We dined in the lounge car the evening of our arrival. This was a train themed weekend so we wanted the whole experience. The server was very nice and attentive, although, she did forget to bring the butter we had asked for. My stew in a bread bowl was pretty good - I ate it all. My boyfriend's smoked fried chicken left him a bit disappointed. Greasy and under cooked with instant mashed potatoes. I'm not looking for 5 star food in Elbe, Washington... I'm sure it's not that easy to lure a first class chef out to the middle of nowhere ;) but I think they could try a little harder with the food. Perhaps stick to the basics instead of trying to be fancy. For the prices being charged, more effort should be made to make the food more appealing. The train theme is great though - a real treat for train buffs! I will be back to Elbe for the Hobo Inn and the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, but next time I'll probably eat at Scaleburger or the Elbe Bar and Grill. read more

Mt. Rainer Railroad is a run down train station reinvented. It could be charming, but nope! Elbe is the kind of town where locals will stare at you but not return your wave or greeting. The restaurant itself smells like a cross between 60s incense and my grandmas perfume. The waitress was exceptionally nice, so nice that she served a trucker way to much alcohol or "medicine" as she called it, then sent him on him merry way to embrace the road with his drunkenness. We ordered a Belgian waffle, pancakes and French toast. All of which seemed to have been made yesterday and reheated in the microwave with liquified whipped cream and hot, soggy strawberries. Absolutely inedible, and I've eaten Army chow for the last decade, so that's saying a lot. When presented with the idea of stopping to eat in Elbe, disregard and drive a little further to Ashford. read more

Waitress was nice, recommended BBQ beef sandwich tasted like beef jerky with BBQ sauce on it, was the worst I've ever had. Went to the restaurant despite the poor reviews, big mistake. Would not recommend. read more

I got the bbq beef sandwich. The beef was burnt, dry and bitter. I mentioned this to the waitress and she said if she had known she would have brought me more bbq sauce. ??? I asked for fry sauce and they brought me mayo, so I could mix it with ketchup to make my own. The salad came with carrot and celery sticks on top, and the romaine wasn't cut into bite size pieces. I feel like if they could have dropped a head of romaine on my plate they would have. Terrible food and I felt like an inconvenience. read more

Food is just mediocre but expensive. 12.99 for elk burger and 19.99 for ribs. Cool concept (eating in actual historic train cars) but I wish we'd eaten elsewhere. read more

Keep driving! We were so excited to try this restaurant as it was recommended from a co-worker. We ordered 4 burgers and 4 drinks. My son and I both ordered the mushroom swiss and there was this flavor that we could not pin-point, it was not good, infact we had to stop eating. The fries were so over cooked they should have called them potato chips. Then you get the bill $65 for 4 burgers and 4 drinks!!!! read more

I don't mind if a restaurant is expensive as long as the food is good. The food at this restaurant is in my personal top 5 worst ever. The hot wings can be renamed to warm wings. On the hamburgers buns they spread some kind of sauce which I cannot identify, but that was all you tasted. The smell of this secret ingredient stays on your hands for the rest of the day no matter how many times you wash your hands. The fries were cold and wilted or soggy whatever you want to call it. The lasagna is not that bad compared to the other items on the menu. To make a long story short, very low quality food at very high prices! read more

Very nice, friendly staff. Dining cars need to be restored. Quite shabby now. Local art on the walls is terrible. FOOD: They were out of several items on the menu. Good homemade fries, stew okay, sundaes not great .The onion cheeseburger had no cheese on it. The burger place across the highway has much better burgers. All items were overpriced. read more

The first shock is when you open the menu and see the outrageous pricing. Everything is so unbelievably overpriced. We decided to share a salad with chicken. They served a huge plate covered in bland iceberg lettuce with maybe 3 or 4 small strips of chicken and not much else, except too much bottled salad dressing. Everything else we had was also expensive and scanty. Next time I'll try the Elbe Tavern, which everyone says has great burgers. read more

I had to re-post a review on this diner - seems like the owner has a way to remove negative reviews.. Absolutely the worst dining experience I've had. The hobo stew was the worst dinner - at $13 it was a rip-off. The stew had no cabbage or meat, although the menu included the ingredients. Mostly a bread bowl with lots of canned gravy. read more

These other reviewers are jerks. Seriously. The food here is amazing. Great BBQ. Fantastic cobbler. You get to eat in an old train and watch elk graze out the window below the slopes of Mount Rainier. It's a spectacular place to eat, hang out or have a drink. Only a sad, bitter person would not be enchanted by this place. There is a lovely little lake in front of the establishment too. All these croaking frogs can go jump in it. read more

We passed it on our way to Mt Rainier, so decided to eat here on our way back. Fun atmosphere (eating inside an old train car), and the service was good also. We started with a blooming onion that was fantastic! That got us excited about our Elk Burgers. DO NOT order a game burger. It was terrible. The meat patty was no larger than a McDonalds regular hamburger, was dry as a bone (Even after I specifically asked her for medium rare knowing elk is very lien), and it was a $12.99 burger. Very Very Disappointing! read more

We saw the train restaurant and thought it would be cool to eat there. It's not. The entrance smelled dirty and the service really sucked. If we were bad people, it would have been super easy to walk out without paying. No one was to be seen for three to five minutes. There were other customers waiting to be seated and no one noticed them. The food took a short time to come out which is weird because I ordered ribs. I probably got it in like 7 minutes. When I got it, it was a really big portion of ribs but the gross BBQ sauce drowned out the flavor of the ribs. Plus the ribs were mainly bone and fat. The bones were as big as two fingers. My boyfriend had the elk burger with fries and it was good but messy to eat. Who would have thought a burger would be so hard to eat. I feel like you're paying extra money to eat in a train rather than paying extra money for the quality of the food. Don't go here. It's expensive and has bad service. Plus you don't have any reception! read more

Should have read the reviews first. This place served dried out corn on the cob, rubbery biscuits(microwaved) and overcooked, grisly ribs smothered in commercial bbq sauce. Waitress was pleasant but obviously they don't care enough to serve decent food. Oh yeah, I'm not a picky eater, either. read more

Avoid the hobo stew. There was very little meat and the sauce was mostly flavored with barbecue sauce. The elk burger tasted much like a McDonald's burger. Since I like McDonald's, that was okay, except it cost 13.00 dollars. All in all, I would say don't stop here. Drive down the road (either direction) and hope for a better restaurant. I don't know the area, so I can't suggest another option, but most anything would be an improvement. read more

I would give this place less than 1 star if I could. The food is way overpriced and taste awful. I wish I would have read the reviews here before driving up there to eat... read more

Very unsatisfactory experience overall. Our family of three ordered a large combo plate of barbecue for $22 plus a $5 salad. These prices are extremely steep for what you get. The salad was severely undersized and mediocre quality at best. Then came the barbecue. Without any type of warning from the waitresses, we asked for extra plates for sharing. Sharing food is a standard in Chinese culture; besides, the barbecue plate was too massive for one person to consume anyway. When the bill arrived, we were charged $3.99 for the extra plates. May I ask, what dish detergent are you using?!?! We took this not only as a explicit rip-off strategy but also as offensive to our culture. Like what other reviewers have noted, this place is a tourist trap. Next time you're at Mt. Rainier, Go somewhere else! read more

We have passed this diner many times during our trips to Mt. Rainier. We always said, we need to eat there sometime. We ordered the BBQ Ribs and BBQ Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries. The fries were very good. The ribs were hard as a rock and unetable (actually hardly any meat on the ribs), BBQ chicken was mush, the bake beans were very dry, the corn on the cob was way over cooked. When we told the waitress about it, she took my husband's plate before he was finished eating. Then it came time for us to pay. Instead of staying at our table while we paid, she tossed the thing on the table to pay and told my husband what to do and walked away. Now keep in mind she did not do this to the only other guest there. And then still charged us (except for the ribs). geesh!! We will NEVER go back. We do not mind paying for our food, but when we are not able to eat hardly anything, we do mind. read more

I took my son and daughter in law and friends there for my wifes birthday juke box broke the bar tender was never around my wife had to go to the kitchen to get service its a long walk Bartender acted like she didn't want us there told us she was leaving at 8.00 pm on a sat with 10 people in the bar. other customers walked in and sat down were not served within 15 min they got up and left wow. after our expensive shitty food we basically got kicked out around 8.15 pm on a sat were all of us drove over 30 miles to get there. the Bartender also decided to tell us how rude the owners are to there employees there employee turn around is increadible I personally witnessed the owner ask a housekeeper if she was stupid in the area for customers to hear. You would think with everyone on hear saying how expensive it is they would do something about it. also the train inside was leaking water over booth entry ways I could see a huge Hole in the ceailing in the cooking area when we went to order in the kitchen. unexceptable water was leaking down our table area it was a terrible experience,. The Elbe bar next door was closing but the waitress Kelsey opened back up for us and stayed tell midnight now that is how you run a business appairantly This waitress also worked at the Mt rainer dining car and she was FIRED for asking for time off for her cancer treatment. very unprofessional. Dennis Braudway. read more

do not eat here the food is nasty. my grandmothers food was cold. my smoked chicken was hard n.