You can get a fine meal at the Glitretinde Restaurant if you are careful. The regular menu regularly disappoints. For lunch, I ordered an $18 hamburger medium-rare. It was served well-done. A burger ordered well-done came with a pink center. Otherwise, it was an excellent burger with fine onion rings, but for $18, why can’t they deliver what was ordered? Stuffed pork tenderloin had a nice flavor but was way overcooked and dried out. Other lunch dishes from the menu were similarly flawed, and that should not happen in place with a five-star reputation and six-star prices. Dinner was pretty much the same—flaws abound for a supposedly top-ranked eatery, but we did have one superb buffalo dish. Based on the seafood served at the buffet, I the catch of the day ought to be good, but we’ve not tried it.
Where Glitretinde shines is the lunch buffet, of which there are three versions—the Skiers’ Buffet ($27 Monday to Saturday) during the Deer Valley ski season is the best deal; holiday buffets, which seemed to be modestly more elaborate Skiers’ Buffets for an extra $10; and the Sunday Jazz Buffet, which we have not tried, as it costs $15 more than the Skiers’ Buffet, which is the best buffet we have ever encountered anywhere.
Every year, we have a family argument over how often we should go to the Skiers’ Buffet. In favor of going every day is the great food. Against going are the calories and the problem of having to ski 3 miles back to our car after gorging. We settle on twice a month.
The offerings change somewhat from day to day, so you could happily eat here every day of your ski trip, but then you would miss lunch at the not-to-be-missed Goldner Hirsch and the Deer Valley cafeterias.
Among the regular offerings, don’t miss the venison chili, creme brulee, chocolate decadence, iced tea, and the smoked salmon—the best we’ve ever had outside France.
Access the Skiers’ Buffet from the top of the Viking lift. Non-skiers: use the free PC shuttle bus or drive to Stein’s.