Left Bank Restaurant — Restaurant in Vail

I could not sleep last night of the disappointing and upsetting experience we had at this restaurant. What started off as a lovely dining experience ended up as a total scam. The joke was on us. To begin, the manager began discussing the wine list with my husband and the wines in discussion ranged from 1,500 to about 2,000!!! I clearly told him the types of wines we enjoy and our price point - $300 to $400 dollars would be fine. He asked my husband if we would be drinking 1 or 2 bottles and he replied probably 2. With that being said, the manager made a comment at one point that I didn’t have to know the price of the bottle. Although we laughed and I assumed he was joking, I replied yes I do. He then said he had a nice bottle that wasn’t on the list that he thought would be perfect. He brought out the bottle and we drank the bottle along with another couple that joined us for dinner. About 45 minutes or an hour into our dinner, the bottle finished and he asked if we would like a second bottle. We said yes so he brought it out. At that point we asked how much the bottle was just to be sure it was in our price range. As we were asking he quickly began uncorking the bottle as we told him numerous times not to open at which time he said 4. At that point we asked $400 and he replied $4,000.00!!!!!!! As you can imagine, we were all in dismay by his response. I was so upset! I have never heard anything like this nor could even imagine him having opened a bottle and a second one, to boot, for that immense amount of money. Needless to say we did not even touch our food at that point. Our entrees were untouched and were even charged a soufflé that never even made it to the table. He even insisted on caviar to start so we ordered the smallest portion to share with our friends. We were charged $750.00 for the caviar!!!!!!!! I feel this was a total scam on the part of the manager. He took advantage of us and was not up front with us when I made our price point very clear to him. This experience has dampened my entire week here at Vail as we leave today having been charged nearly $5,000.00 for dinner for 4- and he was ready to begin pouring a second bottle. Very sneaky, misleading and...

We were a table of two enjoying the elegance and ambiance of this establishment. We even helped our server laugh off her mistake of asking us how we wanted our Beef Tartar prepared. The food was good. The portions were more than we expected/needed, and there was an overabundance of heavy sauces with our entrées, but we figured that is to be expected in high-end French dining. Sadly, our dining experience and service quickly crumbled.

A large, loud, obnoxious group took over the entire dining room. They invaded our personal space to take photos and videos. Women’s butts were literally next to my face, I am sure I ended up on their Instagram post! They spanned 3 tables with our two-top in the center. They yelled across us to each other as if we were not even there. It was appalling.

What was more appalling is not only could The Left Bank servers and management not control this group they actually gave all their attention to this group. Essentially encouraging the abhorrent behavior. We were forgotten. We waited ~30 minutes for the remainder of our meal to be served. We then had to wait 10+ minutes for our check - wine glasses empty.

When asked, by the manager, if we enjoyed our meal we explained our disappointment in how our service plummeted. We got a lame excuse of it being a busy night. Not true, there were several other empty tables in the house. If you can’t handle this capacity, then how can you possibly handle a full house?

Dear The Left Bank, you are not responsible for people who do not know how to behave in public, but you are responsible for customer service. You must not provide service based on group size. The per/person ratio of money spent is equivalent. In fact our ratio was likely larger given our 100% drinking age and the larger group was 75% underage. Shame on you, your customer service is subpar and unacceptable at this price point. We visit Vail each year. Sadly, we don’t think The Left Bank will be included in any of our...

50 Years is Enough? The Left Bank opened its doors in 1970. What was once fresh and classically French is now hackneyed and hellishly over-priced. In season, churn rules: the staff’s main goal seems to be to capture your order as fast as possible. Three times we were interrupted to ask if we were ready to order. Three times we asked to be left alone to enjoy our pre-dinner cocktail. The sommelier circled our table like a small cheerless vulture. We ordered a bottle of California Cabernet. $135. Wouldn’t you like to try something from France, he suggested? No, we’d like this bottle, thank you. Oh, well, then perhaps you should have a Magnum? Fine, we agreed, bring the double bottle. When we got the bill, the Magnum was $330. Versus the $270 we thought we were spending. This is unconscionable. It’s not the discrepancy in cost. It’s the principle. At a restaurant like the Left Bank, you should feel you are in good hands, yes? Not shamelessly up-sold. We enjoyed our dinner. A memorable dinner among friends. And the food was good, even very good for some dishes across our party. The California Cab was delicious, and fairly priced at $135 a bottle. But not at $330 a magnum. The truth is, in the end, we had fun and so, it seemed, did the tables around us. But charging us $330 for a magnum that should be $270 is...