White House Tavern — Restaurant in Aspen

It’s so hard for me to write a less than 5-star review for this place because it is my favorite restaurant in Aspen. But our last experience was horrible and so disappointing.

My husband and I came for our wedding anniversary last summer and loved it so much we went twice on that trip, and it was the only restaurant I had on my list to return to when we came back with our family this week. The food is all fantastic. The margaritas are still the best I’ve ever had. And the restaurant itself is so cute with its historic charm + pretty sidewalk patio.

We walked up at 3p on a Friday (not busy) and asked for a table on the patio for us, our two kids, and our dog. There were several open tables and the hostess told us they just needed to get a table ready then would seat us. She was pretty off-put when my 2-year old started whining while we put our name on her list and “shh’ed” her as we walked away. My husband sat on the bench right in front of the front door to wait while I walked the kids 50 feet away (still within view) to a grassy area to play for a few mins while they prepped our table. The hostess then proceeded to seat the two groups (including a large 10+ person family) that walked up after us while we still waited. When my husband asked her for an update she told him she wasn’t seating us bc our entire party wasn’t there…despite seating the 10+ person family ahead of us even when they were not all present. He let me know, so I walked back over and patiently waited by the front door and the hostess ignored me. At this time there were still open tables available on the patio. A new person walked up and asked for a table and the hostess immediately sat her in front of me, despite the rest of her group not being present. My husband decided to leave with the dog bc it was pretty clear what was happening. I then asked the hostess when our table would be ready, as we just watched three groups who had come after us be seated immediately. She told me we couldn’t sit because my husband wasn’t with us. I told her he had left. I asked her why she had skipped us multiple times and she told me it was because me and the kids were not all waiting out front together, even though my husband has been there the entire time, checked in with her, and we saw her seat multiple other groups when only one or a couple members of the group sat first. So it did not seem that this was actually her rule, and regardless we did not leave, we were right across the street in line of sight from the hostess stand…and even when I was standing right in front of the restaurant waiting she still sat another brand new group before us. She started getting very rude and told me I didn’t give her my phone number (which I asked her if she needed initially and she said no) and told me we were welcome to leave if we didn’t want to wait. I told her I still wanted a table and asked her to seat us.

She was not happy about this, and it was blatantly obvious that she was intentionally skipping us and trying to get us to leave and not let us have a table, likely because we had kids. When we sat to eat, my kids were quiet and well-behaved and did not cause any issues. I understand Aspen and many of their restaurants try to curate a luxury experience, but this was not a busy Saturday at 7p, it was a slow weekday afternoon and there were several other children and dogs on the patio…many of which were not sitting and dining in silence.

The servers were all very kind, and our dining experience and food were great. It was really disappointing to be treated like this by the hostess, then to have her be rude to us and suggest we go somewhere else. It’s really left a bad taste in my mouth at what was my favorite...

Disappointed with my experience at this establishment. I was disgusted by the way my food was prepared. I happened to sit at the bar where I could see my food being made. My food was prepared bare handed by a cook who minutes before making my food was adjusting the blinds for another patron and touching his face. He was reaching into all of his prep bare handed which means that he was physically contaminating everything. I am a working certified executive chef. I deal with the department of health regularly here in Colorado and am well aware of the rules. It is absolutely unacceptable for a cook to handle ready to eat food bare handed. It is blatent cross contamination. It doesn't matter if you have washed your hands, it's just not the way you do things in a professional setting. Food is like anything else, usually you get what you pay for. I know that Aspen is an affluent demographic and that can dictate a higher price for food. With that being said, a $22 a la cart french dip sandwich should be made wearing gloves. It's expected! I felt that the bar tender effectively did her job but was not friendly or out going. She came across as rather cold. This review would have been much different if I were reviewing just the food. It was good quality well seasoned and well presented. I met the Chef upon entering the establishment he was professional and clean. My water glass was chilled and clean which I appreciated and the wait staff was well presented and professional. My lunch would have been great had it not been fouled.I am committed to writing fair reviews, I am by no means looking to damage the reputation of this establishment. Accurate public reviews are essential tools management should use to identify training opportunities. I encourage communication and will absolutely update this review if I have a constructive conversation with management regarding the way they are training staff. At this point, based on my experience I would not go back, there are so many great places to...

Super poor experience. Seems like a hot spot in Aspen so we had some good expectations. From service to food it was very poor.

There is no hostess table. Just kind of wandered around and a waiter finally got her for us. Had about 25 min wait. Texted that it was ready went in the very cramped building… nothing. Found the hostess again after about 5 min. Said table was being set. So dodged patrons and staff as they came in and out for about 5 more minutes. Honestly about to leave at this point as the hostess yet again just disappeared and I had no idea what table was being set. She pops back up and we sit down.

I got the french dip sandwich. Wife got a chicken sandwich, kids got burgers. Food came out fairly quickly but my French Dip and dipping Aju were cold. They messed up my wife’s food, and my oldest's burger (no bbq sauce, it was smothered in bbq)

Waiter never came back to check in on us. Waited about 10 min, but again the waiter was missing because I would have sent our food back. After a long wait I said forget it and ate what we could. My kid ate 1/2 his burger then told me it tasted weird. I look at it and it’s completely uncooked - like pulled it from the grocery store pink-ish red/white fatty pieces uncooked raw meat. Finally waiter shows up after maybe 18 min after we got our food. So made him take back the 2 uncooked burgers.

Ordered 4 meals, all of them were messed up, 2 completely inedible. They recooked kids burgers and again had it wrong (put bbq sauce on them) but at-least it wasn’t raw. Also, never got any refills on any drinks during the meal.

I Paid $140 dollars for 4 sandwiches and 2 order of fries…I’ll never come back and would never recommend this place - No idea why seems as popular as it is. Honestly one of the worst restaurant experiences...