Parallax Restaurant

4 stars for the snowcat & champagne; 2 stars for the food. The snowcat is fun perhaps once every other year with family who typically don’t get on the mountain. For the price the food was disappointing, particularly since it’s a buffet and not necessarily the best quality.

This place was awesome! Went there twice in the last 2 days. They have a new menu that is to die for. I highly recommend stopping by

There is a really good chance that you won’t be able to eat at Parallax because you neither have a black pass nor know somebody with a black pass to invite you to this private jewel. That said however, should you get the opportunity, there is no need for disappointment: a self-​serve buffet of very well done items at your pleasure. And if the salad or warm items have not triggered your excitement, plenty of dessert items aim at seducing you to stay a touch longer off the ski slope and enjoy a quite oasis.

My family did the Snow Cat Dinner at the Parallax for an early Valentine’s Day dinner. This is a snow cat ride up the ski slope to the McCoy Station where the Parallax restaurant is. The Parallax then serves a pre-​set dinner. It was a splurge for us. You know this when they present you with a glass of champagne or apple cider upon check-​in. We all loved the ride up to the Parallax on the snow cat at dusk, with the outline of the mountains just visible. What a unique and awesome experience! This is what gets the stars for our night, but it was not enough to carry the dinner. The lodge itself was beautiful, contemporary yet cozy. Really great.
However, the food was a whole other story. There were (I think) 4 courses: an «amuse bouche» (probably spelled that wrong) — a bite of ahi that was very fishy, a salad course of arugula and beets (good) and then it was down hill from there. We all ordered a plate of each: chicken, beef and salmon. The chicken was okay, but I can totally do better. The beef was fatty, tough, undercooked and inedible. The poached salmon was actually cold and raw in the center. Blah. We sent it back and got another chicken dish, which was also under cooked. (There were only a couple of tables taken that night, so there is no excuse for all these undercooked dishes.) Then the chocolate mousse with berries on top came. You can’t go wrong with that, right? Well, yes, the berries were fresh, but the chocolate mousse was dense and did not look fresh. Neither did the soggy tart crust it was sitting on. Also, blah.
All in all, it was a very expensive dinner that was not worth the price. We wanted to love it. We are still raving about the ride up the slope on the snow cat and the beautiful restaurant. We are also still laughing about the poor quality food. When I splurge on a treat, I expect it to be better than I could cook myself. I would never serve our dinner as it was to my family. My advice: Find some way to do the Snow Cat up the slope, but do not shell out the money to eat dinner there.

My family and I did a snow cat tour around New Years and got to eat at the restaurant as non black pass holding common folk.
We were served a 4 course dinner with the main course being a choice of crab, rib eye, quail, or the vegetarian option. The portions were generous, and everything was cooked perfectly. Above all our server was excellent.
The inside of the restaurant is comfortable with fires in the center. The snow cat experience and the meal was truly something for my family to remember.

Disclaimer: we didn’t actually eat here.
The bf and I knocked off early due to lack of snow and decided to take a gondola ride to the top to take a picture not in snow gear and then hit up Parallax for lunch. When we got there we were told that you had to be a Black Pass member in order to dine there for lunch. Apparently you can book a snowcat dinner no matter what kind of pass you have, but lunch is a no go unless you have a Black Pass.
The hostess was very nice in telling us this, but whatever. I went back on their website to see if it said that anywhere, and it does not. It also doesn’t say it in any other Unilocal reviews. I really just wanted to post so people know.

Besides the snowcat ride up and down the mountain, there wasn’t much else exciting about this experience.
The place was decorated well, but at night you can’t see anything out of the windows… nothing a few floodlights wouldn’t fix and not sure why this hasn’t already been done.
Every plate that was served was creative, but cold or luke warm at best. The venison was ultra dry and not much flavor.
Won’t be doing this again, and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Parallax haiku:
million dollar view
celebrities can be seen
fancy food dining
great snowcat dinners
reservations are a must
worth every penny
ski in and ski out
gondola ride optional
lunch eleven to four
Rowell on the walls
Minarets in the background
grandiose locale

They have my drink ready before I set down