As far as ski lodges go, Powder Keg is a good one. Small, but pretty good.
They frequently host bands & their live music lineup has always surprised me. They book good bands! The last time we were at the Powder Keg was around 4 PM on New Years' Eve, & Mobius Wave (@mobius.wave) was performing. Nasty riffs! Six whole strings of bass! Souuuulll!
The staff is generally very nice & friendly. The ordering situation, however, is a bit confusing. There's a station at the bar to order at, unless you sit directly at the bar & then they'll take your order from where you sit. We sat at the bar & ordered with a nice bartender & then waited for our food. Waited & waited & waited & waited.
We then noticed the kitchen staff watching the band, just like us, & not doing any cooking. It looked like they were all caught up on food orders. That's when we realized that our food had been "up" for quite some time - at a pick-up station near the kitchen. No one had told us. Our ramen was cold. Our wings were cold.
So even if you sit at the bar & order with the bar staff, the onus is still on you, the patron, to pick up your food when it's ready. As a system, that's fine! It just needs to be made clear. Maybe with tickets, deli style? Maybe with a screen displaying which orders are ready? Maybe they could at least deliver to bar seats, which are basically connected to the kitchen? There must be a way to prevent warm food from getting cold.
I ordered the tonkatsu ramen. It wasn't really ramen. It was an Americanized ramen/pho medley. Egg noodles, ultra-hard boiled egg, pork, bean sprouts, mint, lime, jalapeños, etc. It was honestly kinda weird & flavorless - which is such a shame, because the pork was cooked perfectly. It just didn't taste like anything! The broth was akin to lukewarm water.
I was really looking forward to our meal at the Powder Keg after a long day of snowboarding. I yearned for soup. The itch was only kinda scratched. The music was great, though.
Oh yeah - Budweiser in an aluminum can cost $7. HUHHHH?! read more