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Rosie's Café is located in the heart of downtown Tahoe City. The café specializes in traditional American food.
The place for good food and drink. We feature a full bar, with some of the best bartenders in the area.
Rosie's has operated continuously since 1980, except for a brief period to rebuild after a fire. Rosie's is situated on an historic site, its history can be traced back before the turn of the century.
Food and beverages are moderately priced with special attention paid to families and children: free balloons and a great children's menu.
Reservations are accepted for dinner and large parties for breakfast and lunch.
Rosie's has a semi-private banquet room ideal for meetings and gatherings up to 75 persons. This room may be reserved by contacting the restaurant office manager. Reserving this room generally requires a small deposit.
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162 reviews
From the outside, this deceptive pub calls to you like your grandmothers cottage from where warm oatmeal raisin cookies waft through the windows. An old wood porch sits nicely along the main road through Tahoe City; missing from the bench are the two old men in suspenders and plaid ogling ski bunnies coming down from the slopes.
Be prepared to be blown away by the kitsch and clutter that smacks you like a garden gnome looking for a cameo in a Travelocity commercial when you cross the threshold. Directly above are some of the most beautiful handmade wood toys for toddlers, next to a model biplane made from Budweiser cans. On the wall,, next to an authentic Nascar car hood (yes, the entire hood), is an homage to the Award Winning, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, transvestite classic "Some Like it Hot" painted by.... Tony Curtis (apparently). Tony's likeness appears before the Hotel Coronado in San Diego while the drag queens pose with Sugar Kane. I was first embarrassed to find myself the only one the bar (I being younger than most) who could name the film then was dragged, kicking and screaming into being introduced to everyone else who walked through the door as "Curtis, Tony's grandson, check out the resemblance" (okay, so maybe I wasn't kicking and screaming).
Lucky for me I arrived on the eve of Lake Tahoe's winter fest, a week long excuse to drink. The bar was racous and wet from the folks who had just come from the mardi gras parade; a few guys at the bar discovered they took a photo of a very girl at the bar who had just earned her beads from them (yes, that kind of photo). One of the guys ambled along side her and with arm around her shoulder, showed off his crowning moment in photography.
Fun and mere drinks not enough for you? Rosie's is home to the ShotSki, a full snow ski with holes bored through the top to serve 4 shots at once to you and your friends. Above the Shotski on the wall is an official plaque that reads, "Rosie's, First bar in the world to serve Jaegermeister on tap"
Make sure you say hello to Dr. Dennis. He's been making his own outstanding bloody Mary Mix, a point I couldn't have overlooked as our friend with the camera announced "it's bloody awful!," for 40 years. He likes to share that he's lucky to be working Rosie's, all his other friends are in jail or were killed in Vietnam.... I suppose the story sells drinks.
The food is fine bar fare, satisfactory but not great. Go to Rosie's for the drinks, excellent happy hour, and feeling of community (every Wednesday is the local Kiwanis Club meeting upstairs)