I grew up in a very small town in the Midwest and the small country diners were filled with the ol' boys from the neighborhood just shooting the crap with each other. Â Always friendly and ready to let you join in on their conversation. Â When we walked in to the Highlander yesterday, it was like being back home again. Â My son said, this is like Indiana in Washington. Â The fact that the bar and diner were all out in the open and it wasn't a dive place was even better. You can take children inside. They have great desserts and ice cream. Â They just won't serve minors. Â I can see where city folk might be a little shocked by the atmosphere. Â You're used to techno and large dance floors along with your high heels and Gucci purses. Â So, don't stop here, then. Â The bathrooms were very clean yesterday. Â The entire place looked very clean to me. Â The service was great and they actually made eye contact. Â Not something you see in Seattle. Â I loved it. Â We go to Mt. Rainier often and this will be our stop every time. Â Oh, the food was great. Â I have gluten intolerance and I was stupid and ordered something I should have. Â But, I still am not paying for it the way I normally would. Â Clean, delicious, homey, lots of smiles. Â I'll be back.
Review Source:This place reminds me of Bob's Country Bunker from The Blues Brothers in so many ways. You got the old run down feel, a few select beers on tap, a loud karaoke machine....everything but chicken wire around a stage. When I walked in here, wearing all dress clothing and a coat, I expected to get my ass handed to me by some city-slicker hating hillbilly. Instead, I was greeted warmly, offered a beverage and food, and I fit right in. Nobody looked at me funny, or threatened me, they just accepted me for who I was. A good sign in a bar/restaurant. Everyone just fits right in, works for their money and just wants to have a good time.
I used to go for their taco Tuesdays with some buddies from Rainier, and the tacos tasted exactly like homemade ones my family would make. For three bucks, you get three large tacos and plenty of sour cream and salsa, and a couple of orders makes for a good meal. The bartender was always friendly and attentive, and was always there when I needed him. Pretty damn good.
Music selection is stuck in the eighties, but that's my style of music, so it was fun. One of my bar rules is if there isn't any AC/DC on the jukebox, I won't go there. Luckily, the Highlander has decent selection, and I appreciated that.
Negatives would probably be that the bathrooms are absolutely filthy, and the kitchen also looked quite nasty. I really wouldn't venture any further with the food, and the bathrooms are just atrocious. You also can't smoke in here, and while I understand it's a state law, it still sucks. But other than like, I like this place.
And maybe the next time I am there, I will raise my hands and shout "There can be only one!".
I wish they had a half star rating.
Ambiance: Don't expect anything special. It's falling apart just take a look at the floor. I think that's why it's so dark in there.
Service: Meh...They seemed nice at first then they rubbed me the wrong way when I asked for the menu of the 24 flavors of soft-serve ice cream. My cousins were so excited for ice cream until we saw the machine and bottles of artificial flavorings...ew.
Food: We grabbed 2 slices of homemade blackberry pie instead which was a mistake. Charged me $10 for 1/4 of the pie. Really?? I can get so much better in Seattle for that much. So disappointed as it was obviously made a day prior. GROSS soggy crust!
Final note: Don't stop here if even if you are dying for something sweet. You won't find me here again.
Love this place! Man, I don't understand those reviews that seem surprised that this place is essentially a dive restaurant/bar and then expect it to be anything more or less. This place has character, the people were friendly (love when other customers chat with you at the bar), and they had the very first ever sweet potato tater tots I have ever had! They were soooo good, perfect after spending the day snowshoeing in freezing weather. Sweet potato tater tots + sweet chili sauce + blue cheese dressing = Heaven.
Review Source:$8 for a bun, burger patty and a pickle...that's how sketchy this place is. They are "famous" for their taco Tuesdays and they get a good crowd just because park interns are too cheap to invest more on decent food.
Seems personnel can't work here and rumor says owners are too cranky so everybody always quit. The result...a massive confusion as there is only 2 to 3 persons in charge of the whole thing.
If you had a good day at the NP...avoid this place.
If you are expecting something fancy on your way to Mt. Rainier, turn around now. This is a mountain town that has a lot of hungry hikers stop by wanting tasty food, not fancy-pants decor.
The service and the blackberry pie were the stars for me, as well as the people-watching. Our server was cracking us up, and gave us said pie for free when my mom politely voiced she disliked her side dish.
The place itself could have used some sprucing up, but for a tourist town in a painfully bad summer, I can look past that--especially when there are pitchers of tasty beer, a jukebox playing good ol' rock songs, Â and free pool.
My only complaint with the food (which I would agree is mostly diner/cafe type--nothing wrong with that!) was that our pie a la mode came with soft-serve vanilla ice cream--for a fat kid like me, that was a travesty! Make it real vanilla ice cream and I might give another half-star and make it four.
First allow me to say that this is not your last choice before ascending to Rainiers peek, there are a few more places to stop beyond Ashford than this.
I don't have the slightest clue what the other 3 reviewers saw in this establishment at the base of Rainier but if it was this place then they're blind and lacking taste buds.
We should have noticed from the outside (shack looking) but I overlooked it and onward we trudged. The first thing we heard was an over amped Leonard Skinnard blaring from a CD player somewhere in the bowels of this dump. The floors were an udder disaster. But hey, if you don't like the dirt you can always play the 1970's style golf video game.
The menu was plentiful, lots of choices. A tad overpriced in my opinion especially for the taste. We both ordered the Highlander burger. Our appetizer was frozen onion rings, tasty none the less. Watch the ranch dressing, it's so obviously watered down. Now came the burgers, also frozen and badly at that, the word rubbery rings a bell. The steak fries were actually pretty good, drowned out the lack of flavor of the burgers.
Now, after the meal came the restroom, OMG!!! No door knob, nope, just grab the hole and pull it open. Inside? Well don't expect a maitre d' to hand you a towel. The floors were falling apart, the urinal was a troff, yep all metal. If you expect privacy from bubba walking in on you to take a piss, forget it, nope no door on the toilet. Bubba can get down right friendly with you while he's pissin' the beer and your quickly trying to lose the bad burger before this actually happens.
Speaking of Bubba, have no fear, he won't be any taller than 5'8" and a hundred pounds looking 21 minimum at best. Yep, that's what I was watching walking into the bar. I'm not real big at 6'2" and about 220 but these guys looked like umpa loompa Ethiopians.
All in all, continue on to anyplace else. BTW I had a peek into the kitchen while paying for my 30$ hamburger and fries and it was as dirty, if not worse, than the rest of the inside, restrooms included.
The staff were polite enough, we began with a very helpful female sever and ended with the over tattooed cook in the end. We found our server smoking not 6' out the front door saying thankyou.
Overall pass this place up. The owner obviously doesn't care about the shabbiness of his or her establishment and survives on little drinkin' dudes alone.
After a day of hiking the mountain we were ravenous! Â One look around this joint should have told me to stick with a burger or fried fare, but it was Friday night and they were boasting a prime rib special which I ordered medium-rare. Â I strongly believe what they served me was last Friday's prime rib special reheated to well-done on the flat iron. Â Blech! Â To their credit, they took it off the bill and offered me a sirloin on the house. Â It was decent, but mainly because of the price tag. Â Wife's BLT and the kid's shrimp basket were good enough to average out my experience and make this a 2-star review.
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