Red Lion — Restaurant in Vail

My wife and I just got into Vail this afternoon. We were tired, hungry, and REALLY craving a good old fashioned hamburger after seeing an advertisement in IAH for a burger restaurant in the terminal. We got checked in, unpacked, walked around the Village and looked for a spot to eat. We decided on Red Lion and we could not have made a better decision. Those hamburgers we had were without a doubt, in the top 5 burgers we've ever eaten. Being that we live in Houston, which has it's fair share of amazing hamburger joints, that's a bold statement in my opinion. However, it's the absolute truth. Flame broiled to perfection, however you want it. I had Medium and my wife had Medium Well. The meat was incredibly flavorful, yet simplistic. No fancy seasoning that we could taste, just 100% pure beef with maybe a dash of salt and pepper. The potato bun was perfectly portioned and added just enough bottom bun to prevent the toppings from dripping down one's arm. In total, the bun was just big enough to keep everything in without overpowering all the other flavors. The pickles were thick cut, homemade style pickles with amazing crunch and flavor. Lettuce, tomato, and onion all garden fresh. We both had one slice of American cheese, but I doubled up and added a slice of cheddar. We both added bacon, and that bacon was crispy but not burned and had superb crunch and flavor. Onion rings were hand-battered and had excellent flavor, and the shoestring French fries were hot, crispy, and salted just enough.

Overall, this has set the bar pretty high for the remainder of our stay here. If everything else on their menu is half as good as their burgers, there's no way to go wrong. I wanted their Ginger Cinnamon Apple Crisp with Vanilla ice cream for dessert, but there was no room left in the tank.

I'll honestly be surprised if we don't eat at Red Lion again at least once more before we leave on Sunday. This is a must for any Vail visitors with a craving for classic...

While our experience started out great, it ended horribly. I was with a large wedding party of around 40 people. They accommodated us as quickly as possible and were super friendly about seating us all as close together as possible in the back room. Considering they don't take reservations, we were grateful for their service to seat us all together. However, the waiter had no support from the restaurant and things quickly became a hot mess. Several people didn't receive their food even though they were first to order. We were told their ticket was lost, even though we weren't allowed to do separate checks (we asked if we could have checks distributed table by table and were told no), so I'm not sure how their ticket was lost when there was only one ticket total. We didn't see a manager come around to ask how things were or to see where she could help - she only came out at the very end with the bill. Two large tables had their food on one bill. It was impossible to know who paid for what and to know what still needed to be paid for - all they could tell us was the total bill amount that is owed to them. The manager was very rude to our group and made it clear she didn't care about assisting us with our questions, she just wanted the bill paid for. We explained that we believed the group who didn't receive their food right away had the order on our bill (they were given a separate one after the ticket was "lost") and the manager denied that was the case - even though several of us were very sure that was the case. It was a total mess of a experience. The poor waiter was not able to get our drinks out quicker than 20 minutes of a wait time and had zero assistance. This lead to people cancelling drink orders with him to order them at the bar. These drinks were never taken off our bill, even though they were...

Stopped for a quick bite close to the end of the lunch hour on 6/11/2022 during the GoPro Games. Were seated timely, but everything went bad after that. The server, although admitted that she only has been working there for a little over a week, had no clue about the menu, was short and borderline rude from the beginning. Took our order (visit one), brought our drinks (visit two). I ordered a crispy chicken sandwich. For $20 I got a sandwich that even 7/11 makes better. The chicken patty seemed to have come from a bag of frozen chicken and it was topped with two slices of American cheese that made it suffocating. The pickled onion topping was good. My husband had the french dip (called Red Lion Dip I think). He said the meat tasted like deli meat. Our server showed up a third time to ask if we wanted boxes, then came with the receipt (visit four). They have an electronic payment system right at the table. The options were to tip 18%, 20%, or 25% while the server is hovering over you watching every move you make. Service was horrible, but put on a spot I felt bullied into tipping the 20%, which was the pre-set easy to pick option. After that a question came up "how happy were you with your visit?" with a thumb up and thumb down option. I was ready to hit the thumb down when the server snapped the machine out of my hand said something to the effect that that is not needed and left to attend another table. Well, if I could have hit the thumb down, it might have ended there. But after that very rude last move from the server I decided to give them the thumb down here. We paid about $75 for two drinks and two sandwiches. It was definitely a...