Cascade Dining Room 27500 West Leg Road Timberline Lodge, Government Camp, OR 97028

"I feel it is my civic duty to write this review. What. The. Hell. We reserved the chef’s table after seeing the menu. This was the last week of October. The menu at that time looked interesting, a little more intriguing than the regular dining room menu. So we reserved a spot (non-refundable, btw. This will be more relevant in a moment.) We stayed the weekend of Nov 3rd - 5th, a relaxing birthday getaway for me, courtesy of my amazing boyfriend. So we arrived and settled in. We went up to the Ram’s Head for a drink, which is a great place to have a cocktail btw. 4.5 stars for that experience due to the atmosphere alone. As we were relaxing after our drive, we decided to see if the chef’s table menu had been updated for the new month. To our horror, it had been. The new menu was actually shocking to us both. Completely unseasonal and so… random. It looked to lean vegetarian, which is not what we signed up for at all. We tried to remain optimistic and hoped that the silken terrine was not a terrine of silken tofu but would have at least some sort of meat component. This was honestly the only dish I had any hope for. It was the worst one. There was one other couple suffering through this experience. When the tofu terrine came out the woman next to me took one bite and got up. She was gone for about 5 minutes. I should have joined her. I cannot describe how badly the flavors of this particular dish clashed with one another in what was maybe one of the worst things I have ever eaten. Everything else was almost as bad, except for the muffuletta with salmon mortadella. It was a bit chunky, but the flavor was good. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of this one. Once the “faux gras” came out looking like whipped oatmeal and not tasting much better, we started documenting. It got worse from there. I feel like we were being trolled. This guy was so confident when he would come out and describe his “artistry”. The cannoli was when I really started to lose all hope. A “savory” cannoli filled with apple risotto? Just so very strange and unappetizing. Edible? But not enjoyable. The “gazpacho” tasted like puréed Granny Smith apples topped with frozen corn. The sashimi cube was what really upset me when we viewed the menu ahead of time. I dreaded this. This is what made me lose all hope and want to cancel. We could not. Now I like sushi. I love raw meat in general when done well. But this was just a baffling main course, especially for a late fall menu. I had hope for the dessert, despite being put off by the idea of peanuts and citrus in the same dish. Cheesecake is good, right? The peanut flavor was so overpowering that I ended up being glad it was mostly separate from the edible parts of the dish. I ate the yuzu curd, but the rest of my plate was mostly untouched. Peanuts and citrus is an abomination. In the end, the chef came out for what I think was supposed to be an ego stroking on how great the meal was. We didn’t really engage because… yeah. The other couple did ask some questions and everything was made clear to us. One particular highlight was the chef mentioning that he sees food as a math problem. He uses a grid to match flavors together? I was half listening at this point until he said something that caught my ear. He apparently puts these menus together with such confidence that he doesn’t even taste the dishes he concocts. He believes he has such an understanding of what flavors go together that he just puts it all out there with no testing, nothing. I feel like a lab rat. My stomach was unsettled for hours after this meal. I’ve been to many tasting menus. Some with 10, even 15 courses and felt great if only a bit full afterwards. This was just so bad on almost every level. The severs were nice, and so was the wine. After the meal the other couple approached us, and I am glad they did because I think we all needed a sanity check. They wanted to know what we thought. I was truthful. They agreed. We should have had a drink with them. This felt like a very expensive fever dream. Wow."

"I was with a group for a summer tour of the lodge and we had the buffet lunch. I thought the food was just passable for the price ($32), although heard many other members of the group saying it was great. The lodge's historical ambiance and priceless views of the Cascades and Mt Jefferson from the windowside tables more than compensated for my slight disappointment with the food, so I'd do it again!"

"Portions aren't big but the food is FANTASTIC and the service was phenomenal. They ask about dietary restrictions up front and make helpful tips. Highly recommend making reservations which we failed to do. But staying the night at Timberline Lodge, we called down and got added to the walk in list and got a text when the table was ready. Market selection appetizer was an especially great hit. Beautiful views at sunset too."

"My wife and I made a reservation to eat at the the Cascade Dining at Timberline Lodge. Arriving there everything seem great. The view from the hotel/restaurant is outstanding. The buffet didn't have many options but we were already aware of it as we checked the menu before. But the food was just okay. And to make it worse, after some time they stop restocking the buffet, even if it is still within the time of lunch. They said they were already getting prepared for dinner. This was quite disappointing. We paid full price of the buffet, but dessert was not fully available. In summary, I would not recommend this restaurant. For the view, you can visit the hotel and even get a drink from one of their bars, but I wouldn't spend my money and time in the restaurant."