The Red Onion

The Red Onion was my favorite bar to go to in Aspen. The food is great here, the bartenders are extremely nice and the drinks are fantastic as well!
I went here once out of season and once during X Games. It was very crowded during X Games, but it was still the best bar I had gone to. We went two nights during X Games weekend and the second night we walked in, the bartender immediately recognized us. I recommend getting Vegas Bombs here — they pour the best ones! Very delicious!
They also had a DJ there during X Games, something I believe they don’t usually have on normal weekends. It was a nice atmosphere having a smaller dance floor on the end of the bar with a great DJ for the most part.
The first time I went to the Red Onion they had live acoustic music. It was very intimate and had great sound. As a musician I hope to one day perform here one night while I’m visiting.
The Red Onion is one of the oldest buildings in Aspen and has a great tiny little front door!
I would definitely recommend people check out The Red Onion.

The food was fantastic! I had a burger and the ingredients were delicious and fresh. However the service was really slow. We were there on Saturday at 1pm and the restaurant was half full. The servers were hanging around with regulars and other staff and ignorning us.

Worst place ever. You’re lucky you’re getting one star from me. I waited 10 minutes for my server to get my order and when they serve the food to me, my server dumped my food on the table and left. She gave me the wrong beer and wrong food. I told her and she just walked away and didn’t say anything. I do not recommend this place to anyone. Worst service ever. Terrible drink selection too

Has a good food menu and a versatile drinks menu. Good beer and reasonably well made cocktails. One of the best made burgers one can get in Aspen.
The staff is nice and friendly, but the service at the tables can be incredibly spotty at times. Once spent sitting 25 min at a table right across the bar with no one coming to greet me or get me a menu (ample service people walking about despite).
Does small events (theme nights?) during the week like open mic night, or karaōke or beer pong tournaments that draws in a mixed crowd of locals and tourists.
Overall a good place. Would recommend. Would come back.

During our recent first visit to Aspen (beginning of October), I used my Unilocal app to scout out a good, reasonably priced dinner option for us. The Red Onion’s menu and reviews seemed like a safe bet, so after a day of walking around the town, we stopped by before we left. The atmosphere is kind of cozy with the dim lighting and rustic interior.
I tried the Buffalo Burger (when in Colorado…). It was perfectly cooked and delicious. Others tried the BBQ sandwich and enjoyed it as well. While the prices weren’t super cheap, they were more reasonable than a lot of other restaurants in the Aspen area. I’d recommend it for good, casual dining.

Went here on a whim thinking they might have French Onion Soup, or Red Onion Soup (Ha ha). I went with 2 friends and we had the aforementioned soup as well as quesadillas, sweet potato fries and the beet goat cheese salad. Everything was great, including our waiter Morgan. I will definitely go back here, seem like it’s taken a few steps up lately.

Great food but the atmosphere is so loud. It’s a hard place to entertain clients because you can’t hear them!

Good atmosphere, good food. Once it got busy we were ignored. It was difficult to get or find our waitreess. We saw more of the expedites and busers. Didn’t stay long due to this. This place felt more of a local hangout so those visiting got ignored. To bad.

The Red Onion is a great place to eat and enjoy a drink! My first time here was to enjoy the music of a friend, J. D., who many of you may know as John Denver. We came to the Red Onion or to another eatery here in Aspen to listen to his music and relax for the evening just as many patrons still do today.
The Red Onion has two (2) Happy Hours, 3 – 6 pm and 10 – 12 pm (This allows the workers to have a Happy Hour too !)
This establishment was started in 1892 during the mining boom ! The Red Onion was recently remodeled but it is still the original bar and back bar and the «ever-​watching» handcrafted Hungarian figures which are over 100 years old still sit at the top!
We are having the bean burger with guacamole and a very tasty pico de gallo sauce and sweet potato fries which are crispy and cooked just right!
This is a must for your Aspen bucket list.

Came to see one of the bars that John Denver played at before he was famous.
Great atmosphere, same bar which is great.
Glad they haven’t completely changed the great memories.
Cheap draws and good food. Off season is great in Aspen.
This place is the history of Aspen. Built in 1892 during the height of the mining boom.
Be sure to read the story on the back of the menu for the whole story.

Best meal we have had in Aspen. The crab hush puppies were a great start to dinner. I had the Elk Pasta and it was soooo good! My husband had trout and grits and he loved his as well. We saved room for the white chocolate macadamia bread pudding. You must try it if you go here!

The Red Onion has become a personal tradition, but I’m seriously thinking of giving it up.
When I started eating here in the late ’70’s, the food was pretty darned good, but on this last visit, it really disappointed. We had arrived early afternoon, and after checking into our quarters, wanted a light bite. I can truly say I was served the worst onion rings I’ve ever eaten. My wife said her onion soup was only mediocre (and there are very few onion soups she doesn’t like). No one at our table raved about anything that had been ordered, but then again, no one particularly liked his/​her food. Service was decent.

If you’re in Aspen, live it up a little and treat yourself to something better. Our waitress could not have been less attentive. She did not come by to check on the food or refill our water until it was time to ask for the check. The food was bland — chicken sandwich was served with an extremely soggy and greasy bun — inedible. When we pointed this out to our server, she uttered the equivalent of «meh». Thanks. No effort to follow up on dessert (not that we would have waited the 15 – 20 minutes it took to bring it to the guys next to us). The couple on the other side of us were also treated poorly. Could not wait to get the hell out of there!

Completely Overpriced. Bland food. Pretentious bartender that had the personality of a wet mop. Slow as molasses server who got the order wrong. Drink was ok, but the food was pretty «nothing» for what they charge. And yes, I realize we are in Aspen, but who seriously cares.

Back to Aspen again this summer. Lame food. Went Sunday and tonight. Your bartender is about as warm as a refrigerator. Clearly, going through the motions. Anyway, got a burger again, no flavor. Food was lame. Anyone can serve beer. Never be back.

I heard singing from the street and was lured into this place like a sailor who was enchanted by the voice of sirens. Everything sounded great… the singing, the laughter, even the description of the pulled pork and cheddar sandwich on the menu. If only my sandwich tasted as good as it sounded, however the grayish colored pork looked very suspicious to me. How could this possibly be the most popular item? I swallowed it, even though it had NO barbecue sauce on it, and tasted like it had been reheated for the 3^rd day in a row. This was a mistake, and I would later regret this as I spent a good deal of the night in the bathroom. I had to pay for my mistake of eating here over and over, and then, I also had to pay for the meal of the people sitting next to me because the waitress put THEIR MEAL on our credit card as well as ours!

More and more I see the value of Unilocal.I too found this place to be «ok» …nothing amazing or special and the service is just s tad lax. Had the Cobb Salad… it was fine. Neither fab no «ick». Just straight forward. If I had limited time here, I would try someplace with more pizzazz.

The Red Onion has been around just about forever, although you wouldn’t know it by the décor, which is very modern. I guess this would be considered a gastropub, since it’s got a pub feel, but they are trying pretty hard to put out some reasonably creative cuisine. They have a nice selection of craft beers.
I liked that you could split a sandwich for $ 5 and get an extra side. Very smart and exactly what we like to do. Sides are $ 5 anyway. We forgot to order onion rings, which just seemed like a good idea, and it took forever for our waiter to come back around, so we had to finally ask the hostess.
We had a grilled chicken sandwich with a side house salad. Both tasted good, but the sandwich was very light on chicken — kind of like they pounded a chicken tender flat. The onion rings were good.
All in all, it was fine. Not sure we’d be back.

Let it be known, this is a SOLID 5 star review. I recently visited Colorado for a one week vacation and so naturally we ate out quite a bit. In Aspen, we were looking for a lunch option that was not ridiculously overpriced, but still had delicious, high quality food — The Red Onion was by far my favorite restaurant and if we lived in the area, we would definitely be regulars!
First, the service was prompt and friendly. They seated our group of 6 easily and immediately took our drink orders. The appetizers came quickly as well, hot and fresh and I could not get over how delicious the corn chowder was! Please do yourself a favor in these chilly fall and winter days and order yourself a cup/​bowl!
I ordered the pulled pork with cheesy mashed potatoes. The bun was crispy on the underside and soft inside and the BBQ pulled pork was hot, juicy and seasoned to perfection. I’m salivating just thinking about it! My one small negative was that the cheesy mashed potatoes tasted like good ol’ mashed potatoes san cheese, but they were good nonetheless. Others ordered the buffalo burger and a lime chicken sandwich and were equally impressed (both the spiced fries and sweet potato fries were a hit).
Good service, good value, good food… even coming from NY, I say this place does it right!

The pulled pork sandwich is fantastic, so is the pork ravioli.
There is also lovely service and a great patio.