217 Wine Bar — Restaurant in Estes Park

My best friend and I come to Estes every year at least twice. We ALWAYS come to the wine bar and Cascades several times each time we are in town. It has always been amazing and wonderful with superb service. This year, however, that was not the case. We ordered shrimp cocktail, which we have ordered several other times there. When our waiter brought it out, immediately the presentation looked different than it had before. The cocktail sauce looked very dark and the horse radish looked and tasted like Dijon mustard. As we ate it, we both said the cocktail sauce tasted like bbq sauce. We mentioned this to our waiter and he said it's always been that. We ate a couple more, and it tasted awful so we sent it back. When we told the waiter, his response was, "Well, it looks like you've almost eaten the whole thing". We again said we wanted to send it back. Soon after, the manager, Georgia, along with the waiter, came to our table asking us what was wrong. We told her. Georgia then proceeded to literally argue back and forth with us saying that the shrimp cocktail sauce was the same as it had always been. It was absolutely not! Every time I would say it was not the same, Georgia would say "yes it is" and that went back and forth several times. What manager does that? EXTREMELY rude and unprofessional. Then we noticed a table off 6 girls beside us. They ordered a bottle of wine from Georgia. The glasses came out dirty and smelly and so they mentioned that to Georgia. Georgia clearly got annoyed and offended and grabbed the glasses to take them back. One of the girls was trying to apologize to Georgia after Georgia reacted. When Georgia came back with the 6 glasses, she had rinsed them off but did not wipe them down to get all the water off so they were dropping with water on the inside and outside of ask of the glasses. All of the girls at the table looked dumbfounded.

We have never had bad service or die staff one single time at the stanley. Seems like the new management has a lot of things that need improvement, and in my opinion, the first change that needs to be made is getting rid of Georgia. She is rude, unprofessional, disheveled looking, and rough around the edges. They need to rethink employing...

Pretty bizarre start. The guy who sat us was rude and suspicious from the moment he saw us. Idk if it was the way we were dressed but we were on a motorcycle if that says anything. He says to pick a seat on the patio so I asked if there was a spot they’d prefer and he was rude about that too even though his explanation that yes they do have a preference was exactly why I asked. 🙄 The married couple who sat next to us shortly after left quickly, seemed like they’d be a delight at parties and would probably get along really well with the first guy.

Keep in mind that the restrooms are outside of the restaurant and downstairs from the main lobby. A bit of a hike to get there. lol.

Apparently there was some argument over who would get the short straw and take care of us until this absolute OG server came in and handled business. The other servers look like they hate their lives. 😬

Ours was a true delight though and very good at his job. Completely made up for his co-workers’ shenanigans. His service is impeccable. I didn’t catch his name but he’s a silver fox! 😍

We didn’t have any issues with the wine selection being unavailable, as other reviewers stated, but we did both choose US wines just by chance. I don’t know if that matters.

Food was awesome. We demolished the charcuterie board or plate. Whatever the smaller one is called on the menu. It was a struggle to finish between 2 people but we did it. Haha. Probably one of the best charcuterie I’ve ever had tbh. 👍 👍

The cheesecake is delicious perfection. Holy smokes. So good. Definitely do not skip if you like cheesecake and cherries.

I’ll be...

Walked in excited. Was asked where we wanted to sit. Was maybe 10% of the tables filled. Asked for my husband and I to sit at a couch spot near the window when we were told, with a hesitation in his voice, "well that's for like 8 people". I was a little taken aback. Why ask? So I said "where would you like us to sit?" He then asked me again. I asked to sit inside. He said," how about on the patio". 🫥 Feeling invisible or maybe chased away I nodded sure. The table for two wasn't cozy so my husband wanted to move to some patio chairs with cushions. We were told by the waitress that it was an inconvenience but begrudgingly allowed us to stay. We finished drinks as soon as possible. When we left there was still 10% of the place filled. I don't know what that was all about but I will never go...