The View — Restaurant in Mountain Village

Dare I call this a hidden gem? We are staying in Mountain Village and were looking for a place to eat for dinner. We checked Open Table and this place said it was fully booked as well as every other restaurant in both Mountain Village and Telluride. My father in law decided to walk over as this is a fairly common choice of theirs and it was very empty. He called us and we immediately headed over. Despite the restaurant saying there was no availability on Open Table (even for 2 people) - this restaurant had lots of open tables. Since this restaurant is part of a hotel/lodge, I suspect the guests might eat here for breakfast and then want a change of scenery for dinner. Since this is a bit of a walk from the gondola in Mountain Village and looks like a hotel (which it is) it does not get many outside visitors. Tonight was my second time going to the restaurant - but this time it was in July (prior time was in the Winter). I ordered the “Green chili bacon cheeseburger” and it was awesome. Lots of fries came with it and after eating the large burger I didn’t have the appetite to finish the fries (waffle fries that are a mix of regular and sweet potato with a tiny bit of breading - perhaps corn meal?). Burger was great. Fish and chips is apparently very popular and the portion size was very large as well. For a $17 burger with the fries, this blew away my $13 sandwich from Tracks Cafe and Bar. I highly suggest you try this spot! Give them a call to check their availability since Open Table is clearly wrong. If Open Table was accurate, I suspect that many others may “discover” this place. I will add that the outdoor pool is accessed through this restaurant so as long as someone walking by in a towel doesn’t bother you, give this a try! Service was great too. The bearded waiter was very friendly and provided great service. He brought a couple of fruit garnishes from the bar for our 9 month old and the two oranges slices kept him busy for most of our meal!

8/2/21 Update - We later went to "Steamies Burger Bar" in Telluride. I ordered the "Yeti" which I was excited for since it was "VOTED #1 BURGER IN CO!! 100% All Natural Colorado Beef topped with Cheddar Cheese, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Crispy Onion Strings, and a Housemade BBQ Ranch Sauce and served on a Golden Toasted Brioche Bun." It was such big let down. Perhaps because I had the awesome burger from The View days before - but also probably because it was over hyped. There was simply no competition with the View burger. The View burger was big, juicy, tons of flavor, much better bun etc etc - not even close. Perhaps there's a new #1 burger in...

I’m pretty sure I was at this restaurant when the last reviewer walked in with his family and then promptly left. My husband and I wondered for a bit if we should have done the same due to some flubs, but opted to stick it out due to sheer hunger and the desire to move on to doing something other than eating our next meal.

Here is my honest review:

We walked in with a reservation already made on open table, only to find no host(ess) or wait staff anywhere to help us be seated. We walked up to a very busy bartender to ask for a table and for the breakfast menu. He told us to place a breakfast order quickly due to cutover to lunch hour. We were confused as we came to this restaurant for the brunch, and my husband was under the impression there was bottomless mimosas on the weekends as well as a decent brunch menu. Big fail here.

**Please note that this place seems to be a more informal restaurant meant for the hotel guests rather than a restaurant to be visited for the food or ambiance.

The bar tender was also the waiter for every single table in the place. He was kind and helpful and as attentive as he could be but impossible to do with several large families/tables plus a bar. We constantly had to ask for simple things - coffee, salt and pepper, etc, and felt bad to even have to ask. Shame on management for leaving him to fend for himself like that, especially on Father’s Day! So please note the service rating was not because of him, but because it was terribly understaffed.

My husband and I also understand smaller places in the mountains may run out of certain things… but they had no vodka for a Bloody Mary and no orange juice for a mimosa. What?! We specifically came here for Father’s Day brunch… which they did not have nor offer.

There is no “View”. It’s a small room, kind of dark, and it overlooks the pool.

Other staff were courteous and promptly refilled water glasses, brought out our meal hot, and cleared plates.

The food was decent in my opinion, though maybe a bit overpriced. But we expected as much coming up to Telluride, so not a big deal. Just wasn’t anything spectacular or memorable to write about.

We were left wanting, specifically due to the experience, but next time I’ll be sure to be the one to check Google reviews before booking, if my husband wants to go somewhere.

In the right setting, I’m sure this place is great, and can be a very happy place to drop in and eat at especially as a hotel guest. But I would not go out of your way to check out when...

Great views, picturesque pool, and good drinks, but you should not eat here. The food in Telluride is excellent and is just a quick gondola ride away, so do not bother eating at The View. Have a drink and take the gondola to Telluride for dinner. The waiters are friendly. However, food and drink service was so slow - my entire family was shocked. Then, my soup was cold (not even luke warm). I asked one of my kids who ordered PB&J, and she gave a thumbs down. My wife, son & I were shocked at this reaction, and we all tried the PB&J and all agreed, it was stale bread. How do you mess up PB&J???? The steak & fries was “pretty good.” The salad was ok. Given that this is a seasonal restaurant (we were there in late August), we were not expecting top-notch food, but it was still a huge miss. For example, service was so long, one child fell asleep before the food arrived. Also, the appetizers didn’t come early. It came with the main meal, which was annoying for a parent with hungry kids. By the time the food arrived, we were all ready to go. You can look at my other reviews. I almost always give 5 stars. I don’t think I have ever given a bad review like this one. Hopefully, the management can review things and make improvements. It is a really nice setting and atmosphere. The view is great. The music is great. It has a lot of potential. Hopefully, we just had a singular bad experience. I would not want to disparage a place unfairly, but sometimes you need to give feedback and share your honest opinion in the spirit of getting management to focus on needed improvements and to steer away people so they don’t waste their time on a below average place when they could easily have a fantastic meal somewhere else - not to mention wasting their money. Management needs to take a hard look at the kitchen and service. Otherwise, this place won’t be around for long. If the food was not over-priced...and if there were not amazing places close by, I would not have bothered to write this review. I hope this place can turn...