I have been going to Lake Tahoe since I was a small boy., I know every restaurant and Gin Joint in the North Shore. I must have driven by this place 1000 times and never went in. I know why. My son and I show up with no reservation. They tell us there is a table in the Bar we can sit at but we make it clear we need to get done in one hour. 20 minutes goes by. No wait staff. No water. No  Bread. No nothing. We hail a woman down three times for bread and still no bread. Finally some guy comes over and takes our order. We told him we want something simple and fast. Capacci, Salad and some Chicken or something. 20 minutes later the starters come out. They are decent. I asked the guy where the rest of the food was and he said they were busy. I walked up to the owner of the place and told him he should be professionally embarrassed, handed him $50 in cash and told him to use the change on how to run a restauarant. We walked out. I will never go back. The one good thing is I ran into an old friend of mine as we were entering. Steer away from this place. It is awful in all respects.
Review Source:This was the most ridiculous dinner I've ever had. We showed up for our dinner reservation at 8:45 and were seated fairly promptly. Â The menu looks really good so we all picked what we wanted to order. The waiter showed up and let us know they were out of everything but 3 things on the menu. Â That sure sucks but we all ordered from those three things. Them the waiter came back and told us that they were also out of the halibut, so now they're down to two entrees. They were out of hamburger. How is it possible to run out of hamburger? Â Just drive to Safeway and buy more. Â The waiter did his best but it was just such a ridiculous experience. Â Also, even the two things they had were actually no good. Overall the food was horrible but we're all still laughing about the experience. Â So thanks for the jokes.
Review Source:A party of 5, we dined with them on Friday, July 5th. Â Reservations for 8:15 and were seated fairly promptly. Â Slow wait staff didn't take our order for 10 min. Â This should have been our clue to leave. Â Salads came 10 min later and entrees 70 min after that. Â It was such slow service, we stood up and were going leave, just pay for the salads and wine when our entree's came. Â All the entrees were warm but not hot - too much time under the heat lamps? Â The wait staff seemed overwhelmed and we were well past the peak dining hour. Â We voted the food a 3 and the service a 1. Â We saw other diners leave before their entrees were served and fault ourselves for not doing the same.
Review Source:The food is good. Â With good flavors. Â The two stars is that the service was too too slow for us. One of the meals arrived cold, they ran out of certain items and made substitutions with out letting us know. Â
It took us a little over an hour to get our food. Â
We were seated quickly but it took about 10 min. before anybody came by with water.
Our waiter, John, seemed a little dismayed that we didn't order any alcohol. Â I always take that as a bad sign. Â We ordered ice tea and he seemed unprepared and stammered and said he would have to check to see if they had any. Â
ugh, another clue that we're not going to have a good experience? We stayed anyways.
I can cut them some slack since it was July 5th, but it didn't seem like they had any back up plans to help cover.
Food Ordered. Â
Door Stop Salad -- out of Ice Berg Lettuce... had to order Cesar Salad, flavors were good.
Flank Steak with Chilereno - Flavor was good, food was cold. Â Flank steak was tough even for a flank steak.
Spinich Salad - waiter gave me a hard time about having some of the items on the side. Â
Halibut - Â didn't inform us they ran out of the broccoli and shitake mushrooms and just put the fish on top of some mashed potatoes as he put the food in front of us.
After all of these little mishaps, he offers us dessert for free. Â We just wanted to get out of there, but ordered the dessert to go. Â At this point everything seemed excruciatingly slow to happen. Â
We received our desserts to go, but again more substitutions. Â
Explanations of food trucks not arriving with their order didn't help. Â (Really?l...There's a Safeway just down the street....go buy the food!!)
With so many restaurant choices around Lake Tahoe, we won't return.
The food here was excellent and the service was great. We must have had at least 4 different people check up on us in between our waiters regular checking in. The ambience is a little laid back, semi formal.
I had the marinated flat iron with the chilli relleno. Try not to think of this meal as a steak, think really suculent carne asada with the biggest relleno you've ever had. I was thrown by the meal at first but once you start eating it you'll love it.
The halibut was excellent and the mashed potatoes were definitely not instant. I'm not sure what that recurring accusation is all about.
I have gone to Spindelshanks for almost 8 years and they cook the most consistently great food.  This place caters to both the family and foodies.  Their specials are knock out!  They have outdoor seating and early happy hour.  For those who like to lounge at bar, they got it.  They are also located just across the street from a public beach so hang out there before dinner  and slide into the restaurant since it is a  casual place (granted no bathing suits).  The only issue I have here is the lack of excitement on their dessert.  It's been in a rut on  desserts only.  There are very few good restaurants in this area of the lake so I am lucky to have Spindelshanks!  The service is excellent proven by the loyal staff that I have seen  working there for many years.
Review Source:My wife and I stopped by here for happy hour at the recommendation of a friend who lives in the area. Â They had a small number of appetizers on the happy hour menu and several drink options. Â I ordered a margarita and "catfish sliders," which were mini-catfish filet sandwiches with remoulade sauce and coleslaw. Â My wife had beef carpaccio with garlic and capers. Â Of course we sampled each other's appetizers. Â My catfish was quite good. Â Not too flaky, and not too meaty. Â This was Mary's first experience with "tar-tar" meat and the first time eating a caper. Â She said it was delicious. Â Good ambiance. Â Good food. Â Good drinks. Â A little expensive even with happy hour prices, but this is Lake Tahoe and everything is expensive.
Review Source:Is it that difficult to make a burger. Â To the Chef: Â Salt Pepper make sure the meat is not packed to tight for the flavor will diminish. Â A blackened burger is blackened not by overcooking but by glazing it w a sugar based marinade. Â 3 min on one side 2 1/2 on the other. Â So far as over salting a simple dish such as fries, if u want to be creative
use duck fat and himylain salt. Â I hate giving a place one star but when u have to take your entree to go due to slow service and sending it back Its embarrassing for the staff along with the owner not taking pride in the restaurant. Â So disapointed will not return.
Had dinner at Spindleshanks last night with my girlfriend while in town for vacation. Good bread with oil & vinegar. We ordered the roasted mussels for a starter and found them to be very good. I had the blackened rib eye steak (medium rare). The steak was cooked nicely. She had the flank steak and chile relleno. She liked the dish but I did not care for the flank steak.
Total was about $100 for the two of us, omitting tip. In all, a very good meal. Would recommend to friends.
Food was good to very good. Extra credit for the Mussels appetizer. X-Large portions. Server was very friendly and energetic but we didn't see him much. Food was served slow. We waited 20 minutes from when the first dish (sea bass) was served to the last (burger) for 5 people. Lastly there literally was coughing amount of smoke billowing from the kitchen into the waiting area.
Review Source:This was, hands down, the best food I've ever had. In my entire life. I went with someone I was seeing at the time-- it was right across from where we were staying, so we just dressed ourselves up and headed out. We were a little doubtful at first, but our waiter was charming and attentive so we took his suggestions.
I've never been a fan of seafood, but the mussel appetizer we ordered was to die for. We carefully divided it between ourselves and then sopped up the sauce with bits of bread because we couldn't bear to let it go to waste. The bread itself was perfect-- buttery and soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, delicious in every way. The drinks were good, too, but I was so focused on the food...
My steak was done perfectly enough that I don't even remember what my date had. We were thrilled with everything and will go back any time we're in the area. We may drive up to Tahoe JUST to go back, honestly. Extraordinary service and food that I would have paid double for. I can't recommend it more.
After an exhilarating day of skiing , my husband and I always go to Spindleshanks for Happy Hour, Â just like we did tonight, and we've always enjoyed a great meal (going on at least 10 years). Â Tonight we dined on a fresh spinach salad, fish and chips with an Asian slaw and decadent oysters served with a rich cream sauce infused with sausage and crab. Â My husband drank a glass of wine; I drank 2 gin and tonics. Â The meal, with drinks, came to $36.00, which we consider a bargain. Â We sat near the stone fire place on a chilly Monday night, in the half-full bar. Â Our waiter was attentive. Â We have never ordered off of the regular menu nor eaten at Spindleshanks in the summer, but for apres-ski, this is our favorite restaurant: Delicious food at a great price.
Review Source:Second chance w revised expectations and we were happy.
This place is definitely better in the winter. Ambience is warm and cozy with a heavy dose of Tahoe kitsch. This doesn't cut it when it is 90 degrees out - but when it is 28 degrees and snowing it fits the bill.
I am keeping it at three stars only because the folks at the next table ordered their meal before us but were not served for over an hour despite their protests. All the servers could offer was a sorry and shrug.
So this spot is a mixed bag as someone else noted.
Great experience all around- great service, great food and great ambiance. We had never been here before and were looking for a great place to eat for New Year's Eve. Â We stumbled across this cozy restraint and enjoyed every moment of it. Our waitress Karina was really sweet and helpful suggesting great meal and wine options. We ate
"Door Stopper" salad, the rainbow trout and the butternut squash ravioli (recommended by her and homemade there)- all of which were amazing and highly recommended!!
This restaurant is a mixed bag, to say the least. Â The staff were super friendly and accommodating and the service was very fast in general. Â However, there were questionable aspects to this place. Â
We were seated outside by the fireplace and quickly asked to be moved due to the unmistakable stink of garbage cans and/or the restaurant's debris box which one employee confirmed was the source of the stench.
We ordered the beef carpaccio and oysters for starters and both were good. Â For a main course I ordered the filet mignon ($36) which came with INSTANT potatoes. Â It was those instant potatoes which prompted me to write my first Yelp review! Â Seriously, those instant potatoes represented a striking culinary juxtaposition to me since they shared a plate with a $36 filet mignon. Â
Other than the instant potatoes and the rancid-ass debris-box aromas wafting into the dining area, this restaurant was in need of some serious deep cleaning and general TLC.
I rate this establishments as one of the best restaurants on the North Shore of the lake. Consistently good appetizers and entrees. I always go with the rcommendations of the servers and have had great success.
During the summer the inside seating can be a little warm. It does not appear that they have air conditioning. They have live music and a very nice staff.
Good wine selection. Good Price/Value relationship for a resort area. A good place for dinner in the North Shore.
We went to Spindleshanks while on vacation. It was really close to our hotel so we walked. We were seated right away and service was fantastic the entire time. We ordered our drinks and got some yummy bread. I tried the wine flight #1. I like the idea of a flight because then I can sample several different wines. They give you half a glass each, so it's not like a tasting! Anyway, the wines were just OK. I would not have ordered a full glass of any in flight #1.
They have excellent food choices. I went with the Butternut Squash Ravioli and my boyfriend got the steak and chili relleno. My ravioli was really yummy and my BF's steak and relleno - OMG, delicious! It was spicy and flavorful. I would recommend either entree, but my BF scored with his dish!
I think it would have been nice to get a salad with my pasta. The steak dish came with the relleno and some grilled veggies. I kind of felt like something was missing for me. The side salads on the menu are too expensive to be considered a side, so I think that  salad should come with the pasta dish.
Even though the desserts looked wonderful, we skipped those to stop and have ice cream on the walk back.
Overall, we thought Spindleshanks was excellent. It was the best meal we had while in Tahoe and we pretty much ate everywhere on the North Shore (next time we'll rent a condo so we can do some of our own cooking).
What a treat! I'm so glad we found this place. We went to Spindleshanks on a whim, based on their happy hour (which did not disappoint) and ee sat on the deck bar overlooking the lake, which was beautiful.
The happy hour drink specials were great, and they offered flights of wine at great prices, and the wines were fantastic (Rombauer Chardonnay was one of them). The food is awesome! For Happy Hour they had a different special everyday on various food items. We had the artichoke and beef carpaccio, both were great.
Our server, Nicole, was super on it, friendly and just gave use really great service. Next time we're in Lake Tahoe, we'll definitely go back
This was the perfect restaurant for our day trip to Lake Tahoe. Â A local gave us several suggestions and after consulting Yelp, we decided on this place.
We sat on the porch, which was perfect - got the feel of being outside, but still was mostly walled off, so we didn't have to deal with little creatures sharing our meal.
The food was fantastic. Â I tried the celery soup, which was good but too filling to eat near the full bowl. Â Dinner was the butternut squash ravioli and was amazing. We got a side of creamed spinach and everyone at the table remarked how good it was and how much we liked that the spinach was whole and not chopped up. Â I split the unbelievable bread pudding for dessert. Â Everyone raved over everything they ate.
We also ordered 2 bottles of wine for the table and were impressed with both. Â The waiter was able to help us with our selection, so that we found wines that would fit all of our palettes.
I debated giving this 5 stars, but my friend's steak is the only thing holding me back. Â She got a blackened steak, which she raved over how it was cut and cooked (a perfect medium rare). Â However, it was *seriously* blackened, to the point that it was too spicy to comfortably eat. Â A little heat is expected, but it was overboard. Â She asked the waiter if he could take it and scrape off some of the spices or help her out and he acted like she was being completely unreasonable. Â (She made a point of raving to him about the cut and preparation, so as not to be a total jerk.) Â I tried it and it was really over the top spicy. Â I don't know if the usual preparation is that end of spiciness or if someone messed up. Â Either way, I would expect the wait staff to be more accommodating, especially given that we were ordering bottles of wine, appetizers, entrees, sides and (eventually) dessert. Â
I highly recommend everything there, except if you're not a fan of intense spice, stay away from the blackened steak.
When you shuck an oyster and break the shell into a thousand shards, throw it away, do not try to serve that to a customer, it's just nasty to have to spend 5 minutes spitting out little bits of oyster shell. Â Also, please let your chef know that Medium = pink and firm. Â There was zero pink. Â The waiter was very nice, and tried to explain it was the lighting. Â Fortunately, although over cooked a bit, it was still juicy enough, and tasted okay. Â Too hungry to wait for another one to be cooked. Â The creme brulee saved the dinner. Â I wouldn't go back or recommend it, but it wasn't that bad over all I guess. Â And since it was just one time, I hope we just had an off night.
$100 dinner for two I expect more. Â There was bird shit on the chair, and the jackson five for music. Â Not setting the mood, or giving good bang for the buck.
Good food is hard to find around here but this place has AMAZING food. We had a group of 11 and everybody ordered pretty much everything on the menu and every single thing was fabulous.
Our only complaint was the acoustic of the room we were in. There was another table that was celebrating a birthday and the whole time it was like hearing them screaming in our ears. We made fun of them and the loudest lady went sarcastic on us lol.
All in all, we've been coming to Tahoe on this side for many years and thanks to Yelp we found this place and it's, again, AMAZING. Service is amazing too!
Ps: soule domain is just an ok...
Went there a couple of years ago with my wife and kids, in early June. The boys and I were dressed in jeans and collared shirts, wife and daughter in dresses. Only three or four tables had patrons. After a five minute wait for a hostess they told us it would be a 50 minute wait  to seat us. The hostess was rude with a take it or leave it attitude. We chose to leave it.
We walked, out drove 5 minutes to Soule Domain they sat us in a few minutes, "invented" a kids menu and were very friendly.
We go to Tahoe about 5 times a year, each time go out to one nice place with the kids and one nice place on our own, and will never go to spindleshanks again.
Food was good, had the Calamari with rock shrimp (just ok) Wedge salad ( good) Â New York steak peppercorn with blue cheese. ( good) Halibut over fried eggplant (good).
The food was good, service was good. The place is like an old cabin setting, it is just too dark for me. I would like to see my food when I eat it..
This place is very welcoming and everyone was very friendly that worked there. We sat by the kitchen in a nice corner booth with pillows and even the cooks were having a good time listening to house music and singing loudly. We were there late on a Thursday night.
We started with tasty fresh baked bread and delicious butter. We then ordered the Baked Oysters Bienzo with Spinach, Andouille Sausage, Crab and a Cheese Blend for $15.00. If we didn't win money at the Crystal Bay Club to pay for this dinner, I'm not sure it was worth the fifteen. It was good though and they served 2 very small ones and 2 big ones. We also ordered a greens salad with almonds and cherries that was not bad but not amazing.
This place left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth because I had my mind set on the filet mignon I ordered after the waitress went in detail twice about it only to come back 10 minutes or more later to tell me they were out! I ended up picking the soup special for the night which i never touched and shared the Blackened Ribeye of Beef with Jezebel Sauce and Baked Potato for $28.00. The Jezebel sauce was delish!!! It was an orange marmalade that had a kick to it. This was enough food for my date and I to share and still both feel full at the end. The portions were all sharable and my date can EAT a lot. He actually has not only one hollow leg, but two.
Overall, I like the ambiance and family friendly vibe of the place and the food was def not bad!
Truthfully, growing up in SoCal.....this place can't compete and would have given it a 2 star for the food because of the price they charge. But the I think for Tahoe, maybe this place is considered the bombdigity?
Sorry to say but they don't know how to cook much of the entrees. Just get their appetizers.....no entrees~!! Service is slow but nice. If I had a chance to come back I wouldn't :( 1 star would actually be the correct quality of food star if it was in SoCal.
I've been to this place three times, the most recent of which was Saturday night. Â The food is always great, and the people are soooo nice!
I started with an artichoke app (happy hour is 5 to 7) and then went on to beef carpaccio (made with filet mignon - so tasty) and creamed spinach. Â My new friend, Sheila (who sat when Ted, also a lovely person, vacated his bar stool), let me try her dessert, chocolate cake with ganache - it was delicious and rich; a bite was more than enough for me. Â
I've decided this is going to be my regular go-to when I'm staying in Kings Beach. :)
I'm going to keep this short and simple:
AMAZING FOOD
Calamari & Rock Shrimp App -- delicious
Bread -- awesome! (Yes I am reviewing the free bread)
Spinach Salad -- pears, goat cheese, candied pecans. classic but well done.
Brick Chicken w/ mushroom pot stickers and Asian vegetables -- delicious.
SUPERB SERVICE
I'm a restaurant manager and would love to steal our server for my restaurant. She was fantastic.
EXCELLENT ATMOSPHERE
Great place to be and have a nice quiet dinner. (could be because it was an off season night but worked out well for us)
I went here on a Friday for happy hour (5-7 p.m.) with a girlfriend.
We sat at the bar, and each had a red wine flight - $10 for 3 half-glasses, split a delicious order of friend calamari ($12.50) and grilled artichoke with garlic which was $6 on a happy hour special.
The service is friendly, the decor is full of gorgeous wood and the ambiance is welcoming.
We almost didn't try this place, because it's not inexpensive (it seemed that in this area, there's not so much middle ground between cheap and pricey), and yelpers seem torn about it, but we had a really good experience. Â I prefer to yelp about places I like rather than complain about the places that I feel wronged me (though, admittedly, *thinking* about doing that helps me when I'm angry!), so here goes...
Very, very friendly staff--casual atmosphere despite the niceness of the food--very generous portions--waitstaff attentive but not too hover-y.
We had two specials, a shellfish appetizer in a light cocktail sauce and the filet mignon with the garlic mashed potatoes, which they offered to split onto 2 plates for us to share. Â It was a lot of food and it was all moist and flavorful and DELICIOUS!
If you feel like splurging a little, try this place. Â There are other options around in the area, but many seemed either just as pricey or not very good.
Oh, and you're in Tahoe... have fun!
OK time to update for one of my favorite restaurants.
I send my B&B guests here all the time and Spindleshanks always come through for me. Â This week my guests enjoyed so much they went two nights in a row.
I went last night for happy hour. Â Couple glasses of wine and the Ahi Napolean. Â Yum! Â Also, I really enjoyed that the girls dressed up for Halloween. Â Especially the self-proclaimed "slutty blood-sucking wench". lol
Overrated. I liked the food, but an $80 bill for two people??
The food was fairly tasty, but their plates should have been $50 or $60 instead of $80.
It wasn't worth it. They had friendly people working there, but their waitress said their wasn't lemonade and later, we found it listed on their dessert menu.
I wouldn't go back. There are cheaper, tastier resturants nearby (El Sanchos is great!)
We went for Mother's Day and were quite pleased.
Dishes at the table included an "Off Menu" Vegetable Platter for the appetizer, a Filet of Beef that was one of the specials, an Almond Crusted Halibut, a Rib Eye Steak and a Baked "Mac and Cheese." Â In all that food, it is hard to find examples of poor execution. Â So let's focus on the good.
The Off-Menu Vegetable Platter had way more than your standard vegetables -- artichoke, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, baked/stuffed chile relleno...oh and it also had squash (you didn't think it was all cool vegetables, did you?).
The three steaks were ordered at different temps (rare, medium rare and medium) and they were all delivered together and each perfectly cooked. Â One more note on the steaks....the Garlic Mashed Potatoes were amazing!
The baked Mac and Cheese for the kids was also a pleasant surprise. Â Mac and Cheese is so easy to let slide. Â Our surprise was that this dish got some serious attention. Â Lots of interesting (but kid friendly) cheeses and hey...it was baked. Â How cool is that.
We are big fans of Spindleshanks and yes, we are absolutely coming back.
What a great restaurant! I've discovered my go to restaurant in North Tahoe during my last visit there. I tried a fish dish that was a special of the day and it was pan cooked to perfection...crispy on the edges and moist on the inside. The pecan pie was sooo delicious too.
It's a cozy place with high quality food, yet it's not a flashy place at all. It's the kind of place you can come in really casual or come on a first date. Everyone was so nice and the service was excellent.
One of my goto restaurants on the North Shore of Tahoe. When the powder starts falling I'll end up here after a long day on the slopes. Great variety covering Classic American, Latin and European Cuisines. The restaurant also doubles as a fairly extensive wine bar.
My favorite is the NY Steak and Lobster tail combo.They've managed to pair two of my favorite all time foods so it's a no brainer. When I'm not feeling that decadent, the ribs, brick pressed chicken, or the housemade butternut squash ravioli can fit the bill. On the dessert side they make a superb old fashioned root beer float and a great cheesecake.
The space is large, containing a stone fireplace, with wals and struts made of knotted pine. There's a feeling throughout the restaurant that you might be in the living room of someone's chalet. The staff are a friendly bunch. Attentive, informative and knowledgeable.
The restaurant  is diverse enough to accomodate your, whether you're out on a date or celebrating with a skiing/snowboarding party of ten. I'm already looking forward to the next snow season, so I can ride in the powder and then go back to Spindleshanks and have a great meal.
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