Juneau Restaurants

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Tour guides in every city seem to want to show us that even in Alaska, they have things like Wal-Mart. And McDonalds. There were always stories about McDonalds.

Actually Juneau has two McDonalds. One at 130 Front Street and this one on Trout Street.

They both have wireless internet, but the Trout Street one has a Play Place and a Drive Through.

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Everyone who comes to Juneau seems to know this place. Our tour guide/driver pointed it out to us. The Red Dog has been recognized by the Alaska Legislature for being the oldest man-made tourist attraction in Juneau. For a time, "Ragtime Hattie" played the piano in white gloves and a silver dollar halter top. Later, in territorial days, the owners would often meet the tour boats at the docks with a mule that wore a sign saying, "follow my ass to the Red Dog Saloon." So it is historic.

At least the original one is. The original Red Dog Saloon was located next to the Juneau Cold Storage and the Coca-Cola bottling operations. In 1951 the Red Dog sat on the west side of the street and not on the corner. This one was probably built here for the cruise ship trade.

Favorite Dish: But we didn't eat here.

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We were on the Grand Tour of Juneau. But they weren't going to feed us on this tour and went way past lunchtime.

The Cafe in the gift shop had hot and cold beverages, cookies and various snacks.

Favorite Dish: So when we got to the visitor's center, Bob got chili, which proved to be out of a can and heated in a microwave for $4.25. He shared

If I had read the menu (photo 4) carefully, I would have opted for a hot dog ($3.25)

The place we ate was full of flowers (photo 2) and sometimes people book weddings in the gardens - even cruise ship weddings.

the Gold Room at the Baranof Hotel has to be the most beautiful dining room in Juneau. This dark paneled room is crowned with a huge art deco glass ceiling. Large oil paintings depict important events in Alaskan history. Much of the fate of Alaska itself has been debated within the Gold Room. This has been a favorite haunt for state politicians since it's opening in 1939. I overheard a local official describing what it was like to to spend the night in the White House. It sounded like and intersting, but very rigidly scheduled experience.

The cuisine is called contemporary Alaskan. I call it gourmet quality surf and turf with a few pasta dishes. It fits in the fine dining category. The macadamia encrusted halibut was very good, and the large t-bone was also quite tasty. We had two drinks each from the bar, two entrees and two salads. The bill totaled $84

Favorite Dish: macadamia encrusted halibut - a sizable peice of fresh halibut coated in macadamia and herbs and pan fried in olive oil. Simple but very tasty.

Opened in 2006, the Zephyr has become known by locals as the best restaurant in Juneau. Spendy, with entrees between $15 and $35, but excellent food and an excellent wine list. We took our oldest daughter for a birthday celebration and had a wonderful evening.

It calls itself Mediterranean, but besides the appetizers and an owner from Turkey, I found the food eclectic and quite tasty. We had a group of 6 and ordered the gamut from steak to a wide variety of pasta dishes to swordfish. And, being family, we sampled each other's dishes. It was all really well done.

Had 2 nine year olds wwith us and they enjoyed themselves and behaved. They split the crab ricotti.

The restaurant is located right downtown where a healthfood store was located for years. Really amazed at how they turned the space around into such a nice classy spot. High ceilings and hardwood floors and large storefront windows.

A great evening and hope to get back there on my next trip.

This place seemed to be one of the more 'Alaskan' places we visited (as opposed to touristy places). By that I mean you can tell it had been there a while and wasn't overly decked out in high end finishes, etc. I'm not saying this meaning thats it bad at all. Its actually nice to be able to visit a place that some of the locals go to as well.

Anyway, you can sit there watching the seaplanes land and take off while you enjoy any variety of seafood dishes.

Favorite Dish: We were just snacking and I greatly enjoyed the seafood chowder. Others in the restaurant that were not snacking seemed to mostly be eating crab legs that had to have come from a creature so big that if I saw one in person I would head the other way...

The Red Dog Saloon was founded in the mining era as a bar and brothel. Today it is an extremely popular place to eat, but I suspect that is due to its reputation rather than its food.

The inside is very dark and crowded. It is also noisy and you may have a little trouble flagging down your server. But there is some great old style saloon décor inside including sawdust on the floor – and some funny signs, stuffed animal heads (bear, moose), Wyatt Earp's gun, etc.

Alaskan beer is served. Menu is pretty standard. I had a cheeseburger and my husband had a salmon wrap. If you want to check out the place, I'd recommend having a beer at the bar.

Get your official Red Dog Saloon merchandise at the store attached to the restaraunt/bar.

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We dined in this restaurant during our 7 night cruise of the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Alaska and return.

This was a 5 star restaurant having excellent decor and service to complement the magnificent food and wine. There are 2 sittings each evening and we chose the second sitting commencing at 8pm as this enabled us to enjoy dinner and then relax for a half hour in one of the many bars, usually the piano bar, and then take in the late Floorshow which commenced at 10:15pm.

The Rotterdam menu offered a range of starters, main meals and sweets each evening with the menu changing daily there was always something to appeal. The service was outstanding and should you not find anything on the menu which suits you, I suggest you ask your waiter for alternatives and I am certain you will be satisfied.

Dress for the evening varied with 2 evenings requiring coats and remaining evenings smart casual. However many guests chose more formal dress each evening. Definetly no jeans.

Favorite Dish: Canadian Lobster. I complimented our waiter and he asked if I would like some more and promptly brought a plate with 2 additional lobsters.