Stark's Alpine Grill — Restaurant in Snowmass Village

We were a party of 6 on a Tuesday night celebrating a birthday. It is important to note this is the first review I will have written on a dining experience given that we (my family) is a highly forgiving group, most having worked in the service industry ourselves so we usually can empathize.

However, I cannot empathize with any aspect of this experience. From the moment we sat to when we received our entrees we waited 90 minutes. Food was insanely sub par - filet mignon was NOT prepared to the medium rare order, broccolini was dry and luke warm. All of it tasted like it had stay under a heater for 30 minutes.

The waiter came to our table twice during the meal. Waters ran dry and the time between appetizers and entrees left dirty silverware, used plates, and food droppings sitting in front of us.

The place seemed to crawl with servers but we were thoroughly not attended to. At one point we had to get our own silverware for the birthday cake on the house special. When a member of our party approached the manager to share our concerns the manager feigned concern and then disappeared and was not seen for the rest of the 45 minutes we sat at the table. At that point all we wanted to do was leave. After everything we had to approach the host stand to ask for our card to be run because we waited another 20 minutes at an empty table to have the check picked up.

I have never had an experience so poor at a restaurant especially that charges so much for such poor food. It’s clearly a pervasive issue across the entire restaurant: manager, servers, kitchen.

Terrible experience and it takes a lot for me...

This was quite possibly the worst dining experience ever. I should have known to run, but being NYE we didn’t have many other options. I had made an 8:30pm reservation over a month ago then when we checked in I was told it’s now a prix fixe menu and the regular ala carte menu would not be available. I questioned why I wasn’t made aware of this and was told it was emailed to me. I checked my emails and didn’t see it so perhaps it went to spam, but don’t you think jumping to a $235.00 per person menu is worthy of a phone call?! Because our options were limited being NYE, we decided to stay. Mistake number one! It’s was ridiculously hot in the restaurant, like stuffy, uncomfortable hot! The lights were bright even though it was NYE at 8:30pm - total ambiance killer! Then there’s the food…..best way to describe it would be banquet wedding food. Very apparent everything was made in advance, including the halibut which was ridiculously dry and the sides for the steak entree were very apparently the last of the last to be plated in the banquet kitchen. Essentially once we were served the place was empty and staff was scurrying around preparing for morning breakfast service, I assume. The server tried her best and was very pleasant but holy cow was this place a hot mess! Our bill was $1500.00 before gratuity - I couldn’t even get myself to say a single thing because all I wanted to do was to get the hell out of there. This place desperately needs help. Oh and PS - the salt and pepper shakers were a clue of the lack of care being they were half empty and...

Technically the WINE is from before the dinner at Viewline hotel lounge (we wanted to go to little mammoth but it was closed so we ran back to Starks for dinner) and we loved the overlook to the valley, sitting next to a fire.

This review is my opinion from my experiences and I hope it helps you. I think if I go back to the restaurant, I’d try different items on the menu.

FRENCH ONION soup (not pictured) was quite delicious but compared to other French onion soups we’ve had over our years, it was delicious but wasn’t the best we’ve ever had. Hits the spot and tastes good but seemed like a lot of bread for the proportion (or maybe the portion was smaller than expected, idk). It was creamier with less actual onions than other French onion soups we’ve had but still delicious. I’d still recommend it to others :)

Ambience is semi-private but not fine dining (would need to be dimmer lighting, different material on the seating, etc…you’ll see when you go) but maybe that decor works for the winter time when most visitors experience Snowmass.

MEATBALLS were delicious but the meal was too much for one person for us so plan to share, split, or take some home (or not finish it like we both did). Sauce was great but odd that they don’t offer to add fresh Parmesan or fresh ground pepper at the table.

Good food, okay ambience, service was adjusting to the season. I’d give 4-stars but I know I’m selective so I gave 5 to be fair. The food is well prepared and the chef and his kitchen can prepare great meals - and that’s what we’re all...