The Biker & The Baker — Restaurant in Salida

My friend and I stopped in for cocktails and it was a bit of a trip. Context being a Saturday night during a festival about 1 1/2 hours before posted closing time. I am a bartender back home, so I was prepared for a little chaos but nothing like what we experienced.

• Enter main floor, no engagement even though there are several empty tables. We decide to check out the rooftop bar
• Enter the rooftop area which is very full. Several people are settling up so we decide to wait. We try to flag down either a server or bartender to let them know we are there to wait but no one talks to us. All right, a little off but its a Saturday night during a big town party. Ive worked those before and I get being a little harried. We wait
• As we are waiting a few tables start to get up and leave. A few new customers come in behind us. Before they have gathered their things and scooted, the new customers are greeted and directed to the emptying seats by staff, even though we had been waiting. We give up and walk back downstairs.
• The empty tables are still in the main area so we walk back over to the entrance in hopes of catching anyones attention. We have to interrupt a waitress to directly ask if we can be seated at any of the open tables or if theyre closing up. Queue a reluctant 'yeah sure' and gesture toward an open table. We should have cut our losses here
• It takes the server at solid 12 minutes to greet/water/menu us. This was really awkward as the place is small and girl, we can see you
• After we get a chance to look over the menu, we still wait for anyone to check on us. Eventually the barback comes over and tries to take our order, but the bar is our of several key ingredients for a lot of drinks. All the ones we wanted to try were out of stock, so we had to take some time to look over the menu again. Another solid 14 minutes pass before the server checks on it
• Okay, menu training is sorely needed. The server did not know what a lot of the specific ingredients in the cocktails even are (Demerara Syrup is a dark brown simple syrup, honey, please) nor did she know how to describe the cocktails we asked about in a helpful way. We ordered and hoped for the best
• Our order got in and made. We got a lovely view of our drinks dying on the bar. The bartender pointed out the drinks ready to be served about 3 times (not just ours up there) before he eventually walked the drinks out.
• I will say I dont blame the bartender here. In fact my servicemans heart goes out to him as it was painfully obvious he was the only one working. But much like an actor with poor direction, a bartender with bad recipes can only do so much.
• The drinks were horrendous, in short. Im deeply impressed anywhere can screw up what is essentially a grapefruit gin seltzer so, so badly that we could not finish them. We had to go up to the bar to pay as our server up and vanished -- TL;DR The painful service would have made the experience 'meh' but the undrinkable cocktails were the nail in the coffin. Maybe rework that menu and pay your bartender more. In all, it took us the whole 1 1/2 hours to try and get 2...

Enjoy a breakfast here surrounded by beautiful mountain views and delicious sunshine. We sat on the cozy rooftop patio for our meal, but the downstairs room would have been just as nice with lots of bright windows and fun artwork everywhere (and a pastry cabinet that will make your mouth water). I had the bacon sandwich with egg and a Bloody Mary while my husband got the avalanche omelette with a side of carnitas. The bacon sandwich is served on a toasted baguette. While the bread was very tasty, this is a sizable sandwich and with the hard crust of the baguette it’s a little difficult to get a good bite in. Close to the end of the sandwich I took off the top piece and ate the rest of it open-faced. With the added two eggs over easy (+$2), the yolk really elevates the creaminess of the sandwich. I had some of my husband’s coffee and carnitas, both were flavorful and delicious. The Bloody Mary was refreshing, but I do wish the accoutrements had a little more pizazz. Garnish included only a celery stick and a pickle spear. Our server was new, but she was very kind and attentive. Food came out pretty quickly and everything was hot, fresh, and so yummy. Vibes were high in the sunshine with soft country playing (Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, etc). Bathrooms were modern, clean and gender inclusive. If you’re in town or passing through and need good snacks, this is definitely a stop you...

We were a party of three that came in just for dessert. There were about eight desserts on the menu that change weekly according to staff. We had a hard time narrowing it down. Service was attentive, friendly, and thorough. Unfortunately she didn't know what any of the desserts tasted like since they change weekly. Interior is wonderful. Decorated very nicely. Trendy and visually appealing. I would like to return sometime to enjoy their open air rooftop terrace overlooking downtown Salida. The choices along with the wine selection and ambience was right on the mark. A place I would physically like to go to and enjoy. Unfortunately the desserts fell short for my expectations. While great quality (ie fresh strawberries, decadent home-made whipped cream, infused flavors, edible floral garnish) and presentation, the Strawberry Galette was lackluster in flavor of the pasty and too underbaked for my preference, minimal on the fruit. The banana pudding was way too cold also, felt more like eating ice cream than pudding and therefore also hindered the flavor profile. We enjoyed the banana pudding more but just too cold (perhaps frozen?) to properly enjoy. I applaud the offering of a whole new dessert offering each week but this time it missed the mark for us. Overall a great spot to enjoy a catch up with a friend all the way to a special night out with...