Public House — Restaurant in Crested Butte

A couple days ago, I reserved a table at another restaurant in town for this Saturday night. You see, I have a college Freshman at Western Colorado in Gunnison and she wanted some "good food". The dorm food was repetitive and the sourcing of said food "suspect". She looked forward to her wagyu steak at this "other" restaurant... rhymes with Welk Revenue Time.... For two whole days she planned her meal only to discover that the restaurant was closed. No phone call, no notice... nada. Our Open Table reservation just disappeared! Also, it was open just two nights before!

Discouraged, we wandered onto the streets of Crested Butte hungry and a bit annoyed. We knew Slogar wasn't an option... closed for the season. The Secret Stash is always a favorite, but pizza just wasn't going to replace a wagyu steak. We stumbled into The Sunflower...another one of our favorites... but they were booked and couldn't seat us. Wooden Nickel?? Permanently closed.

So, we wandered in to the Public House. We've been here before. They have always been kind with good food and drinks, but tonight felt different. Tonight we felt desperate and when we walked in to Public House. I tiredly asked the hostess if they were still serving dinner... She said they were, but it would be a bit of a wait. Grateful to be eating at all, we waited. A 20 minute wait was all of 8 minutes and we were seated. They were obviously short staffed, but the staff was kind and doing the absolute best they could muster.

Thinking ahead, I asked what the kitchen was out of. Exhausted, the server told me their menu limitations and brought our drinks. We were happy to hear they still had the short rib and both my daughter and I ordered this difficult menu item. I have to admit, we subbed the mashed potatoes with truffle fries..... that substitution was worth every penny of extra expense.

Our meal was superb. Our server was kind and gracious. We even got an elk meatloaf meal to go so my starving college student daughter has a meal to look forward to this week.

Public House..... I know times are crazy, but you are really doing the best you can and we really appreciated...

So a lot of people are raving about the food at this place. These folks obviously did not order the burger and fries. I hate to write negative reviews but this was one of the biggest disappointments in my life in terms of value for money. With bacon and cheddar cheese the burger and fries cost $27.00! And they had the audacity to serve a totally average frozen patty (think like Kroeger brand frozen patties box of 100). Both mine and my wife's were way overcooked as were the fries. As a rule I never send back food to the kitchen but since the fries were INEDIBLE (no exaggeration) I had to send them back. The waitress brought up a new plate of fries that were cooked properly but it was really surprising that we were served the others in the first place. Do NOT order a burger & fries here!

On a side note, if there is no seating in the main room upstairs, do not accept a table downstairs. It felt like we were sitting in a closed part of the restaurant. Nobody down there and it was very cold. There are too many other good choices in Crested Butte. As far as I'm concerned, this place just stole...

The Public House ICB beers are excellent. Pilsner, Brown and STOUT are phenomenal. Now for the food. BURGER was pre-formed and tough as previously frozen. I asked for medium rare. Burger was well done. French fries were small bits and pieces. Obviously the last of the batch. At 13 dollars one expects excellent fries, not the dregs left in the basket. And to add insult, beware, the burger is only a quarter pound...same as MacDonalds. Most good restaurants now serve half pounder hamburgers for same price as Public House's quarter pound burger. Service: the bar tender, blonde guy, was less than gracious. When we asked menu questions he got upset and walked away. We won't be back. There are superb alternatives with a few blocks. Go to the ICB brewery on Belleview for their growlers. Staff there are friendly, warm...