The 18 Best Places to Eat and Stay in Lakewood
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The best places to eat and stay in Lakewood, according to the experts: 5280, Eater, and The Infatuation have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters comes out on top.
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African Grill and Bar and Casa Bonita hold the next two places. Westword shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with 5280 next.
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The awards
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Rank 2. African Grill and Bar
Ethiopian
A neighborhood restaurant where the owners greet you like they've been expecting you, African Grill and Bar serves a broad sweep of regional African cooking, not just one country's repertoire. Jollof rice, oxtail stew, black-eyed pea dishes, fish stew, and several kinds of porridge all share the menu. Regulars tend to work through it methodically, which is a reasonable life goal.
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Rank 3. Casa Bonita
Mexican
The pink palace on Colfax has cliff divers, a cave, a waterfall, and enough square footage to get genuinely lost in. Trey Parker and Matt Stone bought and revived this sprawling Mexican restaurant, bringing in chef Dana Rodriguez to fix the food while keeping every piece of the spectacle intact. The taco salad is the order. Come for the sopapillas, the nostalgia, or the sheer commitment to controlled chaos, all at once.
The awards
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Entree to Order If You Actually Get Into Casa Bonita: Taco Salad · Best of Denver
- Westword 2023 · Best Wishes for a Smooth Opening · Best of Denver
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Rank 3. Pizzeria Leopold
Pizzeria
Pizzeria Leopold is a Lakewood pizza shop that doubles as an Italian grocer, which means you can order a pie and leave with a jar of something imported. The sandwich menu has a cult of its own, led by a four-inch chicken cutlet stack that reads like a New Jersey deli trying to settle down in the Denver suburbs. Casual counter ordering, no dress code, and it turns up on Westword's list of the top restaurants in Denver.
The awards
- Westword Westword: The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The Best Lunch Spots In Denver
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Rank 7. Burrito Express
Mexican
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Rank 14. Hits The Spot Diner
American
The self-proclaimed home of "the fastest egg in the West" is a classic American diner on Colfax that holds the line while Denver's old-school spots keep disappearing. Cinnamon roll French toast and a six-pound breakfast burrito smothered in green chile are the kinds of details that explain why regulars don't bother with the menu. The green chile is gluten-free, which the burrito's sheer scale makes feel almost responsible.
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Rank 17. Pablito's Burritos
Mexican
A food trailer parked in a restaurant's lot, Pablito's slings breakfast burritos to the green-chile-obsessed Denver crowd that takes these things very seriously. The menu runs four standards plus a build-your-own, but most people end up ordering the one called The Best Damn Burrito...Period, which commits fully to its own marketing. Westword named it Denver's best breakfast burrito in 2023, and the line on a cold morning makes a decent argument.
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