought us a lovely complimentary cream brûlée for dessert. Unfortunately there were a couple of pesky flies at our table. The appetizer was completely over priced, (deviled eggs) but our main course was very good.

This may be the best view from a restaurant in Big Sur. The food and service is also very good, although I only award 4 stars for food, and it is expensive. But the cost should not matter, the setting is to die for. You may not be able to afford to lodge here, but the hoi polloi can afford to eat and drink here. Let the uninformed tourists pile into nearby Nepenthe while you treat yourself like royalty.

Outstanding in every way. Great food, great service and OMG the view. And, so much better than Post Ranch.

I came here once before and had a spectacular time. But this time the service was absolutely awful. So many servers came to our table asking us the same thing over again. One waiter even forgot our drink order and someone else had to come back for it. I had to ask for my place setting after the food arrived. The tables were sticky and some (mine) had no centerpiece amd were not set.

Amazing views and great food. A must when visiting Big Sur!

Everything in Big Sur is expensive, but the prices here were actually reasonable, given the priceless views from the outdoor patio. Food quality was top-notch, even for basic lunch sandwiches and salads.

Great place and I love the way that everyone there values all the customers. I love this place!

I've never enjoyed a meal in a more jaw droppingly gorgeous location; OpenTable needs a 6th star for Ambience for our outdoor table overlooking sunset along the Big Sur coastline! On top of that, the service was perfect, and our meals were outstanding. It's not often that a place at this price point feels worth the expense, but in this case the location is worth the up charge. Scallops crudo, grilled octopus, seared salmon, and an amazing vegetarian pasta dish were all so delicious that we asked our server to surprise us with his favorite dessert. He did, bringing us an item not on the menu: creme brulee made with local lavender & honey...can't explain how tasty this was (and I normally don't prefer creme brulee) Such a special place, and we definitely hope to be back one day!

Everything was great! The view, the setting, the food the service.

Much more enjoyable ambiance, and better food than Post Ranch Inn.

Average service..
Didn’t have enough blankets yet that were seating outside. Didn’t get water both meals until 20 minutes after we sat. Communication was poor from the front desk.. We stated we were there for our anniversary when they asked is there any special occasions. Nothing was ever addressed about our anniversary even though they asked at the front desk and over the phone. Overall I think Ventana is very nice but Sur House expects the business no matter what. Also the menu is very limited. Also supplies are limited as they ran out of items both nights we were there. Thanks

Beautiful restaurant, fantastic service by Leonis, excellent food. With family for a summer vacation dinner. Food was served in a timely manner and the choices were very good. Food was well prepared and looked lovely. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves even with someone’s unruly 4 year old running around almost tripping servers. Oblivious parents and nimble and patient waitstaff.