The Steam Donkey

Not impressed. Ordered 4 burgers to go and it took so long they were cold by the time we got them. I’m pretty sure my veggie burger was a frozen patty, yuck.
Bought coffee outside while waiting for the order (I actually think the serene bean and steam donkey are affiliated) and then was asked to wait outside the restaurant because they don’t allow outside food or drink. While the guy was nice enough about it, it really was ridiculous and unnecessary to make us wait in the rain for an order to go.
I would pass on this place-​average food and unimpressive customer service.

The service and food was phenomenal! Jake and Garrett were very helpful and attentive. The delivery of the specials that Garrett gave was exceptional! Everyone had and loved the sauteed prawns. The T-​bone, sirloin and pork chop were cooked to perfection. And the garlic mashed potatoes were so good. The presentation was also very nice for such a small place.

We stayed nearby lsat night and walked down to the Steam Donkey. This place is small, so you don’t expect much, but the service was great and the food even better. Steak, clam chowder, salads all very good. Love to find places like this. Next time you head up to Pinecrest lake or Dodge Ridge give it a try.

This place is hilarious on all levels. While I’d rate the food completely average, the workers here and the location/​ambiance is what gives this restaurant a 4-​star rating from me.
The food: I ordered the donkey burger and clam chowder. The burger was good, the soup was good– but not anything special by any means. Price was about appropriate.
The service: Absolutely delightful. The two young males that work here definitely know how to give good service. They’re very entertaining to talk to, and very polite and attentive to your needs.
I will definitely stop in at this restaurant next time I’m in the area. The place, atmosphere, and experience is really too epic to pass up, even with the semi-​average food.

You will not believe the meal you get out of this kitchen (it’s the size of a Barbie house kitchen). Incredible food and even better service. Great wine list.

We ate here four nights in a row while staying at the Pinecrest Lake Resort. It was so easy to just come back to our cabin after skiing, shower and walk over to the restaurant. It has a lovely feel with art on the walls that is for sale, nice staff, good food, I had Salmon twice, pork chop (in an apple, bacon bourbon reduction, probably my favorite) and turkey burger. I am not big on carbs so I got extra veggie instead of potatoes or rice. My daughter, got the chicken teriyaki every night and LOVED it, so funny. She even loved the asparagus. Definitely get your dressing on the side if you don’t want your salad drenched in dressing, but overall, a very solid, good restaurant, that is convenient and friendly.

Chose to give this place a try and were pleasantly surprised with the overall experience. Rustic setting with local art on the wall for sale. Nice wine & beer selection and small but nicely stocked bar with 5 – 6 stools. They played great classic rock & roll that we really enjoyed. There was also a TV with a game on.
Lunch Menu had a nice selection of salads, sandwiches and burgers with a turkey & vege option as well. Prices were less than expected considering there were not many other options
I had a burger & the wife had a grilled chicken sandwich both were good and I was impressed to learn it was all cooked on a small stovetop to the right of the bar. As mentioned in other reviews, the staff is young but they were very polite. «My pleasure» was a phrase used a lot… this is something you don’t here often enough. This is a place we will be back to.

This was the best steak I have had in years. The lamb chops are great too. I could go here at least once per week and still give this rating.

Went for dinner here after a day on the slopes at Dodge Ridge and to be honest I was a little skeptical when I walked in it looks more like a bar than a restaurant and I was pretty hungry so I asked the bar tender if they served the entire menu at the bar so I sat down and ordered a beer and the atmosphere won me over I guess. I ended up ordering the pork chop and Jake the Chef did an amazing job! The chop what plump and juicy the apple bacon chutney was sweet and paired great with the salty succulence of the chop. I cannot say enough good things about this place. I will definitely be back.

Some of the worst food I have ever gotten, I was expecting bad bar food and got some even more disgusting. They used clamato mix in the Bloody Mary and lied about it and the Brie burger tasted like rancid trout with a frozen patty and came out cold, my «linguine «was literally just cooked noodles on a plate. My date had chewy raviolis. Honesty overpriced garbage, I now have a low standard I didn’t expect to have. The wait staff even had the attitude of yeah we know it sucks deal with it. If they just hired a decent bar tender and got some bad bar food they would be better.

Whenever a restaurant has filet mignon, I order it. I’ve always gotten medium rare so I have a pretty good idea of what a perfectly cooked medium rare steak should look like. When my food came out, I struggled to cut my steak, and the center was completely brown. I sent it back to the kitchen because it wasn’t even edible, and after waiting for quite a while my replacement steak finally came out. There was a hint of pink in the very center but it was more medium well than medium rare. I ate it because the staff was rude about me sending back the first one, but the chef should at least know how to property cook filet mignon if the servers are going to ask how you want it done. The steak came with zucchini and mashed potatoes. The potatoes were lukewarm at best and had absolutely no flavor. The zucchini was over cooked and cold. There was no sauce on the steak and everything seemed to be bland. I will not be returning. The staff members were rude when they clearly made the mistake on how the steak was cooked and the rest of the meal did not make up for the awful meat.

I gave this place only one star due to the service we received tonight. My family and I have been going to the steam donkey once a year for as long as I can remember. We used to love this place but after tonight will no longer be returning.
Unfortunately, this is mainly a customer service issue. I usually don’t like to complain like this about servers and customer service simply because my wife and I have both been servers and understand how it is. Sometimes you have good days and some times not so good. This should not be present to your table.
I believe the server was upset bc we asked to split the check 4 ways. He told us that we all have calculators on our phones and can figure it out between us. The service from then on was less than par. We all attempted to figure out totals with the cash we had in our unprepared wallets but unfortunately were mistaken about how much was left for the tip (this was our mistake) however the server decided to yell «SO YOU ARE JUST GOING TO STIFF US?!» In the middle of the restaurant as my family walked out… This is NOT an ok thing to say as a server in the customer service industry! It was our mistake and I promptly took care of it. As a server I have been undeservingly stiffed by many customers. I wound never NEVER call a customer out whether I thought I deserved a tip or not.
Needless to say we will not be support this establishment any longer on our camping trip. We will travel a bit longer to receive better food and service.
Get your head out of your ass steam donkey you are not a fine dining establishment you are a bar across from a camping site.

They make the best chicken salads you will ever experience this chicken salad is DELICIOUS! The ingredients they use are fresh and a warm grilled chicken breast for a powerful punch. What can I say besides, YUM?! The service is fast, and the prices are more than fair. If you love chicken salad, you need to come try this.

I’ve been coming here on and off for 35 years. Until yesterday, I hadn’t been here in about six or seven years. It was good to be in Pinecrest and good to be back at «The Donkey».
My wife and I came here for lunch. We didn’t have a reservation but were cheerfully greeted and seated on the deck in the back. We indulged in one glass of wine each, which we ordered off of a respectable wine list.
Their lunch menu is burger-​centric. We both had intended to eat lighter but we went for the burgers. Neither of us was asked if how we wanted our burgers. Both came out well done (which my wife is always happy with but if asked I would have ordered mine medium). My bacon cheddar cheese burger was very good. My wife enjoyed her cheese burger. We both liked the fries as well, which were tasty and perfectly cooked.
Service was by come college-​aged kids. They were friendly and attentive. My only feedback is that «no problem» or «not a problem» were commonly used phrases. When I say «thank you» the response should be «you’re welcome». When I say «may I please have some Dijon mustard» the response should be «certainly». I admit that this is almost quibbling but it does happen to be a peeve of mine.
We were happy with our meal and the service, and look forward to visiting «The Donkey» on our next trip back to Pinecrest.

We really wanted to like this place. We had heard good things about their burgers. We (4 of us) arrived on a Saturday night at 6pm and were seated on the patio. The patio is very nice with a serene view of trees.
Our server was nice and took our drink and dinner order. We got our drinks pretty quickly, but my Dad’s mixed drink tasted funky so he asked if they could fix it. It was a little better the 2^nd time, but they just tried to doctor the original drink.
Our salads arrived within about 20 minutes of our order being taken. The salad was pretty good — simple but fresh. Everything was going pretty good up until we finished our salads.
We never saw our server again until 7pm when our food finally arrived. We couldn’t believe that it had been an nearly an hour since we ordered until it’s arrival. We were hoping the food would be worth the wait, but it wasn’t.
Dinner #1 — The brochettta chicken looked good, but the chicken was over cooked. Result, half eaten — no doggie bag please.
Dinner #2 — Salmon — the salmon was slightly overcooked, but not too bad.
Dinner #3 — Ribs — actually, they were very good and tender. I would order them again.
Dinner #4 — Pork Chop — The pork was so tough that a steak knife wouldn’t cut through it. We eat out frequently and in 30 years, have only complained about a meal once. If we would have ever seen our server again, we would have asked for something else because the chop was impossible to cut or chew. I shared my ribs with my husband so we wouldn’t be too hungry.
All of the dinners came with sautéed summer squash. That’s fine, but they had no seasoning so were rather boring.
All of the dinners were only luke-​warm upon arrival. It’s like they were made and then sat around for 15 minutes before being served.
We didn’t see our server again for 30 minutes and by then, we were finished eating! Not good.
The gentleman who came to clear our plates asked about all of the pork remaining on the plate. We proceeded to tell him that we couldn’t eat it. He apologized numerous times, but said he didn’t know what else to do but say he was sorry, he would inform the chef and then gave us a piece of cheesecake on the house. We were surprised that he charged us for that meal. He could have a least given a 50% discount off of that meal.
What a disappointment. Maybe they are good for burgers, but not sure we’ll return to find out.

–this is the story behind the name–
Come here for a great burger and pleasant outdoor seating in the summer. The name comes from something like a steam locomotive, but it pulls logs for logging operations in the 1800’s. They mostly used it only in the Pinecrest area. They called it the steam donkey, which is the name of the restaurant. So it isn’t just a weird name, it is a part of the area’s history.

Very very nice place. Sit on the back patio if you go during the summer, it’s very beautiful.
It’s a bit high priced but it is worth it. The steak was excellent as we’re the mashed potatoes. The soup was excellent as well. Service was great, our waitress was very sweet.
Definitely give the Steam Donkey a try.

Awesome place to eat when visiting pinecrest lake
+chicken burgers were excellent: P fresh toppings, perfectly cooked chicken, not greasy: D
+donkey salad w garbanzo & kidney beans & fresh lettuce/​vegetables was great!
+prices are good!
+nice atmosphere w indoor & kool outdoor patio seating under the pine trees!
+great customer service
+ full bar, also served liquors & local indigeny cider: D

Went here last night for dinner. The atmosphere is nice, especially on the back porch area. My boyfriend and I both ordered the burger. It took nearly an hour for the food to come out and from the moment we sat down until we finally got the food, the servers did not check in with us one time until we started asking where the food was and they kept reassuring us it was on the plate. This was not true because it took another 10 minutes. By the time we finally got the food it was clear that they had rush cooked it because the cheese on the burger had not begun to melt. The burger was sub par.
I came in with low expectations and really just wanted a simple burger. The experience was not ideal. They offered us another glass of wine on the house but if they expect people to pay what they’re asking (for a burger) then they need significant improvement in the service area.

Hubby and I had a wonderful dinner at The Steam Donkey. Food was excellent– rack of lamb for me– cooked to perfection and Wild Salmon for Hubby and he also loved his. We had a couple of very good margarita’s at the bar while we waited for our table and had a lovely bottle of Pinot from their fantastic wine list.
Friendly service.
Impressed and we definitely recommend!