Larkspur Events and Dining

Had lunch at Larkspur last weekend and it was a great experience. Food was delicious, drinks where incredible, and the dessert was out of this world. To start we had the mushroom royale pizza, chilled shigoku oysters, and of course I had to try the kids mac & cheese (rule of mine that I need to try every mac & cheese everywhere). Our waiter recommended a sparking wine called Gloria Ferrer which went perfect with the oysters (food pairing to the «T»). For entrees we had the larkburger (honestly the best burger I’ve had in my life) with truffle parmesan fries (a must-​have) and the lobster & rocket club with sweet potato chips which was extremely tasty. For dessert (my favorite part of any meal) we had the new zealand apple galette with caramel ice cream and chocolate chip cookies (so moist, yummy). It was just mouthwatering! We also tried the Orabelle beer and it was sensational. The service was exquisite, the waiters were extremely attentive and the managers were delightful. The restaurant is lovely, cozy, and romantic. We had a great time, would definitely go back in a heart beat. Thank you Larkspur Team for an unforgettable experience!

The food and ambiance was perfect for lunch! It’s great for a group or a couple. Great spot for a cocktail too… love their bar!

Stopped by again to have a few tequilas after a good day on the slopes. Larkburger and truffle fries are the best in town. Service was A+.

My wife and I dined at Larkspur Saturday night, the experience in itself was amazing. We started with the appetizers cured salmon, and roasted cauliflower. The appetizers were sensational. We were torn between a few entrees so we selected a few (strip loin, veal scallopie, and lobster ravioli (the even brought us a taste of the lamb upon request). The entries did not disappoint and the chefs are true artists, we had the privilege of meeting Paula who I believe was the head chef and Christian who was also a chef. Our meal was complimented by a bottle of wine recommended to us by the sommelier Christopher that was a California Sirah actually made by a local resident. Our server Bryan (a fellow Floridian) defiantly treated us with unbelievable hospitality. We finished our evening with the apple galette desert that ended a perfect dinner date. Overall the larkspur staff treated us like royalty and I highly recommend anyone to try this place once on your vacation. We will be going by again for lunch this week. Thank you larkspur staff for a great evening.

Really good food! Mountain prices but well worth it! Tacos were really good, and the roasted curry cauliflower starter is really good too. The kids loved it!

Bad. Will not be back

Food is decent but the service is beyond bad, making rude face seems very common by severs and hosts, on one bartender was nice and not rude.

Conveniently located at the base of Golden Peak, this is a good choice for lunch or apre ski. Can’t go wrong with the burger & fries!

Here for the holiday season with some friends. We decided to dine at Larkspur for our last night, sure glad we did! We had a wonderful time, with prompt, attentive service, a neat atmosphere, great drinks pretty good food too! Our favorite part of our trip to Larkspur had to be our server, I believe his name was Travis, he was fast, efficient, wonderful recommendations, and kept the table very happy! Most of us our in the hospitality industry, so it is always such a delight to come across great service (doesn’t happen often, especially in this town I’ve noticed). Thank you Travis and Larkspur for making our night!

Mediocre service (I must’ve waited 30 minutes for the check) but the mulled wine I had was delicious and the location couldn’t have been better. It was right at the foot of the mountain and I watched the snow fall as I sipped my drink.

Beware… Horrible restaurant. What a ripoff. We went there for a Christmas dinner and it was absolutely awful. When we were seated no waiter approached us for 15 minutes. After we made a comment to the hostess suddenly we had two waiters who both managed to get our drink orders wrong. When we finally got our drinks they were watery and disgusting.
The food which was described to us as «the best choices on the menu» turned out to be a flavorless sirloin bathed in a overly salted concoction. This was a horrible dining experience and I will never go back. You have been warned.

I ate here with a group of 35 people and menu was limited to selections for our event. Appetizers were uniformly excellent, especially the veal meatballs. Gazpacho shooters were tasty, too. Heirloom tomato salad was drowned in dressing, partially covering the flavor of the prime tomatoes. What spoiled the dinner was the main course: beef roulade. This was the chef’s fantasy (my nightmare) of roulade. It came as several flat, quarter sized pieces of thinly sliced mystery, over-​cooked until it was tough and dry. It resembled black sausage, but was tasteless (except for a burnt taste). Shameful. Accompanying fresh peas were tasty, but housed in a cup made of dry, deep-​fried prosciutto. What a waste to destroy prosciutto that way. I complained about the dish but the waiter did nothing more than say «sorry.» The insipid cheesecake desert was not fully defrosted. Don’t waste your time or money at this place.

Wow; what a disappointment. Larkspur used to be one of my favorites in Vail for fine dining. Great food and outstanding wine list. Apparently, they have a new business plan that has a menu more like their old lunch menu and a terrible wine list. Caesar salad was ok as was the NY steak but could just as easily had the hamburger. Fortunately, they went into the cellar and found me a good off list Pinot (their last bottle of Sea Smoke 10). Might go back for lunch but definitely off the list for dinner.

We were in town for a meeting. The group chose Larkspur and we were excited. We dined here about a year ago and remembered everything was great! This time with a group of 40 we were disappointed. The bartender was great! The waiter for our table must have gotten upset when we added a place setting to make the table suitable for eight. The evening started well, but he was way below average. He had a poor attitude, was super slow. The evening was more like waiter,…waiter were art thou?
The squash soup was very good, the crispy chicken was edible and the cheesecake he recommended was a… one bite, not worth the calories type quality.
So many great places to eat in Vail, so luckily I don’t ever have to go back!

Grabbed a burger at their takeout. Great, great burger. Fries a little to skinny for my liking (think shoelaces) but surprisingly good
Would eat again

Terrible experience and terrible food. They have changed their appearance from white table linens to jeans. In turn their service has suffered and is representative of a casual bar without bar prices.
It took over 25 min to receive our first round of drinks. 4 of 10 meals were cold and over cooked, which is hard to do. Salmon was over cooked, dry and hard which not hard to do. They removed the meals, but never returned with replacements.
As always, fries and burgers were great-​should be for $ 24.
We have enjoyed many wonderful meals in the past. However at this time, I am uncertain if we will return.

Came for President’s Week Vacation with family and friends. Food was excellent as expected, background music was a bit loud, and service was a bit uneven. Initial reception was a little cool and aloof even though we had reservations, and coat check was unattended for over 5 minutes without any offers of help from receptionists. Bar and Meal service were up to Larkspur’s usual high standards and much appreciated.
Cocktails were well executed and capably described by the wait staff. We did not have wine this time but during past visits the sommelier was both helpful and friendly.
Appetizer winners included Oysters on the half shell, Caesar Salad, and Butternut Squash Soup.
Dinner highlights included Veal Scaloppini, Sole, Steak, roasted brussel sprouts, truffle fries, and scallops.
Fuji Apple Galette and home made donuts with Dulce de Leche were outstanding.
Larkspur has been a favorite Vail dinner spot for our family during both Winter and Summer since they opened nearly 15 years ago. The food and wait service are consistently very good without the formality or stuffiness of some other top tier Vail Restaurants.

Gird your wallet, and enjoy a fine meal in Vail with the world’s 1%ers. The thing that strikes you about the Larkspur is the amount of service people that are there to serve you. From the coat check woman to the multiple servers there to pour water, bus tables, and take orders it’s almost like a Michelin starred French restaurant in a big city. When courses come to the table, a regiment of attractive uniformed servers march to your table and simultaneously place the dish in front of each diner. It’s an impressive show of force. But it’s really quite smart, because the bane of nearly every ski resort restaurant is long waits and poor service because the crowds of skiers overwhelm at dinner time, so the Larkspur’s expenditure on personnel is admirable. This is Vail during the high season, when workers are so sparse it takes you twenty minutes to get a latte at Starbucks. It partially explains the very high prices at the Larkspur (about $ 75 per person excluding drinks), but honestly, it’s no worse than the other fine dining establishments in the priciest ski resort in America.
My family dined with another family at the Larkspur, so our large group had a wide sampling of everything the Larkspur has to offer. The dishes were very elegantly presented and were for the most part delicious. Very traditional fare, nothing particularly innovative taste-​wise, but it was high quality ingredients cooked with care and talent. I was a little put off by the truffles shaved over everything elements of the menu. It’s as if they had so many truffles left over from last year, they had to use ‘em or lose ‘em. I had the chicken dish, which was a really delicious roast breast and thigh, but honestly, I forgot that it came with some truffle sauce over it while I was eating it. The scallops dish looked divine and my daughter reported that they tasted great. The roast meat dishes, especially the steaks are spot-​on. The vegetarian options were a bit sparse, and they had to cobble together a couple of veggie entrees by excluding the meat. Surprising that a restaurant would leave vegetarians with no options, especially when the vegetarian side dishes (which you can order a la carte) were so good. The spinach received raves that I have never heard for a side dish before, and I found the roast brussel sprouts perfect.
Don’t miss the desserts either. The apple galette, chocolate soufflé and other cakes are just so satisfying after burning so many calories skiing all day. And just to illustrate the care and attention that the Larkspur gives to their diners, the coffee is served in a french press with a sand timer, and they tell you to press the plunger when the sand runs out. Old fashioned but precise: just a detail that epitomizes a meal at the Larkspur.

Stopped here for lunch on a snowy day and ordered the chili… amazing. So good I had to go back for lunch the next day. Service was spot on, and the setting was clean and elegant.
We showed up a half hour for our reservation by accident, and the manager handled it very well and made us feel very welcome.

Again, a snow storm got in the way as we were heading in the first night from Denver, but we made it in by 9:15pm, and it was still pretty full. As it’s at the base of the Golden Peak lift, once you park, it looks like you’re walking into a closed ski lodge — it would have been nice if they had a bigger sign or more lights. Valet is free, but there’s also a free lot adjacent to the restaurant.
To start, there are 2 kind of bread. the sweet rolls topped with sea salt were my favorite; there was another multigrain one. Butter comes with black coarse salt on it,
Wines by the glass start at around $ 11. They had a very smooth grenache for about $ 12. There was also a Riesling from Alsace that was just ok — a little too acidic for my taste. I was more drawn to the cocktail list, and the ruby grapefruit one was awesomwe — basil, salt rimmed glass, strong grapefruit flavor, not too sweet.
To start, I had the ahi tuna crudo with wasabi cream. The ahi is a beautiful reddish pink color, and the wasabi cream is just the right amount. The bacon jam and crisped brioche make the dish. This was probably the highlight
The gnocchi with duck confit has good flavor, and the duck is done well. While I’m all for pillowy gnocchi, theirs was a little too mushy on that night.
The scallops come in an appetizer portion with frisee, two seared scallops, and blood orange. The scallops on my plate were overdone and almost rubbery, so I’m not sure if they sat for a while.
As for sides, the polenta mousseline is smooth and comforting but pretty buttery. The broccoli is a nice lighter dish, but I’m not sure where the breadcrumbs from the «chaplure» went.
The Colorado lamb duo was done very nicely. The chop was fattier than I like, but the meat on it was done well. The cannelloni had well seasoned braised lamb inside, which was really flavorful, not gamey at all, but the outside of the cannelloni was dried out.
To finish, the soufflé was done nicely. I actually preferred it without the crème anglaise — the chocolate was rich yet light, not too sweet.
Portions aren’t big. I saw another table request a tasting menu, which the chef was able to do. Presentation was not fancy but nice (well, the ahi tuna was plated beautifully). The dining room also got a bit loud due to a few guests who had too much to drink, but the tables are spaced out nicely. As it’s pretty much on the mountain, it’s not cheap. It’s too bad you can’t see much of the view at night.