Since it was redeveloped 6 or so years ago, Aspen Highlands Village has been known as the DarkVillage. While Aspen Highlands itself draws quite a following of loyal local skiers, the village mostly functions as a pass-through with little to entice those mountain bound to stop and dwell. Most of the storefronts have never been rented and the main restaurant space at the base of the mountain is now in its 3rd incarnation (The Commonwealth Pub, Iguana's and now ZG Grill)
It is in this atmosphere that Crust operates. Crust is a new pizzeria which opened in May, filling the space previously occupied by the long-shuttered Thunderbowl Deli. As Aspen is devoid of any place where a former Chicagoan can procure a deep dish pizza, the advent of Crust and its Chicago style deep dish pizza was met with anticipation.
It is in this atmosphere that Crust operates. Crust is a new pizzeria which opened in May, filling the space previously occupied by the long-shuttered Thunderbowl Deli. As Aspen is devoid of any place where a former Chicagoan can procure a deep dish pizza, the advent of Crust and its Chicago style deep dish pizza was met with anticipation.
We ventured in for dinner for the first time last Wednesday and our experience was less than stellar.
We walked in a little after 5 pm to a basically empty restaurant. The server who greeted us asked us where we wanted to sit so we indicated that we wanted to be in the back room. As we were walking that way, the manager (owner?) quickly approached and gruffly told the server that she could not seat us there as they were setting up for a large party. So we relocated.
We then ordered two deep dish pizzas, fully understanding that they would take 30 minutes. We would have ordered an appetizer such as garlic bread or the like but there were no options on the menu but soup or salad. We were not in the mood for soup or salad.
30 minutes later, our server approached and apologetically informed us that there had been a problem in the kitchen and our pizzas would be another 30 minutes. We were dismayed to say the least. Our server offered us a small pizza while we were waiting which we accepted.
Only when it was time to pay our check did the manager (owner?) offhandedly throw out an apology for our long wait. He only approached our table at all because we were waiting to pay and he had a party waiting for the table.
While the small pizza was comped, there was no accommodation on our bill for the two pizzas for which we waited an hour. The manager was less than friendly and when we left, even after our extremely long wait, the large party for whom we had been so unceremoniously booted from the back room had yet to arrive.
The only bright spot of our evening was our server who was unfailingly polite and attentive.
Ironically, although we ventured in solely to try the deep dish pizza, we all enjoyed our thin crust pity pizza more.
I must say that, as of now, I'm not eager to repeat my dinner experience at Crust.
Let me also say that I had been in with my husband for breakfast on Christmas morning and was pleased with my experience then. The coffee was quite good and the breakfast sandwich was tasty and gooey.
For now, I've got to go thumbs down on the dinner experience at Crust but I'm open to another try.
We then ordered two deep dish pizzas, fully understanding that they would take 30 minutes. We would have ordered an appetizer such as garlic bread or the like but there were no options on the menu but soup or salad. We were not in the mood for soup or salad.
30 minutes later, our server approached and apologetically informed us that there had been a problem in the kitchen and our pizzas would be another 30 minutes. We were dismayed to say the least. Our server offered us a small pizza while we were waiting which we accepted.
Only when it was time to pay our check did the manager (owner?) offhandedly throw out an apology for our long wait. He only approached our table at all because we were waiting to pay and he had a party waiting for the table.
While the small pizza was comped, there was no accommodation on our bill for the two pizzas for which we waited an hour. The manager was less than friendly and when we left, even after our extremely long wait, the large party for whom we had been so unceremoniously booted from the back room had yet to arrive.
The only bright spot of our evening was our server who was unfailingly polite and attentive.
Ironically, although we ventured in solely to try the deep dish pizza, we all enjoyed our thin crust pity pizza more.
I must say that, as of now, I'm not eager to repeat my dinner experience at Crust.
Let me also say that I had been in with my husband for breakfast on Christmas morning and was pleased with my experience then. The coffee was quite good and the breakfast sandwich was tasty and gooey.
For now, I've got to go thumbs down on the dinner experience at Crust but I'm open to another try.
2 comments:
Seems like you'll have to mail order frozen Chicago-style pizza till something else opens up. Otehrwise you'll have to open your own pizzaria or for a team of investors to do so.
Yes, I've actually looked into doing Giordano's by mail order but it came to something close to $50 per pizza. I just couldn't bring myself to click purchase.
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