Fort Bidwell Hotel

We've eaten there three times in a year, each time when we've come up from southern Modoc County to stay at Surprise Valley Hot Springs resort. This most recent time I had the killer salmon with killer mashed potatoes, and my wife had the shrimp and French fries. We've never seen dark brown French fries. French fries should always be a golden brown, not chocolate brown. She was afraid to eat them and I certainly would not take a bite. Very weird. Were they cooked in old oil? Were they kept in the air too long before cooking them? The food at the Bidwell hotel has always been excellent, in freshness, preparation, and aesthetic presentation, but those fries were totally unappetizing in appearance.

Disclaimer: Due to a booking mistake on the hotel's end that landed us in a single room with two beds, instead of two rooms with one bed each, our first night's stay was given to us for free, and we chose to find another hotel in Alturas for our second night. If it weren't for that, my rating would be lower. One thing you can be assured of at Fort Bidwell Hotel is that the few members of staff are fantastic and committed to providing the best customer service they can with the limited resources they have. Before booking a room here, you need to know that this is a historic hotel built in 1906. Your room does not lock. Your room does not come with an en-suite bathroom, there are two bathrooms on the hallway, shared by all guests. The only temperature control you have are two windows and a small electric heater that looks like it's meant for a small bathroom. Despite it being below 40 degrees outside, we found it impossible to remain comfortable through the night. My guess is the heating system from the restaurant downstairs was cycling on and off, and the heat was making its way up from below, because we never had our heater turned on and we had the windows open. Every 30 minutes I'd wake up sweating, then kick off all the covers, and in another 30 minutes I'd wake up freezing and have to bundle myself up again. Rinse and repeat the whole night, complete with awkwardly walking down the hallway to the bathroom hoping nobody comes out to see me in my underwear. Frankly, if I had understood this going in, I would probably be more ok with it. The beds themselves were decently comfortable and the room was clean. Since we had come to see the annular eclipse, the location was perfect. We may have gotten very poor sleep, but the fact that we were able to stay in bed from around 11pm to 9am before going out to see the eclipse helped. I cannot say I would choose to stay here again, but then again, whether or not you choose to stay somewhere has a lot to do with why you are travelling. I don't think I would have preferred to wake up in Alturas and drive to Fort Bidwell in the morning. If you have a reason to come to this remote corner of the state, and you need a bed to sleep in, and you know what staying here entails, you will be happy.

Best food around for a hundred miles! Absolutely loved the pancakes and the Mexicali omelet was one of the best omelets I've ever had! Our waitress Paula was wonderful. We will definitely make this our goto stop when visiting!

A fun adventure. Old and quaint . So quiet at night I had the best night's sleep in a long time. I'm in my 70s and was traveling alone. I felt quite safe and can't wait to return.

Never stayed the night but every thing I have ever ordered has been so delicious no kidding never disappoint from burger to seafood to breakfast,ect u name it I've tryed .. desserts amazing!! Worth the drive

One of the best burgers I've had and the sugar cookie pie crust was a yummy twist. The owner was very knowledgeable about the area and history, too.

We had a wonderful home cooked dinner. The portions were generous & the prices were reasonable. We ordered fried shrimp dinner, country fried steak dinner & a very tall Bleu Cheeseburger. Delicious!

Great food. A great surprise local "find". Shout out to Crystal...part owner. She is super nice/friendly. Pleased to see the owners follow state Covid-19 guidelines. But be prepared...a lot of people in the area do not wear masks. Was uncomfortable when some came into the small (but charming) dining area.