The Old Mine — Restaurant in Erie

I can't speak to their food, only their service. My family of six walked in early today (a Friday), 2 January. No one greeted us and after several minutes of standing at the entrance, I was left to assume that we were supposed to seat ourselves.

We selected a table immediately inside the door and waited for someone to greet us. There were (rather I assume were) two or three servers behind the bar in the back of the restaurant, chatting, and another one or two wait staff helping other customers.

It seemed a chill atmosphere. It was obvious there were regulars occupying tables (playing cards?), but it wasn't terribly busy. I was facing into the restaurant and waited for someone to acknowledge that there was a six-top waiting for service. Nothing. No one acknowledged us. Not even a quick, "Hey! Be right with you!" It was as if we didn't exist...felt very odd.

After probably five minutes, we decided to give someone else our discretionary dining dollars.

We stood up to leave and a server who had been walking (belatedly) toward the front where we were sitting (which he'd done before only to veer off and help someone else at least once before) walked up to the table we'd vacated and began arranging the chairs as if we'd been remiss in not putting them back in place before we'd left.

I mean...I'm not stupid and I know it probably wasn't on purpose, but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. As he saw that we were leaving -- walking toward us -- there was still no acknowledgement or apology or anything. Just began straightening our abandoned chairs..

They may be fantastic if you're single or a couple, but for this family, anyway, they...

Great Food and Lots Of It!!

I hadn't been to the town of Erie, CO in, like, well, ever when a friend of ours suggested we meet there for lunch. She said that they recently recieved good reviews in an article she had read...and the reviewer was spot on!

We arrived on a Friday about 11:30 and there were not many folks there, which was nice. Music was a little loud in the back dining room and the low tops were taken, so we had to sit at a high top. If I'm being honest, the chairs were not that comfortable, hence the 4 stars...but that's the only negative!

The ladies started with the hard apple cider, my friend had a Bell's IPA and I had a nitro stout. All were excellent! For starters, we had cheese bread with bacon. We expected a couple of small crostinis but, instead, were astounded when what seemed line a ginormous pizza crust with tons of cheese and bacon arrived. Lots of YUMMY!!

For lunch, my wife and I split a BBQ platter for 2 with kielbasa and brisket with sides of smoked beets and kettle cups... again, tons of yum. Our friends had The Old Miner with chicken and the special, which was pork BBQ sandwich, smoked beets and drink. I'm not a beet fan but my wife loved them.

The Old Mine is housed in a great old building in the heart of downtown Erie, CO that still has the old paint from the turn of the century (the 20th, mind you!). Katie was our server and she was a hoot and half (ask her about smoking the beet weed...;-). Food was out moderately quickly but we weren't in any hurry, and Katie was very respectful of our group's desire to catch up. Highly recommend Old Mine for great food and...

We liked their true ciders, thought it was a bit expensive, not a great bar experience as we had to stand in line for 10 minutes before ordering, and their food could be improved.

Citra hopped cider was our favorite, by far. It is very floral from the hops but it's not bitter, citrus sings through, slightly creamy from the lychee. Overall it's a citrus summery symphony.

We didn't care for either of the barrel aged stuff, which normally I do, but each tasted too much like a wine or oak barrel and not enough tart cider.

Also didn't like the jalapeño cider, as a taster it was refreshing but at the end it was too much.

Basic bar food and that's what I'm knocking them for, it could be better with the space they have available

Service was fairly limited. Order at the bar, when done we couldn't tell if we just leave the glasses or clean the table off ourselves. It was farmers market night and since they're located off main, it was busy. Wait 10 minutes, backed up to the door busy. I just thought they could do better with more workers and a different layout (counter only allows 2 to work right now)

Price was a little surprize, but the flight was a good experience once. $14 fill for 32oz growler, $14 5 part sampler and $3 for each of their specialty...