Tempranillo Restaurant — Restaurant in Basalt

This was a difficult dining experience. Our waiter was rather slow through the entire experience, and when he was presence he was pretty pushy about ordering appetisers and entrees and a third course ( I am not sure what was expected after the first 2). I was told that I need to order another entree after my girlfriend ordered an appetizer for an entree?! It took multiple times to tell him that was all we wanted to order for dinner. There may have been a communication breakdown our server was Russian and had a thick accent. While he was taking our orders he made a suggestion for a modification for my uncle, he took the suggestion, come to when the food was dropped my uncle's order was wrong. Fast forward 15 minutes, everyone is mostly done with their food and we are still waiting for the server for a check back to let him know that his suggestion came out wrong. I decided to go and find him to let him know of the issue. In the meantime the manager came to our table and asked how everything was. They told her what was going on before I could get back. When our server came back to the table with another tables drinks, he was upset that we "told" the manager of the issue, and was asking why we did that (she came to our table like stated before). At that point the server took the wrong order plate and disappeared with it only to wait another 15 minutes for the correct one to come to the table. The server was also taking our $16 cocktails off the table before we were even done with them. All in all the service did not match the price of the menu. And on that note it's a Spanish restaurant so naturally I wanted to get a paella. Unfortunately, the paella was extremely dry. Every single piece of seafood on the dish is shriveled except the shrimp, the rice had a crust over the top. I'm not sure what happened at the kitchen but it was something that probably should not have hit the table. When we were ready to get the check, we asked that the check be split up four ways for the four families that were dining. We were told that he could only divide it up 3 ways, annoying but we'll get through it. Once we asked for the check it somehow took 45 minutes to take payment and bring it back. This was a sad experience all around. There is definitely room for...

Disappointing Service Experience at Tempranillo

I visited Tempranillo in Basalt after seeing it listed as one of the top restaurants in the area. The setting was lovely, and I chose to sit outside to enjoy the atmosphere. Unfortunately, my experience quickly went downhill due to the service.

Our waiter, an older gentleman with gray hair, brought us menus. When I asked him what he recommended or what the best seller was, he gave a dismissive answer: “It’s all good. I can’t pick just one.” I tried again by asking what most people tend to order, hoping for some guidance, but he repeated the same vague response, saying they’re all best sellers.

Rather than taking a moment to ask what I liked—chicken, beef, seafood—or making any effort to help me find something I’d enjoy, he made me feel like my questions were silly or inconvenient. I got the strong impression that he didn’t want to be there and certainly didn’t care about creating a good experience for customers.

I stood up and left. I don't mind paying higher prices if the service matches the atmosphere and reputation, but I will not dine in a place where I’m made to feel unwelcome or like an annoyance.

I’m sure the food may be good based on other reviews, but respectful, engaged service is just as important. I hope the owners take this as constructive feedback and provide additional training to staff on hospitality. After all, a restaurant's job isn’t just to serve food—it’s to make people feel...

We stopped on two separate occasions. The first night we just had drinks in the garden and our dog was allowed to sit out with us. The atmosphere was great and the drinks were delicious, so we decided to come back the next night for dinner. When we came back the next night the restaurant was busy and the garden was full. So the hostess put us on a list and told us to come back in 20 minutes for the garden because we had our dog with us. When we returned she had given a garden spot to someone else without a dog. So she told us she could seat us on the porch, but our dog couldn’t come. So we put the dog in the car since it was cool. We asked if we could move the garden and get our dog if a spot opened up and she said yes. So after a spot opened up our waiter started to help us move down there, but she would let us sit there because she reserved it for someone else with a dog! So we moved back to our table on the porch. Our meal then took over 2 hours because the place was packed and understaffed. Our waiter was busting his butt to try to get to all of his tables. All the while the owner was barking orders from across the restaurant at all of the staff, making us and other patrons uncomfortable. The owner did NOTHING to help his staff. Instead he sat down and had them serve him as well. Overall the food and wine was delicious, but the management was very...