Willow Creek Restaurant — Restaurant in Colorado

Long winded, but worth the read...

We've dined at Willow Creek several times over the last two years with family and friends. The wait staff has always been incredible and the atmosphere is one of our favorites. My husband and I recently got married and chose Willow Creek for our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding. Evergreen is special to us, and being close to the lake had sentimental meaning to us. In January, we called the restaurant to reserve the space for 35 people in August. The woman we initially spoke to over the phone was friendly and enthusiastic and told us we could use the patio space for our night in August since the views were why we selected the restaurant in the first place. We were excited. A few months later, when we still hadn't received a quote, estimate, or menu from the restaurant, we called back to check in. We were told the manager was going to get that to us, and that we were on their calendar for our dinner in August. We trusted them, sent out the invites to our wedding party and family (ALL from out of state), and continued planning things for our wedding weekend. This dinner was a large component of the weekends' festivities and timeline.

One month before our rehearsal dinner, when we still hadn't heard from anyone at Willow Creek about pricing or meal choices, my fiance decided to call again - three times in July. No one followed up with him or answered his questions about pricing or our menu choices. He asked for a ball park idea and got nothing. Two weeks before the wedding, he emailed several times, and finally received pricing from the manager about ONE WEEK before the date. Simply put, we couldn't afford what they were asking for per person to have the patio and inside space, and it was too late to make a reservation elsewhere in the area for 35 people. The next package down would be just for the main dining space inside (not the patio), which was less appealing, but we were out of options, and we just wanted someplace we knew our guests would be comfortable. Also, we still hadn't even seen a menu. Irritated by their lack of communication and care, we asked what it would cost to start the night on the patio and move in to the main room. We were hoping to have at least an hour or so outside before moving in, especially for the premium prices we were paying them, and especially because viewing the lake mattered to us. Two days before our dinner, the manager reached out to let us know the only way to have the patio is to arrive at 4:30 pm because at 5:30, it's the start of the "peak time" to the public. We tried to stay flexible, so we changed our actual rehearsal to start an hour earlier than what our timeline stated so that we could enjoy time on the patio prior to our dinner.

Only a few hours before our dinner did we actually receive our meal choices. At the dinner, they didn't even have the main space reserved for us! All 35 of us were crammed into the far side of the restaurant closest to the windows and separated by curtains. There was absolutely no way to mingle, no way to say thanks for coming, speeches were incredibly uncomfortable and awkward, and two of our guests didn't even fit in the seating area and had to sit at a table outside our curtains. Meanwhile, the restaurant continued to seat people out on the patio and in the main space by the bar. We felt we had contributed to one of their more profitable Friday nights with little regard to our investment and patience/understanding up to that point. They probably charged us double if not triple the cost of what the menu items are simply because we were a larger party.

This restaurant was by far the greatest stress we had during our wedding week, and that is all we'll remember about the experience. Management was a huge disappointment. If you aren't equipped to offer this sort of service, then don't say you are. The wait staff and servers are excellent and the food is delicious, but we felt completely taken advantage of and not cared for despite what we...

Large Party Reservations Beware

1-Star for the management team over at Willow Creek. 5-Star Waitstaff 4-Star Food

I want to be clear that what I am reviewing with this post has nothing to do with the food or waitstaff. The service once we sat down was excellent and the food was prepared very well.

The handling of our reservation was disappointing. We made our reservation 7 months in advance for 30 people. I spoke with the manager (at the time...I'll get back to this) about blocking this date out for a 7pm dinner reservation where we would be outside on the patio enjoying all that Evergreen has to offer. I was told yes, and to expect a call or email from Willow Creek at least a month out from our reservation date. Three weeks out I decided to call since I had not heard back (manager is not available and will call you back). Two weeks out I call (manager is busy and will call back). After multiple attempts I managed to speak with someone in charge seven days before our dinner reservation. I was told the cost for 30 people would be $150 per person....NOT INCLUDING ALCOHOL. This came as a shock since two people can eat there with a bottle of wine for way less than $150....I did this with my wife already leading up to the event to get a gauge on cost. At this point we were out of time and options and felt like we were being taken advantage of. They had excuses, manager who took the reservation is no longer working, short staffed, etc. Instead of apologizing and working with us during this stressful week they were distant and forced us to move up the reservation one hour in order to capitalize on the patio...which is why we choose this place in the first place. Imagine trying to get 35 people who are all traveling in from out of state to move up their agendas in less than 24hrs.

They told us the previous manager left and they were understaffed. I totally understand workers come and go, but that should not be the customers problem period. Whoever took my reservation did so on behalf of Willow Creek. It is the restaurants obligation to follow up and provide us with the information we requested months in advance. It was in your OpenTable system so it's not like this was hidden away in some ledger. Anybody who has worked in the service industry understands that things happen, adjustments can be made, and things can go sideways. It's how things were handled is what forced me to write my first review ever. I don't enjoy writing reviews and I certainly don't want to waste my time. I feel an obligation to educate the restaurant and future customers about my experience in an attempt to correct the poor behavior so no one else has to go through this scenario like my wife and I did the night before our wedding.

What Willow Creek is lacking is empathy toward their customers and instead of pushing back with zero flexibility and forcing our hand... maybe try offering solutions, accommodations, or a simple apology. There are a lot of stresses leading up to any wedding. Willow Creek created the biggest one for us two days before our special day.

Be better.

To the owner: Before responding with something defensive in an attempt to exonerate yourself, please investigate how this all unfolded internally with your managers. I am not looking for a handout or even an apology at this point. What is done is done. I really hope you can change your reservation process and large party offerings so "we" the customer have a clear understanding of what we are committing to. The food is not...

My understanding is that it is usually a drunk uncle that ends up ruining Thanksgiving dinner. I never expected it would be the restaurant we chose. We arrived at 2:00 PM for a 2:15 reservation. We expected to wait but were seated immediately. They seated us all the way back into the furthest corner, out of direct view of the rest of the dining room. The sun was starting to go down and it was blasting in the window blinding everyone at the table. It was also roughly 85 to 90 degrees between the sun and the fireplace that we were sitting next to. By 2:30 we had ordered our meals and we're working on our antipasto and salads. At one point my wife asked if it might be possible to lower the shade so we weren't being blinded. It was at that point that they figured out that there weren't any shades.

We then sat there for the next hour and 15 minutes waiting for our meals to be delivered. The waiter finally figured out that something was wrong at 3:20 and came by to tell us that our food would be right out. That ended up being a complete lie. Our food arrived at the table at 3:45...and it was cold.

We asked to see a manager or owner. It took another 10 minutes for the manager to come over. In the mean time, the table next to us, who came in 20 minutes after we arrived, had enjoyed all four courses of their meal and we're sipping on coffee. The manager apologized and asked if we wanted our food heated up. At that point we had been waiting for 2 hours for our meal. None of us wanted to wait for them to microwave our food or heat it up in the oven for another 20-30 minutes so we asked to just have the meal packed up.

The bill came and the waiter was very clear in pointing out that they had discounted our meal. Again, not so. Each meal was a flat rate of $75 plus drinks and gratuity. There were three of us and yet somehow they had managed to charge us for four meals. I then noticed that they had taken off 10% for our trouble. So they added $75 and took off $33. At that point I sent my family out to the car and told the waiter I needed to see the manager again. I pointed out what they had done and she got another bill that had the extra meal removed but when she got to the table she realized that they had not put the 10% discount back on, so she ended up having to go back again to get a new one.

So I ended up walking out of there at 4:25 PM having spent two and a half hours spending $235.00 to eat a salad and bring home a bag of cold leftovers. On top of everything else, they couldn't even manage to get all of our meal in the boxes...my daughter's stuffing was somehow missing when we got home.

To be honest, the 10% discount was an insult. I'm shocked that after all of the issues they didn't offer to comp us our meals and just ask us to pay for our drinks. The people who own this resterant ought to be ashamed of themselves. You take on a special responsibility when you invite someone to your place for Thanksgiving. Not taking care of the people that trust you to at least put out a competent spread is reprehensible. Trying to charge them for an extra meal after ruining their meal is incompetence or greed. Not knocking at least 50% off the meal or comping it completely is bad business. We would have been better served going to McDonalds.

Next year I'll cook it myself. Not worth the risk to...