Der Fondue Chessel

A unique experience and the food was good, but very expensive. The ride up the gondola is really cool. Be warned though, the restaurant is extremely hot inside… so dress in layers. It was so hot, it made several people in our group sick. The air was also insanely dry, which is expected in the mountains, but that combined with the intense heat made for a slight rough experience.

This place is cheesy, delicious, and the views spectacular. Make sure you come here with your kids and family for a fun evening. I would recommend even if the place is expensive.

I really enjoyed our time at this place. The two leg gondola ride was spectacularly beautiful. The food was plentiful and good, but the meat portions could be a little bit bigger, especially for the price.
Our waitress was friendly and available even though we showed up a little early for our reservation. The atmosphere is fantastic, and the live two person band did a great job. I know the chicken dance is dorky, but do it… you’ll be happy you participated. :) I loved the beams on the ceiling and the large fireplace.
The reason this place earned five stars from me was how accommodating they were of Samson, my service dog. He is of course super well trained to be in public and to help me, but the gondolas were a challenge for us as a team. We’ve never had to step together onto a moving platform like that where only one of us could fit at a time, and I didn’t know how to cue him to come behind me. By the last leg of the journey we had it down pat, but Samson got confused our first two times. The gondola staff was patient with both of us as we learned together, and even let us warm Samson’s paws up in one of the staff huts halfway up the mountain.
There was no mention of Samson other than how gorgeous he is (so true) by the staff of the restaurant, which I appreciated a great deal as I’m sure service dogs aren’t super common at their outpost. They handled him better than a lot of places that see service dogs frequently. Very very impressed at how professional and kind they were to see Samson at my side. :)

Worst experience I have ever had. The quality of the food is mediocre, the place is dirty (it’s the cafeteria for skiers during the day) and the service tonight was horribly slow. For $ 62 dollars per person (before any add ons) I was expecting a better fondu experience then for example the melting pot – but it wasn’t! I have returned many times to the Melting Pot but can assure you that I shall not return here!

Made reservations here for Christmas and New Year’s Eve and both were cancelled because it’s cold??? The worst part is they cancel it so last minute that it’s too late to make reservations anywhere else. And their alternative? Some gross overpriced buffet. I would recommend not having a restaurant in the mountains if you don’t like the cold. Or give some kind of heads up to let you know that they may cancel your reservation so you have at least some time to make reservations somewhere else during the busy holidays. Ridiculous.

Wish I could give them ZERO stars! Had reservations on Christmas night for dinner — 8 hours before our reservation they call is and cancel our reservation due to it being COLD! We remake the reservation for New Year’s Eve and same thing cancel because it’s cold! Helloooooo idiots you’re in Colorado at 10,000′ of course it’s cold! Close the damn thing if you are going to close every time it’s cold! Both times they tried to persuade us to go to some overpriced buffet as «an alternative»! No thanks if I want a crappy buffet I’ll go to Golden Corral! Thanks for leaving us hanging TWICE!
Ridiculous!!!

If you are lucky enough to actually make up the mountain, it is a wonderful experience. HOWEVER. There is a strong chance that your reservation will be cancelled due to below freezing temperatures or high winds. I know this to be true because this has happened to me three out of the past four years. While I fully recognize that Keystone Resorts cannot control the weather and that safety comes first, what is absolutely INEXCUSABLE is the fact that, when they do have to cancel everyone’s reservation, Keystone Resort provides exactly ZERO support with alternative arrangements. Twice our reservation was for a large party celebrating a birthday and Keystone Resorts basically gave us the finger. Keystone Resorts needs to either cowboy up and figure out some sort of compensation or make it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR when you make the reservation that it may be cancelled at any time and with little to know notice and if this does happen, you will be completely out of luck. Appalling customer service, Keystone Resort and Vail Resorts. Absolutely appalling.

This is more than a dinner, it’s a complete fun night out. From the gondola ride up to the restaurant to the German band to the great food, our family had fun the whole time. It’s especially good for kids or bigger groups.

This place was really cool because you first have to take two gondola rides to get there. We were lucky that on our gondola ride they actually were letting off fireworks at the same time. Once you reach the top there’s a cool atmosphere that reminded me of the being in Germany or the alps. They have love music and an accordion dawning man walking around. The food is really really good and very filling! My only suggestion is prepare yourself for potential altitude sickness. If your prone bring gravol! Otherwise it was a great experience!

This restaurant is all about the experience and not necessarily about the food which would have been a two and which is really mediocre at best. You have to take two Gondola rides just to get to the outpost where the the restaurant is located. The service was friendly and prompt. My main issue is the price. Our bill for one adult and 3 kids was over $ 200 not including tip. I only had one glass of wine. Basically the adult portion is two portions of meat while the kids get one. You get two very tiny pieces of meat for that portion. My kids ate my second portion since clearly it was not enough for them. They also told us to cook the pork two minutes on each side and it was still raw when we cut into it. The first fondue course with the cheese was good and there were plenty of bread and veggies available to dip –but no GF bread option. The Caesar salad was very bland. Didn’t finish mine. The second course was the meat grilling racklette. What we had was good and the sauces were really nice. They also served some sausages and potatoes in a second skillet which we hardly touched. We paid extra for the flaming turtle for dessert. In retrospect save yourself the extra $$. Basically they threw a shot of alcohol in there and lit it on fire so we could roast marshmallows over it for a minute. The didn’t have nearly enough fruit and other things to dip. Being GF the fruit was all I could eat. The pears had black spots on them. We got exactly four strawberries and four pieces of banana. The rest was brownies or cakes to dip.
Overall my kids had a fun experience but I do not understand why they have to charge so much for this place. The food was certainly not worth it and the place was half empty when we were there. If you have the money and don’t care go for it as they will enjoy it otherwise spend your money on some better food that isn’t as pricey.

Delightful, but resort-​expensive, experience. Two gondola rides up and over to the back of Keystone Mountain to a wonderful dinner! A three course fondue dinner included a cheese course, raclette, and a rich delicious chocolate finish. Every morsel of the meal was delicious! Our group of 6 were seated at long family style tables, giant lodgepole pines support the beautiful building, a huge stone fireplace warmed the room. Two accordion players strolled throughout the room serenading everyone. Deep darkness on the gondola rides back to watch the occasional groomer and millions of stars. A great place for a memorable meal!
(Only 4 stars due to the lack of attention of the servers.)

Absolutely awful. I made a reservation well in advance for New Years Eve. We arrived to the gondola with our entire party to find that the restaurant moved locations for the night. They did not alert us, and the new location was down the highway, which we weren’t able to do. I tried to call to at least cancel the reservation and the operator at the resort couldn’t even get in touch with the restaurant. Really disappointed and ruined our holiday. Do not recommend if you have an important event or are booking in advance. Perhaps it’s good if you can walk in and actually get service.

The food was just ok but not great for a $ 200+ final bill for 2. Fondue has always been served to me with a pot of oil. I cooked the meat in the oil, cheese cubes too maybe if they had breading on them. When I saw this place had electric grills on the table tops to cook the food I was confused. Is this normal? When they brought us a minimal portion of meet to «grill ourselves» I realized that this isn’t the great dining experience I wanted for my anniversary dinner. The next morning the clothes we wore smelled like grilled food. The service staff had a bad night, they forgot bread for our cheese, and… never got it for us. We did ask 2 different employees that were «taking care of us». The staff also didn’t play or fit the part of a fine dining ($ 100 per person) restaurant but hey, I get it, it’s a ski town bro… The gondola ride up was great! They give you blankets if it’s cold out, that was a great touch especially because my girlfriend dressed up for our special night. I hate to say I would not recommend this place for more than a gondola ride up to grab a drink and then head back to town to eat somewhere else.

Have to say I was highly disappointed with this experience. When we arrived I was so excited for amazing fondue, what we got was definitely less than amazing. To start the waitress was not professional at all, she cut us off in the midst of asking questions and said that she needed to finish telling us about the menu, then when we ordered our drinks my boyfriend received the wrong one, they did end up comping it for us at the end. When we received our meal, my boyfriend had told me we should get a pot of oil to cook our food in, we did not get that we got a grill which to me felt more like a Mongolian grill then fondue. The portions for meat were pretty small considering how much we paid. We also had an issue with me being gluten free. They said they had bread for me and brought it out but then forgot the bread for my boyfriend, we asked 3 different people for his bread and never got it. Anyone who is gluten free knows that if your not gluten free you definitely don’t want the gluten free bread, and especially this one because it was not good at all. The waitress also forgot different things that we had asked for throughout our dining experience. I definitely will not be going back to this place and it is truly sad because the gondola ride up there was amazing!

This was a fun, fun experience, not to be missed! Attentive guides — most with trend-​right hipster beards, practical at these temps– tucked us with blankets into a series of two gondolas and off we went! The resto is clearly a cafeteria by day, but features a huge, roaring fireplace and attentive, charming waitstaff that couldn’t have been nicer. The food was good, although there was SO much of it. I would have been happy with just the cheese and chocolate fondue courses, although my kids liked the novelty of grilling their own meat and playing with the raclettes. The roving Bavarian-​inspired band was so much fun– I’m impressed at the inclusion of a bassist. Great fun, all of it!

From start to finish this is one of the most enjoyable meals our family has ever had. The experience begins with 2 gondola rides. The views on the way up are incredible whether it’s winter or summer.
The service is always great. Everyone is always friendly.
The seating is different but completely fits the atmosphere. While sitting at a communal table can be awkward, it’s all part of the experience and you take it for what it is.
The food is good. It’s veggies, fruit and bread dipped in cheese. Can’t really go wrong. You cook the meat on a grill top at your table. Another fun part of the experience. Dessert is fruit, cakes & all kinds of sweet things dipped in your choice of chocolate. Again… can’t really go wrong. Do not miss this spot. Enjoy!

This is the third fondue restaurant I’ve eaten at — the others having been Melting Pot and one that wasn’t part of a chain. Der Fondue Chessel does things differently from these other fondue places in a couple of ways — first, you sit at a long table, and if your party is small that means you are likely going to share it with another party/​other parties. Second, the meat/​fish course is still prepared by you, but on a little grill top rather than in a fondue pot of hot oil or whatever.
Now, I’m the type of person who goes to a fondue restaurant for the cheese and dessert. I don’t care for the meat course at all. When we received our menus at Der Fondue Chessel, there appeared to be no option other than the $ 59 per person four-​course meal (cheese fondue, salad, meat course, dessert fondue). We asked our server if we could get just cheese and dessert and after some confusion and her having to ask what the price would be, we were told that yes, we could do it, and it would be just $ 30 per person. The cost wasn’t really a huge issue other than that I don’t care to pay for something I’m not going to be able to eat (or outright don’t care to eat) — so it was nice that they were able to do this for us, but it makes me wonder how many people don’t know that they can ask for specific courses rather than having to stuff themselves with the entire meal that’s laid out on the menu.
Speaking of the servers, ours were great. I’m sure we weren’t exactly their favorite customers considering we didn’t order the ridiculously overpriced four course meal, but they were still friendly and attentive. (Though in the end, the drinks we ordered put our bill at about what the cost of the four course meal would have been, anyway.) Honestly they are the only reason this place gets two stars rather than just one. In fact, we didn’t order salads but they gave them to us anyway, at no charge, and they — the Caesar salads I mean — were pretty good. (And I’m picky about Caesar salads.)
Here’s what we were *not* pleased with (outside of the confusing menu):
— While the setting is really cool — a big open room with a huge fireplace at one end, exposed beams, very pretty — because of the way it was built, it is LOUD. And that’s even before the band starts playing their awful oompah music. And they played for a good ¾ of the time we were eating. It was just. too. much. Don’t even get me started on the fact that they played the chicken dance.
— The gouda fondue was just not good. I’ve made several different kinds of fondue and gouda is a pretty difficult cheese to work with, but I assumed that if they had it on the menu at this place they would have perfected it — nope. It came, it was lumpy, and it only got worse during the time we spent trying to eat it. We also got the bacon and green onion addition, which was unnecessary — literally half a handful of bacon crumbs and half a handful of sliced green onions tossed on top of the melted cheese, and it cost $ 4?! Ha.
— I’m not even sure what was going on with the dessert fondue. We were supposed to have the «black and white» one — white and dark chocolate — but since when is white chocolate brown? (Okay, it was like light brown, but still — it wasn’t mixed with the dark chocolate so the). Also, the waiter made a comment about them not having the proper accompaniments for the black and white fondue, so they wouldn’t be charging us for it… but…they did charge us for it? I didn’t even understand what it was supposedly missing, and we did eat a good bit of it, so we didn’t argue it being on our bill, but it was a bit confusing to say the least.
Seriously though, while the setting is cool, I’ve had way better food both making my own fondue and going to the ‘big chain’ Melting Pot. There have simply got to be better places to eat at Keystone.

First time here… high expectations. big disappointment. I expected better service for my «investment in dining experience.» We cancelled other reservations on mountaintop due to fear of repeat.

Gather a group of fun friends and family for a great time. (IMO more fun with big group.)
Plan on a 2+ hour dining and entertainment experience.
It’s not 5 star food or service — and it’s expensive — but you will have fun!
PS. Tip the musicians for a bit of extra attention.

A MUST DO if you are anywhere around Keystone and have a free night. This is not a cheap night. Reservations are required. Kids are acceptable. The better the company, the more fun the evening.
First off… dress for the ride to the restaurant. This is one of the highest restaurants in the USA…14,000 feet??? It is 2 (TWO) gondola rides. Each is about 15 minutes and neither is heated. They do provide blankets, but those only keep your butt from freezing on the bench. Dress warm. Hat /​Gloves /​scarf… seriously…
The food is OK. The ceaser salad is probably the best. Cooking your food can be fun. If you have little kids, you have to be careful and it can be a pain in the @ss to cook for 3 little tykes. The atmosphere is awsome. The wait staff are typically «sky-​resort» staff. This means you could get someone great… or you could get a dud. who knows, but this experience is well worth it. We used to do this about every other year, but now we are at every 3^rd or 4^th year.