Why is the food so universally bad in our national parks? It’s true that they located in difficult places: food deliveries are going to be limited and expensive. But there has to be more to it than that. On our last trip to Death Valley, we waited more than forty minutes to be served a BLT at Stovepipe Wells, and when it arrived it was stone cold. The next night, at Furnace Creek, our salads and entrees arrived at the same time, within three minutes of ordering them, and well before our drinks made it to the table.

It’s as if nobody in the dining room is paying attention. And it’s not just that we’re from Napa, and used to better things. As we look around the restaurants in our national parks, we see looks of confusion and bewilderment on the faces of all the customers. Why is it so hard?

The worst restaurant we have ever visited is the one at Grant’s Grove in SEKI. A few years ago, they were simply a disaster from beginning to end: bad reception, lousy service, and terrible food, all bundled up into one restaurant. And the prices in these places are way above what you would pay anywhere else. In Death Valley, one steakhouse is asking more than $65 for a steak—and given the rest of the operation we can’t imagine that it was very good. Two days before we had eaten at Harris Ranch in Coalinga—not exactly the culinary capital of the Western World—where the steaks were certainly better, and certainly less expensive. And the service was attention, and the whole thing worked.

We wish that SOMEBODY were paying attention to this, but they are not. Sure, it might be hard to get good staff to work at a national park, (Really? Wouldn’t bright young people want to do this for a season of adventure?) but there seems to be almost no training of the people they do hire. And there seems to be no supervision in the dining room. Again, nobody there is paying attention…

The simplest explanation is that the service provider is given a monopoly, so they can add to their profits by cutting corners on quality and service without losing customers to a competitor. Customers are faced with the choice of bad food and bad service at high cost or no food and no service at no cost. Hungry people, with no alternative but to pay or else get even hungrier, will choose to pay more often than not, especially when they don't even know ahead of time that what they are buying is pretty awful until it is too late.

You gotta be fookin' kidding me. Restaurant reviews on a backpacking forum.

Dood..........


A hot dog is scrumptious in the right place. I rarely visit a park to sample the local fare. Unless it's fresh trout from a pristine alpine creek. Your methodology is suspect.

Yup, it's the product of the concessionaire contracting system. Presumably one can still get a good meal at the Ahwhahnee, but I can't guess at what cost. Curry Corp got run out of the joint quite awhile back and I've lost track of who holds the Yosemite contract.

As a lone data point, food at the Lassen visitor center was good the last time I was there. More importantly, the beer was above average.

Cheers,

This had me laughing out loud!

It's a fair response in one way, and it's not even fair at all the same time, but it's still funny as hell in an east coast way.

I think it does have a lot to do with you're being from Napa. You really are conditioned to a different standard and there's really no way to not be if you live there. That's ok though. So am I from living here.

And it doesn't mean your observations have no value. Not by a long shot. I'd look into who has the license for that concession and call them and the Fed Department that issues it and let them both know we're not getting what we're paying for.

I will say that the best restaurant managers I know have all left a lot of places because they were so restricted in how they could operate. When they've found someplace that let them run it right they turned them around fast.

I don't have that issue. Smoky Mountains located near a busting tourist town. I roll in off the trail into a Mellow Mushroom, great Mexican food, good bars, etc. LOL.

Maybe you could pool some money and buy your own restaurant near the national park that serves quality food for hikers after their day long epic!

Xanterra corp. that has the concession for DV also has Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. Having had some food at Phantom Ranch and met some of the very friendly and helpful employees, I'd have to say it's not in every case. Some of the food in Grand Canyon Village is rumored to be edible.

Drifting off-topic but that first post-hike meal can be REALLY important after some trips. Ones when the food was crappy or the stove broke or the food supply ran low and the last several miles of slog to the car we have visions of pizza or burritos or salads or...dancing in our heads. Only to have that post-meal dream dashed by circumstances.

My last trip ended at Twin Lakes after dark and by the time we got into town it was locked up tight. Our next option turned out to be a Carl's Junior drivethrough in South Lake Tahoe, after midnight. Or the time we were diverted from the highway onto a nest of Forest Service roads for hours because of a wildfire and again, all the little towns were closed and we ended up eating in a Valley Denny's at about two a.m. My friend was smart enough to order breakfast but no, I had to order "steak."

Never, ever, ever order "steak" at Denny's.

Yours for better eating,

After yesterday’s post, we did want to share a great place to eat in Bakersfield. Yes, Bakersfield. As we drove along highway 178 across town, we noticed a small café: the 24 St. Café. It isn’t hard to find. It’s on 24th St. and Highway 178. And it is everything that a small café should be: lively, fresh cooked food, inexpensive, hearty portions, friendly and helpful service. It is only open for breakfast and lunch, and even on a Wednesday it was pretty full at 12:15. But they squeezed us in at the counter, gave us our delicious lunch with a smile, provided some welcome driving directions, and had us on our way in less than 45 minutes. You can’t ask for more than that, and everyone in that restaurant was enjoying the experience, from the customers to the staff. And yes, the owner was present and paying attention to the customers with a smile.

In Stovepipe Wells we would have been just biting into our (cold) food. And paid double.

And being from Napa we all know you deserve better.