Lake Almanor Tavern

Sometimes the food is very good, and other times the food is just awful! I don’t know if they have different cooks, but if they do, they need to get rid of one of them! The chairs in this place are very old and FILTHY! All of them have stains, it’s rather gross, and they are not comfortable. The atmosphere… What atmosphere? It is in serious need of decorating. They had some good things on the menu, then they changed the menu and they are gone. Too bad. Unfortunately there are not a lot of choices in Chester, even so, we come here rarely because you never know if the food will be good or terrible. The bar and the bartender on the other hand are very nice. The bartender makes great drinks, but they are overpriced-​not the bartenders fault!

Stopped by here on a Friday night. Great service and good selection of food with band playing. Lovely Friday dinner before the hiking in the mountain tmr.

Old style tavern — with regard to both ambience and food. We had a hamburger with soup of the day («loaded potato»), and the Chicken Marsala. Everything was reasonably tasty and served very quickly, but it all seemed to come from a box or can. Service was pleasant. Would have been 4 stars but the prices are so high that a much better quality of food is expected.

I had the most unique & delicious clam chowder I’ve ever eaten. Filled with chunks of potato and clams and another special ingredient that I can’t quite figure out. My date had the jalapeño scampi which was incredible too. The ambiance is fun with model air planes, Indian paintings, local pictures and an old honky tonk player piano that takes a quarter to start. It’s a small town and the summer season is ending so they were running out of some menu items by 8pm, so make reservations or get in earlier to beat the crowd.

Great prices and large portions. Prime rib has plenty of flavor and they offer several different types of wine to chose.

2^nd time here so decided to write a review on it. First visit I would rate it a 4 but this visit I’m going with a 5. So technically its a 4.5 lol. Jessie, my server was great ! She was attentive and informative. I ordered the hamburger which was one of the better burgers I’ve had, I would strongly recommend it and the Fall River Irish Red Ale was really good. I did have a minor issue with the check but Jessie quickly resolved it.

A great find on Main Street Chester. The Jalepeno poppers are delicious. Great décor we will definitely come visit again!

After being in national parks/​small towns etc for a week, we went to celebrate my wife’s birthday at this restaurant from the advice of our hotel. Wow, what a pleasant surprise! Great food/​service and nice atmosphere. I never bother to Unilocal most places, but as this was above and beyond expectations I thought they deserved a good review.

We were staying in Chester, CA while visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We had dinner here on a Friday night. The Tavern features the Dave Brubeck bar apparently salvaged from a hotel once owned by Dave Brubeck’s Uncle Lou. Everyone at the bar, who seemed to be locals, were having a great time.
The service was prompt and friendly. Beer and wine choice was good. The Prime Rib special was a solid choice, arriving medium rare as ordered, if a bit over salted on the crust. Grilled salmon was tasty. Baked potatoes were perfect and came with a wide choice of condiments. Roasted veggies were well executed.
The only minus goes to décor and lighting which were dated with gloomy fluorescent lighting, but the meal more than made up for that.
Chester has limited good dining options and this is one of the best and, for food and service, would be a decent option most places.

We ordered calamari and fried asparagus. The calamari was tender but lacked flavor. The cocktail sauce was tasty but it didn’t make up for the bland calamari. The asparagus was good and worth trying. A small portion but still worth it
.
As for the main meal the chicken masala was what I would consider on par with a meal served on United Airlines. The angel hair pasta was overcooked and gummy and the chicken was rubbery and smothered in an over salted gravy that lacked true marsala flavor. At $ 17.00 I expected a lot more.
We then had a wedge salad it was a 4 out of 5 stars. I would have given it 5 stars but the blue cheese dressing wasn’t very sharp and the bacon could have been a bit crisper. It did have marinated artichoke hearts and cherry tomatoes that were a nice touch
.
The waitress was a wonderful young lady that made
up for the mediocre meal but I’m going to pass on a second try.

Great food and servers. Very nice memorabilia and Dave Brubeck letters and photos. Highly recommend.

We stay in Chester when we go to Lassen. We were told at the hotel this was the best place to eat at in Chester. We are glad we went.
For the quality of the food we got, the price was right in line. The the service was great, the entrees were above average — which in a small town like Chester is as good as it gets.
We were duly impressed with this place and will be back.

This is my second time here. I came here with my girlfriend’s family when she brought me up to her family’s lake house at Lake Almanor Country Club. Best filet mignon and calamari I’ve ever had and the service was impeccable! Wait was not long as we asked for our food to come quickly! This is a gem in little Chester!

This place is great. Our first night I had the chef salad which was delicious. I think I got a free upgrade with grilled chicken. We were still in town the next night so we came back. The Mediterranean salmon was great, much better then I had expected for a mountain town. We will definitely come back. Ashley B was our favorite waitress, and did not attack us.

Very good chicken club. So big I couldn’t get my mouth around it and could only eat half. Fries were limp and could use hotter oil. My friend’s fish tacos were o.k. Dinner here two weeks ago was also excellent with large portions. Will definitely be back for lunch and dinner to try out the whole menu.

So I stopped in here by myself in the off season. I was the only person in the restaurant and pretty skeptical. I ordered a Turkey Club and to my surprise this was the best Turkey Club I have ever had, no joke. Every thing on the sandwich was fresh and flavorfull. Service was great, I was the only patron, and the drink I ordered was strong. All around I could not have been more happy. Good job.

What a gem. We were very surprised to find this restaurant that has a Jazz game all over the place including Dave Bruebeck on the walls planes hanging from the ceiling, just perfect for a quiet evening of dinner. Then we had hamburgers fish and chips salad and salmon all were absolutely fantastic. The chicken corn chowder had to be the best we’ve ever eaten !!! Great service great experience what a gem.

This was a great find. Looks like a strip mall but you get a pleasant surprise when you open the door. Great atmosphere and the bar and décor is really cool. Good local beer too. Food was good.

Came in to watch the Niner game, and we were very pleasantly surprised! Aaron keeps a very clean bar and was super attentive to us and each drink he made. We’ll be back next time we’re in town!

Four of us stopped in here while spending the night in town. got our beers pretty fast with the meals shortly behind. My girlfriend ordered pasta while the three guys ordered steaks. One pet peeve I have is the woman should always be served first but we all had our meals for a few minutes before she got hers. Okay small issue. We where waiting for the waitress after that to get more beers but didn’t see her again till she dumped the check on the table and walked away. We would have certainly ordered at least a couple more rounds of drinks not to mention we all wanted dessert. I give the food 3.5 stars but the service a 1.5 star. A mediocre meal with great service will keep the doors open far longer than a good meal with crappy service. Can you hear the doors slamming shut now?