Dottie's

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  .....CLOSED......It was sad to learn that Dottie's is now closed.  Just a great restaurant with nothing really comparable in the area.  Located in a hundred year old building, surrounded by quaint little shops, this restaurant offered unbelievably high quality food in this small mountain community.  Upscale food in a casual setting, with a beautiful historic interior, a great combination.
  
  Service was always perfect, along with their great homemade meals.  The town definitely will feel the loss. This was the same location as "Madonna's", another excellent restaurant that closed several years ago in the historic downtown area.  
  
  Hopefully the owners with their ability to offer such great food and service will be able to open another restaurant in the future within a close proximity to Colfax.
  
  It will be interesting to see what the next reincarnation will be for this historic building.  Dottie's will be a tough act to follow.

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  Posted on 01.21.13 Walt N.

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  This post is long overdue . . . We dined at Dottie's on Railroad Days and a few weeks before that.  Our first encounter with Dottie's was all good, with our daughter tackling, but not fully consuming, The Epic.  That is one mean burger, and very yummy!  Garlic fries are some of the best ever!  We ate to music by Erin and The Project.  On Railroad Days I had the Meatloaf Sandwich, Local Style.  A slice of meatloaf (already wrapped in bacon), rolled in bread crumbs, fried to toast the crumbs, then served with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for the buns.  Excellent!  And the best garlic fries.  We look forward to visiting again soon.

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  Posted on 12.02.12 John M.

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  Best burger and fries I've ever had. Service was great and price was reasonable. It's not right off the freeway so it may be a little hard to find. Don't give up.

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  Posted on 11.27.12 Dean R.

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  I visited Dottie's for dinner with friends Saturday night. The atmosphere is unique and interesting (in a good way). The food was great (bacon & blue cheese burger). The waitress was polite and working as hard as she could but she was the only waitress on staff...on a Saturday night. Because of this, she was completely overwhelmed as she tried to serve and satisfy 6-8 tables. The fault lies with the management. Have a contingency plan if someone calls in sick. Don't leave the burden with the one waitress and the customers. This place has a lot of potential, and it's success would be a welcome addition to the stagnant Colfax restaurant scene, but I'm only giving it one more chance to convince me that they deserve my business.

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  Posted on 08.12.12 Tim F.

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  Just moved away from Colfax and forgot to put in my review.  I highly recommend Dottie's.  You can dress VERY casually, but the food is upscale.  The food is always excellent.  Great pasta's and pulled pork sandwich.  I have never had to wait for a table, but that will change as these Yelp reviews get around.   Always a great experience.   Two thumbs up.

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  Posted on 06.21.12 Valerie T.

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  After a long day of inner tubing down the river, I was ready to shovel some food into my mouth.  My first choice was some greasy Chinese, but the first restaurant we saw was Dottie's, so we went with Italian instead.
  
  Atmosphere, we walked into an empty restaurant with two tables.  The hostess brought us to where the main dining area was, which is a closed in patio that was quite nice.  It had a rustic, casually romantic feel to it...almost like we were eating at a picnic table at the park.  
  
  Service:  Friendly, and adequate.  The restaurant started filling up while we were sitting there and the only server in the restaurant was prompt on the refills, swift on bringing out our food, and even packed up our food for us.  
  
  Food:  
  Complimentary Garlic Bread:  Cheesy, warm, garlicky and greasy.  We destroyed it after a long day on the river.  
  
  Bruschetta:  I thought it was pretty good, with fresh chopped basil, delicious chunks of firm flavorful tomatoes, tons of garlic.  Bf didn't really like how it was soggy, but I didn't mind at all.
  
  Spaghetti:  Bf ordered this and didn't like it.  He thought it was bland and tasteless.  
  
  Pasta Primavera (special request with marinara sauce)  I thought this was delicious.  The sauce was tangy and sweet, the vegetables were plentiful and fresh, and the cheese was melty on top.
  
  Overall:  I would come here again, I think my bf should have ordered something else.  I liked my dish and enjoyed my meal.

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  Posted on 06.15.12 Matty K.

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  Best food in town by far!!! We love Dottie's! We love the food, the staff, the location, the live entertainment and the overall atmosphere of this wonderful little restaurant! Can't say enough nice things about it. If you want really great food, this is the spot. I think my husband and I are both addicted to the prime rib but we're both happy to remain codependent about it.  Oh and you've GOT to try the pulled pork sandwich for lunch.  YUMMY!!!

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  Posted on 06.10.12 MamaKarole M.

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  Great food, large portions & very reasonable prices!  The staff are quite friendly. A must stop while on Hwy. 80 in Colfax. You won't be disappointed.

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  Posted on 05.26.12 Sharon F.

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  Yum, Yum, Yummy! The only thing I keep asking myself is, WHY did I wait so long to go here! I live in Colfax, so I'm a local, but I was born and raised in San Francisco which speaks volumes when it comes to dining.  I often read reviews Bay Area people write about Colfax restaurants and they comment on the small town style, etc, etc...but Dottie's holds a candle to even some of the best restaurants in San Francisco only with the local charm and TIME that you cannot get in a city!  The service staff was attentive and friendly.  Although they lacked an actual wine menu (which made it a bit difficult for our waitress to ramble off all the wine selections, considering I like white and my husband likes reds..) so A- there, but still the food is amazing! I love the menu options with little twist like Caribian chicken, jerk seasoning, a French onion soup to die for (with meat in it; which I thought was a great touch), and seafood options.  I think there is something for everyone.  We always eat with our children, 5 and 3, there wasn't a kids menu but the waitress had plenty of options for them to choose from that are off the menu and offered smaller kids size portions for menu items.  Upon being seated the waitress brought entertainment for the children with coloring books and crayons, (BIG plus for Mom and Dad!) You can tell this is a family place.  The ambiance is perfect, outside dining feel inside where you are actually inside and stay cozy warm.  The side options of soup, salad and starch were great and enough of a selection for everyone.  I had the Caribbean chicken, the chicken comes with the most delicately crispy outside without being oily, and the juiciest inside and it's covered in a coconut sauce, SUPER YUM!  My husband had the Friday night special prime rib (What a sight that is on a plate!)  The kids had chicken strips, (which were excellent an adult would love them also!) Overall great place, we were dressed casual, but I would go on a special occasion and still feel dressy and festive.  For residents, save the gas and eat at Dottie's and for visitors, come in and feel like you get your Bay Area restaurant food even in small town style!

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  Posted on 04.06.12 Kim K.

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  We love Dottie's!   A small little spot, in downtown Colfax, Dottie's is great for dinner and has a slammin' brunch!  This is not the type of place I'd expect in Colfax, we are looking forward to our next visit!

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  Posted on 11.03.11 Jeff B.

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  We all know the restaurant mantra for success...Remember those three little things?  Location, location, location.
  
  For this place, location may be a help or a hindrance in trying to establish a local clientele.  First, a history lesson, that can be of help to Colfax Restauranteurs.
  
  This was for many years the location of Madonna's.  I never ate there when Madonna owned it, my first experience with it was when it was run by Chef Levesque.  I ate there a handful of times as a teenager, and some of my friends worked for him then.  Later I worked for him, and he had been in business for umpteen years already.  He continued running it for years after I had moved on.  He was always a great chef, the place was popular, but so many years of slinging hash seven days a week gets old.  Finally, he sold his business and got on with life.  The fact that he still loves making fine food and has always been passionate about it can be evidenced by the fact that he still cooks fine dining dinners on Fridays at the Cafe Vista in Meadow Vista.
  
  Unfortunately, the place went to people with the money to pay for it, but not the restaurant savvy to run it.  On the one hand they made improvements like putting in a micros system, on the other they began relying more on Sysco's pre-packaged type breakfast options than on preparing the honest to goodness food themselves.  Don't get me wrong, for many things Sysco is a great distributor; but when a restaurant starts relying on them for the bulk of their food, your customers will notice something is different.  You can't expect to not have to slice your own home fries and be able to get away with it.
  
  They lasted only for a few months.
  
  A few months down the road, it was bought again and turned into a much different restaurant, The Naked Rooster.  The location had not been damned quite yet just from one business failing.  Little old ladies would still make their way into town from far away, with their husbands in tow, to eat at the cute little place they just loved before going antiquing.  Then they would get there and wonder what had happened.  The Naked what?  The decor was different inside.  Sure, it was updated, but it was now just a bit more hip, and a bit more trendy.  It no longer looked like a fellow grandmother had gone nuts with the nick-nacks.  It was all just a bit colder and more matter-of-fact.
  
  Now, a place like that is fine.  I'm sure that the kind of place they were starting could have its niche.  However, they had alienated the customer base they already had.  They were now going to be dependent on a new kind of customer, those without any nostalgia about what the place used to be or the food they put out.
  The trouble is, the food initially wasn't good enough to surmount that obstacle.  They were tight, with everything.  A grilled cheese sandwich would have a single scant slice of American cheese, a tri-tip sandwich would still leave you hungry.  They were hesitant to give you a second paper napkin if you asked for it, seriously.
  
  Later they got a decent chef, but by then it was too late.  The word was out, for better or worse.  The locals were no longer listening.  I don't think the place made it for more than a year.
  
  Then, I think it was for a short time the 'Iron Doors' or something.  I don't know.  By then the location had been mucked.  I, like others, had been spooked from the location that couldn't make it work.  I know, we customers can be finicky, fearful, awful people.  We see a place that struggles, our instinct is self preservation, and we want no part of it.
  
  I even had some trepidation about trying out Dottie's.  I love what they have done with the place.  It looks clean and remodeled.  It has the feel of what Madonna's was always hoping for at it's best.  The menu is simple and straight forward.  The napkins are cloth, no single serve paper napkin here, yet it is very unpretentious.  It has a very welcoming feel, the kind that can draw little old ladies who are about to go antiquing.  (In fact, I think the antique stores and Madonna's had enjoyed a symbiotic relationship.  A few of them closed down after Madonna's went.)
  
  The food is good too; I had the pulled pork, my son had a burger.  I also had a cup of soup.  Nothing to write home about, but it was good, honest, well prepared food that is tasty.  They have a good beer and wine list, and sodas.  I wanted iced tea, but it hadn't been brewed yet.  A hint to restaurant owners: keep iced tea brewed.  It's cheap, it's simple, and not having it there and ready can disappoint customers who are expecting you to get it right.
  
  Our waitress was great.  She has an easy smile, she was endearing, and she has a winning personality.  I could tell that whatever came up, she was going to do her very best to make her customers happy.  She paid attention to what was going on in the restaurant at all times, and she was good at her job.  I was very impressed for a girl who seemed so young.

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  Posted on 09.21.11 Chad L.

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  Closer to a 4, except they had run out of nearly half the menu items on their Sunday Brunch, at 11:45 am!  No home fries or hash browns, but we have sweet potato fries.  Oh wait, we're out of sweet potato fries now!  This is why our waitress was apologizing like every 5 minutes for something gone wrong.
  
  My steak was good, I had pancakes substituted due to their running out of potato options.  Prices are reasonable considering the portion size.  Everyone at my table seemed to enjoy their meal.  
  
  Hopefully, they will get their act together, and I'll give them another star.

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  Posted on 08.08.11 Matt C.

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  A welcome addition to the non-existent Colfax dinner scene. It's been rough since the Giovanni's fire, and It's nice to see this quaint venue back in play. I had an $11 lasagna which was excellent, but was wowed by the $14 slab of prime rib (a Fri. nite special) which sailed past me. I most definitely WILL try it within the next few Fridays. I was pleased to see the place pretty much fill up during the 6 o'clock hour we were there. (5th star added due to prime rib.)

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  Posted on 06.03.11 Werner V.

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