Brought the whole family up here on a rainy day, back in May. The building is way cool, the food is good, and they had a good beer selection, although I seldom drink during lunch.
Mollie was a fantastic server, and checked on us frequently. Want to go back without kids and hang at the bar...
Bar of America has got to be the greatest waste of a would be great location. Seriously, on two separate occasions we gave this place a chance and both times we were never served.
I think 10 minutes is long enough to wait for a staff that you can see just standing there, talking to each other and obviously avoiding eye contact with you.
Either they just suck or they have the most backwards business model there ever was. 0 stars based on the fact that we never got to actually try anything there.
Bar of America, what can I say? Literally what can I say. My family and I sat at our table for 20 minutes and never was assigned a waitress. 10 minutes of not even receiving water, we asked the hostess where our waitress was and she said she would send one right to us. That never happened. 15 minutes of not having a waitress come to the table we flagged a waitress down. She said she would get the correct waitress for our table. Never happened.
20 minutes of waiting for someone resulted in us leaving this establishment. Pathetic service, pathetic hostess. Pathetic restaurant.
Well I was trying to decide between Moody's across the street and here for a brunch type meal, this place got the business because of one item on the menu: corn fritters. Imagine my disappointment when they said they were out of them. We ordered our meals, which the lunch my hubby ordered was better than my breakfast. Very mediocre for $12 (maybe it was $14, I don't remember).
The service was okay. The lady at the front seemed a tad irritated by the crowd that kept pouring in on this summer morning. It also seemed our server was much more interested in keeping the locals that were there happy, which clearly were his friends. It almost seemed like we were bothering him, which was a common theme for the weekend in Truckee. I'm not sure why, because in Tahoe everyone is super laid back and friendly to out-of-towners. This was our first visit to Truckee so not sure what it is.
It really kind of irritated me when about 20 minutes into our visit here, I saw a plate of fritters go to a lady a couple tables down. I would come here to try out the evening scene, but for food I will try somewhere else next time.
Disappointing food prepared without care or attention. Â This must survive on unaware tourists and the evening bar revenues.
Based on the food, the lunch cook is a hired guy who really doesn't care. Or maybe this place is great for the music or social scene in the evening.
The Cobb salad showed a lack of attention, with poor quality and quantity of ingredients. Â The avocado was half brown, and they chef didn't even take the time to trim away the bad portion (which would have made a small portion even smaller. Â The hard-boiled egg, quartered to use as a garnish, was way overcooked, like rubbery plastic, with a blue-grey ring around the yolk. Â Inedible. Â When the cook doesn't care about how an egg is hard boiled, how good is anything else going to be?
Aside from the nice and light dressing, the Cobb salad was a disappointment. Â It was LOTS of greens, with sprinkles of tomatoes, blue cheese, and bacon, instead of the generous piles of each side ingredient a protein-craving man expects from the traditional preparation. Â The grilled chicken skewers were not big, but were nicely seasoned and tenderly cooked.
The fish and chips was crispy, but heavy on the batter. Â One of the lemon garnishes had some yuck stuck to it's peel making her wonder whether it was reused from another plate, or just unwashed.
The service was fine, earning the second star.
We won't return, but it wasn't bad enough to send things back to complain.
I forgot to mention how i wanted my steak sandwich cooked, but I wasn't reminded either. It came well done obviously. Too much seasoning on it. Dry. The sandwich was alright for 12, not 16. Came with a simple salad.
Parm Fries were good...oily, but good. Stayed crisp.
Poppers were ok. Simple jalapeno poppers...should have been sweet pepper at least.
About everything on the menu is $4 dollars over what I would pay for, but I look at it as a tourist tax. Truckee is a tourist town and they are proud of their incorporation.
Tons of food options for their happy hour, which are all half off. Â Sliders were really good. Â Parm truffle fries were a huge helping, needed another couple to help us. Â Fish tacos were decent. Â We'll be back to try more. Â We sat at the bar and had a really nice bartender serve us.
Review Source:It seemed at our last visit to Bar of America in Truckee (formerly known at Pacific Crest Bar and Grill) that it's not what it used to be. We ordered the Ribeye steak. The sauce was fine and the medium rare steak was tasty, but there was way too much inedible gristle for a $38 piece of beef. The $26 Rainbow Trout smelled and tasted too fishy, as if it were past its prime. The $8 Apple crisp had what looked and tasted like canned apple pie filling. So with no appetizer, no drink and tax and tip not yet included, we got a $72 bill for a very so-so meal. There are better options in town.
Review Source:My family ate here on our trip to Truckee. Â I had the fish tacos which were excellent. The service was good and there were choices for kids. Â All in all a very good experience. Â My only complaint is the "uniforms" worn by all of the waitresses. Â Very short skirts-inappropriate to the weather and clearly demeaning.
Review Source:For happy hour, the bar menu is 1/2 price.
The corn fritters are good: <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bar-of-america-truckee-2?select=Qa_HNQHmVCUYF-VR2mVBSA#Qa_HNQHmVCUYF-VR2mVBSA">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
The pizza is OK, but not great: <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bar-of-america-truckee-2?select=Qa_HNQHmVCUYF-VR2mVBSA#UYvIlOdWIHkUGDTFBRzItA">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
Really, 3.5 but I'm rounding up for the band playing the night I was in there. Â It was a young group with a girl up front. Â The crowd was also on the young side, except for the weird hippie couple dancing with their children who will obviously be scarred for life and don't get me wrong because I have tons of hippie friends in Dallas they just don't bring their young-uns into the bars.
Music was good, vibe was fun, dance floor was full, and the drinks were fairly strong. Â It was too busy for the waitfolks to be friendly beyond a quick "watcha havin'?" I wish they'd had a few more people working, but other than that it was great.
A SOLID 3.5 Stars.. I wish Yelp accepted halves!
I've walked by this place soo many times and its always busy. Now i know why.. The sliders were pretty darn good - they're not dry like most other places.
Hubby ordered the jalapeño poppers - Interesting.. the jalapeño poppers I know are typically filled with cheese. Not these - they're HUGE - battered and sitting in a very spicy aoili. I don't think I would order again. The menu is a little deceiving because the app if 6 poppers for $12 but then you can get them individually. Good thing we only ordered 2 (only ate 1) - again they're HUGE.. my recommendation  - if you want to try it, go with 1 first.
Nice looking place and staff was friendly. I hear their chicken and waffles are good so we'll come back to try it! Stay tuned or a next review.
The historic digs are indeed charming, and the funky mildew smell somehow gets overlooked amidst the small-town saloon atmosphere. I had good memories of Bar of America, but on my recent visit I realized it's more of a clever marketing venture on their part, rather than an authentically awesome experience for gold country charm-seekers like myself.
The formula: cozy atmosphere + pricey mediocre food + plentiful booze options + perky waitresses in short skirts + customers in splurgey vacation mode = jackpot!
We spent $60 on a perfectly unremarkable lunch here. The menu is your basic soup, salad, burger & sammies fare. The best part was drinking wine at noon, relishing in the other-worldly cuteness of Truckee, and slipping into a mountain-getaway state of mind. But, you can do this virtually anywhere along Main St. Â
I definitely like the "feel" of this place, but from now on I will only choose to drink here. Best to save my moolah for the truly gourmet goods at Trokay (gorgeous new resto) next time.
I've lived in Tahoe for 30 years so I know better than to go out to eat downtown Truckee in January, but it was a friends birthday so we went to B of A. We waited 2 hours for a table, when there were empty tables just sitting. They sat us at a table that was so cold I had to wear my winter coat at the table and when our food arrived my boyfriends chicken was cold and my pizza soggy! Gross. Way to much money for that kind of food, I was very disappointed.
Review Source:This review is based off of the drinks, atmosphere, and service. I have only had 2 appetizers here and have not had full meals. I really like coming here especially because I enjoy the atmosphere and I have never had bad customer service. I love their spicy bloody marry, yum!! I am currently in town visiting and I am kind of craving a bloody marry now..... I think I will be coming here tomorrow!
Review Source:This is a really nice restaurant/bar in the charming downtown Truckee. A great spot to go after a full day of ski/snowboard.
The environment is nice and even with music and people at the bar it doesn't get to loud. Food is really tasty and the service is great. Your plate may take a while to get ready but the food is tasty, so you won't mind much.
We tried the wood oven baked flatbread as starter and I had the pan seared dayboat scallops for entree, everything was really good. The flavors from the scallops dish were incredible.
The vanilla bean creme brulee was also amazing, a good way to recover your energy after a day in the snow.
Went here for a casual dinner last week. Service was fine but food was VERY average! The dish I had was the item the waitress recommended as "one of the bests" . It wasn't at all worth the money. Caesar salad was watered down with no flavor. My friend had another salad as a main dish - she liked it but it was very small despite asking about it as a main course - She ended up ordering 2! The only redeeming quality was the Blue Moon on tap  - can't really ruin that. Won't go back.
Review Source:This is an old style saloon type bar. All old wood inside. Great booth seating, tables, and a large expansive bar. Two large rooms encompass the pub/ restaurant. The drink menu will blow your mind! These guys come up with some great cocktails all cleverly named. They all sounded super tasty at first I felt overwhelmed by the options. I went for a fizzy drink with vodka, cranberry, lime, and a few other ingredients that seem to have slipped my mind. The drinks have a lot of ingredients in them. It is almost as if they take typical cocktails and ad a few more ingredients to spice it up. They do it well.
The service could be improved a bit in my opinion. The bar is lacking a little friendliness and character. Just an opinion. The food is pretty standard. Burgers, pulled pork, BLT, prime rib dip, and a few salad and soup options.
They had a special tur-du-nken (turkey,duck,chicken) broth with veggies that blew my mind. I even came back later in the day for another bowl an they were out! We had a margarita pizza that was pretty good. I wish it had a little more mozzarella.
The music was amazing and the place was hoping. Good times and a lot of room to relax.
Waste of ingredients
I ordered "Lemon Rosemary Chicken - two pan seared chicken breasts..." and got two chicken breasts with bone and sloppy, soft skin. They were served with wild rice that sat in a lot of "rosemary-lemon chicken jus" together with trumpet mushrooms. The whole dish tasted like it was cooked in a pot. The trumpet mushrooms and rice were in so much of the jus/broth that you felt like eating from a pot of a dish not fully done. The chef is either inexperienced and didn't come up with this menu or doesn't know how to cook. Â
The first Cucumber Mojito was very good, the second one tasted very different and I was told that the bar tender who did the first one left. We also had the Flatbread as an appetizer which was excellent. Service was exceptionally nice.
I think the reviews are about right on this place... 2 to 3 stars based on the experience we had.
I think what stood out is the short, really short jean skirts the waitresses wore. We kind of felt bad for them.
We ordered some apps, pizzas and a cocktail.
The food was ok. Both pieces were burned on the bottom and not cooked all the way on top.
I think they were 15 a piece plus tax and tip. So for 20 bucks for a burned pizza, I don't think it was worth it. I wonder if the owners would pay $20 for the same food.
The service was fine, atmosphere was fine.
Maybe happy hour is better.
Really wanted this place to be good! But, alas, we were disappointed. Â Beers were great. They had racer 5, which is the bf's favorite. Sierra Nevada for me. Ice cold and welcome after our 7 mile hike.
Food was...meh. Decided on the BLAT, and burger. BLAT had no avocado, and when I informed the bartender, his response was "Oh, ok.". Nothing more. No  apology, no let me take the extra avocado charge off the other item ordered. Although even with the avocado it wouldn't have been very good. Burger was great, but small.  $54 bucks for two people with a few beers. Ouch!
If you're not a regular, don't bother! Stopped in for a drink while waiting for some friends. Waited at the half-full bar for 10 minutes before the bartender would even make eye contact. She asked the regulars on both sides of me if they wanted a second round, stopped to chat with them. She finally asked what I wanted while pouring a draft for a regular. I know the importance of regulars, but come on...say hi and that you'll be right there!
Review Source:HORRIBLE. Do not go here. I started a yelp account just for you, Bar of America.
My boyfriend and I came in to a relatively empty restaurant at around 5:30 on a Saturday and asked to be seated outside. We were told there were no more tables outside, and I gently pointed out that there was in fact a table outside, as we had just walked in from outside and seen it. The hostess said we could not sit there because it was for parties of four only. Although somewhat irritated, we decided to brush it off and agreed to be seated in a booth in the dining room...which had pieces of greasy food on the seats (gross, but I didn't say anything). We then proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait some more. Finally, after 20 minutes, a gal came around and filled our water glasses, but then we had to...you guessed it, wait some more. We watched our waiter take care of his other two tables, lean against the wall and chat with his fellow servers, all the while refusing to even make eye contact with us, let alone take our drink order.
After 30 minutes of no contact from anyone except the girl who filled our water glasses, we walked out. I can count on one hand how many times I've walked out of a restaurant. We are pretty easy-going, laid-back people, but 30 minutes? That's ridiculous. Oh - and to add insult to injury...we saw on the way out that a couple was sitting at the table outside that was supposedly reserved for parties of four only.
We walked across the street to Moody's and had an excellent dinner there. Best decision we made all night.
Husband I just ate here last night -- our last night in Tahoe before heading back to Bay Area. We actually had a wonderful meal - I had the trout and hubby the pasta of the night. Easily one of the better fish dishes I have had in a while and truthfully I was surprised at how good it was.
Meal came with green beans, fingerling potatoes and I asked server to hold on the bacon and she said no problem, so that was a nice touch. Fished was cooked to perfection. Not too dry but not slim,y under-cooked either. Â I opted for wonderful glass of Kunde Sauvignon Blanc; husband had the Union 76 cocktail which I tried and was yummy.
Server was fantastic too -- nice amount of friendly, checked on us 1-2 then left us alone to enjoy dinner. Â The ambiance/atmosphere was really fun too - it was packed, full house and just a fun vibe.
The ONLY reason I am not giving 5 stars is that it was almost suffocating hot -- I cannot believe the manager did not have some AC cranking or ceiling fans cranking but I was sweating through dinner and that sucked. It was a hot day in Truckee but this place clearly did not cool down and when we left around 7pm it was cooler outside. Â Aside from the "heat" issue a really great joing and I would go back again.
Easily one of my favorite places to belly up to the bar after a hard day of snowboarding. Â They make hot buttered rums and holy cow are they tasty. Â The bar food is awesome and reasonably priced (for Truckee, CA).
My first memorable trip there was last winter. Â Jeff was our waiter, he made food recommendations and everything was awesome. Â So either their food all kicks serious ass or Jeff could just read my family that well and make appropriate recommendations.
I love visiting, and I love it when Jeff picks food for me. Â Snowboard season is done for the year, but believe me I will be back for more post-snowboarding hot buttered rums next year.
XOXO - thank you for feeding me well!
We had friends in from out of town and made reservations at Bar of America. We were told that there was a 45 minute wait for a party of 6, 2 hours later we still had no table and were told that it was going to be another 45 minutes. We found an open table in the bar, but were informed that we were not allowed to sit there because that table was "only open for 4 people." In the past, the bar seating had always been first come, first serve. Â When we asked to speak with the manager, a young woman named Kristen approached us and told us that we should find another place to eat.
We have lived in truckee for the past several years, eaten at B of A numerous times; celebrated holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries at this establishment. I will NEVER go into the bar of america again.
Bar of America. Oh what a dissapointment. I think your 100 years ago founders would roll over in their graves if they saw what you have become. A yuppified establishment with way- too- high prices.
I had heard about this place, its tradition (which they say is drinking), its old schoolness, its ambiance. So thats what it used to be. Now, it is Trend-ey. Very much so. Â
Sitting on a corner in downtown Truckee, I expected a good country feel, you know, like a cowboy feel. But that was not the case. To the person who applauded it for feeling like SF, yeah, you nailed the SF on the head. Too bad this is Truckee, not San Fran. Stay in the city if you want a city feel.
Beers are like 6 bucks each. Cocktails, more like 8-10 bucks. Who wants to drink a lot with those prices? What kind og tradition is that? My sister got her overpriced beer like right away. My dad, however had to wait like 10- 15 minutes for his beer. Why? Did the server forget to ring it in? They werent even that busy. Â
We ordered the Frito Misto. The menu promised calamari, chickpeas, cauliflower and fried lemons. They served us a plate of calamari and lemons. Frrito Misto means fried mix. Â Thats the def of the term. They obviously just wanted to put a cool name for calamari since there was only one chickpea. I got it. It was good, that single fried bean. And the cauliflower? There were 2. I surrendered tasting it to let my dad and sis each have one, since I got the one bean.
When mentioned to the server, she said, she likes calamari. I don't remember asking her what she thought of the dish, only pointed out that they need to change the name of it to Fried Calamari. Or learn what what italian terms mean if they are to include them on their menu. I shall not return until I hear you have changed your ways back to the old ones I used to hear about. Right now, you have an over-priced menu with crappy, opinionated servers.
For my drinking tradition, I will continue to stick to dive bars, with low prices on food and drinks.
I'm sorry to say that I need to downgrade my review of Bar of America, as the quality of the dining experience has dropped to a new low. I suspect that they have changed chefs, and more likely, ownership.
This still remains a great place for a drink and if they have a band playing to listen to live music. I highly recommend limiting your experience to just that.
So, I will start with full disclosure. I am a flat lander. But I am related by bloodline to a full-timer so I thought I would be grandfathered in.
Uhhmm...no...
Granted I strolled into the Bar of America in my Target brand 'snow boots' with acrylic 'leopard' trim..sure, hard core I am not, but hey...I brought money.
So I settled in for a nice visit with my fam...locals btw...did I mention locals? I cradle my 6 dollar disposalble camera in one hand while I sip the 7 dollar domestic beer my father paid for in the other. 'Smile' I cry joyfully, eager to get some candid shots for the holidays.
Is this place a safe house? Once the first flash went off I thought my life was in danger...Pot bellied middle aged men nursing flat imported beers approached me and demanded i cease and disist....Yup, demanded I stop having fun in the bar....Sorry...did not realize..wont happen again...we sulked out while my father tried to smooth over the situation by explaining...she's from out of town...
So folks, lets recap..I come to Truckee on vacation...I bring money...I assume you want it.. How about making me feel welcome...even if its only my money that is welcome, at least I will feel better abount handing it over.
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