CHICA Aspen — Restaurant in Aspen

Beware, scam ……

I made a reservation for Happy Hour on Resy and on their website it was not clear the cancelation policy. It wasn’t until I received the email saying that I couldn’t cancel, and I had paid over $600 for 3 people for HH. Once I saw that, 30 seconds later I immediately canceled my reservation and I called to make sure that I would get a refund. The woman I talked to on the phone said no problem we will refund you and talked to the manager. She even took my credit card information to refund my account. 10 days later I didn’t have a credit so I called back … I had to leave 8 messages till I finally got someone. Again they told me over the phone they would refund my money. 10 days later again no refund. I finally got to Aspen and went to the restaurant during the day. When I went there, I explained the situation and talked to the manager. He apologized about the issue and said he would refund the money. At the time he said he couldn’t do it, but would do it later that day. Again 10 days went by and no refund. I finally went to my credit card company to dispute the charge …. I went through the process and the company would still not refund my money. This is unacceptable for an establishment like this to take over $600...

While the food was great and the ambience fun, the service was terrible. Our server (tall, blond guy with a Eastern European accent) was super cold and stoic and not helpful with food recommendations (it was like begging him for his opinion). The food also came out sporadically (so some in my party had to awkwardly sit while others were eating) and he forgot 3 salads we ordered as entrees. After asking him to check on them 2x, he only brought 1 out with no dressing. We had to ask him again to bring out another salad (so 1 was still missing). Then when the bill came, not surprisingly we were charged for all 3 salads as well as extra fries we didn't order. After trying to get his attention for 10 minutes, he finally came to correct the bill...and then proceeded to look over our shoulder to make sure we still tipped him a healthy amount. It was truly one of the most disappointing service experiences I've had in a very long time -- and this is all after the hostess made us wait 25 minutes to sit, even though there were plenty of empty tables in the restaurant.

I'd skip this restaurant and just come for drinks / eat elsewhere in Aspen - there's no shortage of great restaurants with much better and...

le I was in a screening, I received a phone call at 6:00pm from chica. They requested I arrive in the next thirty minutes (an hour or more before my reservation) or they would have to cancel on me because they’d decided to close early. I was in a movie and didn’t get the message until I got out. Obviously bothered by this and seeking further explanation, I called the restaurant and left a message. I received a call back from John (who was apparently still at the restaurant at 8…). John explained we were the only reservation on the books (which he apparently only realized at 6pm?) so he had to consider what was best for business… which meant closing early and canceling on us…um… what? This is a business with operating hours that confirmed multiple times with me. And if I had not shown up this restaurant would have charged my card 25 dollars per person for a no-show fee. So in light of their decision to cancel on me less than 24 hours in advance (with no reason other than shrug “it was slow”) I am eagerly awaiting the 25 dollar per person fee I feel I am owed. It’s only right. In the meantime, I intend to let everyone know that if you want to eat, don’t make a...