Restaurants near Mono Recreation Area

This was our first time at Firebirds. Savannah was an amazing waitress. My daughter and I we celebrating a late Valentine's Day mother daughter brunch. We both chose items from the brunch menu. Shrimp and Grits were good, I expected a little more spice. My daughter had the crabcakes w/poched eggs and potatoes. They were really good but a little cold. We both had the strawberry/peach mimosas, which were outstanding!! We received a Valentine's Day card signed by all the servers, a nice touch! We will definitely go again, looking forward to trying other items from the menu.

We enjoyed Pelato. We took out 10-year-old so it was great being able to order tapa sized portions so we could all try lots of different things.

Making reservations for a time we wanted was easy. Everything we ordered was great! We started with an expresso martini and a local beer and pretzels with the cheese fondue. Then dinner was the short ribs with potatoes au gratin with the mac and cheese. Dessert was the bread pudding and the molten lava butter cake with toffee bits. Yes, we ordered two desserts because we couldn’t decide.

Our server, (forgot his name, but a tall and polite gentleman), took great care of us and brought us a free dessert and savory dish, as we were celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday and our five year anniversary. Something I enjoyed about him too, is he was informative, guided us through how the menu works, but was not overbearing in his delivery or presence at the table. I’ve been to so many places where you can tell the server is being a bit performative and will drown you in details instead of reading the room and giving people time to process lol. What really stood out as well, was the fact that every staff member we interacted with, (the host, server, and THREE other employees on the floor), all knew we were celebrating and made a point to congratulate us. You could tell they pay attention to special details here. My partner and I are both in the service industry (fine dining), so we notice the small stuff and had no complaints! Even our water glasses never dropped below 3/4ths full. Also worth noting — the value you get for the delicious food, great ambience, and service is WELL worth the price. A wonderful dining experience without breaking the bank. Would highly recommend this place 👍🏻

Sad this was our last meal here. Robert is an incredibly talented chef. Avery and Katy are lovely. The food and service were always spot on. We were lucky to have found such a special place. So sorry to know the doors are closing and we can’t come back.