falls terrace restaurant

i met a cousin here half way between seattle and portland since we couldn’t arrange to meet elsewhere. the restaurant has a view of the tum water falls which in itself is overrated, but so is the restaurant. the menu was ordinary. the food we ordered was nice but nothing special or great about it.

poor steak restaurant. nice view of the deschutes river. nice settings in the restaurant. wait staff were very nice and attentive. my wife ordered the mediterranean chicken while i ordered the rib eye steak. her meal was great, but my steak arrived barely warm, grey and unappealing. i had ordered it chicago style, charred medium inside and it was awful. i told the waitress and she fully understood my request and promptly took it back. a few minutes later she brought the same steak back in the same condition. she explained that was the best her cook could do and the real cook was off. i was hungry and ate what i could. the vegetables and baked potatoes were cold and was i thoroughly disgusted. i discussed the poor quality with the manager who was completely disinterested in fixing the problem. explaining it took a special pan to prepare the steak that way, and he didn't have his own ranch to get the meat from. which made no sense. i didn't complain about the meat, just their inability took cook it. at $30. a plate plus drinks you think they'd put more effort into learning how to prepare beef right.

an institution. many decades ago my mother worked with one of the people who started falls terrace. it quickly became "the place for an upscale meal" in the olympia area. it has had its ups and downs, but mostly has been a good place to eat. the view of tumwater falls adds to the appeal. today we went with my mother. my mother had a bowl of clam chowder and the cheesecake of the day. i had the special pork porterhouse, the server said it was a better deal than the grilled oysters i was thinking of having. my wife had the tuscan chicken. the pork porterhouse was excellent, with a homemade apple/honey glaze, so i did not miss the oysters. my wife really like the tuscan chicken. my mother really liked her choices. my wife got a bite of the cheesecake, which is made right here, and said it was excellent and not like others. the service was also very good. at least for us, falls terrace delivered a fine, upscale meal today.

meh..... went here the other day after walking around the falls. it's not a bad location or a view, and the staff are all friendly, except the host who seemed to be interested in one of the wait staff more-so than customers. that's fine, and no problem for a couple seconds or whatever, but when it happens for almost 10 minutes and no one is there to seat you...it becomes a bit frustrating.

food was average... not sure why the prices were as high as they were. the end-product was higher-end casual dining food at best. shrink that menu, make the food with some love and they'll be on their way to bigger than better things. problem is, there's a constant influx of people going here so things probably won't change, and i probably won't return.

not worth your time in my opinion.

i went here once with my mom and i found the food over priced and not very good. the ambiance wasn't great either.

hit or miss. i do love their fried oysters, the steak, and the cobb salad, but no one ever greets us as a familiar, even though we dine there at least once a month, and the service is hit or miss. the view of the brewery and little des chutes is pretty but parking can be a real treacherous event, in the case you have to park across the street from the restaurant. they need a flashing lighted crosswalk.

poor quality, high price, big letdown. my wife and i decided to have dinner here for our anniversary. upon arriving i provided the reservation name, but they could not find my name for some reason even though i had called that same day and even spelled out my name. fortunately they were not very busy and we were seated with a nice view of the falls. we ordered an appetizer- batter dipped avocado, which turned out to be the only good dish either one of us ended up having.
my wife ordered the sole amandine. the plating was amateur, which ended up showing the quality of the food before she even tasted it. there were two large filets of sole piled onto each other, and they were completely covered in some sort of egg batter (mostly egg). it was very unappealing.
i ordered the ribeye steak and was disappointed. they over-seared the steak, leaving a very bitter burnt taste. maybe they need to clean their grill? both dishes came with sauteed vegetables that were very bland. the garlic mashed potatoes tasted like they came out of a box.
overall, the service was o.k. but not great, and the food was grossly sub-standard especially considering the price. the atmosphere was put off by the lack of passion in the staff and at times we felt awkward being there. we are not considering returning to falls terrace. .

great view & service, but the wait time is too long. we waited 50 minutes for our food. the quality & price is fair, but wait time is tooo long.

disappointed. we decided to go here for lunch for our wedding anniversary because we like the food and the view of the falls. we ordered our lunch and a drink and when the waitress brought the main course she asked if we wanted another drink or more bread. we asked for more bread and never saw her again until some time after we had finished eating. we wanted to have coffee and dessert but knew this was going to take forever even though the restaurant was not busy. we did get the rest of my lunch boxed and the bill but then she disappeared again and we had to take the bill to the cashier to pay. we passed the waitress on the way and she never even acknowledged that she should have taken the bill to be paid for us. i mentioned something to the manager but he didn't seem interested either. this left me with a negative feeling which was bad considering the occasion. i don't think we will be going back there soon.

pretty good, consistent place, nice special occasion option for families. this is a nice restaurant with a nice view of the falls, and decent food. the price point is about what you'd expect for a full service restaurant with a view, entrees are anywhere from 15 - 30. i've had everything from salads to prime rib here, and have had nothing stand out but nothing bad either. the service is friendly and again, the view is nice. when we met friends with kids it was nice to be able to take a walk around outside after dinner. very nice, if aging restaurant.

wife took me there for my 50th birthday. i'm glad we went. it was a wednesday night. we got the early dinner special so we save a few dollars. the food was very good, i love the decoration. the wood panel ceiling looks like something i would put in my dream home. the wait staff was courteous and didn't leave us waiting. i hope to go back again sometime.

great view!. good food, friendly staff, and a great view, but service is uneven.

chowder is good, as is prime rib, chicken cordon blue, bread pudding, and the service.

needs updated. for an expensive restaurant, we were really disappointed. the decorations were boring and seemed like it had been that way for a long time. the food was about the same too. my filet mignon was pretty bland as was the rest of our meal. they need to freshen up both their menu and decor. yes, the view of tumwater falls is beautiful, but thats about the only thing this restaurant has going for it. i just recommend coming in for a drink and the view---not the food!

very friendly staff and great casual food great place for a casual luncheon