Aspen Snowmass feeds skiers in two very different ways. The market-style lodges, where you queue, choose and carry a tray, are fast, reasonably priced and need no booking. The table-service rooms, from Cloud Nine to The Cabin and Sam's, book on Tock like a downtown restaurant, and on a sunny weekend they are as hard to get. Decide which kind of day you want before you clip in.
Aspen Mountain
The summit lodge: a polished market-style room with the best view on the mountain. Grab-and-go from 9:15, lunch 11 to 3, the bar to 3:30. Open from opening day to closing day, April 18.
No reservationsThe mountain institution: oatmeal pancakes in the morning, apple strudel all day, and a deck that fills by noon. On powder days with eight inches or more, free pancakes from 10 to 11.
No reservations · breakfast 9 – 10:30, lunch to 3:30The Little Nell's slopeside brasserie, and the town's classic après: the Wagyu double cheeseburger, truffle fries, and a terrace facing the bottom of the run. Lunch 11:30 to 4, happy hour 2 to 4.
Resy or 970-920-6334 · $100 late-cancel feeSnowmass
Rebuilt from the ground up: more than 600 seats, a new bar and lounge level, four concepts from a market to a sit-down room, and Aspen Snowmass's first all-electric restaurant. The biggest new thing on any of the four mountains this winter.
No reservations published yetThe old Lynn Britt Cabin, now simply The Cabin: a table-service lunch (starter and main) from 11:30 to 2, then an après bar and grill from 2:30 with no reservations. Opens with the mountain on November 26.
Tock · $30 per person no-show holdNow an Italian room with table service: rigatoni Bolognese, a lamb burger, a bistecca for the table, and a Negroni spritz on the deck. Lunch 11 to 2. Non-skiers can ride up on a Foot Pass.
TockThe former Gwyn's High Alpine, now French: onion soup, beef bourguignon, a fondue boule. Table service, lunch 11:30 to 3.
Tock · recommendedMarket-style lunch with a new 120-seat deck. The easiest family stop on Snowmass, and the hub of opening weekend.
No reservationsMarket style with rotating global stations, the casual sibling to the Alpin Room upstairs.
No reservationsPizza by the slice at the highest counter on the mountain. Fast, warm, and exactly what the Big Burn calls for.
No reservationsBook on Tock the moment you know your Highlands day; it is prepaid and non-refundable, and lunch runs in early seatings so the room can turn for après. Order the fondue or raclette for the table, stay for the second seating if you can, and be 21 to get into the après. If the mountain day is not fixed yet, book Sam's or The Cabin on Snowmass instead, which are easier to move.
Aspen Highlands
The most famous lunch in Aspen: fondue or raclette for two or more at $75 a head last season, a long Alpine menu, and an après seating that turns into the party the valley talks about (21 and over). Prepaid and non-refundable. 2026–27 hours are "coming soon"; Highlands opens December 12.
Tock · required · groups of 11+ by emailMarket style with a Southwest menu and "The Jerry" burger. The practical mid-mountain stop on Highlands.
No reservationsIndependent and ski-in: pizza, burgers and sixteen taps at the bottom of the hill.
970-920-3747Buttermilk
The old Bumps, renamed after the base remodel: breakfast 8 to 11, lunch to 2:30, and après at The Backyard until 4:30. The X Games base in late January.
No reservationsA cafeteria with a Mongolian grill (the bowl was $23 last season), pho, burgers and a kids' meal. Full Moon Dinners run here on select nights.
No reservationsAfter dark
The snowcat leaves the Base Village fire pit at six for shared plates and three courses at the cabin, back by half past nine. Select evenings.
TockAdults only. Last season it ran on Fridays from February to March, with winemaker dinners; private buyouts take up to forty guests.
TockNot on a ski area: a log cookhouse twelve miles up Castle Creek, reached by car, cross-country ski or sleigh. Lunch and dinner Wednesday to Sunday once it reopens.
OpenTable or 970-925-1044The practical part
Discounts. Aspen Snowmass season pass holders get 20 percent off food (not alcohol) at the market-style restaurants: Sundeck, Elk Camp, High Alpine, Ullrhof, Up 4 Pizza, Merry-Go-Round, Buttermilk Mountain Lodge and Cliffhouse, on showing the Aspen Card. Lift tickets and the Ikon Pass carry no on-mountain dining discount.
Timing. Market lodges are quietest before 11:30 and after 1:30. Table-service rooms seat lunch from 11:30 and are done by 2 or 3; the après bars take over after that.
Non-skiers. Sam's and The Cabin can be reached on a Foot Pass on the gondolas and lifts; the Sundeck is a gondola ride from town. Ask for a foot passenger ticket at the ticket office.
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