Total transparency here - some things you likely already know if you are in Alaska and reading this - trying to find a great place to eat. Happy to help, friend. First, this is the restaurant / main dining area inside the lodges at Denali Park Village. We were staying and very happy to have dining options close by and that didn't require obtaining transportation. There isn't much close by, so you are (almost) relegated to this option. The upside - the food was good. Nothing amaze balls, but everyone enjoyed their entrees. We had two cocktails and didn't dare order more due to.... here it is..... the prices. Yes, you are in Alaska. You've likely already noticed every last thing is very expensive. Gold Rush Dining Room is above and beyond expensive. You've been warned. Yes, the food is good, but it was painful when we rec'd the bill. The staff were friendly but not exceptional - most are kiddos working there over the summer. The views are great - because it's Alaska, but man, the price still crept into my mind, even as we were deciding on where to go. I can't even remember what I ordered. What do I remember? You guessed it. Yep, the prices. So, go if you wanna eat but know you will pay more. read more

We loved eating here! Ordered the warm seafood dip, full of seafood and the flavor was amazing!!! Our server was great. We ordered the shrimp pasta it was very good, we like ours with Xtra garlic flavor. This didn't have that but it was hit and fresh and good! Also, be patient they are hit hard with your buses etc.. read more

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This is the main dining room in the lodge at Denali Park Village (hotel and cabins, etc.) I had dinner there twice and was extremely pleased. Both times, I was immediately seated by friendly staff and had waiters who were delightful. Other staff who brought food pleasantly checked on me at various times to see if I was satisfied or needed anything (helpful but not intrusive). The dining area within this lodge is big and spacious, with views of the beautiful area along the Nenana River. The bar has Alaska beers on tap, plus a wine selection and a variety of cocktails (and the standard mixed drinks). In both cases, I wasn't hungry enough for a big entree and dined on starters quite well. The first night, I had the Warm Alaskan Seafood Dip (Alaskan halibut, salmon, crab & shrimp, herbed cream cheese, grilled flatbread) served in a skillet. Rich and decadent and filling. The second night I had a gorgeous Beet Salad with red and golden beets, feta, spinach, walnuts, cranberries, and champagne vinaigrette (possibly the best bargain on the menu), plus Nenana Dynamite Shrimp (perfectly fried shrimp with a drizzled sauce that had a kick - the sauce was the right degree of spiciness, but could have used some additional sweetness for balance). Prices were absolutely in line with the quality of food at a resort in Alaska. read more

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We stopped in here to eat with the family when we stopped over at Grizzley Bear Resort. The food options in this area are limited, in regard to locations, tho the food here was plentiful. Tho it is on the pricier side. I had the grilled salmon glazed with birch tree syrup and my wife had the chowder. Both were very good!! Very flavorful and tasty, which was a wonderful surprise. The staff was a bit stand offish, didn't see them to much and they only filled our water glasses once. Tho those with alcohol glasses they seemed to make a point to frequent their tables. The building is a great rustic wood lodge building. Has a beautiful river flowing on the back wooden patio with a fire going to keep you warm on those cooler days and nights eating or drinking outside. It really is a beautiful place. The majority of the staff we found are not locals, they travel seasonally to work here than travel elsewhere when it gets colder. Tho they were all friendly, the ones we talked with. The food was pricey for sure, but with a lack of options, you pay the price or you go hungry. Most of what we saw was $26-45 a plate. Two dinners and one beer, with a tip, our bill was over $70. All said and done, I really like the location, the building is wonderful, and the food was good. I would definitely go again should we visit Denali again. Oh, and they do have free WiFi, for those like us with NO cell signal! read more

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Food overall was very good. We had a couple appetizers and the pan seared halibut which was very good. This place is not cheap. The ambience was great, right on the river. Service was needed the most improvement. read more

Gold Rush Dining Room - Hot seafood dip. Very good! - Seafood Near Me - Denali National Park, Alaska

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Absolute terrible food and even worse coffee. For $30 a person you get a buffet of cold eggs, stale pastries and drip coffee. Gravy is a garlic gravy, which we couldnt eat. Cannot even order a latte or cappuccino. What a ripoff! 5 bites of horrible food for 2 with tip $75! Stay away!!! But cannot wait for the Thai lunch food truck across the road at the other establishment. Hands down amazing authentic food and coming out of a food truck! read more

Only restaurant opened in The Lodge was very attractive with great window views. The restaurant menu was limited, and the buffet included a few hot dishes, basic salad bar, and a dessert. Was expensive as receiving food in Alaska is quite a trip. Food in Alaska come in on barges or planes, and trucked up to the sparse population. For mornings there is a coffee counter with a few hot sandwiches and prepackaged pastries and energy bars. Would love to see this counter open at lunch and dinner with deli sandwiches and burgers for more options. Food options depend on the time of year. Summer the tourists come in providing a larger guest list, hopefully providing a varied menu. read more

Gold Rush Dining Room - Lobby and check in. - Seafood Near Me - Denali National Park, Alaska

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Summary: decent food located right in the hotel lobby. Highlights are (dinner) chocolate cake, tomato basil soup, prime rib, (breakfast) omelette station. Visit: July 6-8 2022, dinner buffet twice, breakfast buffet once. Pros: Dinner - Prime rib with the jus is nice (ask for end cuts!) 3.5/5 - Tomato basil soup has a nice spice to it 4/5 - Seafood or scallop mac and cheese is pretty solid 3.5/5 - Seafood chowder is alright 3/5 - Dessert chocolate cake is decadent and dense but has caffeine in it 4/5 - Cheesecake with berries is solid though not outstanding 3.5/5 - Also has a salad bar, fish of the day, potatoes, vegetables. Breakfast - Omelette station is rather cute as they make small thin omelettes with your choice of fillings: ham, bacon, mushrooms, scallions, onions, cheese, sausage meat. 3.5/5 - They also have reindeer sausage, breakfast sausage, bacon, French toast, various breads, and fruit (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, melon mix). - Also generally friendly waitstaff, we got to know some of them which was nice. Cons: - Breakfast bread was rather dry, needs toasting. - Fish always seemed dry (I did not have any). - Vegetables are unevenly cooked, brussel sprouts were undercooked while the others were overcooked (likely because they cooked everything for the same amount of time, but brussel sprouts need more time). - $55 for dinner buffet and $20 for breakfast buffet. Rather pricey but that's what it's like here. Overall: decent food, good service, expensive but that's just Denali prices. I did look forward to this dinner at the end of the day after my tour. The food isn't winning any awards, but good enough to enjoy for an evening or two. read more

With very minimal food options, you may have no choice but to eat here for one meal. Overall, I'd describe it as overpriced and overcooked. The service was awful. I cannot recommend eating here, but if you do, just know these things going into it. We waited probably almost an hour for our food to come out--including our appetizer. The server often did not understand what we were asking for (i.e. needing tortilla chips in addition to bread for the seafood dip to accommodate one person's gluten intolerance--a very frustrating encounter that was not successful). I ordered a very expensive Halibut and it was over cooked. The green beans were actually undercooked, although warm. read more

The worst most overpriced meal of all my travel experiences. This establishment should be embarrassed to charge $30 for a breakfast buffet that makes McDonald's look like quality food. The staff is wonderful, however from the eggs to the French toast, it all tasted like reheated dried out leftovers from a couple days ago. Avoid this place, your stomach and your wallet will thank you. read more

An average buffet breakfast in an overcrowded dining room for $33 per person. Had to wait 25 minutes to get a table so we only had 20 minutes to eat before our bus was scheduled to depart. The only plus was that our waiter brought the check quickly so we didn't get held up waiting to overpay. read more

The Gold Rush Dining Room is ridiculously overpriced for bad/mediocre food; they run out of things and make their own substitutions without even asking you if it's ok; their salad lettuce was old, turning brown with decaying slimy spots and doused in too much salad dressing (seems like they hire a lot of poorly trained seasonal help rather than experienced cooks and servers). Their apples are soooo sour. One star for our server, who was decent; another star for hubby's steak, which was surprisingly good despite how bad/mediocre the other food was. It was listed on the menu as a New York steak, but we are sure it was a Rib Eye steak, which is usually a more expensive, tender and more flavorful steak. Their ignorance was our gain! read more

Ehh. Food was fine, but ridiculously overpriced. I had a burger which was fine, but definitely not great. Fries were very good, and my husband liked his Caesar salad. read more

Run like an arctic blast from this place! Over-priced. Served raw chicken wings and a drink in a dirty, stained glass. Few options nearby but one has to believe the nearby Thai food truck would blow this place away. Even after they took away the raw chicken they still tried to change me for it. read more

Located at a cool looking lodge, this restaurant is comprised of a dining area and a bar. If there were other restaurants available, I would suggest you find them. However, choices are limited here. The seafood chowder was meh...although, if you make use of the salt and pepper available in each table, you should be able to doctor it up just fine. My other half said his $17.50 burger was just ok. I ordered the Caesar salad with salmon. The salmon was delicious. The Caesar was boring, so once again salt and pepper to the rescue along with a generous squeeze of lemon. The price was high for mediocre food. But, I guess we were out in the sticks a bit. Service was ok. read more

Gold Rush Dining Room - Salmon was delish. Salad...meh. - Seafood Near Me - Denali National Park, Alaska

Very sparse options out here and this is basically they only choice for sit down food. The buffet line is very basic. Considering that most the people staying here are off of cruise ships- older clientele - the pricing is ridiculous. Most of the food was cold and not cooked properly. Oh and they close way too early when people are just getting back from excursions or just arriving on buses. If your bus stops at a grocery store, grab some basics to make a simple picnic dinner- and don't forget to buy beer/wine too! read more

Gold Rush Dining Room - Menu - Seafood Near Me - Denali National Park, Alaska

Not sure why the reviews for this place are so bad. We came for a late lunch around 1 pm and service was a little slow but we still received our food in a timely manner. We tried the fish and chips, which was 3 large pieces of buttery fried cod with coleslaw and French fries. I was starving, but this was some of the best fish and chips I've had. We also tried the clam chowder, which was very creamy and had a decent amount of seafood in it compared to most places. The Caesar salad was also delicious. He next day, we had the breakfast buffet and all the food was amazing as well. Highly recommend visiting the omelette station. They are vey busy in the morning but service wasn't an issue. Yes, it's true this place is pricey, but so is everywhere in the park and you actually get good food here, so I'd say it's worth it. read more

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Due to recent covid situation, Gold Rush was the only dining room open for service at Denali Park Village. They serve breakfast and dinner and have a scenic restaurant near Nenana river. Although, the ambience was nice, food was okay. Appetizers and desserts were good, main course food was average. read more

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A really nice place and really friendly staff. The food was great how ever their was very little to choose from. If near by then you should swing in. read more

went this evening. the restaurant was clearly understaffed. first i must say our server was excellent. we were not overly hungry so we ordered wings and i ordered a cobb salad with salmon. the wings were ok. my cobb salad missed the mark completely. it was not really a cobb salad. it had lots of lettuce and egg and some bacon bits and avocado. it didn't look like one. they cheaped it in my opinion! i added fresh salmon to the salad for an extra $10. i figured we are in alaska and what would be better than fresh salmon. for $10 bucks i got a cold dry over cooked 3oz (at best) piece of salmon. the waiter came and asked how everything was and i said the salmon was a joke right for all the reasons above. he went and replaced it. what came was the same size skinny dry, overcooked piece except this time it was warm. when the meal was done our server came back and asked if i liked the second piece better. told him nope it still was awful. he apologized and then the manager came over and i dhowed him what came to the table. he agreed it wasn't right and told me the kitchen has had trouble all summer getting this right. he was nice and offered to take it off the bill but i said no. anyway overall not a great experience. as mentioned in my review of the hotel itself you are a captive with no real food choices especially if you are on a cruise land tour. do you homework and avoid the hotel. this place has no incentive to get better. just look at both the hotel and restaurant reviews. oh and because you are a captive the prices were to high. read more

Food was awesome, service was even better. Anthony was fast and furious in the right kind of a way :) Will come here again.

Terrible, overpriced, poor service please stay away, this place is a tourist trap that preys on people stuck out at the hotel with no way in Denali Village. read more

Avoid. Bagged Sysco food reheated in the microwave. $41 for Halibut? Tourist trap. This a an ARAMARK facility. All of its food options are of the quality you would find at a ballpark. Dreadful. read more

I will make this one short and to the point. Way over priced for what you get. Service below average as most employees seem untrained or new. Very unfriendly staff on the front desk. Suggest you stay away. The hotel is rated 11 out of 11 in the Park. This should tell you enough. read more

We ate here on our trip up here to Denali on July 20th. I had the braised short ribs and it was delicious! Everyone that tried it agreed! It was very tender and had a flavorful wine sauce over it. I would definitely get it again! It came with Yukon gold mashed potatoes which were very tasty. There were some baby carrots that rounded out the plate and they were very good too! My dinner companions got the halibut that was recommended by Nicole, our server. They said it was very good, but I'm not a fish person so I'll have to take their word for it. We had the bread pudding with jack Daniels whiskey sauce for dessert. It was awesome! Nicole and the bartender were very nice and friendly! They were from Florida and were up working in Alaska for the summer. What fun! Nice relaxing atmosphere with the Nenana river running right next to the restaurant. After dinner we checked out the deck connected to the restaurant over looking the river. read more

Terrible service, the food tastes like it all came out of a can or the freezer, ridiculously overpriced.

Yes sort of pricey, but not enough to justify the bad reviews I'm seeing. Overall good experience, our server, Nathan, was very polite and helpful and the food came out just as we ordered and taste pretty good. The clam chowder was super creamy but was filled with a lot more seafood than usual. Definitely my favorite dish I tasted. The burger could've used a bit more seasoning, but was still quite good. read more

Crazy Bernie is a big fan of the GRDR. Had our first meal at the lodge here. Food cooked to perfection. Had the chicken sandwich for lunch. Great wait staff with great positive attitudes. Full bar and great wine suggestions. read more

Being part of the Royal Caribbean brand this offering for food is overpriced, much like many tourist destinations. Very disappointed in the Alaskan Seafood Chowder, when told by the waiter it contained salmon, cod, shrimp, crab and halibut. Only to find clams, passing off clam chowder as seafood chowder is a bad thing. When asked manager said waiter was confused. The seafood chowder was not like any other seafood chowder I had had in the last few days. Just like clam chowder found in any lower 48 restaurant. read more

Excellent prepared Halibut. This place is very rustic and homey. The portion size is above average. This is definitely a reoccurring stop when I'm Denali. There selection of beers is also a nice touch. read more

They get zero stars for dinner. Slow, inattentive rude service with insulting management. The food is insanely overpriced, you can't get beef cooked the way you wish, and despite the restaurant being half empty we had to wait two nights in a row for a table. They get four stars for breakfast. Omelets to order were fantastic. Service was very quick and friendly. A ridiculous amount of options. So they net out to a two. You don't have options other than to take the shuttle into "town" for $5pp each way. Awful. read more

We were seated and within a couple minutes were offered water. Five more minutes goes by and we were wondering if we were going to get service. A young woman server was having a conversation about her ENTIRE future with the people sitting behind us. Six or seven employees wandered by aimlessly, absolute cluelessness on their faces, with no one taking our order. Finally, the server finishes her conversation and tells us "I'll be right with you". She walks to a different table and starts ANOTHER lengthy conversation!! Wow!! We were fed up by then and left! Needless to say, we went to The Canyon and a famous restaurant provided excellent, fast AND friendly service!! Skip The Gold Rush!!! read more

This is by far the worst dining experience we had in Denali . Overpriced food , under staffed and consistently bad experience overall .

First, this restaurant is owned by Aramark and contained within their resort Denali Park Village which is a comprehensive compound designed to ensure that tourists spend all of their money on their grounds. I'm fine with the concept IF IF IF the quality is there, which in this case it is most assuredly not. I find it amusing that on their website they headline with the quote "You've earned your appetite". Indeed... we had just come back from a strenuous five hour climb. We waited close to fifteen minutes before anyone approached our table...Water? Yeah right. FINALLY the waitress came and we figured we better order everything at once lest we loose her again. We also asked for water. We waited....and we waited....and we waited. About another fifteen minutes for our wine and beer to arrive, but it took close to ten more minutes for my child to get ginger ale. Water? Yeah right. When our food FINALLY came (all at once because delivering soup before the main arrives means our waitress would have to make an extra visit to our table which at this point was pretty clear she was trying to avoid at all costs). So we asked again...water? It finally came. My THIRTY DOLLAR salmon was cold and perched on top of undercooked potatoes. I tracked her down and asked to send it back for a bowl of soup instead. Not once did she ask WHY I was sending it back (maybe she knows their food is crap) and she never even expressed any kind of remorse or concern. After the meal was very clearly over it actually occurred to her to ask if we wanted drink refills. I'm thinking sure, maybe 30 minutes ago. Terrible service (worst I've ever experienced actually), very mediocre food, and exceptionally inflated prices. If that's your bag...go crazy! read more

I went for breakfast and it was great! Bojana was my server--absolutely amazing service

Honestly, I barely ever write reviews but YIKES. I am truly confused as to how this can be run as a main restaurant out of a nice lodging area. Every single thing my family of 5 ate was clearly frozen & microwaved, including the alleged "ribeye" we ordered. The "sauce" on the steak looked the the jelly fat you scrape off of the top of something canned. The asparagus and potatoes looked boiled and wilted, at best with zero seasoning. My husband's fish and chips might as well have been Mrs Paul's fish sticks. The Buffalo chip appetizer we ordered were a bowl of bagged kettle chips topped with a little hot sauce, blue cheese dressing and a half a handful a blue cheese crumbles. The menu was limited to begin with and then they were out of half of those items. It was extremely disappointing, especially considering the outrageous cost associated. The one positive thing I could say is the staff was very friendly. Consider your options before eating here. If you have to, stick to the mediocre burger and fries. read more

Located in Denali Park Village , Gold Rush in the main dining room . Breakfast , lunch, dinner. We had dinner party of 6 . They have about 6 different draft beers and wine . Ordered Salmon poke , pretty good , ordered spinach artichoke dip , pretty good. Then ordered salads , not good . For 8 dollars they well add Salmon . well even though this is Salmon capital of the world you get a few pieces of crumbled Salmon . No one in the party liked their Salads . soup tomato soup was very good . we then ordered pizza and lamb burgers all were pretty good . not the best you have ever had but thin crust , about 12" (enough for 2) and everyone liked them . the views here on the river are nice . we would recommend this place for a nice dinner . read more

$19.95 deluxe breakfast buffet. celebrity cruise staging area. No thank you. Not even the omelet station is worth that.

If I could give a negative one star I would. The WORST service I've ever experienced. After 40 minutes waiting for our server John to show another server offered us water and and said he could take our drink order. We placed it but the drinks never came. Another twenty minutes John showed up (an hour after we were seated). He was in a definite fog. He took our order including drinks and disappeared. I then watched him doing something with the cash register for at least twenty minutes. No food or drinks appeared. We finally went to the bar and got our own. More time went and John was still messing with the register. I complained to someone who looked to be in charge. Nothing happened but we were able to flag down John and ask at least for our appetizer. A few minutes later it appeared but John was obviously pissed at us. The food finally came almost two hours after we sat down. He asked if I wanted another beer. I said yes and ordered one. It never appeared. A place like this can probably get away with this level of service because their clientele is transient tour groups that move on, never to return. We are locals and we too will never return and will also encourage others not to take a chance on this disaster of a restaurant. read more