The Gold Pan And Nugget Room Lounge

Never compare apples with oranges. Sometimes you frequent a particular restaurant because of the experience, not the cuisine. The Gold Pan has been owned by the current owner for almost fifty years. An old fashioned diner with the best chili, tuna salad, and typical deli items from the 50's. A history of movie stars have visited this historical restaurant in this old mining town. Great ice cream sodas and diner type drinks. Do not visit the Gold Pan if you are a critical YELPER. I frequent five star restaurants in Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage twice a month-Wally's and Cuistot's.
Going to the Gold Pan is like going back in time before YELPERS when customers just wanted to be treated with respect and have a decent meal.
Shaleigh, the owner's granddaughter, is the most gracious person and will make you laugh and enjoy you experience in this old mining town.
She makes the best Long Island Iced Teas.
You do not have to sit at the bar and have alcohol. You can have soft drinks and watch current movies.
Again, if you are used to frequenting five star cuisine restaurants in LA and Rancho Mirage, then you might be disappointed, but if you are open-minded and want a different experience and are not anal, then try the Gold Pan.
Sometimes you need to go outside the box, like Huell Howser suggested, and find rainbows in this world.
I will guarantee you that Shaleigh will make you feel so very special, whether you are from Beverly Hills or an unpretentious area in SoCal.
Try the Gold Pan. Have chili and a drink and just have a wonderful day in this old mining town!

I'm not sure why this place has bad reviews. Yeah it is not a very high class place but a very down-to-earth, non-pretentious place. It kinda has a really old restaurant feel but the food is great and the service was really nice. We were the only customers and the server was very attentive and chit chatted with us a bit. The breakfast was pretty cheap and just what we needed before going canoeing in the lake!!!

STRAIGHT UP OUT OF A HORROR MOVIE.
Ok, so this is kind of like a place you end up in by accident. I had remembered seeing a brewery on the North Shore a while back, so we drove over to check it out and to see if it was open. It was not, and we came upon the cool-looking, kinda abandoned looking white building that the Gold Pan is next to. I guess maybe that should have been our clue that this place was going to be super awkward and awful, but once we walked in and they seated us, we realized it was gross and dirty and kinda smelly in there, but we felt it would be really rude to leave. So we stuck it out. The "decor" is really strange, it looks like stuff has been on the walls in there since 1972 and they've never cleaned or dusted it. You could also tell that people had smoked inside that place for like at least the 50 years prior. So, we were seated by this scary looking dude with dirty hands and definitely looked like he was on drugs. He ended up waiting in us, too and we definitely saw the mean old lady that works behind the bar that everyone talks about. She kept going outside to smoke and all the smoke was coming right in the door and right into our lungs. Gross.
Anyway, we really just wanted some onion rings, because we were like, ok, let's rder something easy and quick so we can be out of here, and of course they were out. I did try the chili, it really was good to be honest, but I couldn't really enjoy it because I couldn't stop looking at the dirty table next to us. Looked like the remnants of dinner from the night before and they just never cleaned off the table. The food and cups and plates were all still there, and there was NO ONE in there, they definitely were just being super lazy, or doing meth in the back or whatever. Oh, and it was SUPER quiet in there, no music on, no tvs or anything (or the volume wasn't on), and it was SOOO AWKWARD because I felt like they were judging us and were like, actually annoyed we were in there.
Also, I almost died when a waitress (who I didn't see when we walked in) came up behind me and asked if we needed anything and she was in a WHEELCHAIR. like, not because she was handicapped, but she like hurt her foot or something and legit was working rolling around in a manual wheelchair serving people. Like, wtf?
So, definitely stay away from this place. It's gross, the food is gross, the people are mean and it's dirty.