There is nothing exciting about the restaurant, but I didn't expect it to be some four-star dining establishment. Besides, it was our only choice since we didn't bring our own camp food :)

I ate three meals here but breakfast was probably the best. It usually is, in my opinion. Breakfast hours are 7 am - 10:30 am. There are daily specials, but I ordered off of the regular menu. Pancakes were okay, eggs were fine, but the toast could have used more time getting toasty, and the bacon was a bit tough. My friend's biscuit was apparently delicious.

Lunch hours are 11 am - 2 pm, and there are daily specials for the lunch hour as well. I had their special for the roast beef BBQ sandwich, which was quite tasty, and messy. I threw in some onion rings to make it decadent and was quite content.

Dinner hours are 5 pm - 9 pm. I ordered the grilled chicken with veggies. The sides were great, but the chicken was a bit overcooked. It did have good flavor, though. Beer and wine is available for purchase if you wish to get your drink on. The triple chocolate cake (hey, it was my birthday!) is quite rich and very fudgy. Everything a girl needs in a chocolate cake.

This is going to sound silly, but I honestly think the best thing at the restaurant was the water - not from the bottle! I'm a city girl through and through, and I've had some horrible tasting tap water in my life. Even my friend commented on how good the water was... it tastes how you think water should taste! Not murky, muddy or chlorinated - just fresh and pure.

Service was pretty good, though the best server we had was Angie, for our breakfast. She was very personable, attentive and quite efficient considering how many tables she was juggling.

After a half day of touring in Sequoia and on our way to Kings Canyon we decided to stop for lunch. We noticed the location of Grant Grove with a small store and a sign for a restaurant.

This is a concession in the National Park. We followed the sign around to the back of the store and found the restaurant. It has the decor of a flashback to the the beginning days of the park. Not to say outdated, or crummy, just a nice feel in a clean, friendly almost lodge type atmosphere.

We were promptly seated and provided water. We were told of the days special, a tuna melt and fires or fruit and so we ordered three.

While waiting for the food to be prepared we noticed historic photos on the walls. In addition a group from a Euorpean tour group arrived and were escorted to a banquet room out of our site.

The tuna melt was served quickly and I had the fresh fruit. I was surprised at how fresh and sweet the fruit was. After all this is a rather long distance from most markets and food has to be trucked into the park. Very nice.

As we were departing we overheard two service employees at the cash regisiter testing each other on local park information. Questions on plant and animal types. Very detail, specific responses and preparing themshelves for the many questions that come from the park visitors.

We spoke to one of the service emplyoees, Kim, and she said how much she enjoyed her job and the opporutnity to meet so many people. She told up that they quiz each other to "stay on their toes". She even turned it around and asked up a couple of trivia questions about the park.

A very pleasant stop, good food, great atmosphere, clean, quiet and very nice people to serve you. I think the tuna melt luch special was $6.95, a reduced rate from the normal menu price.

If you are passing this crossroad location, stop in a sit down for a bite, you won't regret it.

Expect a wait for a table, a wait for service and a wait for your food. Don't get excited by the quality of fare - it's a basic selection and not that well executed. When you arrive for a meal, put your name down on the clipboard by the till to join the waiting list. Your name will be called when they are ready for you. Only one of the four servers seemed to know what he was doing. Thankfully he covered for the inadequacies of our server who was clearly out of her depth.

At this time of year, there is no choice but this restaurant, and considering that, they really could stick it to you with the prices, but they do not. The food, for us, ranged from fine, to downright awful. The first night my husband had the cobb salad with chicken and blue cheese-it was very good. I had the Grilled Eggplant with a red bell pepper sauce, sauteed squash and a very strange yellow rice. The eggplant and squash was very good. They have a decent selection of wines by the glass for a very reasonable $5.50. The next night my minestrone soup was nothing but broth, it came with 1 package of crackers and when I asked for bread they brought out plain, cold sliced french bread. I ended up ordering a side order of vegetables and put it in the soup in order to have enough to eat. My husband had the trout amandine. I did not see any almonds , but he seemed to enjoy it. The atmosphere here is diner. It was ok- I got enough to eat, but was really glad I did not have to eat here a third night.