It is known for the miles-long panoramic view of the south coast of Big Sur from the outdoor terrace[2][3] and its California/Greek Mediterranean menu featuring locally and California-grown food.

Orson Welles and his wife Rita Hayworth bought the cabin around which the restaurant is built from the Trail Club of Jolon on a whim as a romantic getaway.

They hired local master carpenter Sam Trotter to build a three-story log house on the edge of a cliff in Big Sur, which they planned to use as a private resort during horseback riding trips.

Traveling with their good friend and actor Joseph Cotten, they decided to use the coupons to drive back to Los Angeles along the scenic Highway 1.

During their drive, they stopped to picnic and drove up an unmarked dirt road where they found a cabin on a hill perched above the south coast.

Hayworth measured the windows for curtains and a new stove and Welles considered laying gas pipe for use in the kitchen, but they were divorced in 1947 and never returned.

They chose two sons of the original builder, Frank and Walter Trotter, to construct the restaurant using local materials including redwood and adobe bricks made by Lolly Fassett.

[17][16] Lolly Fassett, who had lived in Europe as a teenager with her grandmother and artist Jane Gallatin Powers, hired architect Rowan Maiden to design a large terrace for dancing and dining, a big fire-pit, and built-in bleachers.

[16] In 1964, Lolly Fassett added the Phoenix Shop featuring gifts and local artist's wares, and in 1992, they opened the walk-up, casual Café Kevah.

After it died, sculptor Edmund Kara resurrected the trunk of the tree with a sculpture of the rising Phoenix, a standard symbol for Nepenthe.

[4][24] During the 2016–2017 winter, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park received more than 60 inches of rain,[25] and in early February 2017, several mudslides blocked the road in more than half a dozen locations.

[31][32][33] A dance scene from the 1965 film The Sandpiper starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton featured a set replicating the restaurant's terrace.