Brunch in Yosemite Valley

usbackroads destination--brunch in Yosemite Valley

The place for brunch in the Yosemite Valley is the Ahwahnee Dinning Room.  This has been a California tradition for years.  Dinning at the Ahwahnee dinning room is a special occasion type place.  Dinner requires a tie and LONG pants!!  Well, not sure there is any dinner that is worth that!!  Lunch looks like it will cost you in the $20 range.  However, Sunday brunch is $39 and if you time it right it is breakfast, lunch and dinner for the entire day!!

So that was our call.  We made reservations several day earlier.  There was a very short wait.  It seems for dinner and lunch even with reservations your wait can be quite awhile since people tend to linger over lunch and dinner.  There is a nice fireplace just outside the waiting where you will meet all sorts of distinguished and interesting people.  As in all public places discretion is highly recommended before striking up a conversation.

The food was good, but not exceptional.  However, it is hard to have a good buffet with exceptional food given the wide variety of items and the necessary wait times.  So some foods like seafood tend to be overcooked just because of the buffet nature.  But there is plenty of variety and I am sure that you will find something to appeals to your taste buds. 

My favorite was a simple cheese and avocado omelet cooked to order just right.  I would be great if we could find a buffet where they cook to order seafood!!  The Ahwahnee has a good wine list so a bottle of wine is a good idea to go along with brunch.

Now this is the most difficult part.  Desert.  Of all the various foods desert was by far the best part of the brunch at the Ahwahnee.  So this might be the case of eating desert first!!   In any case, you will waddle out feeling full and contented with your lot in life, particularly if it is a warm, sunny winter day.

Here is a view of the dinning room with its 34 foot ceiling.  There was a piano player for music while you eat.  One of the servers joined him to sing "What a Wonderful World".  He even sounded a bit like Satchmo. 

So brunch at the Awahnee.  Expensive, particularly when you add the wine.  However, we only pass through Yosemite Valley on rare occasions.  If fact, I believe it has been 36 years years for me and Susie's first time in the Valley.

Don't miss brunch or Yosemite Valley for that matter.  Since the early 1900's there has been only ONE Yosemite Valley on the face of the earth.  More on this topic soon. 

So go now and take some bicycles and they do not have to be electric to best explore the valley.