Dining in and around Winter Park

My wife and I will be visiting Sol Vista and Winter Park from 2/7 until 2/14. Any suggestions on good places to eat?

I haven't tried the new place in the new Winterpark Village.

You can read this for ideas??

Anything in particular that you are looking for?

IMO good places to eat are not one of the strong points of Winter Park. For upscale dining there is the Devil's Thumb Ranch. I've heard good things but never been there. Timberline Thai in Fraser is surprisingly good if you dig Thai. Mirasol is pretty good for SW fare, they offer a nice condiment/salad bar. The Untamed Steakhouse is a bit upscale but judging on the one time I went, it really wasn't worth the cost. Smokin' Moe's for ribs is pretty standard. I tend to hit the Sushi Bar during happy hour a fair amount. Not the greatest sushi but it's okay and a good value at that time. There's a decent deli... forget the name... but it closes in the afternoon. Dino's can be fun, Fontenot's is okay, Gasthaus Eichler might be good, I can't say. A lot of peeps like Hernando's for pizza. Seemed pretty standard to me. For breakfast I like Carver's and Mountain Rose.

Have fun!

We aren't too adventerous when it comes to food. We typically go for traditional american food, italian, steaks, and sea food. I am also a big fan of brew pubs, are there any in the area?

There's a brew pub in the Winter Park Mountain Lodge. I tried it once, was not favorably impressed. I've heard great things about a brew pub in Idaho Springs, maybe someone with more info will chime in.

I should point out that while I'll eat just about anything I'm quite picky about what I'll call good.

The brewpub in Idaho Springs is Tommyknocker brewery and is good but not an easy jaunt for a quick beer from WP.

I agree. The beer is good at Tommyknocker but I wouldn't go over Berthoud Pass for "a quick beer".

I haven't tried Winter Park Mtn Lodge. I haven't heard raving reviews about it - and they certainly haven't won any GABF awards. I wish a good brewpub would establish itself in WP, but I don't think there is enough of a year-round population to support it.

I don't eat alot of seafood in CO. Some restaurants do fly it in fresh but, frozen is standard.

I tend to hit the really inexpensive joints. I think Bumpfreaq gave some excellent ideas. The one good place that I ate at...closed. The Shed became a real estate office.

Yeah Tommyknocker looks pretty far. We are staying at Sol Vista so it doesn't have to be at Winter Park.

Couple of my area favorites

There's a hole in the wall looking pizza place in Granby in a shopping center. (same one as the alco). Good stuff.

There's a steakhouse place (name escapes me) on the main road through Fraiser that has pretty good calf-fries. although when I ordered them they nearly wouldn't take my order unless I specificaly said "moutain oysters" LMAO. They do cut thier steaks to cook them though which was wierd. Would be close to Sol Vista

"The Lodge at Sunspot" at the top of WP is very very good if you have the coin to part with. fine dining on Fri & Sat evenings and includes a zypher ride to the lodge. I know the kitchen manager. top notch.

Yup, The Shed was the best.

Just back from here, the best place I ate at was Pizza Hut..haha only kidding.

We stayed at Winter Park Mountain Lodge and spent most evenings in the bar (because it was convenient) - it was rather quiet to be honest on most evenings. Except for Christmas Eve when it was a bit more lively, wasn't that impressed with the pale ales mind. Give me a corona any day.

We tried Fontenots (I think that's how you spell it) I liked it in there, lots of seafood/cajun options, although husband had a steak. It was quite busy here, much busier than any of the other restaurants.

We also ate in hernandos - enjoyed it here as well as a place that had a yellow STEAK sign, i think it was a back country steak house or something like that, it was upstairs and on the right side a little along from Beaver Creek Condos. My husband enjoyed the steak here, although I thought the plastic plates they served the food on a bit odd.

I think we ate at Docs (in WP village) for lunch, very nice burger, just the spot to refuel after a morning skiing.

Places we never tried but I heard were nice:

Lodge at sunspot
Five mountain Tavern

Actually, the Alco and the pizza joint are in Fraser (unless there's an Alco in Granby that I wasn't aware of). That Alco has EVERYTHING. The pizza joint name escapes me too but the food is good and the place always has a line. It's right next to Rocky Mtn Roastery which has excellent coffee and the herbal Berry Patch tea is to die for.

The Five Mountain Lodge food is mediocre and it's rather dead.

Last time I was there it was rather lively but then the End of the Year Ski School Party was in progress. When they shut us down, everything moved to the bar - which then livened up considerably.

That's right. It is Fraser my mistake.

Oh, forgot about De Antonio's. It probably belongs in a cheap eats in WP thread, but I do enjoy their thin crust slices

If you are in Sol Vista, you might want to go northwest, through Granby, to highway 34, and then head north to Caroline's Cuisine. It's very good. And if you've made it that far, you might want to think about going a little farther to Grand Lake and try The Rapids. Have fun.

The Sushi Bar for happy hour is the bomb.

Gasthous is also very good for Fondue and huge, cold Paulanar Weiss drafts.

Winter park eats

Carvers in WP is hands down some of the best breakfast I've ever had. There is a new steakhouse opened up last year Silverado Steak house that has really good quality meat. Untamed steakhouse has a brewery. Sunspot has a 5 course dinner on Friday and Sat.
Hernando's for Pizza. There really aren't any good Italian restaurants.

The Thai place in Fraser is really good along with the Crooked creak across the street for American food. Azteca gets my vote for best Mexican food in the area.

Pearl Dragon in Granby and New hong kong in WP has some pretty good Chinese.

Good restaurants are definitely not WP's forte, but here's some info on what they do have:

Carvers & Mountain Rose, great for breakfast/brunch/lunch. Carvers also has a new (expensive) dinner menu, never tried it.

De'Antonio's great for pizza and also has great lasagna! Lunch and Dinner specials. Nice family run place.

Mirasol has good upscale taco's.

Devils Thumb (short drive from Tabernash) has two restaurants. In their spectacular new lodge, they have a large casual restaurant. Decent food, but very hit/miss service (as is the case in many resort areas...) There fancy restaurant is excellent, reservations required, special occasion worthy.

I've tried the Thai place twice and it was *really* bad both times. Never again. And yes, I like (actually love) Thai food.

Chinese in Safeway center is decent. Smokin Moe's is decent. Backcountry steak is decent but pricey.

Hernando's is always mobbed and completely sucks IMHO.

Fontenot's is decent, but too expensive for casual dining and what you get..

Basecamp is under new ownership with a new name that escapes me (next to Mirasol, which is next to Conoco in WP)... Better, but the wait staff still always seems to MAKE MISTAKES ON EVERY ORDER, even now that they have semi-stabilized their staffing. It used to be our favorite place, then changed owners. The second owners destroyed their reputation, the third owner is a nice guy and trying to bring it back. But every time I give them another chance, they manage to screw it up...