there Telluride — Restaurant in Telluride

The ambiance of this quaint, mountain town restaurant is exactly what you are looking for when in Telluride. The lack of music left room in the air for the great smells from the kitchen and the ability to listen to what others around you are ordering to add to your rolladex of ideas.

This vibe was quickly ruined because after about 15 minutes at the restaurant, our waiter took our order and was never to be heard from again. He walked by our table at least 5 times after that, but never stopped to even touch our table and see how our food was, all 5 of the dishes we ordered.

We started off with there shishito peppers with agave and what I presume to be maldon salt which was simple and delicious. Next up we had bao buns, one with duck and spicy aioli which were good but the duck was overcooked and chewy. The other was a play on a Philly cheesesteak but they used elk which I thought was a waste of elk meat because the flavor profile of the elk was lost in the cheese whiz and pepper mix.

The next small plate we had was highly recommended, but unfortunately were a huge disappointment. They were described to be crispy potatoes that were covered in a garlic and aji amarillo sauce. The potatoes were left whole and undercooked which meant they weren’t crispy at all. We also ordered a sunny side up egg to top the potatoes but it showed up as a severely fried egg that was so overcooked the egg wasn’t runny at all.

The last thing we ordered was a mussel dish that might of saved the whole dinner. The broth consisted of a white wine, black garlic, lemongrass and Fresno peppers. It was one of the best tasting things I had eaten in a long time, with an umami flavor from the black garlic and the perfect amount of heat from the fresnos.

If the service would have been better and the server checked on the food, we might have been able to have sent back the potato dish which is the only dish I was extremely upset about and was borderline inedible. That being said, the food was not the true issue, it was...

OVERALL: If you are looking for a nice spot to grab dinner with family or loved one DO NOT GO THERE. It is loud, overcrowded, hostess/bartender are unorganized and have bad manners.

STORY: When booking a reservation online there are two options for bar seating or table. Both seating options require a $50 reservation fee that is put towards the bill. When booking my reservation at There I had choose the table option for my wife and I.

When arriving There we were taken aback by how loud and overcrowded it was. We told the hostess/bartender that we had a 9 PM reservation (it was 8:50 PM). He instructed us to sit at the bar where only 1 seat was available currently. We order a couple drinks while waiting for seating availability to open.

While having our drink I noticed that 1 table behind us was open. However at 9:00 PM a single customer came in without reservation and was seated at the table behind us. 5 mins later a group of 4 came in and the bartender instructed the man to leave and have the party sit in the open table. At which point I politely asked when a seat for us would be available. The bartender said that an extra bar seat would come available shortly. He then touched my shoulder and whispered in my ear that it was only 5 mins into my reservation time.

At that point my wife and I decided to finish our drinks and go home to eat. When I told the bartender we would like just the drinks he proceeded telling all of his coworkers loudly that we only wanted the drinks and to leave. Which made us uncomfortable with everyone else at the bar being able to hear this. The overall feeling was the employee looking down on us for wanting to leave.

The cocktail was great, but overall was disappointed in the experience. I was really looking forward to There as well but unfortunately...

I ordinarily look forward to our annual pilgrimage to Telluride and a visit with our family to there bar. But this time it was off. They replaced the salmon on the menu but had no other fish alternative. They were out of several menu items but waited for us to ask about them to tell us they did not have them. So we were relegated to about 50% or their normal menu - which is not expansive. Also, they surprisingly were not reasonable with my sons dairy allergy. We asked for sauce on the side with a dish and they acted as though any changes to the menu were impossible to make with the kitchen staff. This wasn’t a “preference” but rather than an “allergy” so I was a little upset at the arrogance. Finally, the food ordering process felt very rushed. Before we had time to ask questions about the menu, the waiter was rushing us to select items from different sections so he could place the whole table order. The menu is not incredibly detailed so I did not appreciate this either. The food we tried was tasty but the service was really off - especially given it was not the usual busy crowded evening. Will have to think twice about...