Sauce on Copper — Restaurant in Four Corners States

This place is fine. But because the prices are so bloated, I'm going to judge it harshly. We got takeout after a long day of skiing. Our party got the rigatoni and sausage, fat tony, organic arugula pizza, house salad, and a basket of bread. Photo of pizza is attached. First thing I notice is the amount of arugula differs greatly from the photo listed in the online menu. I've had this issue with Sawmill in the past because they started skimping on their arugula pizza as well. So my excitement for this pizza goes down. I take a bite. It's fine. Not amazing, not great, not really good, just fine. The ingredients tasted fresh. The advertised roasted red peppers were missing. Which is a shame because they would have brought a little bit of much needed moisture to this pizza. There was also no basil on my pizza even though it was listed in the description. Perhaps the 'garlic-infused olive oil' was missing as well. Maybe don't lie about your pizzas guys. Another issue I have had with other pizzas in the past comes in the form of roasted garlic. It boggles my brain to try to figure out why a chef would put whole cloves of garlic on a pizza. This garlic was not nearly as roasted as it would need to be to get away with this. None of the deep, rich, comforting flavors I seek in roasted garlic were present. Maybe for good reason since there were at least three cloves in one slice of this 10" pizza. At least no vampires will come haunt me tonight I guess. The last major issue I had with this pizza was that it was too dry, to the point where it became hard to eat. Goat cheese is not oily enough to get away with not having sauce. Maybe the roasted red peppers and olive oil would have helped if they were there. Or perhaps a balsamic reduction drizzled over top. Or make the roasted garlic into a sauce itself. The garlic cream sauce found at Wicked Good Pizza in Leadville is a star performer. I couldn't help but think this is a silly way to present a pizza from a restaurant literally named 'Sauce'. Anyway, onto the other pieces of the meal. I hope the bread comes free when you sit down at this establishment. It's been literal years since I went to a restaurant with free bread and it makes me sad when I think about it. I was hoping for a warm, soft piece of bread to butter up and enjoy. What came were 4 pieces of toast with cheese on top. Which is fine, just again, not as advertised. In my head, 'bread basket' doesn't mean toast. Which should have come without asking with the meatball appetizer (fat tony). And for some reason the toast was kind of spicy? The rigatoni was fine. The meatballs and red sauce were fine. The salad was fine. Although, after having Sawmill's house salad this week, Sauce's house selection paled in comparison to the varied textures and delicious dressing from Sawmill. Overall, for the price, I'm quite offended. I guess all these rich people giving 5 stars value their dollar quite differently than I do. If you're going to charge me $20 for a 10" pizza, at least give me all the toppings you said you would. Because those are the reasons I got that pizza. Please note there is a 2% "take out" fee. I'm not sure if this is a new Summit County initiative or just from Sauce, but it is there either way. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. All in all I would not eat here again by choice, due to the resort prices and false...

Ordered off of a specials menu, I asked if the ribeye steak was a bone in ribeye. The server Mitch didn’t know, he came back and mentioned the steak was bone in as informed by the kitchen. It was ordered off of the main menus on the special they were offering the dish sounded awesome as it had garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. I ordered the ribeye medium rare. Let me tell you the potatoes and asparagus were the star of the plate. The scallops and steak were over cooked, the ribeye was the the worst ribeye I’ve ever eaten. The manager came and asked how everything was. I wasn’t comfortable saying anything as the dinner was being paid for by someone else I was with who chose the restaurant. My plate had a steak that had about 2-3 bites out of it. There was no bone, it was about 1/2 in thick and it was well done. To the manager (bald gentleman with glasses) who asked if anyone needed a box. If I was a manager and I asked someone who ordered a $57 dollar steak that was left uneaten who didn’t want a box, I personally would have asked that individual specifically if anything was wrong? Rather than risk a negative review which would deter others from dining at my establishment, I would have taken my medicine that night and make sure that future steak dishes are predated to satisfaction. That dish should have been fully comped as any good restaurant would have handled this. In the future it would be in your best interest (servers/managers/owners) to confirm steaks are cooked properly to taste and once the steaks are brought to the table. No one ever asked. Or remove steaks from your menu to avoid this issue, if the meal wasn’t being paid for I would have absolutely brought this up to management. I have always told myself don’t order steak at an Italian restaurant, wish I remembered my rule that night but I guess it sounded like a delicious dish that fell way short of my expectations. Sorry...

Good, potential to be great.

Pros: Amazing red sauce Bourbon selection Wine list Friendly, prompt service

Cons: Small protein portions in pasta dishes Light seasoning Execution of dishes can be improved

Had dinner for two, ordered Garlic Cheese Bread, Spaghetti Marinara with Meatballs and Penne alla Gorgonzola. The garlic cheese bread ($14) was great, but we ordered it as an appetizer and it came out with the entrees. The spaghetti marinara ($28) was tasty, but only came with two, small, under-seasoned, meatballs. The Penne alla Gorgonzola ($32) is a great idea, but had poor execution. The sauce was very thin, soup-like, and was lacking in gorgonzola flavor. The chicken, while cooked properly, lacked in flavor as it was totally unseasoned. Some recommendations to improve the food: serve three (or four), larger, meatballs with the spaghetti. For the penne, change suppliers of the gorgonzola cheese, add some flour to the sauce, and season the chicken before cooking it.

In short, we'll be back, I hope these are just growing pains, Sauce on Copper has a lot of potential, and is a great addition to the village, just needs to work a bit...