Ember — Restaurant in Breckenridge

My wife and I ate at Ember while in Breckenridge for vacation. Initially walking in the door we were a bit disappointed at the entrance, the host wasn't present at the host stand to accept guests and it was probably 3-5 minutes before they arrived to check in the reservation ahead of us, then a couple minutes more for them to return to check us in.

The host seated us, pour us water, and said the server would be right with us. I think it was around 10 minutes before our host arrived to take out drink orders and tell us that the menu was currently a 3 course prix fixe menu, which surprised us. After looking at Embers website, we did see that was noted in the News section of the site, but it didn't stand out when looking at their menu or booking a reservation.

There were two adjustments to the menu, they did not have Wagyu New York Strip and replaced it with either a petite filet, or bison strip; and the rack of lamb was replaced with two lamb chops. By the time we had sat down, waited 10 minutes for our server, reviewed the menu and made selections, then were told there were menu adjustments, we were both a little disappointed at the handling and presentation of the menu.

When we said we needed a little more time to reconsider, it was another 15+ minutes before our server returned to take our order.

Our server was great but, it seemed like the front of house was potentially understaffed and was our server was expected to support far too many customers, so service was somewhat poor.

We had the Pheasant Bao Buns and Venison appetizers, which were both complex and delicious. Wonderful presentation. The Venison had a great variety of accompanying flavors.

I had the Black Cod as an entree and my wife had the Jidori Chicken. Both had a gorgeous presentation, but I think my wife and I both found the entrees to be acceptable, but not phenomenal.

I had the Cannoli for desert and wasn't particularly impressed, tho that is likely preference on taste profiles and not a dig on the dish itself. The pop rocks in the ganache had a very interesting mouth feel, but I'm unsure if I like it or if it detracted from the taste.

My wife had the bread pudding, which was very good, though a very small portion.

All in all, we think they could improve with a couple of things:

The service did a good job but seemed stretched very thin. We think the server had too many tables (at least 6 tables totalling probably 21+ guests) in our dining area. Similarly the host was very occupied with seating guests and left them unattended at the entrance for long periods of time. As we left we saw there were about 8 guests waiting to be checked in with no host in sight.

The website menu and/or OpenTable reservation service could have done a much better job noting that the menu was a 3 course prix fixe only. Finding that out after we sat down, after we'd both reviewed their online menu pretty thoroughly was pretty disappointing.

Improve the non-alcoholic cocktail ("mock tail") menu options

Improve the website (frankly the animations are a little kitchy and feel like a 90s myspace page) and provide accurate menus, even if that means printing new menus. I assume the menu change due to supply was not a one-day occurrence.

This is our fourth trip together to Breckenridge and after hearing good things about Ember, we decided to try it out. All in all we left a little disappointed. Being a $250 dinner for two (including tip) we expected a more polished experience and better service. We think most of our disappointments were more likely management and business choices and not kitchen or front of...

My husband and I spent the weekend in Breck for our anniversary. It was an impromptu trip so I didn't book any reservations ahead of time. After reading many reviews for $$$ or $$$$ in Breck I decided to try and get a reservation at Ember. We were able to get one and looked forward to a fine dining experience in one of the best towns in Colorado.

FOOD -The restaurant was only offering the pre fixe menu of two courses for $50 or three courses for $60. I knew this going into the meal and had an idea of what I wanted to order.

Kindle (Appetizer) - Gluten Free Arugula Salad: fuji apple crisps, truffle tremor goat cheese, crystalized macadamia, smoked soy balsamic, edamame and polenta croutons. I opted to skip the edamame and polenta croutons because they are prepared with gluten containing foods (I can't remember if it's a shared fryer or a shared prep area...). Without the croutons, I paid $25 for lettuce, cheese, apples, nuts and a sauce that lacked any unique flavor and balance (likely missing a salty flavor from the croutons).

Blaze (Main Course) - Gluten Free Iberico Pork: golden raisin chutney, cauliflower, apricot and madras curry sauce. The pork was chewy. One piece was seasoned well (salt and pepper) the other was not. The lemongrass and curry flavors were not my favorite (preference).

Kindle (Appetizer) - Not [prepared] Gluten Free Lamb Cheeks: wasabi beet gnocchi, shishito pesto, garlic molasses gelee', cucumber salad, miso butterscotch sauce. My husband's review was "Quite good. Flavorful, cooked well, balanced.".

Blaze (Main Course) - Not Gluten Free Mango and Brie Empanada: tamale, black bean puree', creamed calabaza and corn, heart of palm salsa, orange-annato coulis with additional scallops. My husband's review was "Hard to eat. To ride to untie it but couldn't. Scallops were the best part.".

AMBIANCE -The restaurant is dimly lit and from the outside and entryway looks like what I would expect of a fine dining restaurant. As we were escorted to our table, nestled quite closely to the other tables, I sat on the bench seat and immediately noticed that my view included a window that looked directly onto a garage (or something similar) and a DUMPSTER. Every time I looked over my husband's shoulder, I saw a dumpster and was taken out of the "mood" of the restaurant.

The art and general decor is interesting and a good topic of conversation. They had one small candle on the table, no music, no real ambiance...nothing that made it stand out.

The dress code seemed to be "Colorado casual". A few people were dressed up but only if their whole table was. Most had on sneakers, comfy but stylish pants or shorts and short sleeves shirts.

We will not...

The Good: The restaurant is so quaint with cute decor, art, and lighting. Our waitress was a gem, as was the hostess. They apologized profusely for how loud it was due to the ugly (see below). Our waters were always full and everyone was so attentive. Our waitress had a great knowledge of the menu and was so kind. The staff was 10/10.

The Bad: the food was mediocre and not something I would go back for. Surprising because apparently the owner, the head chef, was in town and cooking that night. The soup was decent, the scallops were incredible (possible the best part of the meal), we had the lamb which was amazing, we also had the chicken which was just sad. It was supposedly stuffed with crab but the piece of chicken was so small I think there was about one bite of crab in it. It was also dry which was disappointing because the flavor was good. The dessert was another highlight of the meal. The pistachio ice cream and the apple pie were very impressive. I must say all of the food was for the most part decent, I would have expected a better cook on the chicken for it to have been even remotely worth the price. When I go to a place like this, I expect to be wowed and impressed - leaving with the feeling I ate something I couldn’t cook myself. This definitely fell short.

The Ugly: there was a table of about 7 people that were quite possible the most obnoxious, unruly, and downright rude people I’ve ever encountered at a restaurant. I could understand if we were at a dive bar but at a fine dining establishment that has $$$$? The icing on top of the cake was that apparently these people are friends of the owner and even though they’d been asked to calm down they didn’t have to because there were no repercussions for acting like that. Screaming, talking so loud you can’t even hear the waitress explain the menu, laughing with force, and slamming your hands down on the table REPEATEDLY - all of those things at this place should have been grounds to be removed. If I’d wanted that kind of company I could have gone somewhere and not paid over $200 for a mediocre meal.

Breckenridge has so many wonderful restaurants with great food, ambiance, and company. There’s a lot of options that will leave you feeling more satisfied and I’m sorry to say Ember is not...