Rocker @ Squaw

The day my family and I went to Squaw we stopped by Rocker for lunch after having some fun tubing. We were greeted and seated as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it took almost an hour until our food arrived after we ordered! We felt weary and our outlook was bleak, but the thing that influenced me to give at least 3 stars was that they gave us 50% off of our total bill as an apology for the dreadful wait. The food was also excellent for me and my party, and we felt very warm and comforted after our meal. Maybe it was an off day in the kitchen and the place was super busy, but I hope it doesn’t happen often. I still thank the front-​of-​house for being warm and hospitable to our party despite how busy and packed the restaurant was.

I’ve been here twice in the past month, and have had two polar opposite experiences.
The first time we came in, we were told the wait would be approximately 20 – 30 minutes. This was just before the lunch rush, about 11:30AM on Jan 1^st. Not too bad for NYE weekend. We opted to sit at the bar, seeing as two people were leaving and we could be seated right away there. All is well. We ordered two drinks off the tap, and placed and order for a soup and burger. Everything was fine and standard. Food took around 10 minutes to come out, a little longer than I thought, but we were hungry so it did not really bother us too much. I would have probably gave this place 3 stars because the tap selection was decent and the burger came out medium rare by default, and that’s my style. Also, the GF saw one of the bar backs smell if a glass was OK to use still. Interesting.
The second time, and maybe my last ever, was extremely different. I may have said this in previous reviews, but I really wish Unilocal gave us the option to give 0 stars. The entire experience was pretty dismal and very disappointing.
After having a good experience during our first visit, I recommended to my family staying with us at the resort to come to The Rocker for their burgers. We came to the restaurant with 4 out of the 9 staying with us. We were told the wait would be short, and were seated in less than 10 minutes. However, before being seated, one of the members in my party decided that he wanted to order food for the rest of our group that was staying back in the hotel room.
The manager on duty declined his request for take out. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. WE WERE DECLINED TAKE OUT.
Her reason being that the kitchen staff was backed up. Now, to my understanding, if this place was run by intelligent individuals, take out should never be declined. Take out = quick revenue. You place an order, you wait for your food, you pay for you food and you leave. Ordering at the table would be 5x the length of that simple request. You wait for a table, wait for your server, wait to place your order, wait for your food, and ultimately pay the same price you would have if you wanted to take out.
In my experience in both retail, food, and logistics. To decline this source of revenue to a customer, even at a busy time, would be plain stupid. For that portion alone, we should have left. But, seeing as though we were on the resort, we wanted to have our burgers and bring food back to the children waiting hungry in the hotel room. So, we stayed. Unfortunately.
After waiting a few minutes, our server (Amelia) came. We placed our drink order and waited a few more minutes after they came to place our food order. Since there was no take out at the time, we actually ordered the our food plus the meals we wanted to bring upstairs. Requesting the latter to be packed to go. Amelia repeated that they were not doing take out at the time and that she would bring the boxes out when the food came out. Not her fault, just poor business management. Again, you’re wasting dishes and time. We placed our order anyway. The food came out 15 – 20 minutes later and everything was luke warm. If the kitchen is busy, the food should be pumped out as quickly as possible and hot. The fries were not the same when we ordered them previously. They were dry, and barely above body temp. Clearly they were cooked a while ago and left under the heat lamp for who knows how long. The burgers were all ordered medium or medium rare and each one came out cooked differently.
My Cousin had difficulty cutting his burger in half, and guessed that the burger was cooked well done instead of medium rare. But really, the wax wrapper from the cheese was still left on and melted in the burger. How does this even happen?! We let our server know after she came back around and was informed that the burger would be taken off of our bill. That’s the least amount of appeasement I would expect, but would suffice for the inconvenience. All is OK after that and we finish our meals. They actually ended up packing up our take our order because of the whole burger with a side of wax ordeal, which was nice. After our plates were cleaned off from hunger, we waited a good while for our server to come back, and finally request for our check. We receive the check and burger was not taken off. :/​We had to re-​confirm that there were x amount of burgers, including the one requested for take out, and that one was told to be taken off of our bill. We got the ordeal taken care off and were on our way.
Bringing my family members that have spent money to snowboard, stay at the resort, and then have a sub-​par experience at The Rocker, was a mistake. It was such an embarrassing display of service, both my GF and I (both season pass holders) had to apologize multiple times to our family.
Avoid coming here at all costs if it even looks remotely busy. Go 11mi up the road to McDonalds, it’ll save you time and money.

Extremely dissatisfied. We dined in last night, and waited 25 minutes for our waitress to come and introduce herself. She was occupied with the young group of men on the other side of the restaurant. Tomato soup was watered down and not at all creamy as described. My 7 year old even picked that up. After waiting for another 20 min for our food to arrive and 2 hungry kids… I had to track the waiter down and ask for our food. Terrible terrible service and food. Will not go back-​ever.

Our visit started with extremely friendly hostesses and what looked like a good menu, and me and my party couldn’t wait to eat. We started with what was supposed to be the honey BBQ wings. When they were brought to the table, we were almost choking simply from the intense vinegar smell coming from the wings, and at first we actually thought that the wings may have spoiled. Figured out it was the sauce on them that smelled so terrible and upon tasting them it tasted like watered down vinegar and buffalo sauce. According to the extremely rude waitress, that’s just apparently how their BBQ sauce is supposed to be, but considering they were almost inedible we sent them back (we were not offered a remake or replacement food, our server just took them and stormed off grumbling). Also, the ranch that we got to dip the wings and veggies in also tasted extremely watered down and was the consistency of milk. At this point the last 3 people in our party showed up and as the hostess went to seat them with us, our server went over and told them «no, don’t do it» and became even more rude and condescending about letting the rest of our party join us. After about 15 minutes of basically arguing with her, everyone was finally seated at the table and our meals followed shortly after. We ordered 2 BBQ chicken sandwiches (one with ½&1/2 and one with onion rings), a salmon cake, and a side order of onion rings. The «BBQ» chicken sandwiches had less flavor than the wings and again, tasted like vinegary watered down buffalo sauce and the chicken was incredibly dry. The French fries and onion rings were all so over cooked that when you hit them off the plate, it sounded like you were hitting rocks off the glass. We tried a couple onion rings but they were literally painful to eat because of how hard they were, and the fries were almost completely empty solid shells. The salmon cake was apparently decent according to the person who ordered it, but it was incredibly small and wasn’t enough for a meal. After settling our bill with the manager (who was incredibly nice at first but then charged us $ 30 for what was easily the worst food experience any of us had ever had), we went to fireside pizza to get a real meal and it was incredible.
End of story: if you want to waste an hour not eating absolutely terrible food and you’re ok with just throwing money away: this is the place for you. If you want good service and food that’s at least edible, I would definitely look elsewhere.

We came up to Squaw for the day to do a little bit of skiing right at the beginning of the season. We came here for lunch to take a break off the mountain. The place is very cozy, there were tons of people there in their ski gear. We were greeted and seated right away.
My husband was bummed that they were out of some of their beers, but I do understand it was a bit of a transitional time and he was happy with what he ended up with.
I had the BBQ chicken sandwich and my husband had a burger. We were ravenous and were not disappointed when our food came! The burger was juicy, cooked to the right temperature and seasoned well. My BBQ chicken sandwich was really good too, I could have used some more sauce on it though. The fries were crispy and we were able to make them garlic fries. The onion rings were crispy and the batter did not fall apart. Our server was good and always kept our water filled which was nice.

What? No mor GNAR Burger? This is part of Squaw Valley’s lore, now diminished once again by ‘new management’. Ridiculous!
Back to Chamois for our family!

The wait was over 35 minutes and they didn’t have the outside open for customers. I enjoyed my order of wings (buffalo). The hottest waiter I have seen in a while and the supernachos were giant. Overall I thought this restaurant deserved a 4 star. It could have been better or faster service and food, but good quality of food.

1^st, let me say that the food is not the issue here. It was adequate. Not anything to write home about and expensive, but hey, it’s Squaw Valley. Average soup and somewhat flavorless. My 11 year old son had the grilled cheese with jalepenos and bacon and avacado for $ 16.00 and I had the tomato soup for $ 6.00. Simple right?
Well, we got there at 1:30PM thinking we were behind most of the ski crowd. Place seemed to be winding down but we still had a ½ wait, which was ok. They were crowded and I understood. We did get seated at 2PM and that’s where the problems started. We were immediately approached by the waitress which we thought was a good sign. She took our drink orders right away. Good news. In 5 minutes (2:05) she took our order. Soup and grilled cheese. About that time another group of 4 to our left sat down and ordered right after us. 20 minutes later a family of 4 adults and 2 kids sat down to our right and they got their orders taken by the same waitress. At about 2:40 the group of 4 to my left got their orders and their drinks refreshed. We were still waiting. Then at 2:45PM the group of 6 to our right got all their food. All this from the same waitress. I tried to flag her down several times but she avoided my eye contact. Finally we decided to leave which was hard since I had ordered a beer and needed to pay for it. I left the $ 6.00 for the Coors Light I ordered. As we were getting up and putting our coats on she came by to talk to me. She said they misplaced my order and the food would be right up in 1 minute. This was at 2:50. My 11 year old was starving so I decided to stay. We got our food at 3:05. Remember this was pre-​maid soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. My son also asked for ranch dressing instead of catchup. He got a grilled cheese sandwich without the ordered bacon and avacado and no ranch. By this time both our waters were empty and my soup was cold. In the waitress’s defense she did apologize and took the soup off the bill and only charged for the sandwich. However, what I don’t understand is how she could possibly not see us in obvious discomfort between 2 tables of well fed patrons and not have noticed. I just wonder what it was she saw in us that thought we’d be bad customers so it was ok to completely ignore us. It almost seemed personal.

Here we were walking around squaw valley village trying to eat breakfast on a Sunday morning. Little did we know that we were screwed. Not very many options. The Rocker had a sign advertising $ 10 breakfast skillets on Sundays. Sounds good, right? They don’t open until 10am. The skillet is the only breakfast item, but that’s ok. The skillet came out and it looked pathetic. Clearly this place needs to stick with non breakfast food. I think the skillet should be on the kids menu. The service… was also average at best. I’m sick and tired of these places thinking they can get away with average food and service because of their great location. Good bye!

So, 5 stars for the awesome bartender, Ryan, (a blonde female), we had. She stepped up and made some amazing basil gimlets that she admittedly had only made a few times before– and they were amazing.
Happy hour is a great deal here.
Very much a sports bar atmosphere, but less bro-​brah than most. That being said, we were there on a Tuesday evening.
For you old schoolers, Rocker is where the Blue Coyote was located 4 years ago.
We had great bar service from an awesome bartender. Always a great sign. Will return.

If there was a way to give Rocker no stars, that would be suitable. I’m writing this in the restaurant as it’s been an hour and still haven’t gotten food. Drinks were watered down, had to return my appetizer because it was wrong and the service has been horrible. 18% gratuity is added to the bill for large parties, so why even work right? Just hang out get paid go home. No need to serve the customers. Could have driven to dominos in Sacramento and back and might have my food.

The burger my husband had was really big and juicy and he loved it, my chicken sandwich was ok, it was really dry it needed some kind of sauce.

It’s somewhat hard to write this review as I work on the same property but after 3 failed attempts at getting my orders correct, I have to say something.
I always get my food to go and take it back to the office. Each time something has been wrong and needing correction.
The first time I ordered nachos, no guacamole (as I am allergic to avocado). I waited the requested 10 minutes, walked down, picked up my order, headed back to my office, opened the box and found nothing but chips & cheese. No beans, no sour cream, no jalapenos, no pico… nada. Just chips and cheese. I called to let them know and was told that I could come pick up the missing ingredients. OK… I’ve already wasted 15 minutes of my 30 minute break walking back and forth picking the order up and calling to request the correct items but sure, I’ll spend the remainder of my break to pick up ingredients to an order of nachos that was now cold and uneaten as my break was over.
The second time I thought I would order something cold that wouldn’t have to be eaten straight away and opted for a salad. I requested to change the cheese from goat cheese to blue cheese. I again waited the requested time and retrieved my order. When I got back to my office, I saw that the blue cheese was there but realized the salad was missing dressing and the candied nuts. Dry salad it was for lunch. Strike 2.
Figuring it had to be a fluke the previous 2 times, I opted to give them one more shot. I went simple and ordered a side of macaroni and cheese and a side of veggies. After 10 minutes of waiting, I walked down and retrieved my order. Back at the office, I opened my boxes and realized that the order was right; low and behold. I was excited to finally have a great Rocker experience but little did I know, the excitement was going to be short lived. The first bite of mac & cheese offered a bland, oily, slightly cheesey taste in my mouth and that’s «hyping» it up. I thought the introduction of hot sauce would help and while it provided more flavor, the mac and cheese was just blah. I closed up the box up and opened the box of mixed veggies. They smelled amazing! I inhaled deeply. I speared a chunk of bell pepper and zucchini and popped them in my mouth. Again I was met with lackluster flavor, lots of grease/​oil and nothing more. The smell was SERIOUSLY misleading. The smell was a 10 and the taste was a 2. Strike 3 Rocker, strike 3.
During my 3^rd and final attempt @ ordering (the mac & cheese situation), it was even brought to the attention of the manager that was standing there when I picked up my order. The manager offered nothing more than a half-​assed «oh bummer, that sucks» type of response. No apology, no offer of a free meal, a soda on the house, nothing. It was simply a shrug of the shoulders and an «oh bummer» response.
I’ve never eaten in the restaurant so I cannot speak on their level of service, the cleanliness of the restaurant or any other matter related to dining in. But after 3 strikes, no concern about the mistakes made and the seemingly always empty restaurant, Rocker will definitely not be getting my business again.

I was going out for a nice trip at Lake Tahoe where I went with my family and friends and we were searching for a good place around Squaw Valley. Now because there are a decent amount of places to grab a bite, we figured that the food here was good.
We were seated as a part of 9 right away and the place definitely looks nice inside where it’s pretty modern. They have a decent sized menu from appetizers, to sandwiches, entrees, and desserts.
The food was definitely good. I had a Rocker Burger with tomatoes, lettuce, and Swiss cheese with a side salad. Even without my request of how I wanted my meat cooked, it was very juicy and tasteful. The salad was well mixed and I had balsamic vinaigrette as the dressing.
But the most grueling part of the experience was the service. It took our food nearly a half an hour and everyone around the table was wondering how long the food was taking. Then, our waitress barely checked in on how we were doing with the drinks and the taste of food. We were asked by the manager about the quality of the food. It’s ridiculous that this man did what every waiter or waitress must do and at least we got something, but it was unacceptable service from the waitress. I don’t know exactly what she was doing behind the bar. She didn’t seem very attentive to her customers since she barely looked around the restaurant.
The overall experience was pretty bad other than the food wasn’t bad at all. But from the service standpoint, I’m the utmost disappointed customer that this place for the kind of food they make and they don’t do a good job with looking out for their customers…

After a few hours at High Camp, we opted to head to the village for a late lunch and chose Rocker based on a recommendation. It was mid afternoon on a summer Sunday and our group of 4 was quickly seated in this casual slightly elevated restaurant and bar with nice presentation and ambience.
A decent selection of beer, some wine, and a full bar. Some interesting improved bar food options on the menu. Our lunch consisted of:
* Rocker Burger with a happy egg
* Chipotle Black Bean Burger
* Smoked BBQ Chicken sandwich
* and my Mac N Cheese with Fries on the side
I had a taste of the Black Bean Burger and it was really pretty good and tasted like an inhouse bean burger (not frozen). My Buffalo Bleu Mac n Cheese was from the secret menu. Delicious and decadent.
Service from Sheree was superb and friendly. We had been told about the Gnar burger from an insider on the outside. We asked about this gargantuan burger rumor. Danny offered his knowledge of this seasonal indulgent burger as well as the origins of GNAR (Gaffney’s Numerical Assessment of Rad).
Overall a really nice experience, good food, great service and great company.

There are plenty of options in the Village at Squaw. Rocker is advertised as a high end burger bar, and while the food was alright, the service was below par on a light Monday night. There were only a few other tables when we walked in. The waiter we had was unfriendly, used a condescending tone when we asked for recommendations, and again when we ordered our burger (make our own), dessert (smores in a jar), and hot chocolate.
There’s a Unilocal check-​in promotion for this place and when we showed it to him before he brought his check, he told us it might not be possible to use it. After some convincing and displeasure on our part, he took our iPhone for 10 minutes and did not apply the coupon. He had to refund us and try it again…
Food is minimally better than average. Sky high prices. Bad service. Try any of the surrounding establishments for a better experience.

We wanted to eat somewhere new this trip, so we decided to try a place at one of the resorts. It was too rainy to actually do snow sports though.
Rocker stood out the most. My boyfriend got a pulled pork sandwich, with onion rings. He gobbled the sandwich down. I got the nachos with no beans.
The nachos were amazing. Slathered with melted cheese, the queso on the bottom (though I would have preferred it on the top), and the best guacamole I’ve ever had in my life. If we come back later this season with our two for one passes, we’re going to eat here again.

This is a great place for expensive food after a good day on the snow. It’s actually one of the better places at the village but one of the more pricey ones too.

This is a great place to stop for a giant plate of delicious nachos and a round of beers and shots. The nachos are perfect to share with multiple people. I’ve seen live bands performing outside with some rocking loud music. There are plenty of tables for everyone to enjoy the crisp fresh outdoor air.

Okay, I am going to be the odd man out here and give this place 5 out of 5 stars. Not only was the food hearty, scrumptious and satisfying… But affordable! I apologize if you are reading this review and are thinking, «Oh, this girl just doesn’t know what upscale food is… That’s why she gave it five stars.» Dude, after a day of snowboarding, the last thing I want is tiny plate of filet of wild salmon in a white wine reduction. I want something hearty and delicious!
Four of us, started with the jalapeño poppers which were UBER spicy and rich. Delicious. I had the lentil spinach skillet with a fried egg and it was so flavorful and filling. The guys in the group had the pulled pork sandwich, with half onion rings and half fries. They both agreed that they would make a trip out to squaw specifically, just to repeat that exact meal again.