Sluggo

The view from the El Tovar Hotel dining room is supposed to be great, but what is the menu like? We have fairly plain tastes (beef, chicken, etc). How far in advance would you reserve a table? Thank you.

Mindreader...not

In which city might this hotel be located???

CMcDaniel

Sluggo...my first reaction to your note was "really?"...regarding the great view. Unless you eat quite early, it will be dark, so view won't be of any consequence. Though that's where we had our one "nice" meal, I honestly have no idea what the view was like. As our reservations were for around 8, it was pitch black, and needless to say, gt;, the Canyon isn't lit. I made our reservations about a month out when we booked the rooms (Bright Angel), but they were wide open at that time. We tried to do a walk-in the year before that, but would have had an hour's wait.

Food was fairly simply prepared, and the restaurant surprisingly pretty, considering it's Grand Canyon location (I guess I was expecting "rugged" everywhere gt;) I wouldn't rave about the food quality, it was OK, not spectacular, but we enjoyed our evening there and are glad we made the effort to get in this time.

Sluggo

Sorry, Mindreader. Thought I was only posting on the AZ board. (It's a well known hotel on the S Rim on the Grand Canyon.)
CMcDaniel, we are going in early May (staying at Bright Angel) and would be eating earlier than 8 and reserve for some time around sunset. Sounds like menu would be fine and that I can wait awhile to reserve space. Thanks for your help.

Karen

As I remember there is no view from the dining room, but there is from the bar area. You will not find any problem with the food, plenty of selections and it is not gourmet.

Neal Sanders

Sluggo, we ate there last April and were extremely disappointed. If you want plain food, you'll be hard pressed to find it, as the menu struggles to be "inventive" with things like salmon in a chipolte sauce. The Arizona Steak House (adjacent to Bright Angel) has much better food -- steaks, chicken, ribs -- but takes no reservations.

Karen is incorrect about the view -- there are parts of the dining room that have a ringside seat to the canyon, though these seats fill early. CMcDaniel is on the money in noting that if your reservation is for an evening hour, you'll see nothing of the canyon.

As to reservations, we made ours a month in advance (for a Saturday night) but observed that we could have gotten the same table as a walk-in.

Dave

We had dinner at El Tovar 3 times. It was memorable for the best appetizers I ever had. We were there in early June. I would suggest calling a few days before if you want a reservation at a particular time.