Aspen Restaurant Reservations: Which App, and When to Book

In Aspen the first question is not when to book but where. Of the ten tables people chase hardest here (Casa Tua, Matsuhisa, Bosq, Mt. Rubirosa, Catch Steak, Element 47, Steakhouse No. 316, Kenichi, Cache Cache and Sant Ambroeus), four book on OpenTable, three on SevenRooms and three on Resy, and the three work nothing alike. Add a few weeks when the whole town wants dinner on the same nights, and checking one app on the wrong morning is how a holiday ends at the hotel bar. Everything below is as of late October 2026, from each restaurant’s own site and booking page.

Why the split matters more here than in other ski towns

The restaurants in our Vail guide are all but one on OpenTable, and every room in the Breckenridge guide is. Aspen is different, so no single app shows you the town: Resy will not book you Casa Tua or Matsuhisa, and OpenTable will not book you Mt. Rubirosa or Element 47. Start from each restaurant’s own reservation link, and have a working account on all three before you need one. The platform comparison covers the general mechanics.

SevenRooms: the restaurant runs the book

Casa Tua, Catch Steak, Steakhouse No. 316, Betula, Aosta, The Monarch and Pine Creek Cookhouse book through SevenRooms, so the booking page belongs to the restaurant and most publish no window. These rooms also tend to load winter shifts shortly before they reopen, which means a blank calendar in October usually says the season is not on sale yet, not that it sold out. How SevenRooms works explains why they feel invisible.

• Casa Tua (SevenRooms, Aspen). The Aspen chalet of the Italian restaurant and private club also in Miami, New York and Paris; non-members can book the dining room. Its booking page describes a daily release 30 days ahead and a SevenRooms waitlist that alerts you when your party size and time comes free. Join the waitlist instead of refreshing. Book Casa Tua with SeatSwiper →
• Catch Steak (SevenRooms, Aspen). A two-level steakhouse with a terrace facing Aspen Mountain. Its site says to call the restaurant if your date or time is not available online, so the phone is part of the book. It also turns away under-age guests after 8pm, which settles where a family dinner goes. Book Catch Steak with SeatSwiper →
• Steakhouse No. 316 (SevenRooms, Aspen). CP Restaurant Group’s Victorian steakhouse on Restaurant Row, sibling to Aosta and The Monarch. Dinner runs nightly from 5:30pm, no window is published, and like Catch it points you to the phone when a time is not showing. Book Steakhouse No. 316 with SeatSwiper →
• Betula (SevenRooms, Aspen). Laurent Cantineaux’s second-floor room facing Ajax, French Pan-American cooking with daily DJ sets. Its site says it is closed until November 25, and parties of ten or more go through its events team. Book Betula with SeatSwiper →
• Pine Creek Cookhouse (SevenRooms, Castle Creek Valley). Game and fish at 9,750 feet near Ashcroft since 1971, reached in winter on cross-country skis, snowshoes or a horse-drawn sleigh. Its site says winter reservations open November 1 and asks you to check back then. Book Pine Creek Cookhouse with SeatSwiper →

OpenTable: windows you can count backwards from

OpenTable is the predictable third. As of October 2026, Matsuhisa and French Alpine Bistro run about 30 days ahead and Kenichi and Clark’s Oyster Bar about 42. None names a release hour, so each new date switches on as the calendar rolls past midnight Mountain time: no alarm, just a date to subtract (how OpenTable releases tables). Bosq, Cache Cache, Petit Trois and Acquolina work differently, opening a whole month at once on the 1st, one month ahead, according to OpenTable’s schedule in October 2026.

• Matsuhisa (OpenTable, Aspen). Nobu Matsuhisa’s new-style Japanese cooking in a Victorian on Main Street. A 30-day book puts Christmas Eve on sale on November 24 and New Year’s Eve on December 1. Book Matsuhisa with SeatSwiper →
• Kenichi (OpenTable, Aspen). The locally owned sushi bar with what it calls one of the country’s largest sake lists. Its 42-day book opens twelve days earlier than Matsuhisa’s: Christmas Eve on November 12, New Year’s Eve on November 19. Book Kenichi with SeatSwiper →
• Clark’s Oyster Bar (OpenTable, Aspen). McGuire Moorman’s oyster bar in the old Little Annie’s space, around the restored oak bar. Also 42 days. Its site says dinner takes reservations and walk-ins, lunch is walk-in only, and groups of six or more book by email, so a party of seven should skip the app. Book Clark’s Oyster Bar with SeatSwiper →
• French Alpine Bistro (OpenTable, Aspen). Candlelit French alpine cooking on Hopkins Avenue, its wine list named the world’s best medium-sized list of 2025 by Star Wine List. A 30-day book; its site says it reopens November 25, the day after that window first reaches Christmas Eve. Book French Alpine Bistro with SeatSwiper →
• Bosq (OpenTable, Aspen). Barclay Dodge’s Michelin-starred restaurant: foraged and local-farm ingredients on a tasting menu, à la carte at the bar. Its site lists a seasonal closure from October 4 to December 14 and states no booking rule of its own. OpenTable’s schedule opens each month on the 1st at midnight Mountain, which would put all of December on sale on November 1 and January on December 1; before that, an empty calendar is a closed restaurant, not a full one. Book Bosq with SeatSwiper →
• Cache Cache (OpenTable, Aspen). A South Mill Street bistro since 1987, osetra in the lounge or Colorado lamb at dinner. Its own site says it reopens for winter on Friday, December 11. OpenTable’s schedule opens each month on the 1st at 6:00pm Mountain, a month ahead, but last year the restaurant began taking winter reservations only on November 28, a week before reopening, so treat November 1 as the earliest date rather than a promise. Book Cache Cache with SeatSwiper →

Resy: the rooms at the foot of Aspen Mountain

Resy holds Mt. Rubirosa, The Little Nell’s Element 47 and Ajax Tavern, plus Sant Ambroeus and Prospect at Hotel Jerome, neither of which publishes a window. Only Mt. Rubirosa states a clock.

• Mt. Rubirosa (Resy, Aspen). New York’s Rubirosa at the base of Aspen Mountain: tie-dye pizza, house pastas, Sunday sauce. Its Resy listing opens lunch and dinner 21 days ahead at midnight Mountain for up to eight. Groups of nine to fourteen book the family-style Feast, which its site says is accepted 30 days ahead, so a big group gets nine more days than a couple. Book Mt. Rubirosa with SeatSwiper →
• Element 47 (Resy, Aspen). The Little Nell’s Michelin Guide-recommended dining room and its 20,000-bottle cellar. The hotel lists a closure from October 19 to November 19, says there is no dress code, and charges $100 per person for cancellations inside 48 hours. Book Element 47 with SeatSwiper →
• Ajax Tavern (Resy, Aspen). The Little Nell’s slopeside tavern and patio beside the Silver Queen Gondola. Same closure and 48-hour rule. Lunch is first come, first served unless you are a hotel guest, so the booking to chase is dinner. Book Ajax Tavern with SeatSwiper →

The weeks the whole town books at once

Opening week. Aspen Mountain and Snowmass open on Thanksgiving, November 26, per Aspen Snowmass, and several restaurants reopen the same week.

Christmas to New Year’s. Christmas Day is a Friday and New Year’s Eve a Thursday, which puts two prime weekends in one fortnight. If Bosq’s OpenTable schedule holds, its December nights, both holiday dates included, go on sale at once on November 1, ahead of every rolling book on this page. Kenichi and Clark’s reach Christmas Eve on November 12 and New Year’s Eve on November 19, Matsuhisa and French Alpine Bistro on November 24 and December 1, Mt. Rubirosa on December 3 and December 10. Angelo’s and Duemani add winter yurts from December 20 to January 4, per the Aspen Chamber. The holiday-week guide covers that fortnight across every ski town.

X Games and Presidents’ Day. X Games Aspen runs at Buttermilk from January 29 to 31, 2027. For Saturday the 30th, a 42-day book opens on December 19, a 30-day book on December 31 and Mt. Rubirosa on January 9, while Bosq’s whole January should open on December 1. For Presidents’ Saturday, February 13, it is January 2, January 14 and January 23. The ski-trip booking guide sets out the general rule. The SevenRooms rooms give you no date to compute: check the week each reopens, then use the Casa Tua waitlist or the phone at Catch and 316.

When Aspen tables come back

A cancellation fee tells you when to look. Element 47 and Ajax Tavern charge $100 a head inside 48 hours, which gives anyone whose plans changed every reason to let go before that line, so check those rooms two or three days out rather than on the afternoon. Reading a cancellation policy shows where the line sits. Already in town with nothing booked? The last-minute guide covers the fallbacks, from Clark’s dinner walk-ins to the twelve walk-in bar seats at Lola 41 in the White Elephant.

One watch across three platforms

Aspen is hard to watch by hand because its best tables live on three services. SeatSwiper watches Resy, SevenRooms and OpenTable, so one setup can cover a Casa Tua night, a Kenichi date and a Mt. Rubirosa table, and it books the moment a matching table appears, whether a new date enters the window or someone cancels two days out. It books on your own account on each platform, in your name, and nothing is resold or transferred. Your first booking is free, then it charges a flat $5 only when it actually books the table, with no subscription, and a cancellation watch costs $1 to start, charged when the watch begins even if no table opens. It works only on those three platforms, it needs each account connected so it can book as you, and on a Christmas-week Saturday it can lose the race. It is never a guarantee.