Restaurant at River Inn Big Sur

Love this place. I stop by whenever I'm in the area. Great drinks and good people.

A Nice Place to Get a Romantic Bite to Eat in Big Sur.

The restaurant is spacious, with lots of indoor eating—some tables are next to a fireplace—or for outdoor eating in a big patio overlooking a small river. There are also quaint, secluded cottages across the street, so you can make it a nice, romatic evening with a loved one—or anyone for that matter.

I ordered the Angus Beef Burger ($17), a grilled burger, served on a brioche roll, with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles; served with a choice of fries, sweet potato fries, house salad, or cole slaw. The burger was cooked to a medium and tasted great—it had the grill marks with a nice char on the outside. My wife ordered the Castroville Pasta ($15), a medley of artichoke hearts, vegetables, pesto cream sauce, over flat pasta; you can add marinated, grilled chicken for $6 more. She absolutely loved it—I was really looking to order it, with the chicken, but she claimed it. The kids each ordered a kids cheeseburger, with all the fixins’. It was similar to mine, but smaller and thinner patties. They loved it too.

Overall, it’s a good place to get a decently priced meal... considering a lot of the places in the remote mountainous wilderness of Big Sur charge high-than-California-average prices.

The baby back ribs were pretty Awesome

Fantastic restaurant with great food and good service. My second visit there both times were wonderful. I highly recommend this restaurant.

The frigid morning cold really ruined the experience. The restaurant has pretty much no insulation so unless you're seated directly next to the single fireplace, you're going to be freezing cold. The cold then affects everything else. The hot beverages quickly turn cold and the food is served pretty much frozen as well. We're sure the breakfast would have been good but by the time the plates arrived, the potatos and thick slices of bacon were too cold and hard to chew through. The staff was also less attentive because they were too busy staying warm too. We really wish we hadn't stopped here considering the high prices if we had known it wouldn't be warm like we hoped and that the cold would ruin everything.