Whether this is your first time in the mountains, or you've been here awhile, this is hands down the best food you can get up here. The portions are extremely generous, Â the staff is always amazing and you will get a real sense of the community here. This is where the locals eat. The prices are justified as you will leave with leftovers that will feed you later. It may not be the most beautiful place, but the food and the people are what keep everyone coming back.
Review Source:The Cottage is the best! They werent open past 6pm on the 4th of July (like a reviewer on here said) but still made sure that they were open during the day to satisfy our hunger!
Christina, our waitress, was hands down the best server we have EVER had. EVER!!!!
She keeps us coming back for more!
Well, this really sucks! I have gone to this restaurant so many times in the last 25 years that I can't even count how many. Â I just called to place an order, it's 6 p.m. on a Thursday and I was just told that they are closed. Wow, they are usually open until 9 pm. What gives? Well, looks like I'm gonna have Mexican food at Papagayos.
Review Source:I went to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend with some friends and we stopped off at this pizza place to grab a bite to eat and holey moley it's delicious.
The place isn't much to look at - it's a literal cottage with old school 60's diner seating and cheesy paintings hanging at each booth (we had a picture of 2 tigers gayfully embracing as they stared at our table haha) but the service/food is great and fairly priced.
We ordered the jumbo pizza (24 inches) 1/2 grandpa and the other 1/2 something else the pizza was crispy and the toppings were fresh and flavorful.
If you're ever in the area this place is worth checking out.
This is the first time I've ever had their pizza and garlic knots and I LOVE the pizza and my husband had to pull himself away from the garlic knots. Â I wish I had tried their pizza sooner! Â I called at 9:25 P.M. and I asked what time they close and she said 9:30. Â Then she asked me what I'd like to order and I thought that was wonderful and unexpected. Â They get 5 stars from me for going the extra mile. Â Thank you!
Review Source:Best breakfast on the mountain and largest portions. Â Try the Farmer Boy. The half order feeds 2 very hungry people, or 3. Â I bought a full order and served my 2 nieces, my nephew, myself, wife, and in-laws with that and a large plate of pancakes. Â Also, their new york style pizza is very good. Â Try the eggplant parm pizza and add italian sausage to it. Â The pizza comes with dollops of ricotta cheese.
One warning, the place is cramped and the floor plan is a little weird, like it was a cabin turned restaurant or something. Â Get over it. Â The place is worth it.
Very large portions and good prices. I've been there several times and will continue to do so. I haven't ordered anything yet that I wouldn't recommend to someone. I hear the pizza is fantastic but haven't gotten that yet... maybe tonight. I do wish there they had a selection of sandwiches though. All in all it's a great place to drop in and get something to eat.
Review Source:Portions are generous and prices are good. We were able to cater our rehearsal dinner for our wedding for $200 and still had plenty of leftovers. This is great, fresh, tasty Italian food. We're big fans of the Stromboli and the Calzone. I highly recommend the eggplant calzone. The dipping sauce is a must, which is the only reason they lost a star since the forgot it when they delivered for the dinner. The hubby had to drive down there and pick it up, and you'd think they'd apologize, but no. Perhaps they were overwhelmed?
Anyhow, dining in is the way to go. Then extra marinara is only a few steps away.
Very good food, fair and even bargain prices, great and friendly service and enormous portions. No wonder it has been around for years and years and will still be here when the mountain meets the sea.
The Cottage's biggest claim to fame is its enormous portions. If you have even eaten at the chain restaurant, Claim Jumper, you have an idea of what eating at The Cottage is like, except The Cottage gives larger portions at better prices.
When I worked a regular job with regular hours nearby, I used to eat here at least once a week, but now as a consultant who now travels all over the place, I don't eat here very often. In fact, I think it had been about a year and a half since my last trip here. I was not surprised at the great portions, The Cottage built its clientele and reputation on those, but I was surprised at the great quality of the food. I remembered it as being good, but it really seems better than "good" now.
I had a grilled turkey and cheese and a side of potato salad. Potato salad recipes vary greatly and ordering it at a restaurant is always a risk (most either have too much dressing or too many onions), but the potato salad here was exactly the perfect kind that I love, reminding me of the excellent one my wife makes.
The turkey sandwich was also excellent, piled high with turkey. And since it was a grilled sandwich, the preparation of the bread contributed to the taste as well. Clearly the bread was buttered before putting it on the grill and that butter flavor certainly came through into the sandwich.
My wife had the half Cobb Salad, which filled us both up and is enough for two all by itself. (We left a lot of the sandwich and a lot of the salad on our plates). This cobb salad had slices of turkey that were chunks and bites rather than the pressed slices you get at the butcher or deli. The bacon, too, was remarkable because it was real bacon, large thick slices, lots of them, Â and excellent! No "bacon bits" or thin-sliced cheap-o bacon as would be found in a lot of places. And the cheese, like the turkey was chunks of real cheese, not slices or shreds commonly found elsewhere.
Service was wonderful and personable, too.
This place is a bit run down and the seats at the table show their wear as most of the rest of the place. But I don't go to restaurants because they had a good design consultant and high-priced decorator, I go because the food is good. At The Cottage, it is excellent and plentiful, far better than usually found at the typical "greasy spoon", coffee shop, or local cafe, yet this place retains the local feel that makes it all the more worthwhile.
Do I gush too much? Well, go there yourself and then try not to.
Huge portions of food. Place is slightly rundown and in need of a make over but that doesn't bother me much. Saw a "B" rating in the window, but that's better than the grades I averaged in high school and I thought of myself as an upstanding individual, so who I am to judge them?
The service is always kind and on top of it all.
Have yet to try the pizza but have heard its decent enough. Burgers are huge and tasty.
Odd hours on Sunday, so pay attention.
I wish you could give half stars. I would give it 3 1/2. Pizza was very good and the pasta wad good. I really enjoyed the house dressing which was a creamy balsamic. The service was a little slow but they were very friendly. If your hungry and driving by go ahead and stop. The portions are a good size.
Review Source:Great place... not gourmet.. If you are looking for that, stay DTM...
Fun, always busy and lotz of grub.... My kids when they go to our house alwways stop by for at least breakfast.... Pizza as good if not better than most places... Someetimes you have to over look the service, but only when busy, like any other family restaurant... Be surprised, give it a try....
I continually go here for their Grampa's Pizza and Garlic Knots... being from ny and knowing what good pizza is this is one of the best!!! Â The owner is from Italy, so you will want to go for their Italian..like many restaurants,they have american and so forth to accommodate... What an great place, the waitress' are always friendly.
Review Source:I kept hearing good things about this place, so I decided to join a few people here for breakfast one morning. We were seated quickly, and ordered drinks immediately. That was the only part about this breakfast that went smoothly.
When our server came back to take our food order, two of the guys in my party ordered their dishes, and our server tried talking them out of ordering it because it was "too big" for them. I found that very strange. She lingered at the table talking awkwardly at us (not with us) for what seemed like forever before putting our order in. I don't mind making conversation, but when our food could be cooking in the meantime, that would be great.
About fifteen minutes later, two out of four dishes came out. Then my side of toast. Then five minutes later, the next dish came out. Ten minutes later, my food came out, but wasn't what I ordered. My boyfriend told the server about the mistake, and instead of apologizing, she argued that that's what I ordered. I know that it wasn't, because the one that was put in front of me had bacon in it, and I don't eat meat. She asks me "are you vegetarian?" How is this relevant? You brought me the wrong dish. She finally took the plate of food that I never touched, and brought out what I actually ordered about another ten minutes later when everyone at my table was done eating.
When the bill came, BOTH items that I was served (the right AND wrong order) were on the bill because I "ordered both" apparently. She said that the manager insisted that both be paid for and nothing would be taken off the bill. This was shocking to me, because they should have made up for their mistake somehow, not charge me for it.
If it's true that the manager wasn't going to fix the issue, and insist I pay for it, this isn't a business I'll be supporting.
Huge disappointment! I have been here several times previously, and always had good experiences. Not this time. Â Went for Saturday breakfast around 11 am. Â My son and I ordered the steak and eggs, only to be told that they were out of steak. Â My brother in law ordered the biscuits and gravy, only to be served one biscuit instead of two, and told "we had the wrestling team order all the biscuits this morning". Â He was served the one biscuit and never asked if he wanted anything else. Â I guess they believe in rationing food in the mountains when they run out? Â To top this off, we were seated in the booth by the kitchen door and a small roach came out for a visit! Despite all these issues, the food we did get was good. Service sucked. When leaving, I noticed a health department B rating. Â Hopefully the owner will read this review an turn things around.
Review Source:All you ever get here is great food. From the pizza, pasta, salads to the Mexican food on Tuesdays you can't go wrong. The serving sizes are always huge and you'll never go hungry here.
They are always friendly and they even deliver. Nice little rustic cottage is a must if you are in the area and are hungry.
My only gripe is the ranch dressing here just seems off. Taste too much like the blue cheese. Other than that check this place out you won't be disappointed.
The Cottage has a friendly staff and a large menu. Seating is limited so there is often times a wait. The portions are good but the restaurant (the last time I was there) had a "B" rating. This was a little unnerving to me but we live on the mountain so we gave it a try.
They have a great breakfast, again large portions so you won't go away hungry. Relatively clean but it could use some fixing up.
I have to say this is one of the best places to eat up in Arrowhead. Â Yes the service is slow but it's expected...and the waitress was so kind and always making sure we were ok.
There were 4 of us eating, we ordered a cheeseburger with steak fries, a 1/2 order of Cobb salad, a medium pizza (the best pizza i have had in a long time), and a hard shell chicken taco. Â Everything came out fresh, hot and delicious. Â The portions were large and satisfying. Â
We also ordered drinks for everyone and our bill was $40. Â I would recommend this place as a favorite restaurant and will visit it EVERY TIME we go up!!!!
If you want a meal that'll satisfy a lumberjack at reasonable prices, then Cottage is the place for you when in the Lake Arrowhead area!
Parking is in front of the restaurant.
Wait staff is friendly, but did not check on us that often. That's okay because we really didn't need much attention.
The great thing about this restaurant is everyone treats each other as their friendly neighbor, with much joking transpiring between tables, ours included.
Today I tried their Guacamole Bacon Cheeseburger. This burger will set you back $7.50 but included with this 1/3 lb. burger is a side of Crinkly Cut French Fries. I opted to add another 1/3 lb. patty for an additional $1.50. To drink, I ordered a Large OJ ($3.00).
Large OJ: 2/5
Was it fresh squeezed? I dunno. There was no pulp. I haven't had a sour glass of OJ like this in a while. Furthermore, the mug it was served in was not so large. :-( I think I'll pass on this next time.
Double Guacamole Bacon Cheeseburger: 4/5
Yes, 4 stars because this might be the best burger you'll find in the mountains...not 5 stars because it certainly is not the best burger I've ever had! I didn't want to risk ordering a burger up in the mountains medium rare, so I allowed the chef to choose. My burger was cooked medium well, but was still moist and flavorful. I could taste the salt and pepper used to season the patties, but it wasn't overdone. My compliments to the chef for preparing all the ingredients satisfactorily. They use fresh guacamole that is seasoned perfectly. Even the bacon was crisp! The lightly toasted bun was soft and held all it's contents to the last bite.
This burger was pretty tall and it was impossible to add the lettuce, tomato and onion that was set off to the side. These
ingredients were not the freshest. The tomato was not firm but a wee bit mushy. Much to my surprise was that the lettuce was flimsy!
Crinkly Cut French Fries: 4/5
My infatuation with this certain type of frites is out of sheer nostalgia, but even still, these frites were cooked perfectly and were golden brown in appearance with a light crispy fried exterior. The interior of each frite was perfectly soft and warm.
My brother Loren L had "The City Slicker", which is essentially a pastrami sammich. He said it was really good!
You'll not find anything quite as good as Cottage up in the mountains. Â Cottage earns a respectable 3.5 stars (rounded up).
After finishing a large meal at the Cottage tonight. This place does a good job. Do yourself a favor unless you are really hungry share a meal.
The Chicken Picata was very good ( not great ). It had too much sauce and I personally like a thin cut fillet. Â My wife had the spaghetti and meatballs. It was very large and the meatballs were good. The next time I will try the Pizza. It looked great and they were serving a lot of Pizza.
I'm a sucker for huge portions. Â The girlfriend complains my stomach is nothing but a bottomless trash bag, I can just shovel more and more shit down my trap. Â When everybody else at the table starts leaning back, hands interlocked over bursting stomachs, puffing their rosy cheeks as to nonverbally communicate their satiated bloatedness to one another - that's when I strike. Â
Having said that, the Original Cottage is my breakfast paradise. Â No man, woman, or child will ever finish their breakfast at this place, precariously perched on the cliff side of the mountain highway. Â My strategy is to order something small (2 eggs, heaping portions of home fries and toast) and recommend the blueberry pancakes to those in my party. Â
The blueberry pancakes are the true stars at the Cottage. Â Much too large to toss on your record player, these flapjacks measure in somewhere around the 14" mark. Â Must be half a pound or so of blueberries in each cake. Â My throat is kind of a jerk to me and won't let me eat subpar pancakes, it's like my own involuntary quality control. Â This also applies to muffins and other flaky pastries, they all become glue in my throat if they are of anything less than the perfect consistency and texture. Â By the number of times I've tricked my guests into splurging on a full stack of blueberry pancakes, it's obvious that the pancakes at the Cottage pass my throat's glue test time and time again.
This restaurant, with decently average food, gets dropped down to 1 star for the awful service we had today.
Instead of writing a long analysis, I will give bulletpoints of what ensued
-no one took our drink orders, we had to ask for them when they came around for food fifteen minutes after we were seated
-when my friend needed an extra minute because they hadn't started serving lunch yet, the waitress took away his menu after he ordered his entree even though he was about to order sides and said "you don't need sides, you already have potatoes and eggs" then walked away before he could say anything.
-we only got two setups, had to ask for more, she only gave us two more, then we asked for one more because we had five, and she came back five minutes later and threw 2 forks on the table
-no water refills
-we asked for hot sauce, she said sure, then never came back
-we did not get any coffee refills until all of our food was eaten and she came by asking if we wanted any more coffee (she did apologize)
on top of that she had the bitchiest demeanor i've ever witnessed from a waitress. i got the impression that she might have been the owner so could get away with it but that was seirously the worst experience i've ever had from a waitress, even if she was having a bad day.
I have been to the cottage one other time, and while the service wasn't quite as bad that time, our waiter did forget out table and i had to flag him down to get the check, so I'm guessing they need some one star reviews to remind them that service is still important even on the mountain.
Had dinner here two nights ago, after a very disappointing lunch at Maggio's in Big Bear earlier in the day (see that review for the gruesome details).
Overall, we were VERY happy with the Cottage. GREAT appetizers (garlic rope bread -- yum -- plus calamari) and excellent calzones. The chicken parmesan ones are particularly good. Spaghetti a little mushy, but the excellent sauce made up for that. Super-friendly waitress who kept things going for us. We paid about the same for a really good dinner here as we did for a lousy lunch at Maggio's in Big Bear.
If you're headed to Big Bear or Arrowhead, check this place out on the way -- the food is good and the price is right.
I've driven by this place a thousand times, and I finally decided one day okay, yes, I'm going to stop and have breakfast at The Cottage. Â I have one word for you: YIKES!
I ordered the house skillet. Â It comes in large and extra large portions. Â It contains anything and everything that you could possibly throw in: eggs, various types of cheese, sausage, bacon, ham, gravy, onions, etc. Â For around $6, I've never bought so much food in my life. Â It was okay, greasy as all hell but edible. Â That was several years ago. Â Have I been back? Â No. Â Would I? Â Potentially... but probably not. Â Value? Â Lots of fattening food before a mid-morning nap.
I only go there for breakfast because I'm not a fan of "family style" italian food (this place turns into an Italian place after breakfast for some reason)
Their food is excellent and I gladly drive all the way to Rim Forest from Crestline just for a good breakfast cuz lord knows you can't get a good one in Crestline outside of the Loose Caboose. Their portions are HUGE! I tried to ask the waitress if they could make me a half an omlette (as in, don't use so many freakin eggs I can't eat that much!) and they wouldn't do it. I wonder why?
Their biscuits are amazing though. If you want to be impressed, try the Farmer Boy, but prepare to share, the half order of that thing could feed a third world country for a week.
I stop at the cottage every time I head up to lake arrowhead. The food is great and the resturant has a nice ambience about it. I always love the mountain towns because of the friendly people, and this establisment was not lacking in it. Are waitress was very kind and the wait for the food was minimal. My only complaint is that the portions are so huge I can't eat it all.
Review Source:This is one of those local joints that seems to enthrall most of the population with their mediocre food. It's pretty decent food, but nothing to write home about.
The prices are usually good, but they can really stick it to you for certain items. A single large (catering-size) serving of meat lasagna for $165, without delivery?! Out of this world!
The pizza is pretty good, and the farmer boy (or whatever it's called... that big potato-ish breakfast mess) is what all the high school kids would rave about. Give it a shot if you're in the town and low on gas.
really big portions!!! and really good breakfast for cheap!! I always get The Farmer Boy with the gravy on the side Delicious!!!!!!!
It's really too much food. I think 2-3 people can share a half and be STUFT!
We usually order the full and take the rest home.
There's usually a line but not to worry, it moves pretty fast.
I havent had anything else besides the Farmer boy but my husband says they have Great pizza!
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
