About The 10th
There are restaurants you arrive at by choosing to dine there, and there are restaurants that require you to earn your entrance. The 10th, perched at Mid-Vail at the top of Gondola One on Vail Mountain, belongs unambiguously to the second category — and this is precisely what makes it extraordinary for client entertainment. To reach it, you purchase lift access, ride Gondola One out of Vail Village, and emerge into a dining room with floor-to-ceiling views over the Gore Range that no amount of interior design budget could replicate or render unnecessary.
The restaurant takes its name from the 10th Mountain Division, the World War II ski troops whose training in the Colorado Rockies helped shape the region's post-war ski culture. The homage is quiet rather than theatrical — the name, some historical reference in the room's character, and the sense that this is a mountain dining room with genuine historical weight behind it.
The kitchen produces what might fairly be described as mountain fine dining: a refined combination of Alpine, Rocky Mountain, and contemporary American influences, with dishes including Colorado striped bass, porcini-scented preparations, and lobster ravioli alongside the kind of seasonal mountain produce that the altitude and surrounding geography make possible. Lunch is the primary service during ski season — 11am to 3pm, seven days a week — and reservations are strongly recommended through the Tock booking platform. All guests require lift access: use an Epic Pass or purchase a Lift & Lunch package at the Vail Village ticket office, which includes a dining credit.
In summer, The 10th operates a dinner service on a seasonal basis, which transforms the experience from a ski-day punctuation into a destination evening in its own right. The gondola ride at dusk, the darkening range, the dining room lit against the mountain evening — it is a combination that few mountain restaurants in North America can match.
Why This Works for Client Entertainment
For impressing clients in Vail, The 10th operates on a principle that no ground-level restaurant can match: it takes the act of getting there seriously. The gondola ride, the mountain arrival, the views that occupy the entire window wall, and the kitchen's confidence in its own territory combine to create a client lunch that clients will discuss for years. When the food is good and the view is extraordinary, the experience transcends the meal itself. For evening fine dining in Vail Village, Matsuhisa Vail at Solaris Plaza carries the same occasion forward at street level.