Tabernash Tavern — Restaurant in Fraser

I have been working in the restaurant/bar industry for the past 7 years now. And considering that I have been working in the industry long enough to earn an associates degree in the culinary arts from Auguste Escoffier School Of Culinary Arts ( while struggling with torettes syndrome ), and have personally shed my own blood, sweat, and tears into making a living in this industry, I am ashamed to have ever set foot inside of this establishement. The bartenders I sat in front of were clueless and uninformative. They felt like they were not required to be informative and/or helpful to someone who has never dined in their restaurant before, and pracitcally ignored me for the entirety of the night in order to pay more attention to some of their more 'well to do' locals. I ordered their Hongos Picatta and the tofu was terrific. But once I bit into the mushroom and caper sauce, It was like I was biting into a whole entire lemon. The acidity in the dish in its entirety was overwhelming and I had to ask for something else because I just didn't have the stomach to even attempt to finish it. So, I asked for the burger instead. And even though they neglected to inform me of the intesity of the first dish, they then followed up and told me that the burgers were normally served medium AFTER they followed up to compensate my first order 15 minutes later, and never asked me how I would like my meat cooked ( whether or not the first dish they served me was acceptable for consumption or not ).

Needless to say, I payed $25 for a burger that was not only NOT high grade beef, but regular Black Angus, they sent it to me Over Done and the kitchen didn't even have the integrity to dress it themselves. They sent the patty along with the cheese and the lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and ketchup on the side in little plastic disposable ramikans.

I can understand if you want to charge $25 for full blooded wagyu beef, and even have the courtesy and integrity as professionals to dress it yourselves WITHOUT plastic ramikans, but to overcharge me for a burger that was overcooked and that I had to dress myself? This is nothing short of theft, robbery, disorganization as an establishment, and pure laziness. Iv'e been given better service by one of the bartenders and bar cooks at Fishers than I have by anyone at Tabernash Tavern. The worst $50 I have ever...

Sorry about this wordiness but I think it is important to share this story.

I had made reservations weeks ago for August 25 to celebrate our anniversary. We were seated in the bar area that was extremely loud and busy. We requested a switch of tables to the back dining room but we were told they were too busy to accommodate us. Though I had previewed the menu at the time I made reservations, the online menu did not have notation that the in-restaurant menu had: MODIFICATIONS POLITELY DECLINED. This referred to the unwillingness of the chef to alter any menu items. My husband and I, both lactose intolerant with a couple other dietary restrictions, thought that this couldn’t possibly be an actual practice in this current day and age of patron dietary accommodations and especially at this high price-point establishment. But, YES, this was the case. Going thru much of the menu, we requested that our server check back with kitchen as to what they were willing to do. Each time he came back, with increasing apparent frustration and annoyance with us, informing us that they would not be willing to make requests other than to remove cheese off a vegan burger. But no, they would NOT willing to eliminate a pepper relish placed on the burger, as it was described on the menu.

We were astounded! With that, the server abruptly asked if we would like the check for the drinks we had ordered and had just been delivered to the table. We took the check, paid $30 for the 2 drinks left untouched on the table. On the way out, we told the maître d of our experience. He said that had he been made aware, he would have paid for the drinks. No offer to reimburse us, nor address the issue of their poor food accommodation policy!!!

But, alas, our anniversary was not to go uncelebrated. My husband insisted we drive down the street to Devils Thumb Ranch Restaurant. Though reservations are typically required at this beautiful and elegant establishment, the maître d kindly accommodated us. The price point was similar, the server was very helpful, unrushed and wanting to please; but most importantly, the kitchen served us delicious food, making whatever modifications that were needed.

So, in the end, our anniversary was marked with a wonderful meal, and an interesting tale of 2 diametric restaurants in this lovely town...

We have been dining at Tabernash Tavern for the past four or five years when staying just down the road at Devil’s Thumb Ranch. We always have had nothing but enjoyable experiences at what was once our favorite Grand County dining destination. Tonight that all changed. The manager, Justin was extremely unwelcoming when we arrived for our reservation. Unwelcoming turned to condescending when we were asked if we scanned the QR code for the menu. No Justin, we didn’t. It was behind us and you saw us walk in and walk straight to you. 🙄. Justin then proceeded to take us to our table which was jammed between a wall and the fireplace, which was not enough room for myself and my dining companion to dine comfortably. We asked for another table and you would have thought we had asked for him to give us his first born. At this point he became just downright rude. We were finally seated at the table we requested and spent the next few minutes noticing how tense everyone seemed to be when Justin was around. He is obviously either very inexperienced in the hospitality business or is completely overwhelmed in his position. The way he talked to other customers, let alone us, made us feel uncomfortable. The final straw was after we ordered and served two $49.50 scallop dinners (that were absolutely loaded with sand) Justin proceeded to spend 10 minutes dragging tables all over the dining room creating all kinds of noise and distraction that just completely ruined our dinner. The kicker was the table he tried to sit us at was one of the ones he dragged around for 10 minutes trying to figure out a 10 top. All his huffing and puffing about requesting a different table was for what reason? The only enjoyable part of the evening was Alicia, our server. She was knowledgeable about the menu and attentive throughout our dinner. She offered to replace the sandy scallops but at this point we no longer were interested in listening to more table dragging. We paid our check and left and passed Justin at his hostess stand and he didn’t even look up to say thank you or good bye. Our recommendation: Stay away from the scallops and find out what nights Justin isn’t working if you are looking for a...