Claire's Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Estes Park

A group of 8 of us showed up without reservations on 08/27. The very kind and welcoming Host walked us in a moment after setting up our table.

I'm not sure of his name, never got it, but our waiter in his shinny vest came out with a mumble and returned with waters. After taking the time to get an order together, and advise him of the three separate checks, we finally were able to get our order in.

Bartender did a great job of pulling off our bill, it took a little bit but worth every sip.

Food came put scary fast...not sure if chef Mic was put into action or not, but regardless the food was great.

Id wrap this review up sooner, if it wasn't for these last details. I advised the host that I just proposed to my partner that very same day, not hours earlier. I wanted a surprise, just desert and candle. Nothing wild.

As we are boxing up our left overs, some of my party went to the bathroom, including my fiancé. Our waiter pushed out the desert even after I asked him to wait. People are sitting down, candle cant even light because of the fans, and my fiancé is standing there waiting as he blurts out "happy anniversary!...or whatever, sorry I don't know..."

The embarrassed host watched as he tossed down some silverware and plates, and turned and left.

Fun times. Unfortunately we weren't done with our waiter. Check time.

With over ten years in this industry, I know theft when I see it. This man is pulling various games. Auto gratuity was included, however when I payed cash, I had to fight for my change, and even then didn't get it all.

Message to the owners over everything, audit your staff, send in secrete shoppers. Don't let one dead branch fall the whole tree. You have a beautiful spot. Trim a little.

Looking forward to returning on our actual...

Food: 4.7 ⭐ Waiter(s): 1.8 ⭐ Atmosphere: 3.8 ⭐

Food - I ordered the Dynamite Burger (cooked medium) and it was delicious! Definitely very hot and only for people who strongly enjoy heat. Meat was cooked just as I asked for and was very fresh. Fries were good and had just the right amount of salt. Compliments to the chef!

Atmosphere - It's... Nice, I like the decor it fits nicely and the menus are cute except for my menu was missing 2 pages in it, luckily one of the people in my party shared their menu with me, you get a nice view of the mountains outside.

Waiter(s) - Not impressed what so ever. The hostess in the front was pleasant at best. The waiter was very monotone and when asked a question didn't do well at all to help explain and never showed proper etiquette in their words and service. After 3-5 minutes of my water being empty they eventually asked if I wanted more (I said yes obviously). A different waiter came by a minute later and filled my parties water up, he didn't pick up the water himself he just waited till we picked them up and handed it to him ourselves. Later after we were finished another different waiter came by and asked if we wanted dessert which was weird to keep having a different waiter stop by. Eventually the original waiter came by and took our plates and then left without a word. Another random waiter came by and took the condiments off our table while we were still seated. Finally we got the check and left.

Final thoughts - Food was amazing, service was the opposite. Would be a great stop if only the staff was more coordinated...

The food was decent. Bloody Mary’s were ok. Rushed and disorganized staff. We put our name on the list for brunch, 40 minute wait. Said our table would be ready at noon. They paged our group early. A couple were running a few minutes late but everyone else went over there to check in after the large as they said our table is given away after 10 minutes if you don’t show up. When we got there, the table wasn’t ready and the guy said “your table isn’t ready, we just wanted to make sure you were going to show up, you can have a seat in the bar”. So we sit at the bar to order a drink and then rushed us to the table and had to order immediately. The one guy in our party who wasn’t there didn’t care about brunch and said he would just order food when he got there. The server then told them we had to order all our food at once. Apparently, you can’t order anything after your initial order. But I digress. We are in a town full of tourists where lots of service staff appear to not realize that without tourism, they don’t have a job. This place has overall good reviews and I’m sure this place will continue to thrive. Hopefully this review maybe sparks some conversation about service with a smile. Coming from the hospitality industry, it’s important.

By the time we had received our food, there were still several empty tables so felt rushed to get in and order for what wasn’t a...