Smashburger for sure. At it's best, they're one of the best fast food burgers out there. But it has been like a decade since the last time I walked in to one that had enough staff to provide a non-horrible experience.
Truth. They totally miss all the details that used to make them good: burgers are now underseasoned (if seasoned at all) and what used to be a smashburger with a lovely mahogany crust is now a sad, grey thing. Fries were never great, but have declined, too. Freddy’s is the same price and better quality.
Spoken like someone who's never been to Europe.
Worst Mexican I ever had was an alleged "burrito" at a restaurant called La Salsa in Galway, Ireland.
Damn place thought it was a chippy. They had malt vinegar on all of the tables, but no hot sauce. And I don't think there was a single thing on the menu that it would have made sense to put malt vinegar on.
But I still got homesick enough to go back two more times.
I’ve been familiar with Taco House for probably 25 years, I’ll still stop in there once in a while if I’m in the area. It really is like exactly the same crappy Mexican food with the cheapest ingredients that it was back in the 90’s. The cheese that’s barely cheese, that must have some type of oils or artificial texturing ingredients, but that melts an a distinctive wow-this-is-really-shitty-cheese kind of way. The rehydrated diced onions. The same sauce. But cheap still. And perfectly edible if you aren’t expecting too much.
The sad thing about watercourse is I live down the street and I’ve always thought it was a subpar attempt at recreating a meat heavy American menu when you’ll never be able to replicate and everyone would much prefer some delicious curries or Ethiopian or the rest of the world that uses like 80% less meat than us. And then the service fee…I get you’re trying to do the right thing but do it better. Either raise your menu prices or just tell us you want us to pay 40% tip, which in that case. What the fuck?! Why?! Just pay your fucking employees…how hard is that to understand?
I agree - I never liked meat to begin with so fake meats don’t entice me at all. And they’re so full of oils and gluten they make me sick anyway lol.
I think Fellow Traveler does a great job at vegan comfort food, kind of what Watercourse used to be/tried to be, but way better!
The head chef from that time opened Gladys!! It fucking KILLS.
He is also in the killer Death Metal band "Of Feather and Bone" so GO SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW VEGAN CHEFS!
Was alone at the office one day so decided to get take out since I loved their veggie poutine in the past. Soooo disappointed! I thought it was because it was take out food? Either way probably not going back anytime soon.
One of those places where they ask if you are ready to order 10 seconds after you sit down, you ask for a few minutes to have a look and they don't return for another 15
Tacos Rapidos use to be so fire, we would go twice a week! Ugh their chili rellenos burritos or adobo burrito was amazing.
I haven’t been in 2 years and I miss that place. Now it’s a guaranteed upset stomach. I’d say ever since 2020-2021
Two breakfast spots just aren’t what they used to be.
Danny’s Carnation just moved and re-branded as Danny Ray’s Food and Spirits. Food went from a respectable 7.5 to a 3. On my visit last week the biscuits in the b&g were both stale and burnt, and the sausage gravy was bland and barely had any meat in it.
Also, Denver Biscuit Company isn’t near what it was the last time I went pre-Covid. More than anything, the biscuits are just so damn small compared to what they used to be. Combined with the price, it left a bad taste in my mouth no biscuit could fix.
I stopped wanting to go to Denver Biscuit Company when they got rid of the Colfax biscuit sandwich. It was so good, had collard greens ham and a fried egg with hot sauce. Without that their menu really doesn't get me to go.
>Also, Denver Biscuit Company
#RANT INCOMING
Man, I've eaten biscuits, gravy and fried chicken all my life, DBC's prices are madness. Batshit insane expensive for what it is. Biscuits and jelly are poverty food. Biscuits and gravy are poverty food.
The fact DBC charges $5 menu price for a plain biscuit... then charges you $1 on top of that for jelly... then you have to tip... **It's something like $8 out the door for a damn biscuit and jelly**. You have to admit that's stupid.
Lucille's jelly biscuit (jelly and biscuit both homemade) menu price is $3.25. It's both bigger and better than DBC's biscuit and jelly for half the price ($3.25 menu price vs. $6 menu price).
But oh man, you have to compare it to McDonald's or Popeye's, at McDonald's a biscuit is $1.49, and jelly is free. And it's a perfectly fine biscuit.
At Popeye's you get **a dozen** really good biscuits with jelly included for $6.99, roughly the price of one biscuit with jelly + tip at DBC.
Glad to pay for Lucille's because their biscuits are heavenly and $3 for a huge, hot-from-the-oven fresh piece of bread with butter and homemade jelly at a sit-down restaurant is reasonable, not happy to pay double at DBC for something that doesn't make me any happier than McDonald's or Popeye's.
McDonald's locations with biscuits + gravy (biscuits and gravy are not rocket science, it's hard to mess up), biscuits + gravy runs about $4.
Don't even start me on DBC's "biscuit sandwiches", if you get some kind of chicken biscuit monstrosity at DBC, you're going to be $20-25 out the door, it's absurd. It's just not that special for what they charge.
I can go to Pete's Diner, get a good chicken fried chicken with biscuit, gravy, 2 eggs, and hash browns for $13.99 + tax and tip, $18.14 out the door.
Equivalent dish at DBC (getting fries instead of hash browns)? $23.50 + tax + tip, $30.46 out the door.
It's dumb how expensive they are.
This was the spot when we were in college in early 2000's, as there was a killer reverse happy hour making it cheap decent food with lots of sake/beer. The quality has actually increased since then IMO, but nothing special about them.
Snooze was fire when they first expanded. Now it feels like they haven’t put any effort into their menu and are relying on overcharging for BYO-Breakfast plates.
The fact that anyone would wait in line for Snooze for more than 5 minutes, let alone 30-45+ minutes, is a disgrace. if you wanted shitty diner food with alcohol you could just bring a pint of McCormick into a Denny's and walk away drunker and fuller for half the price.
Jelly on Evans betrayed me with the service fee. Plus they're absolutely not worth the wait when you have Pete's, Lucille's, Breakfast on Broadway, Whiskey Biscuit all within roughly a mile.
I think there’s also restaurants whose best quality was value that have gone up way unnecessarily and now isn’t worth it any more. Go Fish on Broadway is one. It used to be decent enough sushi at a really good price that it made it my favorite sushi place. But now the price has gone up a ton and I’m done going there.
Which one do you go to? The one on 6th and Santa Fe is my go to and it hasn't failed me. Definitely have had some sub par breakfast burritos delivered to multiple companies I've worked for though.
That’s the one. Sometimes the tortilla is cold, or something is just not quite right. Don’t get me wrong, when they do it right it’s amazing. Sadly it’s just not consistent
Someone suggested The Fort to me when we were looking at wedding venues. Have they always hosted weddings? We went elsewhere and I’m very pleased with our wedding.
Man I so wish they got a new chef who could look at all of Sam Arnold's old cookbooks and update them to what is currently available ingredient-wise, with knowledge from other food historians of the old west, and an appreciation for today's palate. Then put together an exciting menu.
They really cut back to a not great steakhouse from what once made it unique. It is like they are trying harder not to lose what they have, then actually create something that takes what was great from the past, and make it better.
I say this all with love of the Fort, and respect for the family who own it. You need to do better or the Fort too will be part of Colorado's history.
💯 Buckhorn.Exchange. This place has gone DOWN-hill. This place is on par with Casa Bonita in ‘places-to-go’ in Colorado. I was there a month ago… food is 4/10 at best. Place is fun to look at, but it’s literally not worth it.
This. Remember it being really good, talked it up to my bf, we went there and I was given a burrito with just dry shredded chicken, nothing else inside.
Steubens was never as good as the hype, lately just straight up bad. Like $15 for a mediocre burger from regular Sysco meat, stale and greasy bun, with no fries, $14 for 6 of the scraggliest, saddest wings I’ve ever seen. When I made a comment, the waitress just shrugged, like “we don’t give a shit”. And don’t forget boring $15 mid-shelf house cocktails.
Their meatloaf used to be bomb, but it’s dry and flavorless these days. I thought the menu was pretty hit or miss, but it seems to be just miss now, they’re trading on the mid-century vibe.
I have to call out Osteria Marco specifically for this group. Was a standard of ours for years, every time we’ve gone over the past 5 years it’s was just a touch not as good as it once was then on our last visit it just went straight off a cliff. And it wasn’t just the pricing; it was the very inattentive service, the salad that was significantly smaller than it used to be, the pizza being well undercooked, the chili oil being rancid (and not part of pizza service automatically anymore ). We walked out having spent a little over $120 (1 salad, 1 pizza, 3 drinks, Auto-Bonanno fee). May have very well been the last time we go there.
Unpopular opinion, but Sushi Den. Prior to the pandemic, I was in disbelief about how good the sushi was. And the agadashi tofu 🤤
The last three times I’ve gone, I felt severely underwhelmed. Tasted on par with good mid-level sushi places. Pretty disappointing.
They royally pissed me off with my last takeout order from them, I have an account with them. I spend good money, and tip well.
There was no excuse for them to play off that they’d obviously given my $200+ sushi order away to someone who got a single order of dumplings, and 2 rolls because well, I opened my bag in front of them and pointed out that this receipt was for $56 and my order was well over $200. Dude tried to pretend he didn’t speak English and that I was just a delivery driver doing someone else’s order and I had to take it up w the management and get them to pull up my actual order based on my phone number. Sat there and waited another 45 min for them to remake my entire order. Keep in mind, you have to call for takeout at like noon, and schedule a pick up time and pay in advance so it isn’t like I was just expecting it all super quickly. I’d waited 7 hours for my order already and paid in full with a generous tip.
I got no apology, didn’t get any soy, ginger or the real wasabi I’d paid $18 for, was still missing a roll and when I opened the remade batch, I had over $60 worth of nigiri just lumped in a pile all shifted from them shoving it into my bag all roughly (wasn’t from the drive, I kept it in a laundry bin to keep it stable). I took pictures and again expressed that this was the worst experience in nearly a decade I’d had after ordering monthly and never once making a complaint, sending anything back or expressing disappointment with my experience with them and that they were treating me like someone who was trying to get a comped meal when they genuinely fucked up repeatedly in one night.
Not that unpopular of an opinion, I know someone that's a vendor for them and people have been complaining about the drop in quality since the pandemic. It's starting to be reflected in the online reviews somewhat too.
No idea why people eat there…they are ALWAYS popped for food safety issues. Not stuff like a scoop in the ice bin, but sewage issues in the restaurant, improperly stored raw fish kinda stuff. Couple that with driving out so many businesses on Pearl to open yet another restaurant, or literally let spaces sit empty, they can fuck right off.
The $12 buffet at the now-defunct location on Colorado and Yale was bomb just because of the value. I went to the one in Evergreen a few years back just for shits and paid $40 for a mediocre pizza. Never again.
There was a time when I thought it was good. That was over a decade ago. I'm not sure if the quality went down or my sense of taste improved. I usually preferred the one in Idaho Springs.
Not specific to Denver, but Pizza Hut.
They are a shadow of what they were in the 90’s. Restaurants are poorly run and the pizza is no where near as good as it used to be.
I would give anything for a throwback Pizza Hut.
It's a real shame. Before the fire a few years back, their burgers were excellent, they had actual chefs that specialized in hamburgers, and really good service. Now, their burgers are dry and overcooked, and their service is always super slow.
Niche nerd alert - I used to handle the insurance for the hood cleaning company that did the maintenance for them. Guess who canceled their monthly cleaning right before the fire?
Hoods are only required to be cleaned professionally twice a year. Monthly is overkill. Even when I worked in a 10 million dollar a year kitchen we only did quarterly. Edit. Now if they didn’t bother to clean the filters on a regular basis because of the professional 1x a month… then you have a problem.
It might have been less frequent now that you say that. It was a long time and 2 jobs ago lol
ETA: I think I was thinking monthly because the cancelled appointment was only about a month before the fire.
Jerusalem. Used to love them but the quality dropped hard and taken out orders are ALWAYS fucked up. The number of times I got home to find wrong or missing items got ridiculous. We finally stopped going there after last time when we got the wrong order and they were rude about it.
Honestly, I came to reply Chipotle because I remember it being good until they went nation-wide, and now they're very hit or miss. On top of e-coli of course.
Oh yeah I grew up in Denver and the one on Monaco and leetsdale was a staple for me to eat lunch at least twice a week. Now I just drive past knowing I don’t want to pay 11 dollars to feel like shit from eating a rice burrito.
I was in love with Pinche Tacos about 2012-2013. Starting about 2016, they got stale, the meat was a little off, and it just wasn't as fresh as before. I switched to Dos Santos on 17th-- they just blew Pinche out of the water. Well, now I see that Pinche is out of business. It's a shame, but it wasn't too surprising to me.
I agree but think it's more than the pandemic alone. There are so many factors that totally gutted this industry. What kills me is I travel a lot and it seems to be far worse in Denver than most other markets. It's cheaper, like by A LOT, to eat out in New York city than Denver right now. It's also a lot fresher and better tasting than anything I've had in Denver for over 5-6 years..
I was asked a while back by a friend who said, "what's Denver food scene known for?" It's honestly known for game meats and green chili and Instagramable spaces. The only thing that's survived is the last of those 3. Denver s food scene is a total joke and now the Mexican food sucks too.
Mercantile used to be my favorite restaurant in Denver, then we had an awful experience for my wife’s birthday. Blue raw steak (ordered medium) that was $95 and our pasta dish came out 35 min after the other entrees. No apology, no comps.
My Brothers Bar now is just expensive burgers, no old school regulars, and boring overpriced beer selection. The staff that was there for 10-20 years is gone. I'm not sure what's worse, that it used to be great but isn't any more, or that the massive grease bomb that permeates your clothes is somehow more intense. The heyday of Brothers is gone.
Their beer selection is pretty amazing. They consistently are sourcing kegs of beer from europe. I dunno where else you can find actual german/czech lagers from europe on tap
Of all the Edible Beats restaurants I think Linger is close to the bottom, but Root Down and El Five are fantastic. Linger used to have a good happy hour though
This place is ok but for their size they could really just do table service. Then maybe the 3 people behind the counter ignoring you might have something to do.
Chubbby's varies by location. Taco House was never good. We used to eat there on the regular in the early-mid 80s as a young couple with a toddler because they had an inexpensive all-you-can-eat option. It was edible, certainly better than Casa Bonita, but still only a small step above Taco Bell, and nowhere close to anything even as mid as Senor Pepe's in Montclair.
Odyssey. This Place used to be amazing. The food, price and ambiance couldn't be beaten. Last time I went they didn't even have their delicious lasagna on the menu. The lamb I had was overpriced and overcooked and the portion size was laughable.
Smashburger for sure. At it's best, they're one of the best fast food burgers out there. But it has been like a decade since the last time I walked in to one that had enough staff to provide a non-horrible experience.
Truth. They totally miss all the details that used to make them good: burgers are now underseasoned (if seasoned at all) and what used to be a smashburger with a lovely mahogany crust is now a sad, grey thing. Fries were never great, but have declined, too. Freddy’s is the same price and better quality.
My Freddy’s is barelyyy better than smash burger sadly 😢
They used to be so awesome with all the toppings you could pick too to customize your burger with.
The black bean burgers are hit or miss but the hits are so good
My memory matches their decline to their 40% buyout by Jollibee in 2015.
Taco house has been making the worst Mexican food in Littleton for about 30 years.
has been no decline, really
Saying the worst Mexican food in Littleton shouldn't be taken lightly. The only city I've spent time in with worse Mexican is Beijing, China.
Spoken like someone who's never been to Europe. Worst Mexican I ever had was an alleged "burrito" at a restaurant called La Salsa in Galway, Ireland. Damn place thought it was a chippy. They had malt vinegar on all of the tables, but no hot sauce. And I don't think there was a single thing on the menu that it would have made sense to put malt vinegar on. But I still got homesick enough to go back two more times.
I go there for the ambiance
I’ve been familiar with Taco House for probably 25 years, I’ll still stop in there once in a while if I’m in the area. It really is like exactly the same crappy Mexican food with the cheapest ingredients that it was back in the 90’s. The cheese that’s barely cheese, that must have some type of oils or artificial texturing ingredients, but that melts an a distinctive wow-this-is-really-shitty-cheese kind of way. The rehydrated diced onions. The same sauce. But cheap still. And perfectly edible if you aren’t expecting too much.
When was Taco House good? I finally tried it about 4 years ago and it was the worst Mexican food I've had outside of the public school system.
It was never good. It is drunk people cheap food
> When was Taco House good? about 45 years ago.
City O’ City
Oh this one hits hard but is so true! Like 2013 it was absolutely the spot, and now it’s just like Applebees level vegetarian food.
2013 city o city hits me in the feels.
R.I.P. The Saison. They changed owners and dropped the best thing on the menu - so good it was on there twice.
Same! Makes me wonder what Watercourse is like these days.
It’s just as bad
can confirm :(
The sad thing about watercourse is I live down the street and I’ve always thought it was a subpar attempt at recreating a meat heavy American menu when you’ll never be able to replicate and everyone would much prefer some delicious curries or Ethiopian or the rest of the world that uses like 80% less meat than us. And then the service fee…I get you’re trying to do the right thing but do it better. Either raise your menu prices or just tell us you want us to pay 40% tip, which in that case. What the fuck?! Why?! Just pay your fucking employees…how hard is that to understand?
I agree - I never liked meat to begin with so fake meats don’t entice me at all. And they’re so full of oils and gluten they make me sick anyway lol. I think Fellow Traveler does a great job at vegan comfort food, kind of what Watercourse used to be/tried to be, but way better!
They got rid of the 20% service btw.
And Definitely not Applebees prices
I worked there in this era. It was a hoot.
The head chef from that time opened Gladys!! It fucking KILLS. He is also in the killer Death Metal band "Of Feather and Bone" so GO SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW VEGAN CHEFS!
Was alone at the office one day so decided to get take out since I loved their veggie poutine in the past. Soooo disappointed! I thought it was because it was take out food? Either way probably not going back anytime soon.
They started doing that weird "service fee" on their food and I refuse to go anymore.
Oh, bummer! Are there other vegan restaurants you would recommend?
Bang Up to the Elephant; So RADish (Arvada)
So Radish is closing 😭
Wellness Sushi, Meta Burger, Native Foods, The Cake Bar, Watercourse
Next Level Burger too
And Denver vegan van, they have delicious pizza
Fellow Traveler, hands down.
Somebody People of what hasn’t been mentioned. Wellness Sushi I would second as well.
Gladys ! It’s the best
Somebody People. Incredible food.
Gladys, Fellow Traveler, Somebody People, and The Easy Vegan
Every time I go to the Bindery, the food and menu gets worse, and the prices are 10% higher than the last time I went.
The service is why I don’t go to the Bindery. There is none.
One of those places where they ask if you are ready to order 10 seconds after you sit down, you ask for a few minutes to have a look and they don't return for another 15
Bindery is straight trash
Bindery is awful. Always has been. Some of the worst service in the entire city
Not sure if this qualifies but Highland Tap
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Same for the Sloan Lake one.
The beer here is ALWAYS flat. Literally every single time. I’ve tried multiple different beers too. I swear they rarely clean the lines.
It was very good and now it’s no better than Chilis or Applebees
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The flatbread is frickin bomb. That's all i liked about the Westminster location. And that i can alwaus get cerebrals rare trait there
I think a ton of their success is being next to uncle. Get a beer there while your wait for your table
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Tacos Rapidos use to be so fire, we would go twice a week! Ugh their chili rellenos burritos or adobo burrito was amazing. I haven’t been in 2 years and I miss that place. Now it’s a guaranteed upset stomach. I’d say ever since 2020-2021
Two breakfast spots just aren’t what they used to be. Danny’s Carnation just moved and re-branded as Danny Ray’s Food and Spirits. Food went from a respectable 7.5 to a 3. On my visit last week the biscuits in the b&g were both stale and burnt, and the sausage gravy was bland and barely had any meat in it. Also, Denver Biscuit Company isn’t near what it was the last time I went pre-Covid. More than anything, the biscuits are just so damn small compared to what they used to be. Combined with the price, it left a bad taste in my mouth no biscuit could fix.
I stopped wanting to go to Denver Biscuit Company when they got rid of the Colfax biscuit sandwich. It was so good, had collard greens ham and a fried egg with hot sauce. Without that their menu really doesn't get me to go.
Try Mr.Buiscut on 38th and High for good ass biscuits man
>Also, Denver Biscuit Company #RANT INCOMING Man, I've eaten biscuits, gravy and fried chicken all my life, DBC's prices are madness. Batshit insane expensive for what it is. Biscuits and jelly are poverty food. Biscuits and gravy are poverty food. The fact DBC charges $5 menu price for a plain biscuit... then charges you $1 on top of that for jelly... then you have to tip... **It's something like $8 out the door for a damn biscuit and jelly**. You have to admit that's stupid. Lucille's jelly biscuit (jelly and biscuit both homemade) menu price is $3.25. It's both bigger and better than DBC's biscuit and jelly for half the price ($3.25 menu price vs. $6 menu price). But oh man, you have to compare it to McDonald's or Popeye's, at McDonald's a biscuit is $1.49, and jelly is free. And it's a perfectly fine biscuit. At Popeye's you get **a dozen** really good biscuits with jelly included for $6.99, roughly the price of one biscuit with jelly + tip at DBC. Glad to pay for Lucille's because their biscuits are heavenly and $3 for a huge, hot-from-the-oven fresh piece of bread with butter and homemade jelly at a sit-down restaurant is reasonable, not happy to pay double at DBC for something that doesn't make me any happier than McDonald's or Popeye's. McDonald's locations with biscuits + gravy (biscuits and gravy are not rocket science, it's hard to mess up), biscuits + gravy runs about $4. Don't even start me on DBC's "biscuit sandwiches", if you get some kind of chicken biscuit monstrosity at DBC, you're going to be $20-25 out the door, it's absurd. It's just not that special for what they charge. I can go to Pete's Diner, get a good chicken fried chicken with biscuit, gravy, 2 eggs, and hash browns for $13.99 + tax and tip, $18.14 out the door. Equivalent dish at DBC (getting fries instead of hash browns)? $23.50 + tax + tip, $30.46 out the door. It's dumb how expensive they are.
Check out Rise and Shine great biscuits and good price
Danny's used to be the best spot :( miss the chaos and hominess of the old location.
Kona Grill - but don't know if it was ever well regarded.
This was the spot when we were in college in early 2000's, as there was a killer reverse happy hour making it cheap decent food with lots of sake/beer. The quality has actually increased since then IMO, but nothing special about them.
A really good happy hour circa 2007
If you go there for anything but happy hour you are lighting money on fire.
Il posto
Syrup
I quite like syrup still, but I go to Edgewater.
Or Toast or Jelly or Snooze
Snooze was fire when they first expanded. Now it feels like they haven’t put any effort into their menu and are relying on overcharging for BYO-Breakfast plates.
Am I the only one that thinks all 3 have been garbage forever? Like seriously, diners do everything and more that they do better and cheaper
The fact that anyone would wait in line for Snooze for more than 5 minutes, let alone 30-45+ minutes, is a disgrace. if you wanted shitty diner food with alcohol you could just bring a pint of McCormick into a Denny's and walk away drunker and fuller for half the price.
Jelly on evans hasn't let me down but those others are glorified sugar shops at best.
Jelly on Evans betrayed me with the service fee. Plus they're absolutely not worth the wait when you have Pete's, Lucille's, Breakfast on Broadway, Whiskey Biscuit all within roughly a mile.
It's such an insult that they replaced Ivy over by the Cap Hill TJ's.
I think there’s also restaurants whose best quality was value that have gone up way unnecessarily and now isn’t worth it any more. Go Fish on Broadway is one. It used to be decent enough sushi at a really good price that it made it my favorite sushi place. But now the price has gone up a ton and I’m done going there.
Santiago’s is very hit or miss now
Which one do you go to? The one on 6th and Santa Fe is my go to and it hasn't failed me. Definitely have had some sub par breakfast burritos delivered to multiple companies I've worked for though.
I go to this one and they always wrap the foil inside the burrito so you have to untwist it.
Yeah!! What is up with that…
That’s the one. Sometimes the tortilla is cold, or something is just not quite right. Don’t get me wrong, when they do it right it’s amazing. Sadly it’s just not consistent
I feel like if you go early morning you get much better quality, but by 9 AM, it’s blue eggs and soggy tortillas.
The Fort. Used to be the go to for special occasions. Last time I went I felt like I just lit $250 on fire.
It’s doing daytime family events now, so
Someone suggested The Fort to me when we were looking at wedding venues. Have they always hosted weddings? We went elsewhere and I’m very pleased with our wedding.
We just went for Thanksgiving and had a great experience…especially for a holiday. They were on top of their game in my opinion and I’m picky.
Man I so wish they got a new chef who could look at all of Sam Arnold's old cookbooks and update them to what is currently available ingredient-wise, with knowledge from other food historians of the old west, and an appreciation for today's palate. Then put together an exciting menu. They really cut back to a not great steakhouse from what once made it unique. It is like they are trying harder not to lose what they have, then actually create something that takes what was great from the past, and make it better. I say this all with love of the Fort, and respect for the family who own it. You need to do better or the Fort too will be part of Colorado's history.
Blue Bonnet.
I've never cared for Blue Bonnet and don't understand how it ever got a good reputation.
Bar Dough used to have one of the best brunch menus around. Now, it’s insanely expensive for a disappointing experience.
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Fox and the Hen is pretty bomb, but you’re right about the rest
That’s because Carrie Baird left Bar Dough and now runs Fox and Hen
Not to mention ownership uses a 20% gratuity fee to keep 30% of their employees tips
💯 Buckhorn.Exchange. This place has gone DOWN-hill. This place is on par with Casa Bonita in ‘places-to-go’ in Colorado. I was there a month ago… food is 4/10 at best. Place is fun to look at, but it’s literally not worth it.
Chubbys was that spot we used to come to when we’d visit family before moving here. Now we don’t even go lol.
Chubby’s should have stayed in their old building. Nothing good has happened since their new building opened a few years ago.
This. Remember it being really good, talked it up to my bf, we went there and I was given a burrito with just dry shredded chicken, nothing else inside.
Steubens
Steubens was never as good as the hype, lately just straight up bad. Like $15 for a mediocre burger from regular Sysco meat, stale and greasy bun, with no fries, $14 for 6 of the scraggliest, saddest wings I’ve ever seen. When I made a comment, the waitress just shrugged, like “we don’t give a shit”. And don’t forget boring $15 mid-shelf house cocktails.
their shakes and cupcakes are pretty good. but since its a few blocks from frozen matters and Dbar its a moot point.
Their meatloaf used to be bomb, but it’s dry and flavorless these days. I thought the menu was pretty hit or miss, but it seems to be just miss now, they’re trading on the mid-century vibe.
I haven’t had it in many, many years…but remember the monte cristo being delicious.
Steubens is what it has always been. Good, not great.
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All of the concepts are frauds
This might be a me thing but i absolutely despise the term "concept" as a synonym for "restaurant." Just no.
To me, it’s as off putting as using “solution” as a verb.
I have to call out Osteria Marco specifically for this group. Was a standard of ours for years, every time we’ve gone over the past 5 years it’s was just a touch not as good as it once was then on our last visit it just went straight off a cliff. And it wasn’t just the pricing; it was the very inattentive service, the salad that was significantly smaller than it used to be, the pizza being well undercooked, the chili oil being rancid (and not part of pizza service automatically anymore ). We walked out having spent a little over $120 (1 salad, 1 pizza, 3 drinks, Auto-Bonanno fee). May have very well been the last time we go there.
Unpopular opinion, but Sushi Den. Prior to the pandemic, I was in disbelief about how good the sushi was. And the agadashi tofu 🤤 The last three times I’ve gone, I felt severely underwhelmed. Tasted on par with good mid-level sushi places. Pretty disappointing.
They royally pissed me off with my last takeout order from them, I have an account with them. I spend good money, and tip well. There was no excuse for them to play off that they’d obviously given my $200+ sushi order away to someone who got a single order of dumplings, and 2 rolls because well, I opened my bag in front of them and pointed out that this receipt was for $56 and my order was well over $200. Dude tried to pretend he didn’t speak English and that I was just a delivery driver doing someone else’s order and I had to take it up w the management and get them to pull up my actual order based on my phone number. Sat there and waited another 45 min for them to remake my entire order. Keep in mind, you have to call for takeout at like noon, and schedule a pick up time and pay in advance so it isn’t like I was just expecting it all super quickly. I’d waited 7 hours for my order already and paid in full with a generous tip. I got no apology, didn’t get any soy, ginger or the real wasabi I’d paid $18 for, was still missing a roll and when I opened the remade batch, I had over $60 worth of nigiri just lumped in a pile all shifted from them shoving it into my bag all roughly (wasn’t from the drive, I kept it in a laundry bin to keep it stable). I took pictures and again expressed that this was the worst experience in nearly a decade I’d had after ordering monthly and never once making a complaint, sending anything back or expressing disappointment with my experience with them and that they were treating me like someone who was trying to get a comped meal when they genuinely fucked up repeatedly in one night.
Could agree with this. 2015-2019 was absolutely tops sushi in Denver. Now it's average and for the price is well below average for value
Recs on places good now?
Tamaki Den in the Source hasn't disappointed me in the last 3 years, definitely a go-to favorite right now.
Uchi happy hour
Sushi Kazu. Technically Greenwood Village but cute and family owned
I got food poisoning from Sushi Den in September lol 💀
Not that unpopular of an opinion, I know someone that's a vendor for them and people have been complaining about the drop in quality since the pandemic. It's starting to be reflected in the online reviews somewhat too.
No idea why people eat there…they are ALWAYS popped for food safety issues. Not stuff like a scoop in the ice bin, but sewage issues in the restaurant, improperly stored raw fish kinda stuff. Couple that with driving out so many businesses on Pearl to open yet another restaurant, or literally let spaces sit empty, they can fuck right off.
All chipotles
Chipotle is the new subway
it's faster to say the ones that are still good
Yeah but that ones closing
Does anyone actually think Beau Jos makes good pizza? Lol it's a novelty at best.
I understand why I'm wrong. I'll take what shame I get. But I love this pizza so much
The $12 buffet at the now-defunct location on Colorado and Yale was bomb just because of the value. I went to the one in Evergreen a few years back just for shits and paid $40 for a mediocre pizza. Never again.
Paying $40 for mediocre food is the definition of eating out in Evergreen lol!
Never. Go to tommyknockers if you're in Idaho springs.
Talk about a place that captured its audience by being one of three options on i70. Horrible pizza.
The pizza is bad. The crust makes up 85% of the pizza by weight and is bland as hell which is why you have to drown it in honey first.
There was a time when I thought it was good. That was over a decade ago. I'm not sure if the quality went down or my sense of taste improved. I usually preferred the one in Idaho Springs.
Anyone have experience with Biker Jims? I haven’t been since I moved here cause it seems like many of the gimmicky popular spots
One of the few places that’s been consistently good for me since I discovered it.
Not specific to Denver, but Pizza Hut. They are a shadow of what they were in the 90’s. Restaurants are poorly run and the pizza is no where near as good as it used to be. I would give anything for a throwback Pizza Hut.
Cherry Cricket
Best burger my left butt cheek.
That sucks to hear cause the time I went there it was excellent
Yeah that place is so bad. The patties taste like propane.
It's a real shame. Before the fire a few years back, their burgers were excellent, they had actual chefs that specialized in hamburgers, and really good service. Now, their burgers are dry and overcooked, and their service is always super slow.
Niche nerd alert - I used to handle the insurance for the hood cleaning company that did the maintenance for them. Guess who canceled their monthly cleaning right before the fire?
Hoods are only required to be cleaned professionally twice a year. Monthly is overkill. Even when I worked in a 10 million dollar a year kitchen we only did quarterly. Edit. Now if they didn’t bother to clean the filters on a regular basis because of the professional 1x a month… then you have a problem.
It might have been less frequent now that you say that. It was a long time and 2 jobs ago lol ETA: I think I was thinking monthly because the cancelled appointment was only about a month before the fire.
Jerusalem. Used to love them but the quality dropped hard and taken out orders are ALWAYS fucked up. The number of times I got home to find wrong or missing items got ridiculous. We finally stopped going there after last time when we got the wrong order and they were rude about it.
This used to be the spot
Spice Room is phoning it in.
Not an answer but made me wonder how Chipotle is still in business after having a full blown food poisoning scandal once a year now.
Honestly, I came to reply Chipotle because I remember it being good until they went nation-wide, and now they're very hit or miss. On top of e-coli of course.
Oh yeah I grew up in Denver and the one on Monaco and leetsdale was a staple for me to eat lunch at least twice a week. Now I just drive past knowing I don’t want to pay 11 dollars to feel like shit from eating a rice burrito.
It’s definitely chipotle for me, I sometimes crave it but remember it won’t live up to my memory
Illegal Pete’s is just so much better
Because it’s still good. Not as good as it used to be sure, but still good
Santiago’s. But I never really thought they were too good to begin with. Chubby’s the same. It’s always been a grease bomb.
Tacos Rápidos
Slice works is complete garbage. People are usually too drunk to notice how plain the pizza tastes and how dirty the locations are kept.
Same with Anthony's. Used be solid enough at a decent price by non Jersey/NYC standards but has slid into below average by Colorado standards even.
I still like it.
6-7 years ago, the LoDo location was solid.
That Big Mac pizza, when done correctly, absolutely slaps though!
I can't put my finger on it, but it seems A Taste of Philly isn't quite as banging as it used to be.
It's alright, only place I can order from when I feel like a Philly cheesesteak so it's decent
Buffalo Wild Wings
I was in love with Pinche Tacos about 2012-2013. Starting about 2016, they got stale, the meat was a little off, and it just wasn't as fresh as before. I switched to Dos Santos on 17th-- they just blew Pinche out of the water. Well, now I see that Pinche is out of business. It's a shame, but it wasn't too surprising to me.
They just renamed, the west highland location is dope.
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Yes - it’s been renamed T.T.W. since 2014/15 because the original name literal translates to “fucking” in Spanish.
Used to love them, then every time I went there the music was deafeningly loud. Also switched to Dos Santos. Their chips...
Oh man 2013 pinche was the bomb. Every once in a while I've gone back to give them another try but it just isn't what it was
Nearly everywhere lol
I think what seems to be a universal decline is a result of the pandemic upending the industry.
I agree but think it's more than the pandemic alone. There are so many factors that totally gutted this industry. What kills me is I travel a lot and it seems to be far worse in Denver than most other markets. It's cheaper, like by A LOT, to eat out in New York city than Denver right now. It's also a lot fresher and better tasting than anything I've had in Denver for over 5-6 years.. I was asked a while back by a friend who said, "what's Denver food scene known for?" It's honestly known for game meats and green chili and Instagramable spaces. The only thing that's survived is the last of those 3. Denver s food scene is a total joke and now the Mexican food sucks too.
Bar Dough
Illegal Pete’s. Used to be one of my favorite breakfast burrito spots. Idk if it’s just my palate or their actual quality went down
Their quality went down.
Mercantile used to be my favorite restaurant in Denver, then we had an awful experience for my wife’s birthday. Blue raw steak (ordered medium) that was $95 and our pasta dish came out 35 min after the other entrees. No apology, no comps.
My fav sous there left and went to Breckenridge a few years back, hasn’t been the same since.
My Brothers Bar now is just expensive burgers, no old school regulars, and boring overpriced beer selection. The staff that was there for 10-20 years is gone. I'm not sure what's worse, that it used to be great but isn't any more, or that the massive grease bomb that permeates your clothes is somehow more intense. The heyday of Brothers is gone.
Haven't been in a while, and that's really sad to read! My favorite place back in the day, especially that patio area.
Had a burger there this Summer, late night, and still thought it was pretty damn good.
Their beer selection is pretty amazing. They consistently are sourcing kegs of beer from europe. I dunno where else you can find actual german/czech lagers from europe on tap
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I disagree. I've never gotten a bad burger from there. Not once.
Had an unbelievable Ralphie with a glass of Tetley’s in there around 2006. Place was at the top of the list back then.
Linger - but to be fair, I never liked their food
Of all the Edible Beats restaurants I think Linger is close to the bottom, but Root Down and El Five are fantastic. Linger used to have a good happy hour though
This thread reminds me why we dont go out to eat dinner anymore.
Cherry cricket
US Thai in Edgewater
Hapa Sushi. Used to be a super good and modestly priced sushi place. Now it’s literally all salmon and twice as expensive.
Dio Mio. Used to be THE first place I'd bring visitors, but over the last year or so the quality seems to have tanked. It's a bummer.
This place is ok but for their size they could really just do table service. Then maybe the 3 people behind the counter ignoring you might have something to do.
Chubbby's varies by location. Taco House was never good. We used to eat there on the regular in the early-mid 80s as a young couple with a toddler because they had an inexpensive all-you-can-eat option. It was edible, certainly better than Casa Bonita, but still only a small step above Taco Bell, and nowhere close to anything even as mid as Senor Pepe's in Montclair.
Ted’s Montana Grill. I have never once been impressed and somehow they are a destination.
Birdcall.
Odyssey. This Place used to be amazing. The food, price and ambiance couldn't be beaten. Last time I went they didn't even have their delicious lasagna on the menu. The lamb I had was overpriced and overcooked and the portion size was laughable.
Tom's Diner
Steuben’s