The Mayor of Old Town — Restaurant in Fort Collins

• In response to the restaurants comment, the issue was not the cake. It was with how their employee treated us when we were unaware of the policy. There was every opportunity for this situation to have been handled better.*

Please read this whole post it's going to be a long one. It was our first time in for a celebration. The food and drinks were really good-but our interaction with our waitress Dev ruined the experience. We were the first customers in for the day. Throughout our whole meal she seemed annoyed with our group, especially when it took my older relatives a second to order. The main conflict that ruined our experience was that we brought in a birthday cake (at the time we did not know this was not aloud). Our waitress said nothing to us, as we asked for extra plates, lit a candle, even sang happy birthday. She even came and cleared out plates while we were eating the cake. Right before we got our check Dev came up to the table. Instead of politely informing us that it was against the restaurant's policy she instead just said, "I need a piece of that cake." Our group all thought that it was her just joking and wanting to be in on the birthday cake. She then repeated herself in a less friendly way. We asked if she was serious because we didn't understand. She said that the staff needed to try it for cross contamination, (again instead of explaining that what we did was against policy). The conversation ended up going south. We asked if we could speak to the manager. Which she came back to say he was too busy and could not speak with us. We were one of maybe 4/5 tables in the restaurant. I asked for a card or his name so we could at least call back to talk to him. She would not give me either. While we were having this conversation, the manager walked out with his laptop. We asked if we could have a word and he said he was busy because he had a zoom call. However we were able to chat with him for a moment. We tried to explain we felt bad about the cake and did not mean to create a conflict but we didn't appreciate how Dev decided to approach us about it.

Due to how we were treated we will not be coming back or recommending this restaurant to anyone. We live 5 minutes away from The Mayor, if we would have been told it was against policy for the cake to be eaten in the restaurant we would have packed it up and taken it home to eat...

When I walked in the door, I thought, "Alright, this place is not terrible, definitely not a dive bar." But that thought was quickly followed by, "Not really anything special or different from the other bars around Fort Collins, either."

It was midday, around three in the afternoon on a Friday. The place wasn't very crowded so i expected to be greeted quickly. I was, a man walked up, dropped two menu's and quickly left. I figured he would be back shortly. I waited nearly ten minutes before I was greeted by a short gal. She asked if I'd had time to decide what I wanted, seeming frazzled and like I should hurry so she could get back to other more important things. I had several questions regarding the 100 beers they had on tap, I do not enjoy IPA's or Fruit Beers and I wanted her opinion on their selection of ambers and porters. However, her demeanor made me think asking questions would only put her in a more frazzled state.

I looked down and chose an amber beer at random, picking solely off the name. She asked if I wanted food as well. My first thought was, "If this is your attitude, why would I want to stay for more than one beer?" I said possibly and she retreated without a second glance.

She did deliver my beer quickly, but the beer itself left much to be desired. It just didn't suit my palate and I can't help but wonder if she had been more pleasant if I would have been able to find a beer that hit the spot.

I wandered to the bar after my first beer in hopes of talking with the bartender more about their beers. Instead of being helpful, he made me feel less than welcome and like my questions were a nuisance. Needless to say, I did not order a second beer.

I left feeling like I wore jeans and t-shirt to a black tie event and with a bitter taste in my mouth. I will...

Summary: A quieter place to go out to if you want to avoid most of the standard college crowd. Very good prices and delicious food, with games at a large portion of the tables. The atmosphere is dark and cozy and the staff are always friendly.

The Mayor has quickly become my favorite destination for a night on the town. Their crowning achievement is their 100 beers on tap from all around including Odell and New Belgium. About 6 of those 100 are actually ciders, including cider(s) from the nearby Climb cider brewery. What they have on tap changes constantly, so they've created a mobile app for people to keep track of their current offers, and every menu has the date of printing on it (usually indicating it was printed that morning). I haven't had the opportunity to peruse their whole food menu, but from afar I can say that it looks delicious. And from personal experience I know that the truffle fries with shaved Parmesan are worth the visit.

Perhaps another great selling point, for me personally, is how uncrowded it is. Because of it's location several blocks from the main portion of downtown Fort Collins, most bar hoppers don't make the trek all the way down, so the number of people there doesn't become uncomfortably high.

A final note is that I may be biased towards it because they provide the dice game Farkle at multiple tables. I think having games at each table is amazing, and having one of my favorite games is a cherry on top.

Overall I would definitely recommend that everyone try this location at least once. If it's not for you then you can at least get some good beer and play a great game of Farkle. It's a quality experience in a quieter part of town that deserves so much more exposure than it...