My spouse and I and a group of eight friends and family
dined at Stowe’s Cliff House restaurant for lunch on a Saturday afternoon in
late September 2018. The restaurant is open daily from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm
for lunch and drinks. On a few select Saturday evenings year-round, the
restaurant offers special event multi-course candlelit dinners. The Cliff House
only accepts lunch reservations for large parties. Weekday gondola and lunch
packages are also available.
We rode the Stowe Gondola Skyride (see our separate review) to
reach the Cliff House atop Mount Mansfield. The restaurant occupies the top
floor of a two-story Bavarian chalet. A coat room and a single restroom are
located at the main entrance to the restaurant near the host station. Inside, the
main dining room has high vaulted ceilings and lots of wood and windows. A
semi-open kitchen and small drinks bar (perhaps only six seats) are located in
the spacious main area, with a smaller side room that offers even better views
of the valley. A huge outdoor side deck provides additional seating at
wrought-iron tables and chairs, although on the day that we visited, the deck wasn’t
being used and seemed under-utilized (it held only a few tables for such a large
deck).
As the hostess seated us, she presented us with a “large
party” menu, which we were not forewarned about when we telephoned to make our
reservation. Unfortunately, our guests had perused the regular menu online and
were displeased to find that items they had planned to order were not actually
available to them. In addition, two hours after opening time on a fall Saturday,
the restaurant had already run out of both of its soup options (chili and
butternut squash), which were the only likely appetizer candidates on the group
menu. To further complicate matters, one member of our group who keeps Kosher
inquired as to whether she could order the poke bowl that she saw on the
regular menu, and she was informed that she could (because it was a religious
reason); however, they had also run out of that menu item. Since our choices
were so limited, our group ordered several of the same items: the curried
chicken salad, the grilled chicken pesto sandwich (served with choice of side
salad or fries), and the hamburger (also served with salad or fries). When we
finished our meal, the only dessert available was packaged Ben & Jerry’s
pint slices. At least they were a semi-local (if mass-marketed) item; however, when
a restaurant’s website quotes “… mouth-watering dish and sinful dessert…”,
guests probably have different expectations than what they receive.
Our lunch at the Cliff House was acceptable, but we wouldn’t
return because of the limited menu and provisioning problems.
