La Marmotte

This review is delayed as My experience is from July 2015 however I ran across it today so here goes.
I just dined at la Marmont and after traveling to telluride since 2000 and dinning at most of what the town of telluride and mountain village have to offer I have to say I was less than impressed by the food at la Marmont compared to equally priced options. However before diving into all that was disappointing there was some good.
The good:
The service was excellent. It is a small place however the waitstaff does a excellent job. glasses were always full. Prompt checkups and overall this is the restaurants best quality.
The wine list for bottles is quite good with a solid selection of French options. however don’t expect to have many French options by the glass. In fact their by the glass selection is rather skimpy.
The setting was nice and the food presentation was also good.
The bad:
The food was a major dissapointment. If you like French food don’t expect to be wowed here.
The pork belly was over cooked dry and served with a pea sauce that did not complement it well at all. It was presented on top of some tomatoes but really i find it difficult to understand how one could even screw up such a delectable item as a pork belly.
The soups while large portioned were another disappointment. The French onion soup was creamy as described however it was like eating a bland cream of onion soup with a small morsel of Gruyère cheese. The Gruyère was also on the bland side. A bit more seasoning and a sharper Gruyère would have made this dish more appealing but again not sure if it is even worth salvaging.
The braised Colorado lamb shank. Oh I had high hopes for this dish as it is really tough to screw this up. But again they somehow managed to let this puppy braise until all the flavor of the lamb was replaced by whatever broth they used. They could have served me braised tofu or elk poop and it would not have mattered. Furthermore they removed the shank meat from the bone likely prior to braising which likely led to the overcooking and broth saturation. The presentation on the plate was decent and the asparagus Rissoto was tasty. But again they left about a cup of broth in the bowl so really aside from the tasty asparagus the only flavor one got from this dish was the broth.
We also got desert and while the ice cream that was served with each was good. We felt like the main dessert items were also below standard for this type of venue.
I know I will be back to telluride and dining out. I would live for this restaurant to redeem itself in my eyes as I love French food and with great service and atmosphere I would like to give it another go.

The food and menu were more American than French. Numerous food items on the menu were with bacon which truly overpowers the supposedly delicate French food. The service was below average. Our server wasn’t helpful nor knowledgeable around the menu items and all of our questions were answered with a very general answers like «yeah I like it or yeah it’s good». My stake tartar tasted the same as the 3 $ fish tacos I buy in LA from food trucks completely ruined by massive amounts of lime/​lemon. My main entrée was very bland and subpar but was cooked rare the way I ordered it, so one point for the cook. Our deserts were prepared by amateurs rather than real pastry chefs, My New York cheese cake tasted as a frozen one from ⁷⁄₁₁. 2 stars are for the ambience and the decent negroni drink that I had. Will not go back.
PS. The bottle of wine that I ordered was a different vintage from what was advertised on the menu. Pointed that to our waiter and he said that’s all he has.

Many years of visiting Telluride but our first visit to La Marmotte — what were we waiting for? Our server was knowledgable about the food and wine, and she paced our meal beautifully. The wine list is broad with affordable choices. We started with the ahi tuna carpaccio, sliced thinly in a delicious orange soy sauce, and enjoyed duck and quail cooked perfectly. Our hostess, who was also turning tables, delivering orders and even managing a plumbing problem, turned out to be the owner, working as hard as her staff were. La Marmotte provided a great dining experience and we will be back!

Great wine selection & menu.
Went there for early dinner. They have ½ priced appetizers during happy hour. I got the coq an vin came with a glass of Bordeaux. Fall off the bone tender. My son got Oaxacan, red chili marinated hanger steak w guacamole and loved it. Attentive staff. Ate here 10 years ago and have great memories.

La Marmot has been one of our favorite restaurant in Telluride. Last night the menu was disappointing, especially compared to past menus. Our waiter was neither helpful and nor friendly, but since he never introduced himself, I don’t know his name. The prices were high for the food and ambiance presented. We were disappointed.

Romantic place with great food and service. Went there with 2 other couples and had a great evening! Well priced for the good food!

My husband and I came here for a date night. It’s a very small and cute place. Just like everywhere else in Telluride it was also a million degrees inside. I was sitting next to a sliding glass door and it was all I could do to not open it.
We started with the charcuterie plate and the steak and eggs. The charcuterie was delicious. The steak and eggs were good too but I wanted there to be a bit more devil in the eggs.
My husband got the lamb shank and I got the duck for dinner. We were surprised at the portion sizes as my husband barely finished and I could not. Both dishes were very good.
We did get a dessert though I’m blanking on what it was.
Very good all in all.

Absolutely delicious french food with good service. Had a superb duck confit salad with pomegranates as starter, glazed duck breast as entrée, and yummy chocolate mousse for dessert.
Not the most kid-​friendly restaurant we went to in Telluride but definitely some of the best food.

Went there with the family and some friends last night at 8:30. The service from the wait staff was great, but the food was a let down. I started with the charcuterie plate which had some good cheese and meats on it. The steamed mussles came out warm and were in a sweet creamy curry broth. Not good. I also ordered the scallops, which were good but way too small of a serving for the price. My entré was a pork loin that was probably on the grill since last summer. I could barely saw my way through it with the steak knife. My lady ordered the mahi for her entré and it was bland and came out with unseasoned lentils… Gross. This place is trying real hard to execute some fancy french food but not pulling it off. I had a crappy meal there 4 years ago and it’s gonna be at least 4 more years before i go back because it’s going to take that long to make enough money to pay for the outragous prices.

We enjoyed our visit. Attentive service, cozy atmosphere, tasty food. I ordered a pea, goat cheese, and mushroom tart appetizer, very tasty. My entrée was Colorado lamb, so tender you could cut it with a fork. Excellent dessert too — apple tart.
Please be advised that you likely will need a reservation, the place is very popular with both the visitors and the Telluride locals.

If you want to go out to fancy restaurant and amazing food in telluride this is a place to go! Amazing French food I had the duck very unique flavors. My friend had the prime rib which is to die for best that I have ever had! Then for desert we had the decadent lava cake rich flavors it is paired well with pistachio ice cream! A must place in telluride:)

Some of the best cuisine in Telluride! I will not leave Telluride without eating here! Wonderful appetizers, entrées and AMAZING desserts! This restaurant is an absolute MUST if you’re visiting.

Good service
Hostess was kind of mmmm… Well let’s just say she could be French and I’m sure we all get my drift
The 100% local salad was 200% disappointing: loose slightly spoiling tomatoes (there s nothing worse), stale kale (kale does not belong in this salad), uncooked beet, too little or NO dressing, not a hint of salt in the salad or on the table sent it back to have it returned similar now doused w olive oil as though that makes up for the failure that was this salad.
French onion soup that was improperly seasoned but decent which tasted and had the texture more of potato leek than an onion soup– I know my soups. Did we make a mistake and bring out the kale potato in lieu of the onion soup?!
Mmmm… Such great space and ambience … Such a waste.
Had meals at two food trucks that were much more economical and 1000% more delectable and fresh: eatery 66 and caravan

The food is adequate and the staff friendly, but the wait for the food was ridiculous. A half hour before bread appeared on the table; over an hour for a two top’s entrees. Two and a half hours to eat? It wasn’t even crowded on a Tuesday night. There is no way the food is worth that wait.

We have dined at La Marmotte probably 15 – 20 times mostly when we lived in Telluride full time for 6 years. It was our favorite spot. So when we recently visited in July, 2015, this was at the top of our list. We were really disappointed. If we hadn’t had so many years of wonderful meals (4 – 5 stars for sure) we’d rate this even lower than a 3.
The main complaint: the food. One entrée of short ribs had about 2oz of beef (not kidding). While we rarely send something back to the kitchen we just had to with this. Unfortunately, they were then out of the short ribs so we were stuck. Our server was kind to comp us. The coq au vin was only okay, the famous creamy french onion soup (which I used to dream about) was bland, a small portion, and skimpy on the cheese croûton.
Our server was gracious and nice but the overall service was very very slow. The restaurant was about 75% full so it didn’t seem like they were overly busy.
We’ll definitely give it a try again and hope that Mark (the owner/​chef who we heard is currently opening a new restaurant in Denver) has gotten things back in line.

This place appears to be a bit under-​rated on Unilocal.We went here for HH, and it was the best in town! Half off wine, and half off appetizers! They were all so good– we had the tuna tartar and 2 glasses of wine for ~$ 20. Deal! It was really good and the bar is cozy and friendly. The staff was so nice and very attentive. They had a very large wine selection, as well as extensive appetizer menu. We enjoyed the bartender and our overall experience was great. Locals highly recommended this place, so we went and were not disappointed. Another great gem in Telluride.

I dined at La Marmotte on New Year’s Eve while visiting Telluride based on the recommendation of a friend, who is a local. It was the perfect, cozy chic cabin-​like atmosphere for a celebratory NYE dinner in a ski village.
Our meal was delicious — everyone enjoyed their dinner.
— Scallop Starter — Best of the 3 starters our table tried
— Beet Salad — OK, wasn’t bad but would put it towards the bottom of the list of beet salads I’ve tried (beets are my must-​order in any restaurant). The goat cheese wontons weren’t executed well (not crispy or hot)
— White Onion & Goat Cheese Tart w/​crispy bacon — OK, wasn’t as flavorful if you had a bite without bacon. was a 6 or 7 on a 10pt scale
Mains…
— Short ribs — among the best we’ve had
— Buffalo tenderloin — cooked perfectly! Tender, flavorful. Loved the demi glade and the winter veggies
— Dover Sole — well-​executed
Service was fine, maybe slightly below average, but not bad. Not particularly attentive, overall a bit slow. But it was NYE, so I won’t hold it against them.
Prices for their normal menu are fair given the quality of food and location in a pricey mountain town. NYE was a 3 course menu (your choice of dishes) for $ 109, which would be unreasonably any other night of the year. I expect and accept crazy inflation for NYE.
If you have only time or money for 1 really nice meal in Telluride, I’d suggest the Chop House. If you have time or money for 2 nice meals, definitely hit up La Marmotte second.

«La Marmotte» is french for «marmot,» those little creatures that burrow in the American plains and tell us when winter is over. Furry, overly busy, and slightly ill-​tempered, they also reminded me of our waiter and general experience the other night at their namesake restaurant.
If I had to pin a word on this place, it would have to be «cliché» since «marmotesque» isn’t a word. The wine list is an absolute caricature. The domestic reds were a 50:50 split of over-​priced Pinot noir and Cabernet. Ditto the whites. Because the place is (trying to be) French, the list must feature a selection of tired old French wines, too. And, because Telluride is the new Aspen, the list apparently must also contain a few over-​the-​top bottles to remind all but the most obnoxiously wealthy that they don’t really belong in the marmot’s house. One single $ 1,000 bottle on the menu does not a fancy wine list make.
The menu equally spoke to a weird sort of derivative approach to cuisine. My beet salad, for instance, was just loaded with tricks as if to say «look at me! look at me!» with its goat cheese wantons, and mixed greens, and beet salad trendiness. Nothing on the menu looked innovative, and the dinners that (eventually) materialized were lackluster in presentation. My warmed brie over heirloom tomatoes was more like microwaved brie over bad supermarket tomatoes. I had high hopes that some of the more classic fare (coq au vin) might begin to drown out the palpable pretentiousness of the place, but thank goodness I didn’t sample it: both colleagues who ordered this dish became very ill later that evening.
The service was absolutely abysmal from the moment we set foot in the marmot’s den. Though cozy and inviting, the marmots who lived here were put off by our large party as they begrudgingly slammed tables together. Then, over an agonizing ~2.5 hours, we waited again and again for our server even to acknowledge our presence. Getting the check was like asking Moses to part the Red Sea, and when we presented our little stack of plastic payment devices, I thought our marmot’s head was going to explode.
Overall, the experience was a cork-​tainted $ 1,000 bottle of red: disappointing, acerbic, and a little sickening. Perhaps this is what happened to the poor coq au vin…

Went for a friends birthday. Overall was just OK. Appetizers are really small, had one of the salads nothing special. Main course wanted the Lobster and Spaghetti but there was none left at 7:30pm.
I asked for the steak frite which I had seen on the bar menu while we were waiting. Was told that I could only have the steak frite in the bar. WTF?
Overall, was ok but don’t think I’ll be back.

This was not our first time coming here, and the food did not disappoint!
It is what it is. An expensive and classy restaurant. The pre-​fix menu makes ordering easy and the options are made for the advanced palette. It was $ 54 for a three course meal. Food portions are perfect, given that the food is rich and savory. The squab I ordered was especially gamey, but still pretty enjoyable. Nothing spectacular for dessert. A solid four.