While out exploring Mesa Verde National Park, you’re bound to get hungry and thirsty. There are several dining options ranging from grabbing a quick, on-the-go sandwich and beverage at the Morefield Campground Store, to sitting down for some fine dining in the Metate Room Restaurant at the Far View Lodge.
All dining options within the park are operated by concessionaire Aramark, and you can find more details, menus, and prices by clicking on each establishment listed below.
Spruce Tree Terrace
Located on Chapin Mesa near the park headquarters and museum, this dining option offers cafeteria-style eats ranging from grilled sandwiches to burgers to hotdogs, along with a few specialty items (ever eaten a Navajo taco?). There’s a limited choice of snacks and desserts and a variety of beverages (water, cola, coffee, beer). Prices range from $5 - $12, and the Spruce Tree Terrace is open April 17 – October 23 with varying hours of operation depending upon the season.
Far View Terrace Café
Located near Far View Lodge, this café has a food court setting with large windows providing plenty of natural light and great views of the landscape. You’ll enjoy a breakfast buffet and omelet station in addition to standard breakfast fare. Salads, sandwiches, pizza, and pasta are on the menu for lunch – or, they are supposed to be, according to the website. If you click the online menu for the Far View Terrace Café, you’ll notice it is the same as the menu for the Spruce Tree Terrace.
If you need your caffeine fix, there’s the Mesa Mocha Espresso Bar located within the café. In addition to standard espresso coffee drinks featuring Desert Sun Coffee Roasters, there are snacks and grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches.
Both Far View Terrace Café and Mesa Mocha Espresso Bar are open April 17 – October 23, with varying hours of operation depending upon the season. Breakfast doesn’t show up on the menu in the café until April 25.
Knife Edge Café
Located at Morefield Campground, the Knife Edge Café is an outdoor patio serving breakfast and operates May 15 – October 17 from 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Morefield Campground Store & Gift Shop
In addition to t-shirts, camping gear, and other souvenirs, there are convenience store-style offerings of cold and hot beverages, snacks, and sandwiches for quick takeout to fuel your day. Open April 26 – October 16, with varying hours of operation depending upon the season.
Far View Lounge
Kick back and relax after a busy day in the Far View Lounge, where you can enjoy spectacular views while sipping wine, beer, or a specialty cocktail (see if they still offer the prickly pear margarita). Don’t feel like a full sit-down dinner? The lounge offers pub fare, appetizers and snacks like wild mushroom flatbread, or honey chipotle wings, in addition to burgers, soups and salads, and sweets (that lemon tres leche cake sounds yummy). You can munch on these while watching a sporting event on the lounge’s television. Prices range from $9 - $20 and there’s a kids’ menu, too. The lounge operates May 18 – October 16, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Metate Room Restaurant
The Metate Room Restaurant, located at the Far View Lodge, offers fine dining within a national park setting. Enjoy such dishes as watermelon mint salad, Montezuma tortilla soup, ancho rubbed pork medallions, or Spruce Tree cauliflower steak and finish it all off with a warm apple filled churro or lemon tres leche cake or one of several other dessert listings, all while watching the landscape change from bright daylight to the purples and blues of evening through large picture windows. You can order beer, wine, and cocktails from the lounge to be brought to your table in the restaurant. Prices range from $7 for soup to $32 for herb grilled salmon and there’s a kids’ menu, too. The restaurant operates April 17 – October 23 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 or 9:30 p.m., depending upon the season.
The pretty pink of a prickly pear margarita served in the Metate Room, Mesa Verde National Park / Rebecca Latson
