Both Mt Crested Butte (the ski resort village) and the town of Crested Butte have bars and restaurants to suit a range of budgets. Compared to many other Colorado ski resorts and towns, the food and drink at Crested Butte is remarkably inexpensive for what you get, so go for it!

Mount Crested Butte Restaurants

The Mt Crested Butte village has a small range of dining options, and many of them double as bars.

The Divvy offers a lovely dining experience, with craft cocktails and exquisite tapas and small plates – it’s foodie heaven!

Another special experience is dining up at Uley’s Cabin on the mountain, a restaurant that is elegant and chic whilst also being Colorado rustic. You can ski in for lunch at Uley’s Cabin, or dinner incorporates a sleigh ride up to the cabin followed by a 5 course gourmet extravaganza.

The 9,380 Prime Restaurant & Bar at the Elevation Hotel and Spa is another good option for lunch or dinner. This restaurant used to be very fancy, but now it’s a delightful mix of upmarket and casual. You can start outside on the deck by the fire for après ski and sip on a cocktail or down a beer. Then move to the indoor bar with flat screen TVs in case you need to know the game scores. The restaurant menu includes a large range of mountain dishes, many with an Asian twist, and the big juicy steaks are a highlight of the cuisine.

The Avalanche Bar and Grill is open for breakfast, lunch, après ski and dinner. The menu is extensive and this is the place to go for a cheap feed. It's probably not the place to go for a romantic dinner as this sports bar can get pretty festive!

Butte 66 is also popular for après drinks and an inexpensive meal, whilst the Woodstone Grille at the Grand Lodge has a casual setting, but the food is a little more contemporary.

Crested Butte Restaurants – in Town

The town of Crested Butte has a much larger range of restaurants to choose from. Actually for such a small town it’s surprising how many restaurants there are! Here’s just a small sample of the great Crested Butte restaurants.

Django’s is THE place to go for dinner. This ultra chic restaurant has an intimate setting and it’s easy to see why it’s an award winner as a date restaurant! Django’s serves up tapas that vary from small light dishes to hearty elk dishes. All the food is gorgeous and the menu changes regularly. The extensive wine list is also served tapas style with most of the wines being offered as a quartino (ie quarter of a litre). It’s wise to make a reservation considering this Crested Butte restaurant’s popularity.

A funky establishment is the Secret Stash Pizza Restaurant at the top of Elk Street (21 Elk Street). The décor is a combination of retro and Asian, and there’s lots of seating on the floor. CB has a cheap pizza joint in town, but the Secret Stash is where you go for gourmet quality pizzas. Choice pizzas include the Figalicious (F.I.G.) and another interesting concoction, the Booty Call. The only downside to the Secret Stash is that it’s not a secret anymore. Everybody knows about their pizzas and there’s generally a long wait for meals.

Bonez (130 Elk Av) is a fabulous Mexican restaurant aka tequila bar, with amazing margaritas and upscale tacos and other Mexican yummies.

Crested Butte Bars On-Mountain

Start your après drinking at the Umbrella Bar for spectacular views and then move onto the Ice Bar at Uley’s Cabin. It’s not a “real ice bar” but still a fun spot for a hot toddy before skiing or boarding down the mountain.

Things can get pretty festive during après at the Avalanche and Butte 66 on the sundeck, and sometimes if there’s a good game on, the merriment may kick on further into the evening. However the Mt Crested Butte nightlife is generally rather sedate. Mount Crested Butte is reasonably family oriented so many people tend to go to bed early.

A bar worth visiting is the little Brown Labrador Bar at the bakery. This is a bit of a locals’ hangout where everyone sits around the bar and chats about their conquests of the day.

Crested Butte Nightlife: In Town

Crested Butte is more of a ski town than a party town, but depending on the night, the nightlife can get rather kicking.

For a refined cocktail, head to the Dogwood Cocktail Cabin (309 3rd Street). This is a very cool little cocktail lounge where they make an array of artisan cocktails. They are fabulous and delightfully potent (you can just blame the altitude if you get a bit tiddly!), so you’d better have a little snack to line the tummy.

Another spot for a sophisticated drink is the Montanya Distillers (212 Elk Avenue). This is a must do when you visit Crested Butte, even if you think you’re not a rum fan. They offer rum tastings and a fantastic range of cocktails; favourites such as mojitos and more inventive cocktails such as Doctor Bob’s Snake Oil which has a chilli infusion. Yum!

The Eldo (The El Dorado – a sunny place for shady people) is a casual brewery pub where the dance floor sometimes goes off! Standing out on the balcony is also pretty cool if you can brave the cold during winter. The Talk of the Town is a locals’ bar. The décor highlights are the video games, pool tables, and shuffle board games. The drinks are cheap and sometimes the dance floor gets fired up.

Kochevar’s Saloon is the oldest bar in town so it’s got plenty of character. When we visited it was pumping!