Taste Ouray — Restaurant in Four Corners States

Stopped here because of the good reviews, which was a major mistake. This place looked really, really sketchy from the start, which should have been my cue to leave, but I decided to try it out… oh man was that a mistake.

Food — absolutely disgusting ceviche appetizer to start. Just a cup with frozen shrimp, clearly refrigerated avocado, and some mystery fish (the menu literally says “fish”, no elaboration on what they serve even) which was also clearly frozen and was in the fridge prior to serving this slop. All of that was covered with a dollop of some kind of cheese and had copious amounts of lime juice or something similarly acidic poured over it. The fish had a strong metallic taste so I stopped eating it immediately, because it clearly went bad. When I let the waitress know the fish in ceviche was spoiled, she made the most rude and exasperated face and started saying how “others loved it” that day. Well you know what, Karen? It doesn’t matter if others loved it, because you’re serving stale, frozen fish! You know how I know this? Because your other waitress brought it out literally a couple of minutes after I ordered it, which means no prep time, and the glass was ice cold. And you know what the fish in proper ceviche (or poke, or sushi) is supposed to taste like? Like nothing! Because it should be fresh! I would absolutely bet that you all have a fridge in the back full of these “ceviche” glasses that you fill up with frozen shrimp, old fish, and avocado at the start of the week, and then pull them out as people order. You are disgusting, and doing this will eventually lead you to get someone either sick or killed. And yeah, you also pour lime juice over old fish to mask the taste — that’s an old trick. To add insult to injury, this garbage was served with three hard taco shells. The asking price for this? $19. Beyond ridiculous.

Next up was the chicken, served to me around the same time as the appetizer (yes, the “servers” here have absolutely no idea of what timing means, despite pretending that this is a fancy restaurant — so I had all of my dishes in front of me at the same time). The chicken was also clearly not cooked to order. In all likelihood they have them sitting on a rotisserie in the back. The middle of the chicken was bone dry. No sauce was provided, of course. Plating, of course, is non-existent here as well, and the only other complements to this sub-Costco grade bird were a dollop of reheated mashed potatoes and four sad stalks of asparagus. The price? $36. Yes, thirty six dollars. For a small roasted chicken.

Ambience — nonexistent. It’s a sad space with office lighting and sad cafeteria tables. There were flies in the dining room (also disgusting), moving around between the few unfortunate guests that were there. Most tables were empty.

Service — terrible. Besides the mentioned interaction with the grumpy waitress (who acted more like a lunch lady), there was no service. I wasn’t asked how I was doing, if the food was good, anything. The waitress instead hovered over the other table since that was a couple and they ordered wine, clearly expecting a tip.

The only (minor) bright spot of the whole experience was the fact that, after complaining about the “ceviche”, they removed it from the bill. Oh, they also brought out a free small plate of some inedibly spicy chickpea thing, with four tiny crackers (the only edible thing there was the crackers).

Looking at the reviews now, most of the people leaving them seem to have few or no other reviews and many seem to be Ouray locals. It is also located in the same place as a sandwich shop with absolutely disgusting sandwiches sold at exorbitant prices (seeing a pattern? check for yourself). I believe this place is some kind of front for illegal activities or tax fraud, because I have no other explanation for how a place this terrible can exist and also be delusional enough to charge upscale restaurant prices for their garbage food. There are clear food safety issues here and I would recommend that you avoid...

My wife and I ate here while on vacation and left thoroughly disappointed. There are very few dining options in Ouray, and as one of the only towns between Moab and Aspen, this restaurant seems to rely more on its location than its quality. With limited competition, it charges steep prices for food that simply doesn't measure up: more a product of supply-side convenience than genuine culinary effort.

We waited a very long time to be acknowledged and then to have our order taken because the staff were chatting with another table, presumably regulars, and our server apologized for the wait by saying she'd bring us an appetizer on the house, but never brought it. We had the "Veggie Entree" which took about half an hour to come out, and while the pita bread (on the menu as "naan") was very good, the quinoa (on the menu as "quina") was overpoweringly lemony.

I also feel compelled to point out that the staff took a call on speakerphone trying to process a credit card over the phone and the entire restaurant could clearly hear all the credit card information including CVV code, ZIP code, and the cardholder's name which...

I don't even know where to begin. We walked in around 615pm to an empty restaurant which should have given us pause but we sat down. We ordered crab cakes that tasted like they had been frozen. No lump crab, just substance that looked and tasted like saw dust. I had the chicken dish with risotto and white wine lemon caper sauce. The risotto was very over cooked making it terribly sticky. We were surprised it would be served as it was obvious. The two pieces of chicken breasts were a good size but looked and tasted pasty. My partner took 2 bites of their pork dish. Yeah it was that bad. I don't know if this is an after thought of a restaurant or what but the owner's really need to think what they're doing. Just start over again and focus on quality and dishes that you can really impress because right now it's the worst we've had in all of our travels. It was really a bad experience for a meal. The service was great and the place was clean which is the only good thing about this place. Sorry but we're being...