Last Dollar Saloon

As a fellow business owner in Telluride, who has resided in this quaint town for a decade now, I had to finally report on a wonderfully old-fashioned bar, where locals have traditionally loved to have had their Happy Hours and their Late Night Last Drinks for decades. This bar was taken over a couple of years ago by Michael Lee...previous proprietor of a happy hour bar that he had to close due to development. For years I have overlooked this person's rude behavior, not just when tending to his Bar, but also out of work, when walking his dog or just passing by in the streets of small town Telluride. In all of my professional life (I was in Sales and Marketing in the "real world" of High Tech both in Europe and in the Silicon Valley for years, as well as eventually founding my own business that has reached success after success due to our heart warming customer service and genuine love of our products and what we do), I have never met such a grumpy, nasty, unpersonable owner of a business- especially a bar which should be the social network of both locals and tourists in a town like Telluride.

The final straw came the other night.when I popped in to listen to a quite good band who was playing live at the "Buck" - last dollar. I ordered my first and only drink of the evening (one of their signature Margaritas) and sat myself into a bar stool to watch and enjoy the music. I sipped on my cocktail for about a half an hour, and eventually at some point, when I turned around to have one more sip from my cocktail, I found my not quite finished drink gone. I flagged down the Bartender, who happened to be Mike, the owner, and mentioned that someone had removed my drink which was not quite finished. He politely (to which I was shocked from his typical behavior) asked what I had been drinking and I told him a Margarita. Without another word, he prepared me another drink (which I was not expecting, but thought he must have been to a new schooling for customer service, because he is typically quite not the gentleman, etc.). When he brought me the drink, he slapped it on the bar and said quite gruffly "Five Dollars!". I looked at him quite shocked and said, "but is this for the drink that someone working here took away prematurely whilst I was sitting at the bar enjoying the band? Why should I have to pay...and I did not even ask for another drink." Without a word, he grabbed the glass and said quite threateningly "That's it!" and threw the brand new drink down the sink. He then looked me in my face and said that I was Rude and he did not want to serve me!!!

Well, I was most probably the ONLY sober person in the bar, as I had not been drinking prior to coming to see the band, and he or his staff took my drink away WHILE i WAS SITTING THERE with my back turned to watch the music! He could not take any sort of even gentle, constructive criticism, and he felt that by making me a drink (that I had not asked for) and to become aggressive about it, I would become aggressive and be thrown out, as seems to be the nature of many of the drunken people there late at night.

Being a travel writer to many large and small cities in the US as well as Europe, I have NEVER encountered SUCH unprovoked aggression from a member of staff...LET ALONE an owner of a business.

To top it off, I have much tolerance for people and understanding if they are having a bad day or something, but all of the years I have known Michael, in both his business and upon passing by in this tiny town, I have NEVER seen him smile, light up with joy in encountering anybody, let alone go out of his way to be friendly.

I recommend staying away from this bar and going to the Sheridan, OB's, Fly Me to the Moon Saloon, or any other establishment rather than take the risk of the rudest person I have ever encountered on any continent in my life becoming aggressive towards an innocent party.

Enough said. I have resisted writing this review for years, but last Saturdaynight was indeed the LAST STRAW, and I just HAD to share it with people planning a trip to Telluride.

Visited June 2013

Just spent the weekend in Telluride for closing weekend and I gotta say, this was THE bar that we went to for the 3 nights we were there. It was so fun, a little pricey, but everyone was in good spirits.

I felt like the only downside was that everyone knew we were from out of town because everyone seemed to know each other. I know this happens a lot in these small mountain towns but cmon now girls, don't give me THAT look.

I guess it's a cash only bar, I accidentally only paid in cash anyway.

Bouncer is colossal jerk. Hates out of towners. We were very polite. Punch him in the balls for me.