Discovery Dining Hall - Fairbanks

I share some of the sentiments expressed in previous reviews. The service was inexperienced; the summer staff struggled to anticipate the needs of the diners. Perhaps I just ended up at a less fortunate table, or maybe they were running low on food. I was seated at the end of the table, and by the time food was served from the pots of stew and vegetables positioned toward the middle, there wasn't enough left for those of us at my end. When the salad, which was good, finally made its way to us, I took a small portion, not wanting to be greedy, but some people at my end ended up with no salad at all. Ultimately, my lunch consisted of a small serving of salad, no stew, no vegetables, and just one roll. I took the last roll on the plate, leaving the family across from me without any. The only pot I could see at my end was the stew, which contained only about three servings and was empty by the time it came to my turn. A man across from me kindly offered me the last bit of stew, but since his family was already eating, I told him to take it. I never spotted the pot of roasted vegetables. For a table of 16, there should have been enough for everyone: a bowl of salad, a pot of stew, a pot of vegetables, and double the rolls for every four diners. At my end of the table, the four of us had nothing but water and tea. We had to ask the next group of four to pass the salad and stew, but by that time, most of it had already been consumed. Ideally, the servers would bring more food, but we found ourselves spinning our heads just trying to get their attention—they seemed to vanish! It was quite disappointing. On a brighter note, I do have a sweet tooth, and the brownie that was placed at each setting was delicious!

For $11.95 (no taxes in Alaska—what a treat!), you get a meal that includes bread rolls, apple pecan salad, beef stew, corn, potatoes, and a German chocolate brownie for dessert. We were in and out in under an hour, which is quite impressive. The servers must have strong arms as they handle large, heavy cast iron kettles for the hot main dishes. My only minor issue was that the captain had been hyping up the hearty and satisfying beef stew that the miners used to enjoy after a long day of hard work. Unfortunately, what we actually received was somewhat disappointing—a watery mix with 95% vegetables and only 5% beef chunks. However, the rest of the lunch was decent and filling. Overall, I can’t really complain since everything was bottomless, and after all, it was a tour group lunch.

One downside was that the stew pots were only half full when they arrived, and despite the all-you-can-eat promise, they started to run out of food toward the end of our meal. The salad, however, was the highlight of the lunch—absolutely delicious! Our group of 11 was joined by two more diners, yet we were able to get in and out quickly.

DO NOT COME HERE UNLESS YOU ARE ON A TOUR! Talk about a cheap way to rip off the folks stuck in this tourist trap. I wouldnt even come here unless it was mandatory for the tour which it pretty much is. The food sucks, the servers are inexperienced, and well it is not a place you want to be, unless its included with the tour. Picture sitting at communal dining with complete strangers. yeah that can be fun. But then picture miners stew and some kind of veggies being served in separate dutch oven-like pots. However they only supply enough food in the pots for about 3-4 people and you have 12 per table. WTH!!! This pisses me off. You then have to request additional grub from the wait staff who take about 5 minutes to get another similar portion of grub for your table. They are seriously trying to make sure they have zero food waste here and think that everyone eats like a tiny little animal not like a normal human being. Let alone the stew tastes horrible. There is very little meat in it. It is primarily a runny brown broth with some poorly cut up onions, carrots, and celery. The only good grub here is the desert. I suggest that you dont eat here because the food and service is not up to snuff. If you are here as part of a tour, eat up and press errrr beg the servers for more grub for your table.

I 've read a couple of reviews that aren 't very flattering about this place, but my husband and I had a really nice experience here. We are newly retired and traveled Alaska as a bucket list event. Of course we did all the tourist things, one of which was the Discovery Riverboat Tour. We thought it was very well done and everyone on our tour seemed to have a wonderful day. The dining hall is owned by the riverboat tour and it feeds everyone from the tour boat in less than an hour. It 's family style dining the hot dishes were brought in heavy cast iron kettles with ladles. As soon as a table ran out of something, a hot replacement came. There was apple pecan salad, rolls, beef stew, roasted vegetables, and chocolate brownies for dessert. I read one review that said the stew had very little beef, but that wasn 't the case with our meal. Our stew had huge chunks of beef that were very hot, tender, and tasty. And we loved the roasted veggies. We thought the servers were very nice and they never stood still, they kept us in food until we 'd had enough. We were amazed they could get through such a huge crowd in such a short time. Maybe my husband and I are easily pleased, not real connoisseurs of "fine ' dining, but we both thought the stew was great, we even asked for the recipe!