Alpine Inn

Two dinner options, steak filet or spätzle. Steak was delicious. Truly med rare as I ordered. Service was fast. Homemade ranch dressing is super yummy. My daughter had the spätzle and did not like it as it had a ton of veggies and tasted overly of red peppers (which she doesn’t like and didn’t know would be in it) Good German wine and decent beer choices.
The desserts are worth the trip alone. The apple/​cinnamon Napoleon– truly amazing. I will dream of it likely– It was that good. :)
The cash only model is slightly annoying/​inconvenient. I don’t know why they don’t just raise prices a tad and accept cards to make it easier on guests.

Don’t go there. They don’t honor their reservations and when one complains they say they will call the cops. It may be cheap, but It isn’t worth the hassle.

My husband and I always struggle with restaurants because he likes ethnic fare but I prefer bland options. This restaurant is known for its authentic German food but also offers more basic foods such as salads and wraps. With that said, those items were still to sophisticated for me but was very accommodating and served my turkey and bacon wrap sans avocado and herb cream cheese for homemade ranch instead. My husband was in ecstasy with how delicious the German food tasted and I was pleased as punch as well. They have an extensive lunch menu but only serve steak for dinner.

Note: Only cash and checks are accepted. No credit or debit cards.
The dinner menu is bacon wrapped filet mignon in choice of small or large. It’s decent, but not top of the line. It comes with a baked potato, Texas toast and a wedge salad topped with ranch. The ranch is excellent. There is a vegetarian option to sub. $ 11.95 small/​$ 13.95 large. The filet is light on seasoning. The salad is heavy on dressing.
The options come in at desserts, yum, definitely get dessert, & at lunch, which I haven’t yet tried.
Service can be spotty in speed, but has always been super friendly.
Bar and lodging on site.

We ate there for dinner. The steak was perfect! Over 30 desserts. It was all so yummy! I recommend to stop. So worth it!

Nice music, great service and excellent food. My only regret is I won’t be back in Hill City again soon.

This place is also a hotel. The restaurant serves only two dishes namely a filet mignon in two sizes and a spaetzle dish. We both took the filets which were well prepared at a very fair price. The wines are also very reasonably priced and the service is good.

I don’t often do reviews, let alone give a 5 rating but this place is AMAZING! The ambience and layout of the restaurant/​bar is great, staff was very friendly and busy at task from the bus not to mgmt, yet very accommodating to every customers needs. To bad I’m only passing through town cuz I would make this a regular place to dine if I was a local. The food and dessert was FANTASTIC!!!

This place is a real find — great food at a decent price. It’s also one of the few German-​themed restaurants I’ve been to where the wait staff is dressed in regular wait staff uniforms, not kitschy Bavarian lederhosen and «beer wench» dresses. It was a nice change, and made the whole experience seem more high-​end.
We had dinner here on the recommendation of a local. The menu is very limited, but as long as you like steak you won’t mind. The Alpine Inn obviously believes in doing one thing and doing it well.
The dinner menu also offered a German dish (spätzle), but we went with their specialty: a 6-​oz. bacon-​wrapped filet mignon steak, which included a wedge salad with great ranch dressing, a baked potato, and Texas toast. Everything was delicious, and very reasonably priced ($ 12 for the entrée. Dessert and alcohol are extra, of course).
We were here early during the off-​season, so there was no wait for a table. During prime tourist season, you’re advised to get on the waiting list as early as possible since they don’t take reservations. Also, they do not take credit cards, so bring your checkbook or plenty of cash.

This was our second stop as we were headed to another place and instead went here. Great idea ! The service is excellent, The menu was prix fixe a choice of Spaetzle or Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon. My wife had the Spaetzle and I the Filet. The prices were more than reasonable. A Filet 9 oz for $ 14 wow!

The interior was very nice; the soup was absolutely delicious. We split the Black Forest meat & cheese tray — plenty for us. Service was great & prices very reasonable. If we ever visit Hill City again, hands down, will eat their again. (Next day) we went back, two consecutive days. Lived in Germany for a while, with German relatives. This is GREAT German restaurant!

We hit this place every time we’re in Rapid City. The dinner choices are intentionally limited to bacon-​wrapped filet mignon and spaetzle, but they are delicious. We had the filet and they were perfect.
The desserts are outstanding, so be sure to save room. We shared a bread pudding. The portion was huge, too large for either of us alone.
The prices are very low ($ 13.95 for the large filet). Great family place or special night out.

Deserved a 5 star until we finished our main course. 34 minutes went by from when we received our dinners to when we saw our waitress again. Then the hostess just dropped our check
off and said «pay when you’re ready».
«Uhhh. Can we please get a dessert menu and refills?» Then another unnecessarily long wait.
Luckily, the dinners and desserts were wonderful.

Quant little place, the bar itself is very small.
Eaten here many times & here’s the deal… they serve great food, no question. Desserts are fantastic as well. Your main entrée will be limited to one or two dishes, it is not a full menu; however, the few things they do — they do very well. Service can be compromised, if it’s busy.
Now here’s the bad news. At the height of tourist season you can wait a very long time for a table as it is a rather small venue, AND be warned — they will not take credit cards. There is an ATM in the lobby for you to pull cash.
If you are on a business expense account, forget it. Come on Alpine it’s the 21^st century it’s time to get with it. A long wait and cash only can be a deal breaker, just not worth the hassle sometimes!

I love the Alpine Inn. Especially for the fact that you can get a very well prepared bacon-​wrapped filet mignon dinner with a wedge salad and baked potato for around $ 13 (that’s the upsized cut price). In fact, you better be in the mood for this kind of dinner because it’s virtually the only thing on the menu. They usually offer one single alternative dinner choice, but I haven’t found them to ever be better than their flagship steak.
Service is fast, although the wait can be substantial around prime dinner times. Fortunately, you can bide your time in the relatively inexpensive bar area featuring authentic German beers. The Erdinger Pikantus is especially good.
Worth noting, but not warranting a removal of stars, is the fact that they are cash or check only. Absolutely no debit or credit cards are accepted, and in my experience they’re not exactly upfront about this policy until after you’ve eaten. Those unfortunate enough to complete their meal unaware of this archaic rule will be stuck with using the ATM in the bar for an insane fee. Otherwise, great place!

Warning: They do not accept credit cards at this restaurant. While that may not seem like a big deal to locals or certain others, it is a big deal to us frequent travelers, and international tourists, …and pretty much anyone who lives in the modern civilized world.
Your desire to save the processing fee (and to collect the ATM fee) results in inconvenience for travelers and most patrons. It’s difficult to imagine how virtually every mom and pop restaurant on the planet has found a way to accept plastic and you havent. You are the anomaly and flippant rude responses to customers asking about it just ruins what would have been an excellent meal.

Alpine Inn is indeed an inn located at the heart of Hill City. Their restaurant is famous for their filet mignon dinner, and that dinner crowd can be a handful, so we stopped in for lunch.
TIP TIP TIP — Alpine does not take credit cards, so show up with cash.
Things were bustling, even though it was off-​season. We put our name on the list (they do not take reservations) and waited in the bar area. We were seated in the cozy front dining area, which was bright with natural light. They serve German food, including beer and wine. Right up the spouse’s alley, and he ordered up a Weisstephaner dark right away. The wait staff here are professionally dressed, from long skirts to pantyhose and close-​toed shoes. It was a bit disconcerting, but gave the meal a more formal feel. We were treated well, even though it was a busy lunch service.
I ordered the German plate — two kinds of bratwurst, German potato salad, red cabbage, sauerkraut and German bread. Uh. Mah. Guh. Doing those omas proud, this place.
Alpine has an extensive dessert menu, and we knew we had to get something. The bread pudding here has no raisins or nuts, so we chose that for its uniqueness. Uh. Mah. Guh. So thick and sugary and sticky and melt-​in-​your-​mouth! Heavenly — the kind of dessert you don’t want to share but you know in your heart of hearts you couldn’t eat a portion on your own. (I’d try, oh would I try for this!)
Super — if you’re in the Hill City/​Mount Rushmore area, it’s a must-​try.

Very crowded during Sturgis event. Here at 4:30pm, 5pm seating full, waiting for 6pm seating. Finally seated at 6:15. Liz ordered her 9 oz Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon well done, seasoned with black pepper only. (Liz is allergic to bell peppers, allspice, paprika, etc). I ordered mine medium rare. Both filets were perfect. I also substituted the baked potato for Spaetzle. It had Swiss cheese with it. Awesome! Our deserts were, as Liz says, «ohh — very good»
Worth the wait!

The Alpine Inn is magical. If you are ever anywhere near Hill City, South Dakota make a detour to stop here. I promise it’s that good.
The big deal here is that for dinner they only offer filet mignon, and the prices are very inexpensive (6oz is $ 12 and 9oz is $ 14). So, you can see why this place is hugely popular.
After reading reviews (and my trusty Black Hills guidebook) all advised arriving early to get on the list for dinner. They don’t take reservations so you want to be one of the first ones there to be seated as soon as they open for dinner. Of course, I was on vacation and running late, so by the time we arrived they took my name and estimated an hour wait for a table.
We took our time and walked along the main street and checked out the gift shops. We returned to the restaurant around 45 minutes to find that we still had quite a wait. We managed to find an outside table and had a couple drinks from the bar until our name was called. It was over an hour, but I was prepared for a long wait, so not a big deal.
For dinner we all ordered the filet, and you have a choice on the size, a smaller or larger portion. They also offer a vegetarian option, which is vegetable spaetzle. We also ordered an extra dish of the spaetzle for the table, just so we could try it. FYI, it is delicious. Vegetarians have nothing to worry about here.
The meal started with a basic lettuce wedge salad. It didn’t look like much but the ranch dressing (house-​made, of course) was amazing. My whole family loved the salad, kids and adults alike.
The filet entrée was perfect. All of our steaks were cooked just they way we ordered them and seemed like good cuts of meat for the price. I was really impressed. I think we also had a baked potato, but that’s unimportant.
To finish the meal we ordered several of the desserts they offer. They have a huge dessert menu, in contrast with the limited dinner options. Everything we tried was amazing and tasted homemade. We loved everything.
Our server was incredible. She was super busy the whole time we were there but extremely efficient and upbeat. She was carrying armloads of steaks around like nothing. We all commented on how good she was.
And of course, don’t forget to bring cash, and bring more than you think you will need. After a few drinks and extra desserts we ended up visiting the ATM before we left.
Alpine Inn was such a great experience for us we hoped to go back the next day for lunch, alas, they are closed on Sunday. Hopefully we’ll make it back there again someday.

If you get here early enough and don’t have to wait in line then it’s definitely worth it for the price. If you have to wait in line out the door and are hungry– then go elsewhere and try coming at 4pm the next day– minus Sunday. We had the vegetarian schnitzel because I needed some veggies and he had the 9oz steak. And you HAVE to get the bread pudding with caramel sauce— so amazing. We arrived on a Saturday at 4:30pm, seated at 5:08pm and outta there by 6:15pm.