Jack’s Slopeside Grill

$ 17 for mediocre bacon cheeseburger and Coke. On top of that, burger flipper was extremely rude.
People at the deli counter were much nicer.

Great slopeside bar! However — like anything you’ll find in the mountains, everything is incredibly overpriced. The food is pretty good, and with a pass you can get a discount. The building has lots of seating as well. The bartenders and servers in the bar area are attentive and kind.
This is where I always stop by for a brew mid-​ski day, but I do think it can get a little crowded and is a little overpriced. I would recommend this place to mountain-​goers over other bars on the mountain.

Watery curry, pizza looked like burnt cardboard, Mac and cheese that was so over cooked it was one texture. Ski cafeterias can serve great food; this one does not.

Fun Après ski experience. Lefty Lucy extremely entertaining. We won a tee shirt for answering a trivia question. I am now an official ninja beer serving wench! 3 $ dos Equis as well as special flavored vodkas. We enjoyed the chicken wings. They were meaty and flavorful. Our waitress was very nice. She had lots of tables but never neglected us. Brooklyn was her name. The overall après experience was very pleasant.

I was here for a conference and Jack’s provided the free lunches and banquet for the week. Given the general lack of available produce in town and expensive bar food elsewhere, it was difficult not to take advantage of these free meals. They were all served buffet style, which some may not like but I thought it was better to be able to pick and choose what I wanted.
In Jack’s favor, a couple of the meals were good. One of the lunches (beef chunks, mashed potatoes, salad, cupcakes for dessert) was OK and the banquet, which featured something like pulled pork (but was beef) with a Mediterranean salad and tiramisu was rather tasty! However, most of the lunches (and snacks in between lectures, which might have been provided by them but I’m not sure) were less desirable and one sent me to the washroom for the majority of the afternoon lectures.
The main issue I had with these lunches in general was health. One of our meals was a taco/​nacho type deal. So the available things in the buffet were corn chips and taco shells, ground beef, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and brownies, and I think there were black beans as well. Unfortunately the tomatoes were the only thing of nutritional value there and I hate tomatoes. What the hell is healthy about a stack of CHIPS (or taco shells) for LUNCH?! Nothing about this was well balanced and to top it off it tasted bad. Another lunch we had featured Caesar salad, tomato and «meat» lasagna which was heavy on the pasta, dry papery garlic bread, and rice crispy squares (those Kellogg’s ones in the blue package) for dessert. So, the least nutritionally dense greens you can find, smothered in nasty dressing (I typically don’t use dressing and was glad that usually it was optional), with more starch, more starch, and more starch. Just empty calories. The lasagna barely had any meat in it and tasted pretty awful too. Since it is free I can forgive the taste in both cases, but who the f*** decided that that meal was adequate?! Vegetables, people!!! Come on!
For someone who usually does not eat refined carbs and sticks to a mostly veg/​fruit based diet, eating here was horrible most of the time and as mentioned previously I spent a lot of time feeling ill during the conference as a result. Even with the buffet style eating, there were sometimes no healthy options even available. Three stars instead of two because a couple of the meals were OK and I enjoyed that Mediterranean salad.

Live music greeted us as we came in from the slopes late Sunday afternoon. The band played a variety of music from the Beatles to Taylor Swift covers, which perfectly suited the wide age range of the crowd. The Sunday specials included $ 5 caramel apple whiskey with warm apple cider and $ 3 happy hours beers. We sipped our abbey ales and cider and enjoyed the front row views of the slopes. We didn’t try any food, but the bar staff was very friendly and the drinks were reasonably priced for a ski resort. The music made for a very lively atmosphere, and it was a great way to warm up after a cold day out and about.

Ski slop right out the window. Great drinks live music, awesome.
Room for a huge crowd and not a bad seat in the house.

We packed our own lunch and brought it with us, and used Jack’s to seat our large group to enjoy our break from the slopes. I always get a rum and coke for lunch when snowboarding and here is no exception. I gotta be honest and say it was the weakest double rum and coke I’ve ever had. Not that I was looking to be sloshed or anything, but I wanted to warm up and be a little more relaxed… Neither really happened, plus it was pretty expensive. But, we were able to find a large enough area to seat all of us comfortably. There was also live music… So regardless of the weak drinks I was appreciative of the space and we did enjoy ourselves.

Had the pleasure of eating here while on a work trip. They provided all the food for our company, so it was hard not to eat here.
Their food is average and nothing to write home about. But when it’s free, it does help somewhat.
The best dishes I tried were the pizza, tortillini with shrimp & basil pesto sauce, and the pulled pork. They try their best with the Phở, but being from SJ, I couldn’t choke it down.
Overall, not bad for a restaurant in a resort, but if I was charged for their food I probably wouldn’t go back.

Ok, so it’s still a great place to warm up if you don’t want to worry about having to order anything. If you did actually go to get a drink with your warm up, you may wish to go elsewhere. My 4 pack is used up, and I struck out here a total of three times.

I came in around 11, a non-​busy time, sat at a round table near the bar. There were a few other male patrons (I’m female), and a perky blonde waitress attending to everyone… except me? It was pretty awkward as I waited, waited, and waited for her to help me until eventually going up to the bar and ordering from the bartender. Never been completely ignored before, so thought it was worth noting.

Price — It’s a Ski area. It’s going to cost you. Some cheaper options… Bring your own. Nearby locally owned places (there aren’t many).
Noise — It’s a Ski area. It’s noisy. Quiet 10 minutes after the music stops.
Kids — It’s a Ski Area. Lots of (noisy) kids.
Quality — It’s a Ski Area. Pretty good considering — It’s a Ski Area.
Service — It’s a Ski Area. Minimum Wage employees. Service = wages.
Music — It’s a Ski Area. Great LOUD sounds. Did I say it’s a bit noisy? Lefty/​Lucy do get the crowd involved.
Crowd — It’s a Ski Area. Cold days = lots of moms sitting by the windows reserving a table for kids that don’t show up for hours. Warm days the moms are still there. They will be gone soon after the music starts.
What to eat — It’s a Ski Area. Stick to the soup/​chili/​pizza. Since most is premade off-​site the quality control is better.
All over opinion — It’s a Ski Area. Great for skiing. I didn’t come for the food.

Great music and service

So very disappointed with the beer selection, either Coors or New Belgium on tap only. Colorado has so many good breweries, why not flaunt them, plenty of taps, plenty of crap. I’ll bypass this apres all day. As far as the phở goes, I am the phở king and I was glad to see a facsimile of phở available. It was decent for the product it really was, but it was not phở.

Possibly the worst burger and fries I’ve ever attempted to eat. I know it’s cafeteria style, but the burger was charred and the fries were so salty they cured my insides. At $ 17+ for the combo, definitely the worst value I’ve ever encountered, slope-​side or otherwise.
For what it’s worth, the pizza looked tasty, as did the clam chowder. They had apples and bananas for a somewhat healthy addition to their food-​bortions, but I’ll still be bringing my lunch next time.

Jacks continues to underwhelm in terms of food, though the bartenders really kick it into high gear around 2−3pm. If you’re looking to grab a drink, don’t rely on someone to bring it to you, but if you head up to the front (aka, madness) you’ll get served. Three of us were doing a mini pub crawl and ended up bellying up to the bar even.

Most of it is alright, but the cheddar broccoli soup in a bread bowl is SINFUL!!!

I’m not usually a fan of slopeside café food, but I just had to write for this, especially knowing that this place is in Colorado, this place had Phở one of their stand. Not just typical Asian Wok or Asian food, it’s PHO! What can be better than eating hot, warm soup while it’s cold outside.
Yes, the tasted might not be like on par with Phở restaurants in Garden Grove or any Asian places in CA, but it’s very edible and the broth wasn’t bland, so I’m pretty much a satisfied customer that I couldn’t stop bragging about this slopeside café.
Also, at the end of the day, they usually have live band playing while you’re chillin’ at the café or at the bar, waiting to get home. I totally loved it and I can’t wait to come back to Colorado once again to enjoy riding down Copper mountain and eat here for lunch. Oh, one downside, I did missed the Garlic and Herb fries that McCoy Station has in Mammoth.

Unless you pack your lunch or don’t eat, you’ll likely find yourself searching for some grub at Jack’s Slopeside Grill at Copper. You’ll find the typical lunchtime and apres ski style food typical of most ski resorts. But! I’m super excited that they now offer phở and chicken and shrimp curry bowls, which are a nice healthy alternative to the typical pizza, burgers and fries. You’ll wait a few extra minutes for these tasty bowls, but the preparation is worth it. I tried the chicken curry bowl and it was delish. No guilt here, since you’re burning tons of calories on the slopes.
Two thumbs up for the recycling and composting they do here too. When you’re done with your tray, place it on the tray stand and they’ll sort everything for you. Yay!

The food here is fine. Cafeteria style and overpriced, but good fuel if you forget to bring your own lunch to the slopes.
As the ski day winds down however, Jack’s fills up with people fresh from the mountain to enjoy some good drinks, good music and good company. It’s also a fun place to enjoy a frothy beverage and warm up as you watch out-​of-​place skiers and boarders fall down on the blues at the bottom of the American Eagle, which are always really icy after the sun goes down.
Good times for all.