Nepenthe

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

I have never written a review about a restaurant in my life but felt this charade as a classy establishment is a ruse. We drove all the way from Pacific Grove just to go to this joke and were extremely disappointed. Over priced and rude staff. My wife and I will never come to this establishment again. Our first encounter is our only and last. The two bartenders were rude, belligerent and abusive to our friend from Tokyo. She asked for a Margarita with a Tequila back and was handed a drink that was not a Margarita and a shot of Tequila. When asked if that was a Margarita he belligerently stated thats not how I make "my" Margaritas but that is what she asked for. He was a liar and a bully to our friend. Prior to that when I asked for a Stoleys and soda, the other bartender barely even recognized my existence so I had to say as he was walking away, that I did not want ice. He twirled around and said "what?!" with a glare in his eyes. I repeated my request and did not receive an affirmation that this little boy even heard me. I am 59 years old and can only remember a few times in all the places Ive ordered a drink that there were such punks on the other side of the counter. One of them should worry about what a person he is on the inside instead of painting himself all over the outside with tattoos thinking that makes him a man. What a loser. After that we were called for a table and we are given one other than what we requested and were waiting for. The so-called hostess went through this song and dance about this table is for that and this table is for that, and you have to have an even number of people to sit over there and I can get you this table over there if you want to wait longer. It was obvious we werent her regulars and she was saving the tables for her friends. When I said its okay and that we would sit at the table originally offered she said; " havent you been here before?!" I said it was irrelevant and that we would take the existing table. Then we sat down and were blown away by the prices; I mean absolutely ridiculous prices!!! It amazed me that they wanted us to accept the abusive, asinine service, then charge us exorbitantly for the honor of such atrocious adolescent behavior. I couldnt even eat. My wife and our friend from Tokyo ate while I relaxed with a drink. Of course this was after the waitress couldnt even get a simple drink order correct. We said we didn’t want ice in our drinks. Every drink, water, mixed drink etc, had ice. Her response: " I had no idea". Huh?! If you don’t mind paying your hard earned money for a chance to express at a cocktail party that you went to this tourist trap, go for it. If you want good service with appropriately priced food don’t even bother. The only good thing is the view.

MA

Mario Morales

Ni check in pude hacer en este lugar pues está tan retirado de todo que no hay señal -cosa que agradezco-. Si vienes por la 1 este lugar te lo recomienda desde las personas que viven alrededor hasta los artículos de revistas. Esta vez además la experiencia contó con un elemento dramático: Los incendios forestales ahí a la redonda con helicópteros llevando agua del mar a dichos lugares. Pero en el inter cero malviajes y vamos a la experiencia. Todo Carmel y Big sur está salido como del Señor de los Membrillos, altas montañas, bosques cerrados, acantilados profundos, un mar bravo golpeando del lado derecho. Este lugar es un santuario zen en medio de todo esto. En la parte de abajo hay una tienda new age llena de algo que seguro te llevarás. Después hay dos restaurantes con terraza; uno de ellos es Nepenthe, famoso por sus hamburguesas de 17 usd y por su buena onda. Parada obligada en tu tour por la 1. Aquí en Big sur hay hotelazos/spa carísimos pero que valen la pena conocer o más aún, hospedarse.

SA

Sara Swenson

Okay I waited over a month before posting the review to see if I could forget the lunch we had there. Given that it has been our go-to example of a bad meal when talking with friends for 30+ days I decided it is time to share. Location: view is great looking over the ocean that would get 4 stars Menu: items seem limited Burger: the had a "The Famous Ambrosiaburger" so we ordered two. With cheese the price is $18.25, served with your choice of garbanzo-kidney bean salad, crunchy coleslaw or tossed green salad. (Fries would be an extra $9.50!) So getting over the fact that this is basically a $20 burger I had some high expectations. Our waitress did not ask how we wanted it done so much to our surprise the delivered a basically raw burger. Only the outermost edges had any browning the interior was rare/red. She then seemed shocked that we did not want our burgers that raw as that is how the kitchen always prepares them. (Maybe this should be stated on the menu). The waitress took them back and the manager said they would cook us new burgers. If the first burger was 1 on the rare scale the next one maybe made it to a 2. But, at this point we needed to get going so we ate them. (It appears the kitchen just makes tons of burger with no regard to a specific order. Burger was below average in size the bun/roll was tasty but there was more bread than burger. And there was just the most minimal amount of lettuce, tomatoes etc to put on it. The Ambrosia sauce was fine. The "salad" that came with my burger consisted of the mixed baby greens mix that had started to go slimy and a few veggies. So for $48.51 we had what was probably the most overpriced, underwhelming food ever. (Two burgers at $18.25 each + one soda + tip). I think a burger from any fast food chain would compete. Just buy a sandwich and stop somewhere on the coast. You will get the view and a better meal.

YV

Yvette Tung

You just cant beat their view! The owners of Nepenthe know that fact, and are planning on mining it until the well goes dry (i.e. when your wallet runs out of cash). Their famous ambrosia burger is a rich mans version of an In-N-Out burger, complete with their own "secret sauce" which they call ambrosia sauce, better bread (french steak rolls vs. hamburger bun) and thicker, juicier meat. Of course, this rich mans version also costs roughly FIVE TIMES as much (six if you want to add cheese!) as the In-N-Out version. Even though youre paying roughly $14-16 for your burger/sandwich, dont expect it to come with fries. You can order their basket of fries for $7.50, which is definitely good enough to share for a table of four. We also had the tuna salad sandwich, which was delicious, although nothing out of the ordinary. Despite the exaggerated prices, Nepenthe totally would have deserved 4 stars if it werent for the service. I called a couple weeks ahead to make a reservation for a party of 7 celebrating an important birthday. The person answering had assured me that the experience would be memorable. However, upon arrival, I realized we didnt get the best seat in the house; instead we were stuck staring at a bright orange fire house, which completely stood out in our pictures. And we were one of the first customers to arrive when they opened at 11:30am, so there really was no excuse. Luckily, after lunch, we were able to take better pictures from their viewing balcony. If youre in the area, I would still recommend checking this place out, but just remember that it is more for the location than the food. Enjoy!