I ate at Kokanee Cafe back in 1999 and I often think about how fantastic the meal was.
Can't wait to go back. The prices are beyond reasonable and the food is so tasty. You immediately feel relaxed when you walk in the door. No pressure, great service, quiet and good. Very good. It was the best part about that trip to Oregon; considering I was dumped by my girlfriend, while on vacation.
This has always been a favorite stop for us but this trip it was a disappointment. The special was ordered by half of our table of 8 and very few pieces on the kabobs were cooked as long as they should have been.
We were also surprised it was not as busy as it had been in the past. There was usually a line out the door and this year there were empty tables.
The positive was the service was great and our server was fabulous.
We have been patrons of Kokanee from the day it opened and have enjoyed it since its glory days. We used to highly recommended to our friends and renters of our BBR Cabin. I am sad to say that it has hit a new low and I can no longer in good conscience recommend it to anyone...very sad.
We dined at 7:30 pm on Saturday 5/25/13...they informed us they were out of the Lamb Shanks and several other menu items...seriously, at 7:30 PM on Memorial Day Weekend?? Bad planning or financial issues?
We were able to order two pear salads for the table( the last two left) ....seriously, at 7:30? The salad was arugula but consisted mostly of stems, pretty clear they pulled it right out of a bag and did no prep work to make it edible. The "pear" consisted of about an eighth of a slice of a raw pear skin on and sliced micro thin and served on the side...my guess they were out of pears and made the last piece stretch. It was a lousy salad thinly dressed and not worth the $12 price
My wife and two others ordered the mushroom soup which came in a vegetable broth. I think there was one mushroom cut up and split between the 3 orders...they were probably out of mushrooms. Very bland, uninspiring and expensive for what amounted to vegetable broth (canned i am sure).
I ordered the "Special" which was farm raised elk tenderloin served over garlic mashed potatoes and topped with some kind of white sauce with corn in it... the cut of meat was good and the potatoes were ok, but nothing remarkable. Â The topping sauce was so weird and out of place with the dish.(I pictured Chef Ramsey spitting it on the floor and swearing to the chef about ruining a good cut of meat) It was very bland sauce and frankly it detracted to what could have been a good dish...D- for execution.
There are more similar stories about the other entrees served to us, but you get the point.
As we ate our entrees we could hear the the waiter apologizing for being out of the chocolate cheesecake and trying to talk them into some odd sounding flan dish they had created...we all could not help but laugh at this point and decide we would not be ordering dessert so we could save the waiter the embarrassment of telling us of yet another thing we could not have. (BTW the waiter was wonderful...we felt sorry that he was having to make excuses for what I am sure for him was an embarrassing offering)
I dearly loved the Kokanee and am very saddened that it has fallen so far...we had sensed it last year when we dined but had written it off to a bad night and maybe a mismatch of palates....but I think this could be the last shot for me. There are now more choices within the area with innovative menus and creative chefs that the Kokanee has to compete with...and it this is their response? I fear you will lose more of your fans. Sad day.
we ate dinner last night, May 23, 2013 at the Kokanee cafe. Â There was a short menu of food offered and they were out of lamb shanks which my husband wanted to order. Â Also out of one other items. Â Lots of lamb in Central Oregon?? Â So we ordered salmon. Â It was beautifully presented, but not that tasty. Â
We also ordered dessert. Â I ordered fig chardonnay flan which was the worst dessert I have ever had in a restaurant. Â It was not a flan really, but lots of lumpy goat cheese. Â It was very tart. Â My husband ordered the cheesecake which he said was not great. Â So my advice is don't order desserts.
Dining at this seasonal restaurant can be a gamble depending on who is hired as chef for the year.  This year the Kokanee provides a winning payoff to diners through Chef Matt Neltner's creative menu and delicious food.  But it was more than  food that made our dinner here memorable. It was also charming ambiance, warm hospitality and flawless service. All shared with good friends and followed by a drive home through lovely forest backroads under the light of a full blue moon made it a priceless evening.
Regret? Â With nearly 45 minutes drive from our front door to Kokanee's, we may not get back between now and when it closes for the season (October?). Â As heads up to others - it is worth the trip! Â
Question. Where will Chef Neltner go when Kokanee closes for the season? Where he's cooking is a place we want to eat!
That's the summary. Here are the details:
CHARMING AMBIANCE - WARM HOSPITALITY - SEATING OPTIONS
Rustic elegance is how my friend described the interior as we were seated at a table in the main dining room. Â A perfect description. Â
One of the delightful things here is the ample space provided between tables so one does not feel seated as if a sardine in a can. Â You have a choice of seating in the main room, on a large screened back porch, at a few tables on the front covered porch or under umbrellas at a new seating area adjacent to the parking lot. Â If you request where you'd like to sit when making reservations, they do their best to honor it Â
From making reservations through seating  Kokanee guests are made to feel welcome. And this really is an "all people are welcome" vibe.  Families with people ranging in ages from infants to octogenarians.  (A "tween" standing at a table outside showing a magic trick to his family.) Couples of all ages on dates and dressed for a special occasion.  People dressed in jeans and arriving from  local camp grounds.  Older and younger women in pairs and small groups.  Folks with visible disabilities and  folks without.  Guys sharing fishing tales (literally from the nearby Metolius River ).  Nice.
STELLAR SERVICE
The chef's wife, whose  name is Jill, runs the front of house and it is clear what good attention she has paid..  As I write this review about the flawlessly perfect service we received from our server whose name was Jill, it makes me wonder if she was the same person.  I know not.  I do know the quality of service Jill provided, personable, expert on the menu, pacing the service just right, spot on timing for follow up, is the reason this review is rounded up to five stars.  Stellar service is a big part of excellent dining experience.
LIBATIONS
Full bar. Â Specialty cocktails @ $8 - $9. Â Thoughtful, moderately sized wine list by glass and bottle with pricing competitive with Bend restaurants. Â The bottle of 2008 Elk Cover La Sirene we ordered was $36. Â
Constructive criticism: Â they might up the quality of their stemware. Â The thick rimmed red wine glasses seemed Libby quality and good quality stemware like Riedel ;s restaurant series (relatively thrifty and heavy use friendly) would be more consistent with other fine dining restaurants.
CREATIVE MENU - DELICIOUS FOOD
You'll find the creative menu that leverages NW ingredients at this link.  <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kokaneecafe.com%2Fkokanee-menu%2F&s=bce72c7c0d17e97343641c316085c5e08ead4b83f18f682720e0bfbbde3a9b2c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.kokaneecafe.c…</a>  Prices for entrees ranged from $21 to $38 and starters from $4 to $13.  Starter menu provide enough intriguing options to make a meal of grazing through some of them.  Entrees are generously sized.  Menu leans to omnivore but had options that were vegetarian and vegan friendly. And thumbs up to them for serving wonderful bread, Stria (not Striata) from Bend's Village Baker, along with olive oil and a housemade dukkah (?).
Our choices included:
Italian styled tomato, bread and vegetable soup (4)
Organic fresh greens salad with blueberries and jiicima (7)
Wild mushroom - Yukon gold potato "napoleon" with duck confit and blueberry demi (13)
Boar and fennel ragout on fresh pappardelle (25)
Lamb shank braised with guajillo peppers served with purple potatoes and carrots (25)
Elk rib-eye  with Dungeness crab mashed potatoes and roasted tomatoes (38)
Mixed fresh berry clafouti with vanilla ice cream (8)
GOOD VALUE
Dinner for four including  libations with and coffee after clocked in @ $170 (before tip); on par with fine dining locations in Bend,
THIS N THAT
1) Walk ins are welcome but best to have a reservation to be certain of a table.
2) Inaccessible entry problem finally addressed with add of simple small ramp.
3) Don't know if they have a children's menu, but there were several children present.
4)Menu prices lower than they were four or so years ago.
A few interesting menu items, but the service was just average. We had to ask for more forks when dessert came, and the waitress gave us a kind of snotty "you can just use your spoons". With cheesecake? I think not. Warm chicory salad with smoked salmon and hazelnuts was very good, and the berry kaflouti (sp?) dessert was too. But nothing else stood out. I guess we're spoiled being from Portland, but the prices and ambiance had us expecting more. It is a beautiful setting, and our relatives rave about the place, so maybe we just had an off night.
Review Source:Couldn't wait to eat at the Kokanee after all I'd read about it. Â What a disappointment. Â The food was average at best and not inexpensive. Â Click on the rating details to see which way it is going. It shows a steady decline in the last six months. I should have paid more attention.
I got fish which was absolutely without flavor.  My companion got lamb which was  dry.  The salads were delicious so no complaint there.  The cocktails were great but for the total price of the meals it ALL should have been great.
I was really looking forward to eating here again after rave reviews by friends and the Bend Bulletin. But I was disappointed with my appetizer (mushroom corn pancakes)and main course (lamb shank). Both were dry and uninteresting. I had to ask for more au jus because the lamb shank and roasted veggies were so dry I struggled to swallow each bite. Even the bread was dry. On the upside, the champagne cocktail and the scallop appetizer my husband and I shared were delicious, and I was sorry I hadn't ordered the house salad delivered to the others at my table. Only the company of my friends made the experience worthwhile. It is expensive and a long drive from Bend, Oregon, so I won't be going back.
Review Source:Kokanee Cafe is an absolute delight in the middle of nowhere (or at least it seems that way when driving down at night in the dark with no idea of what the area around this lovely restaurant looks like).
We were recommended this place by a gentleman at a gallery in Bend, who had not eaten there himself but had heard many rave reviews from customers. As we were staying at the Suttle Lake Lodge, Camp Sherman was just a 15 minute drive or so into the dark off the highway. Driving up there, we were starting to wonder whether we were really in the right location actually. There didn't seem to be any road signs and we could see nothing anywhere around us. After we finally passed some houses and then re-entered the darkness we started to get worried. Suddenly, a little light shone ahead of us in the darkness. That light grew into one of the most charming cafes I've ever been to in Oregon.
The name cafe really doesn't do this place justice as it's more like fine dining, at least in the evening. To our surprise, even at 8.45pm, the place was packed with people (make a reservation perhaps on a Fri/Sat?), both inside (which seemed like a large converted living room, in a good way) and outside (an enclosed patio/balcony). Right away the lady who came to seat us (the owner?) gave us a heads up about them being out of two of the five entrees. She asked if we still wanted to dine there, knowing that, and of course we did. Besides, they still had one duck left. Or so we thought. After ordering, the same lady came back to our table and, apologizing profusely, let us know they were out of duck after all and leaving us with only the trout and steak to choose from. This lady was so incredibly friendly and apologetic though, we really weren't in the least bit bothered by the limited menu. Nevertheless, she offered to buy my husband a free dinner to compensate for his lost duck!
The food was absolutely outstanding, my trout was served with a lovely spicy tomato sauce that I think contained olives and capers. I also had the crab cakes that probably tie with the best crab cakes I've ever eaten (at the Klondike in St Helens, OR). They were a little creamier as if perhaps they'd added cream cheese or something, but they were delicious! The only very minor thing I might note is that I noticed someone else having a bread basket on their table, and we were not given one. It's just a complimentary, small thing, but I'm personally a huge fan of restaurant bread baskets so I was a little disappointed about that. Our overall dining experience was highly memorable though, and the generosity and kindness of the lady who served us went above and beyond the call of duty. We both highly recommend the Kokanee Cafe, I had no idea there was such a lovely place hidden all the way back in Camp Sherman.
Well worth the trip out to Camp Sherman.
Kokanee is a diamond in the rough. Literally, a gourmet restaurant in the middle of the woods.
They are known for exceptional dinner dining and recently started serving lunch (I will be heading back to try their lunch menu). Whether you're visiting for lunch or dinner, reservations are a must if you want a table.
Last Saturday, my friend and I ventured to Kokanee sans reservations. No tables were available but we found seating and exceptional service at the bar.
We enjoyed a giant prawn cocktail of sorts with a crisp yet creamy gazpacho. We also had the mussels (served in a fabulous sauce- must have been butter, wine, bacon, and peppers of some sort).
We soaked up the extra sauce with bread and washed it all down with two drinks that aren't on the menu but should be: Blackberry Jalapeno Margaritas. Â (If the bartender Barrett is working, be sure to ask for these.)
I will definitely be back to further enjoy elegant dining nestled in rustic mountain scenery.
We've eaten here off and on over the years. Â Since the current owners took over about 9 years ago, our visits have been more sporadic. Â We always walked away somewhat unimpressed with our meals. Â That all changed on a recent visit. Â Everything was delicious! Â Calamari was very tasty (although slightly overcooked), lamb shank was delicious with raisins and dried apricots. Â The special of the day was a sea bass dish with jasmine rice and lobster bisque- it was incredible! Â We're just hoping that the same chef is at the stove on our next visit!
Review Source:Now that was some good eats. Â What a delightful little restaurant the Kokanee Cafe is!
My wife and I recently ate there and found the food to be simply wonderful... it would do well in the big city, but finding it out in Camp Sherman is just fantastic. Â I had the wild boar and my wife had the duck and both dishes were top class.
We'll be back.
You wouldnt expect to find a restaurant like this in Camp Sherman. Their cuisine is pretty advanced for this area. I would expect to find something like a home cooking diner here. Anyway some of their entrees include duck, venison and a rib eye. I went for the Venison. I havent had venison before but I thought that it was pretty good. My girlfriend had the duck breast with caramelized fennel. I had a taste and thought it was really good also. They have an interesting bread/oil dipping mixture. Along with the bread and oil they serve a mixture of minced almonds, honey glazed peanuts, fennel seed, red pepper, and so many more things that I cant remember that is really tasty to add to the oil. Its worth a trip to Camp Sherman.
Review Source:
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