Dirty plates, dirty silverware, soapy water glasses, burnt noodles in Mac and cheese. Pretty bad experience for my wife’s birthday

We organized a girls' getaway weekend and were greatly rewarded by selecting an old favorite, The River Ranch, for dinner. The staff seated us at a window table where we had an incredible view of the roaring Truckee River in its spring melt glory. Stunning. Our server, Avery, was so helpful and kind. He's a wine buff and a foodie. He made sure every dish was delivered in a way that allowed us to enjoy a relaxing evening with friends. Superb, tasty solid choices. Chicken with garlic gravy was delicious. Double pork chop excellent as well. The Portobello mushroom dish was abundant and a good, healthy filling meal. All were happy.

The poor service tarnished the overall dining experience. We had to ask the hostess if we in fact had a server. It took another 10 minutes for our server to show up for a total of 20+ minutes before we were even acknowledged...not even given water. We constantly has to request water and remind our server that we requested water. Our appetizers and the individual plates we not cleared even though it was obvious that we were finished. We actually had to stack the plates and ask that they be removed. My second cocktail was made incorrectly and the warm spinach salad was COLD which was rectified but when the warm salad came out, it was extremely overdressed. At that point, I gave up and didn't bother to say anything or eat my salad.

While I understand that restaurants get busy and sometimes get unexpectedly slammed, a little acknowledgement to guests to let them know the server will be with them shortly goes a long way.

This cozy jem is perfect after a day on the mountain. They offer a great happy hour deal to sooth your ache muscles, and comfort food to fill your belly. At certain times of the year after the snow melt you can hear the river flow. Great place to meet friends, family or a loved one.

I always enjoy meals at River Ranch. They have good service and good food especially after a day on the slopes.

Everything about our experience was as you would hope or expect with regard to food, service, pricing, etc. The biggest issue (which has been the issue the past 3 times we have dined there) is the temperature of the restaurant -- it is freezing cold in the winter. Everyone at our table had their jackets on during the entire meal and there were other guests that had hats and jackets on!! Turn the heater on River Ranch!!

Love sitting by the river with a nice
glass of wine after a great day skiing
at Alpine Meadows. Staff is very helpful
and friendly. The kale salad was very fresh
and tasty, the restaurant is kid friendly.

Very good. Waiter just seemed very busy and couldn’t focus on the order

I love this place! Summer is great outdoor eating and winter dining is in front of beautiful fireplaces. Good food, good service and I love looking at the river rolling by

Nice variety of entree's to suit everyone's taste. Prompt courteous service.

I waited a long time to try this place. It has such beautiful views of the river and very romantic feel at the table we got by the window but the service is terrible. The hostess was very unprofessional made us wait extra for being early and sat people with no reservations while we sat and waited. Waiters seem very underexperienced..hungover..no class...our appetizer was very good..soup cold! And I actually enjoyed my pasta dinner although it was nothing like the description on the menu..luckily I asked about it before I ordered. Not sure if well be back soon as there are far better places close by with much better service.

Great as always!!

Excellent as always. We've been coming here every year for at least 15 years. The restaurant is walking distance from the condo we rent every year when we come to snow shoe. It's nice to be able to rely on a restaurant that has such desirable ambience and location. Since we come up during the week, we're usually able to get a table by the window, overlooking the rushing waters of the Truckee River. Just excellent...

We've had one great meal here 3 years ago, and one poor meal recently.

We were very happy to return and give River Ranch another try. This time we weren’t disappointed. The service was great, the atmosphere was elegant and rustic with tremendous views of the river. It was so cozy with the fireplace burning. The only reason I’m giving it a rating of 4 instead of a 5 is because the prime rib special was more like a pot roast, as it was served in a bowl with mashed potatoes and root vegetables. It was delicious, but not what you would expect for a prime rib dinner. It wasn’t medium rare but more like a medium well end cut.
The wine, bread and spinach salad were excellent. We also enjoyed the creme brûlée and coffee for dessert.
All in all. we enjoyed our anniversary dinner and will be back again very soon.

I have been coming to RR for over 30 years and have always enjoyed the food and ambiance. However, this was, by far, the worst experience ever. Our waitress was polite and friendly but clearly very busy. They were out of 3 of the 9 entrees. My salmon was overcooked (like beef jerky) and on top of rice that was more like oatmeal; and It was lukewarm at best. My son's elk was tough but he said it had good flavor. And my other son's hamburger and fries had a long hair across the plate. This is one of the first times in my life that I have sent a meal back to the kitchen. The manager came over to graciously apologize and removed it from the bill. They also comped us a dessert. Throughout the night, I overheard the manager apologizing to other tables. Clearly it was either a bad night or they are working through some issues.

When for New Year’s Eve and almost cancelled after reading the yelp reviews but I’m glad I didn’t. The food was fantastic and the service was great. Plus we were seated by the window with a lovely view of the nearby creek. It was a nice quiet NYE and they even let us move to their cozy fireplace for the countdown! Tahoe has a lot of fancy restaurants and big money and i think the bad reviews were written by people who’d prefer 5-star restaurants at the nice resorts. This wasn’t a 5-star restaurant, but it was just right :)

Avoid coming here for New Years Eve - not the regular menu but instead an overpriced pre fixe. Service was terrible - even by Tahoe standards. Food took forever to come and waiter literally no where to be found most of the evening.

Food was horrible. Two entrees were sent back and removed from the bill. Descriptions on the menu were not indicative of what arrived. Worse yet, we overheard a server explaining that “the asterisk on the menu indicates an item is gluten free...but I don’t think that one really is.”

It took an hour just to get our soup which was Luke warm. The server had many large parties and couldn’t handle it. We were a party of 2 and were not the priority. Also it was very loud as they were dragging chairs back and forth in the very narrow space we were in. Finally the prawns I ordered were cold which is very dangerous.

It’s been ok before, but about last night... Worst meal ever in Tahoe region - everything was late, burned, and/or undercooked. Server seemed completely overwhelmed though she tried... they forgave cost of one entree and glass of wine but didn’t nearly make up for the disaster. Then to add insult to injury they told Open Table we were a no-show. Sorry but we did check in - 5 minutes early.

Unfortunate dining experience. We arrived early for our 7PM reservation and were seated right away. We brought our own wine which was fortunate because that's all we had as well as water for over 45 mins. When the salad finally came. two of the four that were ordered were missing dressing. Two of our party ordered the elk, it arrived raw and was sent back. When it came back one of the elk orders was missing most of the meat. The server seemed annoyed that we were asking what happened to the rest of the order. 45 mins. after ordering another of our party was informed that his pork chop order would have to be changed. The roasted vegetables were uneditable and we told our server and the hostess. They were never replaced and our server said that the chef was basically having a really busy night and she wasn't going to bother him about it until later. The entire staff seemed stressed and hurried even though there were empty tables in the dining area during the time we were there. The tavern food looked better than the regular entrees.

We went here for Christmas dinner. We were seated immediately. The prime sirloin dinner was fantastic. Generous portions. The soups were VERY tasty. We ordered four desserts, all delicious. The service was a ten. The manager even came by. Absolutely nothing negative. There was even parking available. My teens totally enjoyed your holiday dinner. Would definitely return.

River Ranch is both a comfortable bar setting with lots of people and action, with good drinks, and bar food. The waitresses are terrific and attentive in this busy environment. Most of all however, River Ranch is also an elegant restaurant, with wonderful service and amazing food. The wine list is extensive. The food is fresh and perfectly prepared. After more than 25 years coming here, it remains a wonderful place to spend time with friends for apres de ski, or the most special occasions.

Poor service.

Went here for a brunch on Christmas. Sat at a beautiful table overlooking the Truckee River. Food was excellent. We will be back

Absolutely a fantastic location right on the river and the building has so much old Tahoe Charm and character. The selection on the menu is quite vast. I would say some dishes are really good and others not so much. Just the burger is excellent. The employees are very nice and helpful. Food came out timely. We like to sit in the main area so we can watch the river go by. Just the location is a 10 as we plan to go back a lot.

The steak and side vegetables were so salty that I couldn't eat them. The server did take that meal off the tab.

Some food was quite tasty like creme brûlée, chocolate mousse, crab bisque. Some like the hamburger and fish and chips was more average.

We were at River Ranch for Thanksgiving dinner last night. We have been there many times and have always enjoyed it. Last night was different. Our reservations were for 7:15 pm. Our evening started by waiting in a line by the hostess stand and being completely ignored for a good while. We had to wait over an hour to be seated. After we were finally seated, we sat there with no greeting and no water for another 20 minutes. We ordered the classic turkey dinner. They finally gave us some bread and water. When the soup arrived it was cold, the salad had raw pumpkin on it (like you just cleaned out your Halloween pumpkin and cubed it). The dinner was disappointing because there were no slices of turkey , just some chopped up remnants of turkey. Oh and no cranberry sauce either. The sautéed vegetables were mainly onions and some raw carrots and the dreaded raw pumpkin again. They were stingy with the gravy too! And we finally got our food at 9:20 more than 2 hours after we arrived! Oh I forgot to mention that they dropped off our food but we had no silverware and had to get up from the table to find someone to bring it. We were never asked how our dinners were. Basically we were abandoned for most of the night. Our desserts came and the pumpkin pie was good but my husband’s apple pie came in a heap with a doughy consistency and few apples in it. We finally finished at around 10:30 and were literally one of the last few tables left. I’m sorry to say that it was truly a terrible experience for our Thanksgiving dinner! We have enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner many times at River Ranch in the past, so we were taken by surprise by this disaster of a night!!

Food was great and the staff worked so hard but with a new computerized system and a dining room manager who decided to not work our Thsnksgiving night meal was not great. Food- very good but service was eternally slow. Had 6:45 reservation. Seated at 7:15. Waiter stopped by around 7:45 and finally got our delicious dinner after 8:15. The table next to us left...after ordering, but before food arrived. Hostess was amazing. Our waiter was MIA. Food great. Hopefully they will get the kinks out. Kudos to those who stayed through Thanksgiving night service.

We had a 515pm reservation. We waited over an hr to get seated Bartender was rude so waiting at bar wasn’t fun. I had to ask hostess for water for my son, because bartender wouldn’t help me. He told me he didn’t have glasses, though he kept pouring drinks for other people in what would be a water glass. Once we finally got to our table we had to ask for menus, water and bread. We got our food at approximately 730pm. We were starving. Instead of having an enjoyable dinner, we ate fast and left as soon as possible. Our waiter was nice, over-worked, he had too many tables to handle, he could’ve used at least a buss boy to help with water and bread. We won’t recommend this restaurant to our friends in the Tahoe area.

Our family of 6 attends Thanksgiving at River Ranch every year. It's a tradition. We've learned to make reservations early and arrive a little in advance. This year was horrible- By 5pm, they were backed up. The GM called in sick. Wait staff called in sick. They told us that we "might" get a table but we would just have to wait. Our party ranged in age from 8 yrs to 81 yrs, and we all arrived hungry.

After mush runaround and frustration, we were seated after and hour. Then came the service- although our waitress was nice, we hardly saw her. When 5 out of 6 plates were served, the waitress didn't seem to notice but was bringing waters to other tables. One of our party went to ask for the final plate after 10 minutes and they weren't even aware it was on the order.

Management needs to step up, not out, on Thanksgiving. And they should have a backup plan.

#Disappointed

Went here five years ago for thanksgiving and it was amazing, something changed because this year was not as nice. Had to wait an hour passed our reservation time just to get seated.

We went for thanks given dinner but I wish it was like a buffet style paying that much ,for a plate no crumberry souce the pie was too cold not room temp but their other food is great but not the thanks given dinner though over alll is ok but their other food is great Good service .

Fantastic meal. Katie (sp?) was fantastic, very attentive, great service, wonderful food.

Excellent food, ambience, and service. The river view at dusk was beautiful.

Have eaten here many times and always love the ambience. Our server was exceptional....friendly and prompt. The food was very good, notably our dessert: a berry shortcake with whipped cream, and blueberries baked into the pastry.

quiet, great service and ambiance; we've been there many times and it is always a good experience

One of my favorites in Truckee/Tahoe area. Love the view!