Nephele’s Restaurant

So, Five hungry women walk into a restaurant, looking for fun food, and delicious drinks…
We found JUST THAT, and then some…
Firstly, please allow me to tip my hat to Kimmy, our waitress! She’s about as good as it gets! She was so pleasant, genuinely warm, attentive but never hovering, informative, fun loving (my new nickname is Soups! We had a GREAT laugh over that!) and professional! She was 75% of the success of our visit! All of her rocommendations were a hit!
The Ambiance: We were seated in a smallish room off to one side of the restaurant. The restaurant isn’t overly large to begin with. As I said we were a party of five, and that was just comfortable and we didn’t feel cramped, but I probably wouldn’t go much bigger than that (personal preference). The décor is warm and comfortable, and simply elegant.
The Food: The star of the evening. We ordered, well… There wasn’t much we didn’t order. Some stars, the Seafood Cheesecake. I’ve never had anything like it. Rich, cheesy, savory, delicious on it’s own or with the yummy sourdough bread the table is served! We recommend it. The cauliflower curry soup special was good. Not a hit with everyone at the table, but passing fair. I’d try a salad next time. The two main dishes of the table were the Chilean Sea Bass and the Elk Tenderloin. Lets start with the Sea Bass!!! Holy Handmaidens! Light, PERFECTLY seasoned, buttery, and just damn good! Secondly the Elk Tenderloin, was served perfectly medium rare, was so tender you could almost cut it with your dinner fork. Not gamey, and the pesto and red sauce served with were such a delicious compliment. The sides for both dishes were a perfect compliment.
We were so full by dessert, we could barely think of ordering one. But gluttony won out, and we choose the Apple something-​or-​other. Regardless of me not remembering what I was putting in my mouth, I distinctly remember it tasting of a yummy oatmeal with apple. If you like oatmeal and apples then you will LOVE this dessert! I promise you it was really good, but we were way too full to enjoy it properly!
Lastly, the cocktails! Delicious, generous pours, sufficiently strong, and tasty! VERY satisfactory!

A week or so back my family dine out on one of the farmers market night. We thought what a cute place. Restaurant staff was nice and friendly, service was great however what was lacking from our meal was great tasting food for the amount it cost for this dinner out. Over $ 200 for food and drinks, 3 adult (1 cocktail each) and I child, it was just a bit much. I had shrimp place which was mediocre at best and husband and friend had the Elk. Very bland in taste and no taste that jumps out as unique or interesting. It was quite the disappointment and for the amount of money we spent, unfortunate that this place missed the mark with their dishes.

We love this place. Bar is low key but awesome at the same time. The food is beyond rad. Hubby had the elk and loved it. I had the shrimp and it was fantastic. The mac n cheese lollipops are great. Love this place.

A few Fridays ago, a dozen girls rolled up to Nephele’s to celebrate our friend’s bachelorette weekend and a fun, if slushy day on the slopes.
We were enticed by the promise of happy hour within a friendly, cosy space, and Nephele’s did not disappoint. We enjoyed freshly made cocktails, chilled rose, and assortment of hot wings, handcut fries, and other tasty nibbles, in the relaxed and comfortable bar area where a lovely lady named Jeanette so kindly plied us with food and drink.
Later on, this fine human being would become my personal hero as somehow my snowboarding mini-​wallet fell out of my pocket. When she found it a day later, she called to verify my address and then mailed it to me — with credit card, driver’s license, and cash intact!
Now that is *more* than service — that’s kindness in action. Thank you, Nephele’s and Jeanette! You really made our afternoon, and my day. Can’t wait to head back there next time.

Love this place to peices. You literally can point on anything in the menu and your garunteed to like it. Definetly recomend this place. But be warned, it is a bit pricy

This place is quite expensive but the food is sooo damn goood. There was steak that was alright but the rice included resembled a risotto. The lamb on the other hand is like ugh, so good. The bread they included at the beginning was intresting. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

We were looking for lunch but quickly realized not many places are opened for lunch. They opened at 2:00. It is cute inside. Part of the problem was that only the bar was opened. We had to order off the bar menu. There were 4 of us, we ordered 6 appetizers, nothing was great. We were a bit disappointed.

Thoroughly enjoyed our last night in Tahoe with dinner at Nephele’s. We were warmly greeted by the hostess, who checked back frequently with water refills. Our duck appetizer was delicious, and the broccoli soup of the day was perfect! We tried two specials, one better than the next. The elk was perfectly prepared and the orange roughy was moist and flavorful. Both were accompanied by complementary sides. We splurged on the raspberry crêpe dessert… save room… it’s worth it! Our knowledgeable server Kylee was efficient and charming. All in all, it was a wonderful meal in a lovely setting, and a grand finale to our Tahoe vacation.

A gem of a place that I just stumbled upon courtesy the great Unilocal rec’s. Absolutely delightful and delicious cuisine. Was deeply intrigued by the grilled elk and it did not disappoint. I arranged for a group of 18 (my company was on a weekend retreat) and the service and food were stellar. We got a private room and it set the perfect mood to the end of a fun weekend. The wine pairing were also quite lovely. A definite must on our next trip up!

Great place in SLT to that is not in a casino. Bar area had couches and my GF and I just chilled shooting the breeze without the noise and craziness of a casino. Bartender gave awesome service and appetizers that were perfect amount of food. My only negative would be the booze selection is not that great… did not have much whiskey or wine options.

Totally loved this place. My husband and I went here to celebrate V-​day a day before.
We ordered the shrimp cheesecake — 10 stars for the taste (I am not a big fan of seafood, husband is but I loved this appetizer). The bread served on the table was oh so soft. The sauce of this appetizer and the bread goes very well together. Save some bread to eat with the appetizer instead of dipping it all in the oil and having it (trust me you will feel like having all the soft and hot bread at once).
For main course, we ordered Chicken Marsala and Salmon. Both the entrées came with soup/​salad. We opted for the soup and again it was just so delicious. Everything was amazing and presentation was very beautiful too. This was the best Chicken Marsala I ever had. I have tried quite a few places since I mostly end up ordering chicken :)
After the dinner, we had reservations for the personal hot tub. We had a long day and the hot tub experience left us feeling oh so relaxed.
We will come back again for sure. Loved the food, our servers and the service. Thanks for making our day so special :)

Celebrated a 12 anniversary here. Great food, great service, good time.

This was our first dining experience in Tahoe and it was a hit.
The restaurant is small, warm and tucked away. The ambiance is inviting and almost feels like you’re at your aunt’s house who’s kinda fancy :-)
The food was excellent! They truly had a way with their flavors.
The ahi tuna appetizer was delicious! Would recommend it to anyone.
The waitress Kim was attentive but not annoying and gave great recommendations.

Walking in, in spite of being absolutely stuffed from dinner, the delectable scents wafting out were almost enough to make me ask for a menu. Instead we sat at the square bar, cozy and decently stocked, and ordered a couple of ryes from Wendy.
Didn’t get a really good look at th dining area, but it looked like there’s a couple separate rooms, one had a long, family style table I think was a private party, maybe. The bar area has a couple high tops and a neat couch/​coffee table area, great for groups. There’s one TV and folks were just hanging out, chatting with everyone there. Awesome group of peeps last night!
Only reason I’ve rated Nephele’s four stars is we had no food. Next visit to Tahoe believe me, we will have dinner here!

Living in SF, I guess I’m spoiled, but I expected better from a place with so many reviews and a 4-​star average rating. It’s your grandparents’ version of dressy Italian. They had some decent dishes, including great steak, but nothing was really balanced. When we went, everything was paired with a really blah spaghetti squash. That’s the kind of vegetable you need to put some serious thought into presenting, it’s not something you just throw on every plate. And we ordered a few appetizers, all of which came in mini-​lasagna dishes and baked with a mound of budget cheese.
Basically, the cuisine has no imagination and it feels like the chef burned out sometime before the turn of the millennium. I wouldn’t go back.

I came up to South Lake Tahoe for to visit Nephele’s Restaurant for the first time in years. I think I was 18 or 19 when I first came here. I hear this place and the adjoining hot tubs have been here since the 80’s. This was a surprise mid week visit. The restaurant wasn’t too crowded at all. When I saw what restaurant my BF had picked out, I kind of knew what he had in mind for after dinner! We enter and are greeted and seated. It’s not super stuffy formal or too Tahoe casual in here like some places. Sort of romantic.
Drink orders are taken of 2 glasses of house red. Looking over the menu, I see The Stuffed Mushrooms and Warm Spinach Salad in the starters section that seem like something we’d like. I say we, because we like to share everything we order, that way you get to taste more food! So we start with the Stuffed Mushrooms ($ 12.00) described as Fresh mushroom caps filled with a sun dried tomato basil torte, baked with California White Cheddar and Chipotle cheese. Also we share the Warm Spinach Salad ($ 12.00) tossed in a warm bacon and mushroom dressing with caramelized pecans. That one sounded yummy! My BF wanted this to be romantic and a date so no food posing for pics this time.
After putting in the order for appetizer and salad, we continued browsing the menu. I decided on the New Orleans Roasted King Salmon ($ 28.00), described as roasted salmon with a spiced sugar rub with Lump Crab Meat finished with a Creole Champagne mustard glaze. My BF, with lamb being one of his faves, ordered the New Zealand Rack of Lamb ($ 38.00) served with a fresh rosemary pomegranate glaze finished with a Chanterelle Mushroom demi port sauce, cooked med. rare. The entrees come with soup or salad and house baked bread at the table. We skipped the soup or salad since we had the spinach salad and mushroom appetizer. The baked bread was very good, but I tried not to get filled up on it.
The Stuffed Mushrooms arrive first. We both share as I fork one of those scrumptious morsels into my mouth. Oh, the sun dried tomato and basil blend so nicely with the cheeses as the mushroom cap hold it all together. You must get this one! Then the salad arrives, we tell the server to just put it in the middle as we both fork out of the same plate. The bacon dressing is divine! The hot dressing wilts the spinach just right to make the leaves so nice and tender without being like soft boiled spinach. This is a winner too. Another round of wine is ordered before our entrees arrive. Coming here is such a nice surprise, this is a good place to remember to come to!
Our entrees arrive and my salmon is plated so nice as is his lamb rack. These are New Zealand lamb racks, so the meat won’t be those big lamb chop thingies that look like little rib eye steaks. More sort of petite, but very tasty. My first bite of my salmon was heavenly, cooked just right for me. The glaze went well with the salmon. I reach over and grab a lamb rack chop, he smiles and then takes a fork full of my salmon. It was a nice lamby taste, you better like lamb, and I liked the bone to suck on. The restaurant will split plates for you but that’s $ 5.00 bucks extra, I rather just eat of each other plates! We both enjoyed our entrees but we skipped dessert. We didn’t want to get too stuffed for the next stage of our evening here at Nephele’s …and that was a visit to the private hot tubs attached to the restaurant! That’s where dessert is gonna happen!
Service was perfect all evening and the food was good. Maybe not absolute top of the game Napa Valley or NY good, but right up with all the good Tahoe restaurants, no real misteps and having the hot tubs next door is the key to this place where food isn’t the only attraction!

I would LOVE to say that I had the privilege of eating here, however, despite a confirmed email reservation by management, I still called the day of to confirm and a gentleman named Mark told me he did not have my reservation and would NOT honor the confirmed email reservation. This was very disappointing and the lack of care for customer service was disheartening. I will never try this restaurant; if they can’t help a customer before we even get there how will they be to me when I’m there? If you decide to have dinner here I would call a week in advance to confirm the reservation, especially if it’s an important night like mine was.
Tim, thank you for the response. Look for an email sent posted Email regarding your Unilocal comment. Have a good night.

I took a quick Friday and Saturday trip in August for a little R&R. I ate at Nephele’s both nights I enjoyed meal one so much. First night I order elk. Nicely prepared and very tasty. Second night I order the filet. It was even better than the elk. My wife’s dinners were also excellent.
As important as the meals was the wine list. I usually don’t appreciate Wine Spectator «wine restaurants» but this one was a pleasant surprise. A very nice list with some interesting nuggets. Even better the prices were more than reasonable on a few of the bottles.
Only minor complaint, the reds are served too warm. No problem… I asked for an ice bucket and chilled the wine to the proper temp. By the way corkage is a very reasonable $ 15.
Service was excellent and the price is reasonable given quality and the fact it is located in South Lake Tahoe. I will return.

Great place expensive. But clean hot tubs great to go at night and watch stars 20 per hour for hot tub very relaxing expecially after a lamb dinner
Born and raised in tahoe I’ve been here about a dozen times eat there once but get hot tubs love your location and eveything

OMG! The lamb chops and warm spinach salad are my favorite! The place is very rustic and looks like someone’s living room.
I can’t remember what my boyfriend ordered but he kept saying how good his meal was.
The dessert was delicious too too bad I can’t remember the name.
The bartender and waiters are friendly, great service, great food and the price is moderate. The bill came up to $ 140 including tips and drinks and I ordered their house Zinfandel.
We’ll return!