Best Restaurants with a Happy Hour in Carnelian Bay

Holiday meal in a winter wonderland. Everyone at restaurant worked extra hard to provide plenty of holiday cheer. The special Christmas menu offered something for most food choices. Few nice places to dine after a long drive up to Tahoe today. Thankfully River Ranch was open. Will go out of my way to support them on low season weekdays.

Gar Woods was beautifully decorated for Christmas. We sat at a window overlooking the lake with a beautiful Christmas tree nearby. Our food was delicious and we had very good cocktails with a large list to choose from. They have a very good food menu to choose from-from burgers and sandwiches to prime rib and fish. Our server was very sweet and kind but she must have had a lot of tables because we waited long stretches to get her attention to get more drinks and dessert. But it was Christmas and the place was packed. We will definitely go back again.

The food was excellent! The service was on the slower side, but it was Christmas eve and it was busy. It was very festive. Big Water is a great restaurant .

We had a terrific meal in a refined, cozy, and quiet dining room. There was a fire in the central fireplace, a view over the snow covered golf course, and the food was excellent. 2 of us shared a starter of grilled octopus, my wife had beef stroganoff, and I had prime rib, accompanied by a Nero d’Avola from Sicily. Although the room was nearly full, it was pleasantly quiet which was relaxing and made it easy to talk Our server, Michael, is outstanding! He is pleasant, attentive, and very knowledgeable about both the food and the wine list. He has taken care of us before and always makes dinner at the Lodge a great experience.

It was an okay dining experience last night. We typically love our evenings at the sawyer, but our server last night was a little spacey and honestly non-attentive… we are not used to experiencing this at the Sawyer.