Donna_M

Does anyone have recommendations for restaurants near Old Faithful Inn? I just called for reservations for July and because we are a party of 9 ( 2 families ), we could only get 9 pm ( and that was for 2 tables - 1 for 4 and 1 for 6 ). We could get Lake Yellowstone but that seems too far to drive after driving all day. How is the Old Faithful Snow Lodge restaurant or Grant Village? Thank you!!

AlJ

We ate at the Snow Lodge and I thought it was fine. It isn't as cool looking as OFI but the food was good. Old Faithful Lodge has a cafeteria which was OK if you can't make anything else work out.

Check again for reservations later. Maybe cancellations will happen.

In my opinion, Lake is way too far.

I don't know anything about Grant Village.

We had our 30th anniversary dinner at the Old Faithful Inn. We did have to wait until 8:00PM. I decided it was just so I could keep sightseeing a little longer.

Donna

If I remember correctly the Snow Lodge is just a fast food hamburger, chicken finger kind of place. If you go to http://www.travelyellowstone.com and look under dining you will be able to see your options. Also, don't give up on getting a time you want. You can check with them as often as you like - people cancel and you may get a better time. Good luck-

AlJ

The snow lodge has the Obsidian Dining Room. Dinner was fine. I think there is a grill there too.

Donna_M

You guys are quick!! 5 of our group are kids so we don't want to eat too late. Frankly, I don't know how great any of the restaurants are in the parks but we'd like it to be decent.

wtm003

We also ate at the Obsidian Dining Room at the OF Snow Lodge and our meals were good.

There is also a General Store next to the OFI that has a grill with counter service. It could be a good option for the kids.

The cafeteria at the lodge is just okay. I'd rather have a sandwich from my cooler. I do recommend having a cooler with lunch meat, fruit and snacks, especially when traveling with children.

sylvia3

Obsidian is ok, but I really like the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, if you want to drive there; it's not really that far at all, in my opinion. The views are lovely, ambiance and prices are nice, food is good!

wbmike

We did Yellowston last July. No matter where you eat in the Park restaurants, the food is only passable at best. We ate in the restuarants at the Old Faithful Inn, the Snow Lodge and at Lake Yellowstone. They are all the same except for ambience. Why not plan your day so that you end up near the Lake Yellowstone Hotel near dinner time. The drive back to Old Faithful should take you no more than a half hour. Trust me, nobody dresses for dinner. People come in right off the trail in hiking boots and shorts wherever you go.

polly229

Remember that it's all Xantera, so it won't be gourmet. (Or worth what you pay for it, most likely, just like the hotel rooms.) It's that old location, location, location thing.

We ate dinners in the restaurants at Mammoth, Old Faithful Inn, and Old Faithful Lodge, lunch at Lake Yellowstone 3 or 4 years ago. All of them were better than any of the cafeterias. Now that I think of it, I believe the lunch we had one day at Roosevelt was table service, too. Hard to judge dinners from eating lunch, though I think the Roosevelt dinner menu looked a little meat-and-potatoes for me. But of the 3 where we ate dinner, my favorite meal (and menu) was at the Lodge, followed by the Inn, and Mammoth was a distant 3rd. (Lodge, though new, is quite charming. Think of it as history in the making.) Found lunches at Roosevelt and Yellowstone Lake to be okay, not great. Cafeteria in the Inn was pretty grim, as was the one at Grant. Can't recall a Nat'l Park cafeteria that wasn't, now that I think of it.

No matter what you eat, or where, the rest of the experience was amazing and wonderful. We spent 6 1/2 days in the park and if we were going to do a rerun of a National Park (and we might), Yellowstone is the first one we'd go back to.

AlJ

If you go to National Parks for the resorts and the food, you might be in the wrong place. We didn't go hungry by any means. Learned that surf and turf out there is Elk and Trout.

I mentioned earlier that we liked the restaurant at the Snow Lodge. What I didn't mention is to NOT order the Shrimp Etoufee. Especially if you know what it should taste like. It was done in a white cream sauce. Probably done well but not what I expected. On the other hand, I wouldn't order Elk in Louisiana either.

bmillersc

Why don't the kids eat earlier at the Snow Lodge grill, and the adults eat later to soak the atmosphere in the OFI?

cd

Donna
I suggest you take the reservation at Old Faithful Inn and keep calling checking for earlier cancellations. I could almost guarantee there will some. Another suggestion would be to take a bottle of wine and snacks to the second floor deck where there are tables you can sit at and have drinks watching Old Faithful while you wait for your table.

I agree with the above posters who do not like any of the cafeteria's. We found them expensive and not good.

Celiaanne

I agree with AlJ and Polly. Although the parks themseleves are wonderful and well worth visiting, don't go for food and lodging of any quality.

The food is so-so and very expensive. The lodging, particularly the OFI, is sub-standard and dirty. Although I didn't stay in any of the "cabin" type accommodations, they are down right frightenting looking to me.

I think the whole set-up with Xanterra is a DISGRACE. They have a monopoly and take advantage of it. Our NPs should be a showcase of American not an embarassment.

Sorry about the rant...

wtm003

I stayed in one of the newer wings of the Old Faithful Inn and in no way did I find it "sub-standard and dirty." I think the OFI is absolutely charming and interesting from a historical viewpoint. I love that people gather in the common area to play games with their families, enjoy a cocktail and listen to music.

Some of the cabins, particularly the ones at Canyon, did look frightening, but at $60/night, I might take a chance.

polly229

I've never found a NPS hotel (or cabin) to be dirty, just well-worn-looking and basic. (To be fair, have never stayed at any of the most expensive NPS lodging like the $300-$400 place in Yosemite Valley, just the moderate-priced ones.) For the same price you can get much nicer accomodations many other places, though the more desirable the destination, the more an equivalent room will cost, whether public or private. I can understand it to some extent because many of the NPS facilities have a fairly short season and have to make it in just a few months. Even Yellowstone, while at least one lodge is open all year, is only operating at peak capacity about half the year. Some places have only a 3 or 4 mo. season. Also, I'm sure Xantera and the other concessionaires pay a fairly substantial fee to NPS, so some of the higher cost is going toward keeping the [woefully under-financed] parks going. And the accomodations that operate all year and seem just as expensive, may be subsidizing the short-season parks. (Or maybe it's just as it seems, they charge that much because they can get it.)

All the other cabins I saw, other than the ones we stayed in at Old Faithful, looked pretty uninviting and barren. However, the Old Faithful cabins, though small (the bathroom door hit the bed and wouldn't open even 90 degrees), were nicely located in a wooded area. A couple of times when I walked up to see Old Faithful go off, I sensed I wasn't alone, looked behind me and found I was being accompanied by a "yellow dog". (Who apparently knew as well as the rangers when the geyser was going off and that there would be plenty of people around to cage a handout from. It was interesting to see that she knew when to go but unfortunate that she had been fed and habituated.) There were deer at the edges of the cabin area (probably sometimes grazing beside the cabins) and the first morning there was a bison grazing behind the cabin across from me. In fact, that summer prior to our visit, there had been two incidents of park concession employees, who live in a dorm near the cabins, having encounters when they bumped into bison in the dark and the bison took offense. (Words like "pushing" and "leaning", luckily not "goring" were used in the press releases, but I gather if a bison pushes you up against a tree and leans on you, you could wind up in the hospital. A good reason to get a cabin with a bath and not have to trek to the communal facilities in the night, I think. And I was sure to take a flashlight when I went anywhere at night.) The wildlife encounters outside your door are a bonus for most people.

As much as I complain when I walk into a NPS room and take a look at what I'm paying through the nose for, I do understand it.

Celiaanne

The room we had at the OFI was VERY dirty. Dust/dirt in the "carpeted" bedroom and dull grey soap scum in the sink and tub that could be scraped off! Honest!

The public areas are very nice, interesting, historical, etc., and it is a unique place to stay. I just wish they would clean it.

starrsville

Dirty rooms @ Old Faithful Inn?

DEFINITELY not my experience. We were in a room overlooking Old Faithful and it was as nice (albeit with more rustic style furnishing) as any hotel room or inn we've stayed in.

I agree with continuing to try to get an early time in the dining room. But, you also have the cafeteria as an option. We also enjoyed breakfast and lunch at the General Store next door.

sharondi

FYI - last fall, we stayed several nights each in OFI Snow Lodge, Mammoth Hot Springs cabin w/hottub, and Canyon in a $60/night cabin (all we could get). Snow Lodge room was very new, very nice, and the location can't be beat. We dined at Obsidian each night and breakfast once - all were just fine. Certainly nothing special but decent.
Our cabin in Mammoth was great! They are dated but we loved that! Nice sized room, old bathroom but clean and everything worked well. We had a very private patio w/hottub - it was awesome! The dining in Mammoth was very good!
We liked the Canyon area the least - too many people for us. The dining was the worst but we managed just fine. The funky old cabins were rustic but clean and very functional. The best part was hearing bugling elk and howling wolves throughout the night. The ambiance rivaled any luxury hotel!
With all the horrible reviews we read before our trip to YNP, we expected the food and lodging to be pretty bad. On the contrary, we were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it all.

wtm003

Sharondi, thanks for the info on the cabins at Canyon. I will consider staying at one next time. You can't beat that price.

It is interesting that Canyon was your least favorite because of the crowds. When we stayed at Canyon there were no crowds. It was late July and it felt like we had the area to ourselves so we loved the location. I guess we were lucky! We only ate at the restaurant at Canyon once - very mediocre. The rest of the time we went to a nearby picnic area and cooked on our campstove.

Donna_M

You guys are great! I usually don't even have to ask my questions. I just surf the previous posts! Anyhoo, wbmike mentions the ride back to OFI from Lake Yellowstone Hotel as being a half hour. I have a park map from a friend which gives the distance at 38 miles and time of 1 hr 45 minutes. Does anyone know how long the drive is?