The Little Diner

Delicious breakfast! Pretty small so go early but if you have to wait it will still be worth it. If you want a Dutch baby order it right when you sit down since it takes longer to cook than everything else.

One of our favorite breakfast place in Lionshead Village when we are vacationing in Vail/​Beaver Creek/​Avon.
For starters, don’t let the name confuse you. It’s The Little Diner, because that’s what it is… little, but oh so cozy. Unless you’re an early bird, the chances of walking in and scoring a table are slim. Average wait times can be 20 minutes of more, but so worth it because the food is always consistent and leaves me happy and satisfied. You can see that your meal is being prepared from scratch because the kitchen is open and all the food prep action evident. The items served here follow family recipes which definitely make you feel like you’re eating in grandmas kitchen and the attention from staff only further drives that feeling home.
Some of my favorite things to order are:
Strawberry Blintz: Mini crêpe filled with cottage cheese and topped with house made strawberry compote.
Veggie Omelet (because it has all my fave ingredients): Broccoli, bell pepper, onion, tomato, mushrooms, scallion and cheddar cheese. All the omelets are served with toast. However, if you’re in the mood for hashbrowns (must try) or grits, they come as complimentary standard side options for many entrees. The only time you” pay an $ 1 extra is for the fruit cup. Not a bad deal, right?
Pannekoeken (German Pancake aka Dutch Baby): kind of like a soufflé that’s baked to order and has the same consistency as Yorkshire pudding. It is best with powdered sugar and lemon. Though it looks decadent and too large to eat, it is fluffy and light and great for a breakfast treat.
My husband loves the Huevos Rancheros: 3 sunny side eggs served over a tortilla and hashbrowns with rancheros sauce. From the bite or two I always steal from him, it’s worth the order.
So, as you can see there are plenty of options to fit the bill for any craving you might have at fair prices. We have never come here for lunch, but may have to the next time we are in Lionshead Village.

Absolutely worth the wait! Can’t wait to visit Vail again to enjoy again.
Great service
Awesome food!

Amazingly good breakfast. Joy claims it’s the best breakfast of her life! I’m not sure about that, but definitely the best hash browns :-)

Fun little breakfast/​brunch spot. Very small, just a wrap around bar, so be prepared to wait. But lovely menu and lovely service staff. We enjoyed ourselves :)

There are very FEW places to get a breakfast in Vail Village so we came here. It’s cozy and small so get here early!
I had to try the Dutch baby! I recommend eating it as they say with squeeze of fresh lemon and a dusting of powdered sugar. This is enormous but very light. Nowhere near as rich as it looks. Excellent!

Wowza! Completely and totally worth the 20 minute wait! Love their wait list system that allows you to determine where you are in line.
Food is sensational. The hash browns are crisp and perfectly cooked. The bacon crisp and high quality full of flavor. And the pancake was airy and delicious!
Highly recommend! We’ll be back!

We arrived at 7:20am and sitted immediately. Based on staff’s recommendation, we ordered Taxi driver and german pancake with a side of grits.
Our review is about food: grits was saulty. taxi driver was crunchy and flavorful but extremely saulty. Pancake has no flavor.
Dont understand the hype here.

After working in Vail for many years and hearing about this place, I finally tried it. It was an hour wait, but I like the system they used. The food was okay. I had the egg Benedict, as recommended by the owner. I did try the pancakes and those were good. My son had the breakfast burrito and it was blah. I think I was semi disappointed because of all the hype. I will go back though and give it another try.

We made it just in time for lunch. The ambiance is very cool though there is very little seating – counter seating only with the grill in the middle. The burgers are really good. Very generous in size, even the kid burger. The pork sandwich is also very good. It’s like a pork version of a Philly cheese steak. I’m so glad we stopped in.

Amazing spot for breakfast in Lionshead Village. The wait is at least 1hr+ bit soooo worth it! (Plus they are expanding soon!!! Don’t miss this place while your in Vail.

Our family ate brunch here. Amazing food! We ordered the German Pancakes, Corned Beef Hash with poached eggs and Hash Browns. Hands down this is the best breakfast/​brunch that we’ve had in a loooonng time.
Mind you it is a tiny diner. I think other reviewers said 21 seats. Old fashioned diner shaped in a U. You can see them make your cooked-​to-​order food. Please note that the German Pancakes takes about 15 – 20 minutes before it’s ready. Everything is made fresh.
Service was great too!
They will be expanding and I’m sure they will be just as amazing.
Since there’s usually a wait they have a check-​in system where you can put in your name and they will text you when your seats are available. It gives you time to walk around Lionshead Village shopping center.

My husband and I get a lot of exercise here in Vail. We walk back and forth between Lionshead and Vail Village several times a day. This entails a 20-​minute walk each way, along the river, beside the Austrian-​looking hotels and shops. A lot of business are closed because it’s the mud season. The official summer clients are still a week away.
Hungry, and chilly, after our walk yesterday, we decided to eat at a place called The Little Diner. A business acquaintance mentioned it the day before saying it used to stay open until 4 a.m. It’s owned by the Littles.
When we opened the door it was like stepping into sunshine. Two smiling ladies greeted us. One had a Swiss-​French accent. We hopped on a stool overlooking the middle of the room that contained the servers, cooks, and kitchen.
When I told Miriam what an impact her good nature had, she said, «It’s just as easy to be happy as it is to be unhappy.»
Eighties song played on the speakers and savory smells filled our noses. I shouldn’t have, but I upgraded my sausage/​egg breakfast by adding a pancake instead of toast.
Be ready for sunshine.

My 3 star is based on bacon, I know it’s hard to give a rating on bacon, but the advertising goes out of their way to describe thick cut Applewood smoked bacon.
Well let’s put it this way, it was thin and not a nice strip, kind of small. If you ever get to Denver go to Dougs Diner, the bacon is like hand cut off a slab, super thick, meaty and the length of the plate, 3 strips with your meal.
I know it’s Vail but I wasn’t that impressed, pretty much don’t see the hype. The other plates we ordered were hash, and pancakes.

The apple cinnamon blintz was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Yum. Hash brown game strong too.

Literally an awesome little diner in Vail, of all places! Great traditional breakfast and lunch items, all made very fresh and with very fresh and local ingredients. Seating is 20 counter seats set in a horseshoe around the small, super clean and efficient kitchen.
The checkin via an iPad at the counter by the front door is very efficient, you request how many seats you need and put it your cell phone number and then it will text you when the seats are available, leaving you free to wander Lionshead village while you wait.
The staff was super friendly and the regular patrons were really nice (Vail workers on their lunch breaks, etc.)
We had the BLT — very big and delish and the chili cheese burger which was very good also and big enough to fill up a college boy. They even had Cincinnati chili, quite a nice surprise for those of us visiting Colorado from the Queen City!

Went twice in a week. The breakfast burrito is amazing. Added avocado. Truly an incredible meal. You could easily split it. Eggs, veggies and hashbrowns built into it. Throw some siracha on there. HELLO!
Had blueberry pancakes. I don’t eat them too often but boy were they amazing. Service is good. Place is as it says: Little. But totally worth it. They watch coffee like a hawk to get you what you need. A place with a reputation and the food to match. Only had breakfast. Had the Dutch pancake thing they feature. Didn’t love it. Stick with a standard pancake. If I’m back in vail I’m going there for sure.

Thanks to Unilocal,we discovered this gem of a restaurant while visiting Vail. It was so awesome the first time, we went back a few days later in our trip!
First, it’s not called The Little Diner for nothing. It literally IS a little diner. It only has bar seating (about 20 seats) in a square around the kitchen/​serving area. They run things pretty efficiently, though. If there’s a wait, you can be added to their waitlist via iPad and then receive a text when seats are close to being available. That means you can stroll around Lionshead Village without having to wait inside or outside the diner with nothing to do.
Every server we encountered was very friendly and attentive. The menu is extensive, and you get BIG portions for a reasonable cost. And the food tastes and looks amazing. It’s cooked and seasoned to perfection and looks so well-​presented on the plate.
The first day, I tried the Taxi Driver Special, which was fried eggs over hash browns, topped with cheese and pork green chili (which we soon discovered was a Colorado specialty, so I’m glad I had it). It was incredible and filling. And the hash browns were so flavorful.
The second day, I wanted to try something different (even though I loved the Taxi Driver Special), so I went with the Corned Beef Hash. Again, delicious. This time, the wonderful hash browns were mixed with fresh corned beef (none of that canned mush), and the eggs on top looked so cute and were poached to perfection.
The coffee was very fresh, hot, and flavorful, too, and my mug never got low, thanks to the great service.
TIP: because of the extreme limited seating, weekends can be an hour to an hour-​plus wait. During the week, there was little to no wait. However, like I mentioned before, if you have the time, you can stroll around Lionshead Village while you wait without worry of losing your place in line. It was worth the wait for us!
p. s. It’s also a very clean establishment!
p. p. s. I laughed when someone came in and advised that they had 10 people in their party!

4 ½ stars. Located at Lionshead Village, I arrived mid morning on a Tuesday and was seated — once they cleaned counter space. All the seating is at the counter only and total seats is below 20.
I ordered the corn beef and eggs and sampled the huge German pancake entrée. Both entrée’s were great and the pancake which is made in the oven was so large — I had leftovers.
I can understand why this eatery is so popular and the wait can take over an hour to be seated. Service is friendly, spot on and they accept credit cards.

The Little Diner
My wife, cousin and his wife decided to come to Vail over Labor Day weekend. My cousin’s wife had heard of this little place, and after our cab driver said it was the best breakfast in the area, there was no other discussion of where we were going to breakfast. My wife and I got the breakfast burrito, my cousin got the eggs Benedict, and his wife, the 2 egg breakfast with a side of French toast… Everything was outstanding! There was about an hour wait, due to the fact that there are only about ¹⁵⁄₂₀ seats, so we shopped while we waited. It was totally worth the wait! The food was extremely tasty with fresh ingredients, all cooked in front of you. The green chili sauce was fantastic! The French toast, exceptional and my cousin was raving about the hollandaise sauce. We would all emphatically recommend this to anyone in the area