Tennessee Pass Cafe — Restaurant in Leadville

Unfortunately, I have to write this full and honest review as the experience we had at this restaurant was unacceptable. My friends and I were in town and we decided to visit this spot on a Saturday afternoon for an early dinner. When we entered, we stood at the front door waiting to be seated as a sign was taped to a chair informing us to do so (the sign also was a bit abrasive stating that they HIGHLY recommend cash vs. credit/debit as they are a small business trying to survive). As we were waiting, we went unacknowledged as multiple staff passed by us - assisting other patrons. It was evident from the get-go that they were under staffed (which seems to be a common theme from other reviews and with talking to locals after our experience). Finally, we were greeted by one of the waitresses who stated "We'll seat you when we are able, you'll just have to wait until we have time". Taken back, we were polite and responded "no problem". We were a group of 7 and saw two empty tables straight ahead that were uncleared from the previous customers. I stated "if it will help you, we can split up - we do not all have to sit together". 15 minutes passed before the tables were cleared and we were finally sat. Once sat, the waitress was abrupt, rude, and loudly stated "just so you know, this will be one check - we don't split checks for parties". I then politely stated "but we're at two different tables, can we at least have a check for each table". She stated "No, that is not how we do things here" and walked away. It took 15+ more minutes to get drinks. Once we received our drinks, the waitress informed us that A, B, C, D, E, and F were off the menu as they did had "ran out" (that would have been nice to know - or posted on the sign when you walked in...). Our food was delayed and mediocre at best but what really put the icing on the cake was the fact that when we got our bill they added 20% GRATUITY to our tab WITHOUT informing us. It was NOT posted in the menu. There were NO signs informing us this would happen. There was no WARNING and no ACKNOWLEDGEMENT on our end. We're from Chicago and to be honest, even with the lackluster, rude, and arrogant service - we most likely would have tipped more simply because we know it's a small tourist town and it's how people make a living. The waitress applied this without our consent and what really bothered us is that we were barely waited on, we were never checked on, we did not receive any "service". I approached the waitress after we paid (we paid it) and politely asked "why was gratuity applied without us knowing?". She immediately was defensive and again stated "that is how we do things here" and basically told me to deal with it. I asked for a manager - she stormed off and another employee (not sure if even a manager) came to talk to me. She acknowledged my concerns but nothing further was done. After our experience, we talked to some locals at other places and they stated the attitude of the staff, always short staffed, menu is too big for them to keep items in stock, etc. - seems to be a common theme. I wish we would not have went here. I would recommend to not go here and go to a place that will respect its customers. We were polite, kind, and patient and got treated as if we were an...

The food was overpriced and we were over charged. We stopped by for lunch on our way back from camping. We love to support small businesses and are very understanding of restaurants when they are short staffed and/or sold out of menu items, which was the case for this one today. That part we rolled with, but other pieces aren't so easy to overlook. I ordered the "burger with dill and havarti cheese" and for my side I ordered the blackberry and apricot salad "for a small up charge." What arrived instead was the dill and havarti sandwich and the blackberry salad with chicken added to it and a few ingredients missing. I asked the waitress if she could please put in an order for a single burger patty for me, realizing I should have been more specific with my order and deciding there was no need to explain that it felt like she misunderstood or misimputed my order. She told me they were very busy, but she would try to get me a burger patty. Then a few minutes later she dropped off our bill with no mention of my burger or anything else and told us we could pay whenever we wanted. We were charged $14 for the burger patty, which we never got. My sandwich and salad combo, wasn't a small upcharge, but rather the full price for the sandwich plus the full cost for the small version of the salad. In total, my meal was $21and I didn't get the included side with my meal if the intention was to bill me separately for the salad, though my husband had fries and a salad and wasn't charged that way. The food wasn't great, but not bad. My sandwich was too salty and my husband's Caesar salad tasted like a vinegarette dressing. When we finished eating we put out our card for the waitress and she came by and asked if everything looked OK on the bill. We told her that we would like the burger taken off and she seemed hesitant. I also pointed out that I only wanted the patty so $14 didn't seem right and she assured me she rang it in correctly so I'd get a burger with no bun or toppings. She made no mention of the fact that it wasn't logical to buy a whole new meal, which includes a side, and not get any of that and just get the burger. We left shaking our heads and vowing to...

We had family visiting us in CO and decided to share the amazing beauty of Leadville. We stopped by this establishment for food and drink. We decided to sit outside (there were only a few tables occupied) and waited for a few minutes for someone to seat us. A gentleman told us that the outside was slammed and that we would have better service if we sat inside. We tried inside the establishment and were told by an employee that outside would be better because they were slammed inside (they did not appear slammed- not many of the tables were full). A member of my party stated what the outside employee stated and then we were seated right away. We chalked this up to maybe the establishment was having an off day and stayed for food. We had our order taken and placed by the server. We received our drinks and our appetizer (which was good). The person who served us left, and the replacement was a gentleman. We eventually received our order, well, part of our order. Two out of five members received their food. Three of us waited patiently until a member of the party went to a server and asked where the rest our food was. The gentleman came over and stated that the salad maker was not at work and that the server only told him about part of the order. He proceeded to tell.us that the server also had some family troubles and so she was off. He stated he would remove the salads off of the ticket and did not offer to comp. anything. The two members of our party who ate the food, ended up feeling ill about 45 minutes afterwards. We ended up paying $70.00 for three beers, two burgers, and an appetizer (stating with the understanding of cost eating in a...