The Moot House — Restaurant in Fort Collins

I want to start by saying over the past decade we have reserved rooms numerous times at The Moot House for anniversaries, graduation parties, and other special occasions and it had been a great experience. Fast forward to last week. My wife had made a reservation for a room for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary towards the end of May. As time went on, more people wanted to celebrate and we now had 22 people. We had family coming from multiple states to celebrate. My wife called and reserved a bigger room and now the minimum we had to spend would be $1,000. We knew we would spend quite a bit more than that amount so no big deal. My wife called to schedule a time to come out to select the menu items for the event and we invited my parents to help pick out the menu. We were excited to celebrate such a milestone in their marriage. They said come on in and we would meet with Mitch. And.... this is when everything went south. We came in and the bartender greeted us. He was very friendly and said Mitch would be out in just a bit. We went to the "bigger" room we reserved and were talking about where to put the anniversary cake, etc... Mitch comes in and says, "this is not your room. We need to keep this open to guest." in an snooty and aggressive manner. We had reserved this room in the past, so my wife was mid sentence telling him we had reserved it before and he interrupted saying," you will not be this area. We stopped reserving this room a while ago." He then took us to a smaller room which was being set up for another party. It was not what we expected, but we would make good use of the space. He literally walked us to the room. We walked in to take a look and Mitch says," You need to get out of here. There is a party." There were two people sitting in a corner and we were in the room for no more than 30 seconds. They were deep in conversation and don't think they even saw us. The way Mitch treated us and spoke to us like we were beneath him in some way was unacceptable. I was trying to give my parents a great experience for their anniversary, and Mitch treated us like we were a huge inconvenience to him and he did not want us there. We exchanged some words due to his disrespect and as we were walking out he says," Have a nice dayyyyyyyyyy." I understand that people have bad days. We all have bad days, but to treat people in a that manner is unacceptable. All we were trying to do is give my parents a special day and spend a lot of money at your establishment. To The Moot House: You have been great to us in the past. Mitch is not a reflection of the caliber of service you have offered in the past. If he has been in this role awhile, maybe he is overworked or just unhappy in his job. I hope you speak with him directly and give him some training on customer service and how to treat...

My wife and I regularly visited the Moot House while living in Fort Collins for 30 years going back to my high school days of 1976. Moved away in 1999 but find ourselves in town regularly including Thursday 7/18/18 for an event Friday. We were excited to enjoy dinner at The Moot House upon arrival to FTC. Arrived at 6:15 to a packed parking lot with excitement this would still be a great meal. The restaurant had less than half the tables/booths filled but the hostess told us there would be a 10 minute wait because they were “slammed”. The bar didn’t have 2 open seats or we would have eaten there. Finally seated after 25 minutes still with mostly empty tables. Found the remodeling and menu less than appealing, especially without the famous salad bar of years gone by. Inquired about the missing salad bar including the peuter water goblets and wares with a woman in a dress who appeared to be management resulting with a reply the salad bar was removed during the remodel approximately 5 years ago including informing us salad bars “ really are quite unsanitary”. I doubt they are less sanitary than most restaurant kitchens the general public doesn’t see. In the old days there were many cooks in plain view behind the salad bar and the place was always packed with lengthy waits enjoyed in the bar with a large complimentary bowl of whipped cheese and crackers. A staff member finally stated they can’t adequately staff the kitchen. Price points appear over the top, especially when a cheap red wine is $9.00 for maybe 3-4 ounces filled into a large glass and a plain Cobb salad for $13. I believe the newer owners missed the mark when remodeled and created the sparse menu including other reasons the kitchen isn’t staffed to support a minimal crowd. We ended up ordering 2 Cobb salads with a very tasty morsel of chicken and meatball sized “pretzel” which was very tasty with both bites. The only reason I left a tip was to support the waitress although mostly non-existent. Had to ask another waitress to send ours so we could pay after looking about 10 minutes for her. Our waitress returned with bill and no clue she hadn’t stopped by the table to ask how our meal was except after the first two bites.?Unfortunately can’t recommend The Moot House as a value based adequately staffed dining experience with all the other options in town. I never leave feedback when disappointed with a purchase but the owners would never know why they aren’t turning tables more than once if not brought to their attention. Hopefully this creates a positive change before the doors end up locked and closed...

Updated Sep 19 2024. Lunch with friends. My wife had her fave - French Dip. Our friends each had the Wedge Salad. I had the pork Schnitzel sandwich. Pork is a delicate protein. The horseradish mustard sauce together with the arugula completely overpowered the pork. Our sandwiches came with French fries - mediocre. Cost of lunch for four with no alcohol no appetizers and no sides, with tip and tax, was $78.

UPDATE OCT 2022: Still a solid 5 stars. Met friends here for dinner tonight. Very happy to see that the place was packed. Didn't mind waiting for a table about 20 minutes. We were there at 6:00. My wife had her fav - the French Dip Beef Sandwich with fries, beef jus and horseradish. I had the salmon - really, really outstanding, including the citrus soy glaze.

UPDATE SEPT 18: Last-minute decision to get out of the house and have dinner at the Moot House. Never a bad decision. 90 degrees outside and even though there was ample shaded outdoor seating, 90 degrees is a bit much, so we sat inside. The booths are large and comfy. Seating was immediate, our server was prompt, friendly and knowledgeable. My wife had the Caesar Salad with a grilled salmon upgrade. The salmon was a generously-sized portion. The salad was properly chilled and enhanced with bits of sun-dried tomatoes which added a touch of creative tartness. I had the fish sandwich which was loaded with TWO good-sized pieces of battered cod. My 16 ounce draft beer was served ice cold. Another good dining experience.

Our go-to pub when we want to have a special lunch experience. The Moot House always comes through. Management and staff are always spot-on terrific. My wife and I are never disappointed with the quality of the food or the selection. This time my wife had a gi-normous burger, cooked to her liking - medium - smothered in blue cheese. I had the daily special - blackened sliced prime rib sammy. Nicely spicy because of the rub. Very juicy and tender. Would do this one again.

UPDATE: December 23 Flew into town for the holidays and headed right to Moot House for dinner. Caught the last five minutes of happy hour and ordered appropriately! As ALWAYS, excellent fare, drinks and service! Two in our party had salads but my brother-in-law and I had fish and chips and meatloaf. The Fish & Chips are always super but this was my first time ordering the meatloaf. It was incredible. My large portion was grilled! The meatloaf was cooked "medium" and was slightly pink on the inside. Most unusual but most appreciated. The gravy was thick, rich and savory....