Stony Creek Lodge

We got the whole meat pizza — lumberjack. Without kidding, one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. Great crust and the meat was absolutely delicious. Service was fantastic and it may sound funny, but the water was absolutely delicious.
Great stop for a bite.

This is a very nice, old world style, lodge. Nice rooms, great staff. Right next to Sequoia National Park. The rooms are good but without refrigerators. The only bad thing is the water pressure in the shower — it was barely better than a fast drip. Plan to use the ice bucket and water from the sink to rinse off. Even with that, I’d stay there again. Do not arrive late, but if you do, they tape your keys to the front door.

Disclaimer! This review is for the Pizza Bar and their management… which is probably the management for the whole establishment.
How would you feel if after a thirty minute drive you arrive to the Pizza Bar at Stony creek Lodge an hour before their posted closing time, just to be informed that they have «too many dine in and to-​go orders» and for that reason are closing the dining area early?
If you are not familiar with the area of Sequoia National Park and surroundings, you should know that there aren’t too many dining options around. So when the manager informed us that we could go to the other places around, each being about another thirty minutes back or further, we were not thrilled.
We tried to work with the manager and asked him if we could get some unbaked pizzas to take back to our places since we could not dine there. He told us that they couldn’t even do that and that they were already going to have to work late to meet the existing orders.
Though my previous experiences at the pizza bar were moderate to peasant, I found it very unprofessional of them to choose to close the pizza bar before the posted closing time instead of paying the staff overtime to continue to offer their service.
Anyone in the food industry knows that there are certain things you don’t do, and this was one of them. For that reason, I am giving the lodge’s pizza bar and management only one star.
Since my experience there, I have come up with a theory. My theory is that businesses such as Stony Creek Lodge don’t really care about the customer and good service because they basically don’t have to. They are located in an area where everyone is just passing through and will probably never return, and because of that they can do bad business and not really lose service.
If you by chance read this review before coming up to the mountains and losing cell service, I hope that you will take your business and money elsewhere.

This review isn’t for the Lodge portion, but rather the market and the restaurant.
I was torn on how to rate. The ladies in the market were super sweet and helpful, I would have gladly given them 5 stars no problem.
My issue came in with the pizza parlor. The guy working the counter was a joke. He told me 30 mins for a pizza. No problem. My sister ordered right after me and was told 45 mins. Ok. when we ordered we did not receive our drinks, so I waited in line and watched the employee smart mouth a bunch of customers. He was incredibly rude and condescending for absolutely no reason (if someone asks if the white sauce is like an alfredo, your response should not be «a sauce thats white». In a loud voice. Very slowly. As if the customer couldn’t figure that one out themselves). Then he was trying to dissuade customers from purchasing by pushing back the wait time. In the 30+ mins I waited for my food, I saw many customers walk away discouraged at the long wait time (the guy behind my sister was told an hour, then it got pushed further and further back as people walked in, whether the customer before them ordered or not, so long as they weren’t within ear shot when the prior time was quoted).
My food came, it was mediocre at best. My sister then got her pizza, as promised 15 mins later, but was missing wings and cheese sticks. 20 mins after her pizza arrived she got her wings. They were cold. Then, as we were finishing up eating our food, her cheese sticks arrived. She asked the employee to box it up for her, to which she was answered with an eye roll. Great customer service buddy.

Let Me First Start By Saying I Did Not Stay At The Lodge.
So We Pulled Into The Lodge At 9pm To Get Gas And Inquire About Getting A Room For The Night. I Pumped Gas Using My Check Card And The Lodge Looked Like It Was Closed For The Night. But A Young Lady By The Name Of Amy Came Out And Asked If We Needed Anything. We Told Her We Needed A Room For The Night, She Told Us She Had One Room Left, We Asked How Nice The Rooms Are And She Was Very Honest And Forthcoming About The Room. She Even Let My Wife See The Room To Help Us Decide If We Wanted The Room. My Wife Decided To Go Down The Road To Try Another Lodge (She Has Very High Standards). So We Left And Went To The Next Lodge, We Booked A Room There Not Because It Was A Better Place, But We Were Tired And Running Out Of Options. As I Went To Book Our Room For The Night I Realized I Dropped My Check Card At Stoney Creek. I Was Panicked. So I Called Stoney Creek From The Lodge We Are Staying At And Any Answered The Phone, She Remembered Me And Said She Would Go Outside Into The Parking Lot And Look For My Card. After A Few Minutes Of Waiting On The Phone She Came Back And Told Me She Found My Card And Said She Would Hold Onto It For Me Until The Next Day. i Was Ecstatic That She Found It. She Tool The Time To Go Look For My Card Even Though Her Day Was Over And She Was Calling It A Night. She Also Could Have Been Dishonest And Said She Didn’t Find It And Used That Card For Whatever She Wanted To. But Amy Did The Right Thing. You Can’t Teach Honesty And Morals As An Employer, Thats Something Your Parents Instill In You.
Thank You So Much Amy, Your Parents Should Be Proud Of The Young Lady They Raised. And I Hope Stoney Creek Realizes What Type Of Person They Have Working For Them. You Rock Amy And Thank You So Much For Saving The Day.

This review is primarily targeted at Backpackers who have just emerged from the wilderness into the hoards of humans that descend on Lodgepole and The Giant Forest.
Avoid Lodgepole.
Stony Creek is a place you can go to where the atmosphere is not rushed at all and you can order a pizza to replenish your caloric debt from your walkabout!
The convenience store has as good or better selection of all the important things (beer) and you can then drink your beer at the pizza parlor. The pizza is good, which is somewhat surprising for the quietness of the place.
The people are great, it is quiet, you can have your own space. There is both inside and outside seating for the pizza place.
I do not know much about the rooms, but they also have public showers, car fuel (gasoline), and a few other things.
Worth going to avoid the Lodgepole and relax and decompress before entering the more traditional fray of American life.

Hi hopes after finding a lodge just outside the national park. Dashed, almost instantly when we walked in. The décor doesn’t look like it’s been touched for decades and the room, while ‘clean’ had holes in the carpet and was an eye burning mix of dark green carpets, floral bed throw, dark brown mish-​mashed furniture and a dodgy gas fire hung vertically on the bedroom wall.
Oh, and said gas fire clicks on during the night by the way, with a naked flame, and there are no warnings not to put your belongings near them… let alone the cot with our baby daughter in! This caused mass panic in the middle of the night as the fire started to creak, crash then bang loudly as it clicked on and warmed up. We rushed to pull the cot away from the fire and save our bags, which we did, but when we mentioned to the desk staff that there should be some kind of warning, they just said ‘yeah, probably’ and then went about their business.
The ‘breakfast’ included in the price is appalling. No other word for it. Small cartons of juice in a metal bowl with ice, half defrosted muffins and coffee that was in reality simply brown coloured water.
The worst stay we had during our trip around California, by a long way. Oh, and it cost us almost 200 dollars for the privilege.

This lodge is not fancy. If you’re looking for a hotel to pretty much drop your stuff off at and then go wander. This is the place for you!
Don’t expect any exciting perks like a massage or a 4 star restaurant inside.
+ Expect instead a place to put your stuff down.
+ A neat hiking trail behind the lodge (check out the big stone slabs!)
+ A convenience Store with some souvenirs
+ Continental Breakfast
+ Pizza

If you are expecting a decent stay at a hotel in Sequoia, then look somewhere else because this will not be a pleasant review.
We get to the hotel a bit lost at first since it was our first visit to sequoia, trying to get some directions and the front desk person made my initial experience the worst. She said that they have not received the list of check ins yet (even though I reserved it 3 months in advance) and gave me the shrugs as if TOO BAD you can sleep in your car now look. Is that how you treat your customers after they drove the whole day at night at 3 AM? Rude.
So here is the summary:
Hotel cleaness: ³⁄₅. The bed sheets really needed to be replaced. The shower was okay but there was rarely any hot water during our stay and it made showering really uncomfortable. FIX IT!
Wifi: ⁰⁄₅. I mean really, FIX YOUR WIFI because NOTHING loads or works! ZERO!
Noise: −5÷5. It was the noisiest place I have ever stood at. Not only did kids cry EVERY MORNING at 5 AM next to us, you could hear everything else. Very unpleasant. Did not get any decent sleep my entire week of stay.
Food: ²⁄₅. They barely have any food there to eat really. Just some ice cream and that small gift shop.
Value: ²⁄₅. You really arent going to get a nice hotel stay for $ 130 a day anyway so do not expect to get a ¾ star hotel experience even. Really not worth the $.
I did let them know about my unpleasant stay. I will NOT be going back here. Whatever you do, do not stay here unless you are on a tight budget and want to be woken up at 5 AM by crying kids and noisy neighbors.

My wife and I have stayed here a few times, and we love it. I’f you’re looking for fancy, keep looking, but it’s clean & cozy, with friendly and helpful staff.

I know it says «Resort» somewhere out there but don’t expect 5-​Star 4-​Diamond accomodations: You ain’t gonna get it here.
When we called to ask if they were «INSIDE» Sequoia National Park, they said «Yes, we are inside the Sequoia Forest» so we immediately made reservations, you know, before everything gets booked for the weekend, and did our research later.
They were NOT inside the Park; they were inside the «Forest». they are really close though. About 15 minutes from either Sequoia or King’s.
This means, it is not part of the free shuttle service provided inside the National Park. We had to drive from one site to another in the two parks.
If you know anything about Sequoia and Kings National Parks, you’d know that it is wilderness. Everything is spread out (like LA). They are trying to minimize impact on the living monuments that are the Giant Sequoia’s so they don’t have a huge development in one area just to make it convenient for you.
There are no street numbers in this highway. It’s like driving in Italy’s wine country: Watch out for the «town» name and that’s how you get to your destination without getting lost, a small building with rustic style exterior and plenty of parking.
This lodge has only 11 rooms. Yey! And no elevator. Extra calorie burner for those of you counting.
Amenities include:
TV
Cable
Coffee Maker
Big white fluffy towels
Shampoo
Bar soap
plenty of space for luggage
lots of pillows
free wifi — not the strongest though.
no fridge
electric fan
ICE: You have to go downstairs to the market for ice and they will fill up your bucket for you.
Continental breakfast is complimentary and usually, I’m afraid they’re really crappy. This one isn’t so bad.
Fresh fruits
Coffee
Hot Chocolate Mix
Teas
Different Flavored creams
milk
juices
microwave available
double toaster available
pre-​made Belgian waffle
pre-​packaged sausage, egg, cheese and biscuit
a variety of cereals
bagels
cream cheese
a variety of jellies
Registration is in the gift shop/​market.
There is a warm «living room» with stone fireplace at the lobby of the lodge.
The lodge also sports, as mentioned above, a gift shop and a market. Not previously mentioned are the pizza shop and the gas station, which as of 6−23−12, was selling gas at $ 3.86/gallon.