17 Best Restaurants in The Sierra Nevada, California

The lake is one of the most spectacular spots in the Eastern Sierra, and the food at this hotel restaurant lives up to the view. From pan-seared local trout and beef Wellington to rack of lamb and Long Island duck, the menu is refined, and there's an award-winning wine list to match. The woodsy room has a vaulted knotty-pine ceiling and a copper-chimney fireplace. Although the main restaurant only serves dinner, you can grab breakfast or lunch at the hotel's casual Aspen Grill and sit at a table outdoors under the white-barked aspens. 

Locals pack this family-friendly, industrial-chic restaurant to socialize and savor small-lot beers, crafted on-site, along with tasty meals. The creative pub fare runs a wide gamut, from thin-crust brick-oven pizzas to fish tacos, fish-and-chips, and vegan black-bean burgers.

Warm up by a crackling fire in the stone fireplace while fueling up on healthy, made-from-scratch breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes at this ski-lodge-style eatery. The flexible menu allows for lots of choice, including a DIY breakfast with more than 20 mix-and-match items, five types of hash, keto selections, grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, burgers, and soups. Come for bingo on the third Tuesday of every month.

The extensive breakfast and lunch menus at this eatery just off the main drag include many vegetarian items. Sandwiches are served on homemade bread; choose from up to six varieties baked fresh daily, and get a homemade pie, cake, or loaf to go. Morning hikers can grab-and-go as early as 5 am. 

Come hungry to this bustling restaurant, which is known, appropriately enough, for its burgers as well as its mountainous portions. Grab a table on the diner-esque ground floor, or head upstairs to the modern dining room with a full bar. At lunch try the sourdough patty melt, at dinner the pork ribs; salads are great all day. The seasoned French fries are delicious.

Centrally located Charles Street, its rustic decor heavy on the wood and Old West adornments, at once evokes both the gold-rush days and the 1980s, which is when it opened. The extensive straightforward menu includes hand-cut steaks, honey-barbecue baby back ribs, several pasta dishes, chicken, pork loin, lamb, a few well-adorned burgers, and some vegetarian options.

With elaborate chandeliers sculpted from deer antlers, the lodge-style restaurant at Ducey's attracts boaters, locals, and tourists with its lake views and standard lamb, beef, seafood, and pasta dishes. It's also open for breakfast: try the lobster-crab cake eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros, or the Rice Krispies–crusted French toast.

The view's the draw at this roadhouse that overlooks the Kaweah River as it plunges out of the high country. The Gateway serves everything from osso buco and steaks to shrimp in Thai chili sauce; dinner reservations are essential on summer weekends.

Stop at this small, old-world-style community bakery for fresh and healthy salads, soups, sandwiches (made all day), bagels, artisan breads, cookies, pies, and pastries. Savor your goodies indoors and listen to local banter (it's a favorite gathering spot), or take them along to eat at a picnic spot while adventuring nearby.

Open for three meals a day, this small restaurant next to the Dow Villa Motel is a convenient place to stop for a break while driving along Highway 395. The extensive menu includes everything from omelets and French toast for breakfast to sandwiches and burgers for lunch to grilled steaks and fish for dinner.

Brewing since 1995, this Village operation lures hungry patrons with 14 craft beers on tap, elevated grub from the on-site restaurant, tasting flights, a contemporary vibe at two spacious bar areas, and a beer garden. The dining menu changes constantly, but reflects a locals' twist on pub food with pork belly tacos, black-currant-and-goat-cheese flatbread, or house-made sweet-potato tots. The burgers, topped with smoked gouda and kale, keep those lines long during ski season, but it’s worth the wait. You can pass the time in the game room on the bottom floor, or watch a match on the top level framed with big-screen TVs.

Get soft-serve ice cream, burgers, and fries at this hopping shack in the middle of Lee Vining, but be prepared to wait in line. There's some indoor seating, but unless the clouds are leaking, take your food to nearby (and quiet) Hess Park, whose views of Mono Lake make it one of the best picnic spots in eastern California. The park has a playground and tennis court, too.

This boisterous family-friendly restaurant with six flat-screen televisions serves the best burgers—beef, buffalo, or elk—in town. The traditional diner menu also features country-fried steak, turkey dinner, Black Angus beef, and blueberry pie.

In addition to all kinds of traditional American fare, this inviting, country-style diner also serves unique dishes, such as medallions of Cervena elk, smothered in port wine, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts. Try the the Baileys Irish Cream cheesecake or the Grand Marnier crème brûlée for dessert.

This well-run sandwich joint satisfies carnivores and vegetarians alike with crispy-fresh ingredients prepared with panache. Depending on your preference, the centerpiece of the Bull's Eye sandwich, for instance, will be roast beef or a portobello mushroom; whichever you choose, the accompanying flavors—of ciabatta bread, horseradish-and-garlic mayonnaise, roasted red peppers, Havarti cheese, and spinach—will delight your palate.

This might be the only gas station in the United States serving craft beers and lobster taquitos, but its appeal goes beyond novelty. Order at the counter, and grab a seat inside, or sit at one of the picnic tables on the lawn outside and take in the distant view of Mono Lake.

A passionate baseball fan, chef Matt Toomey designed this casual space near the Village Gondola to resemble a dugout, and decorated it with baseball memorabilia. Swing by pre–outdoor adventure for coconut mascarpone pancakes or soft bagels topped with smoked trout and chipotle cream cheese. Later in the day, fill up on buffalo meat loaf, seafood jambalaya, or a New Zealand elk rack chop. You can also get a taste of Toomey’s at home: its signature seasoning is sold online.