12 Best Restaurants in Lake Tahoe, California

There's often a wait for breakfast and lunch at this great little diner with pine paneling, hardwood floors, and an exposed-beam ceiling, but it's worth it. The pastries are made from scratch, the salmon is smoked in-house, the salsa is hand cut, and there's real maple syrup for the many types of pancakes and waffles.

Truckee residents and visitors jam this strip-mall restaurant for diverse breakfast fare like the biscuits-and-gravy burrito and hot lunch sandwiches that include Cubans, cheesesteaks, the Southwest chicken pepper jack on focaccia, and the formidable Dirka Dirka (corned beef, pastrami, Swiss cheese, jalapeño cole slaw). Salads, subs, and wraps are also on the menu, and there's a good beverage selection, from aloe water to Red Bull.

The ultramodern architecture of the Desolation Hotel's third-floor restaurant raises expectations even before you take a sip or bite, but the specialty cocktails, sophisticated California-inspired cuisine, and from-the-heart hospitality more than live up to them. Appetizers like grilled tuna crudo are all about the freshness, though as with recent veal chop and Dijon-crusted salmon entrées, the deftness of the saucing heightens the satisfaction.

If it's in between normal mealtimes and you're hungry for something healthful, head to this order-at-the-counter café for salads, overstuffed wraps, hot sandwiches, homemade vegan soups, all-day breakfasts, and the best smoothies in town. Dine at wooden tables in the cheery contemporary indoor space or out front on the patio, or just order food to go.

Pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and robust regular and espresso coffees are the morning specialties of this bakery whose lineup expands at lunch to include hefty salads (spinach, tuna, Chinese chicken, and a Caesar among them), chicken potpies, and dense, flavorful sandwiches served on a half dozen breads baked that day. Stand in line to order, then choose seating indoors or on a shaded patio fronting the building.

A floor-to-ceiling mural of Lake Tahoe scenes spans the longest wall of the South Shore's largest brewery's downtown outpost. The influences on homegrown beers, from light lagers to dark ales, come from as near as California and Mexico and as far away as New Zealand, the model as well for Pacific Rim flourishes that find their way into burgers, sliders, sandwiches, and a few apps and salads.

If the kids want burgers, but you want bourbon, Jason's has a full bar along with nachos, wings, and fried calamari starters; French onion soup and clam chowder; a dozen-plus sandwiches and burgers; and steak, chicken, seafood, and baby back ribs entrées. The whole place is wood, from floor to ceiling, lending it an ultrarustic feel.

The menu at this white-tablecloth restaurant, whose wide windows reveal Palisades Tahoe in all its glory, changes seasonally, but look for rib-eye or New York steak, cioppino or pan-seared fish, or a filling vegetarian dish. The Wagyu Angus burger is a favorite with regulars.

A vintage-1959 Tahoe diner, all chrome and red plastic, the Red Hut is a tiny place with a wildly popular breakfast menu featuring huge omelets; banana, pecan, and coconut waffles (cornbread, too); and other tasty vittles. A second South Lake branch has a soda fountain and is the only one that serves dinner, and there's a third location in Stateline.

A local favorite on the Old Brockway Golf Course, Spindleshanks serves classic American cuisine—ribs, steaks, house-made ravioli, and seafood with adventurous sauces. Savor a drink from the full bar or wine from the extensive list while enjoying views of Lake Tahoe or the historic greens where Bing Crosby hosted his first golf tournament in 1934.

Adherents flock to this downtown spot for breakfast to sample dozens of omelets, several variations on eggs Benedict, banana-walnut pancakes, and French toast oozing with cream cheese. At lunch, they savor homemade soups and sandwiches.

The wood-fired grill of this second-floor downtown restaurant turns out steaks, chicken, chops, and fish dishes that might include halibut with coal-roasted tomato and braised fennel. As with the food, the decor is New West contemporary—bricks line the wall behind the bar, where mixologists craft drinks like the Magnolia (tequila, macadamia nut, lemon, pineapple, and bitters) and, in tribute to Truckee's bootlegging past, pour artisanal small-batch gin and whiskey.