French Alpine Bistro - Crêperie du Village — Restaurant in Aspen

I will preface this by saying I rarely give negative reviews because I worked in restaurants myself and know that it’s not always the management’s fault. But this meal was the most disappointing I’ve ever had both in quality and service.

I came here with 3 other people. We ordered cocktails, which were great, and appetizers, which were good. For the entrees, I ordered the wagyu burger with no cheese and the rest of my party the thai crepe, the classic crepe, and the gnocchi made vegan (because the vegan option was sold out).

The burger was awful; it was dry, the bun was soggy and flat, it was missing the caramelized onions and aioli - which nobody told me was missing or sold out. The “Thai crepe” was a pile of brown curry with a flat and soggy crepe that resembled a tortilla bunched up on the side. The classic crepe was fine, but underwhelming for the price point it apparently carried, which will prove to be a common point. And the vegan gnocchi was made with tomato sauce that tasted canned and entirely devoid of any flavor at all.

We ate about 2-3 bites each before realizing that NONE of our entrees lived up to a $150 prix fixe standard. We told the waitress so, and she replied by saying that the classic crepe is usually “a lunch option” and that she wouldn’t recommend it but that she would get the manager for us. When the manager arrived, we explained our feelings about the extremely underwhelming food that we were paying $150 each for. He explained that my burger was usually well-liked and that the gnocchi was usually better when it was non-vegan. He said the same as the waitress, that the classic crepe was usually a lunch option. He then said for both of the crepes that he would not recommend them and that he does not LIKE these options on the menu, and that they are only on the menu “for the people who want them sometimes.” Why would a manager OF A CREPERIE RESTAURANT say outright that he does not recommend something or that he doesn’t like something? But he offered to comp one prix fixe and our drinks = $150 + $18 x 4 = $222, and also offered for us to reorder. My vegan friend told him she was vegan, and ordered a salad from the appetizer section. I did the same. Another one of my party ordered the lamb. Both the salads were terrible - mine was a pile of whole leaves and my vegan friend’s contained dairy after she specifically told the manager she was vegan. The lamb was the best part of all the entrees we tried, BUT, only after the suggestion of the manager that this was “what you should get if you want the most of the money”. But the desserts were cold, underprepared, and unappetizing. We again talked to the manager and he lost his temper. He said, and I quote: “We agreed that I would forfeit one prix fixe and your drinks.” We argued that this was before we received our “replacement” dishes but he refused to listen. When we explained that we’ve been to other decent restaurants and had received better food and service, he said: “How old are you kids?” and “Name any other nice restaurant you’ve been here.” When we continued to list the restaurants we had eaten at in Aspen, he said “If you’re going to speak with that tone I will not entertain this any further.” We were shocked - this was unbelievably rude. I have never heard management from a restaurant speak to PAYING CUSTOMERS, who are being billed FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS, like this. He refused to cooperate or talk down the price any further and forced us to pay $491 for the food.

This service and food was unacceptable. I have never been so disappointed. The manager was truly insulting, belittling, and extremely disrespectful. Besides what we experienced, the waitress told us there were only two servers on duty for both indoor and outdoor, and the restaurant was definitely not at 25% capacity in accordance with COVID guidelines. The manager pulled down his mask multiple times to talk to other patrons. I would not in a million lifetimes recommend this restaurant to anyone else. I would not have paid even $50...

Unfortunately, we did not have the best experience at French Alpine Bistro. We saved this dining experience for our last night in Aspen, as we had heard it was supposed to be a special restaurant.

We took our time exploring the menu, starting with cocktails and French onion soup. We later ordered the fondue, which was delicious. There was an extremely rude hostess (blonde/brown hair, wearing an orange turtleneck on Saturday 10/7) that cleared our fondue dishes. We told her we would like to talk with our server, Emiliano (who was fabulous), and order the Midnight in Paris because it had come highly recommended. She announced loudly that "your table was for 1 hr and 45 minutes and you have been here over two hours. We need to give your table to another guest and you cannot order dessert".

There is nothing on the website that mentions a time limit and we were never informed of a time limit upon checking in for our reservation. Furthermore, this reservation was made by the concierge team at the St. Regis Aspen, who was also never notified of a time limit.

I told her that this was a special weekend trip for my mother, and that we were excited to order the Midnight in Paris as it was recommended from a prior manager of the French Alpine Bistro (Bradley). She said she would need to speak to the manager and get back to us. She never returned. Five minutes later, a dessert showed up on our table. We felt extremely uncomfortable, ate our dessert and left as soon as we could pay the bill. The servers were lovely but we will never forget the way we were treated or made to feel by this particular hostess.

As patrons of many fine dining establishments, we have never been treated this way before. We would have respected a time limit if we had been informed, but we were never made aware and then shamed into leaving as soon as possible in front of other guests (the outside patio is quite small).

We returned to our hotel and told the concierge team at the St. Regis and they were stunned. They then asked if the dessert was comped, we said no. They were speechless. We are happy to pay in full, but no one came over to even apologize for this individual's behavior. It put a damper on our last evening and we will not be returning or recommending this restaurant to our many friends that frequent Aspen, as well as will be writing an email to the concierge team at the St. Regis to no longer advise their guests...

I feel very bittersweet about my dining experience at the Creperie. On the one hand, the atmosphere was quite nice and the food was quite good (even though a bit pricey, but I suppose that is to be expected given the location) but on the other, the service we got from one particular waiter was appalling.

My friends and I were on a road trip across the mid-west and we stopped in for an early dinner before our hike at the Maroon Lake Scenic Trail. We ordered several kinds of crepes (both sweet and savoury), escargots, and a French onion soup. All of which were delicious even though the portions were a bit small. Throughout dinner, we were served by a lovely and incredibly polite waitress (server #1). But at the end there was a misunderstanding of sorts. When we asked for separate bills, the ticket was divided into 3 (equal 1/3rds) rather than in accordance to what each of us had ordered. When we indicated how we wanted to have the bill split to server #1, another male server ( server #2) came up and said that he could only combine the bill back together (i.e. print the 3 bills split by 1/3 on one roll with the grand total at the bottom) and give us a calculator to figure things out. Though inconvenient, this wasn’t really the issue we had with this place. Each one of us was paying in cash and as we were making sure the numbers were correct and trying to figure out who ordered what we apparently, made the most atrocious mistake by leaving some coin change as tip. Upon seeing the coins, server #2 immediately popped up and said in a very condescending tone that “no change would be accepted” and we should “round up” our totals. So since the bill was $70.25, we should pay $71. REALLY!? I never knew that was how pricing worked! Gee you should have a disclaimer on your menu that everything is to be rounded up to the nearest dollar! Worse yet, we were leaving $81…a 15% tip. But before we could say anything, he picked up the pile of cash we left on the table and proceeded to count it RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! As though we were a bunch of juveniles about to dine and dash on him! In all honesty, I had never been so insulted in my life by a server at any type of restaurant. There was no professionalism, and absolutely no tact in his conduct. Had it not been for the lovely server #1, we would have asked for...