The Best Places to Eat in Denver, by the Record
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Rank 492. R & R Denver
Dive Bar
The gleaming neon martini sign outside has been pulling people off East Colfax since the bar was basically a secret, back when "mixed" was code for something. Now it's out and proud, a classic dive bar with cheap drinks, a pleasantly deteriorating interior, and the kind of regulars who keep it honest. If you're looking for polish, Colfax has other options.
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Rank 492. Stoney's Bar and Grill
Pub American
A ski-lift chair salvaged from Keystone sits in the front of this sprawling Denver sports bar, which tells you everything about the vibe: proudly, unironically Colorado. Two full bars pour local taps, a stage hosts live music, and somewhere in the back there's a miniature bowling alley that shouldn't exist but does. The Slopper, a Pueblo green chile sandwich situation, is the menu's main argument. Westword named it Denver's best bar for watching games in 2023.
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- Westword 2023 · Best Punk Bar · Best of Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
- Westword 2023 · Best New Club · Best of Denver
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Rank 492. The Monkey Bar
Dive Bar
Sticky floors, cheap drinks, and a back patio where beer pong and giant Jenga coexist peacefully: Monkey Bar is a no-frills dive that has held its ground in Denver's Santa Fe art district as everything around it got progressively fancier. Darts, pool, ping-pong, foosball, N64, and four-person Pac-Man are all free to play, first-come basis. Dogs are welcome, and the house move when someone loses is apparently a round of pickle shots.
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A crowdfunded warehouse in Denver's Art District on Santa Fe, Town Hall Collaborative runs as a bar and coffee shop that doubles as an event space for performances, workshops, expos, and fundraisers. The whole project was built around being a genuine gathering place for women, BIPOC, and queer communities, which shapes everything from the programming to the vibe on an ordinary Tuesday.
- Westword 2023 · Best LGBTQ+ Safe Space and Bar · Best of Denver
- Westword 2023 · Best All-Ages Club · Best of Denver
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Rank 492. Wonderland Brewing Co
Beer Bar
A 9,000-square-foot taproom with a basketball court tends to set expectations, and Wonderland Brewing's beer menu swings just as wide, running from Belgian-style and barrel-aged English ales to high-IBU IPAs and wild sours. The Broomfield brewery keeps a permanent food truck on-site, so there's no rush to leave, which is convenient given that there's also ping-pong. A good place to spend a longer afternoon than you planned.
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Rank 508. Adobo
Filipino Mexican
- Westword 2023 · Best New Mexican/Filipino Mashup · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Chicken Wing Deal · Best of Denver
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- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
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The cheesy masala fries, available plain or loaded with chicken, lamb, or cheesesteak, are the late-night argument this fast-casual Indian spot makes for itself. Gaia Masala runs a broad menu of straight Indian dishes alongside burgers and Mediterranean staples, but the real draw is the fusion edge: tikka masala cheesesteaks, burgers dressed with mint and cucumber. The kitchen keeps late hours, which in Denver puts it in a category of roughly one.
- Westword 2023 · Best French Fries · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Restaurant for Late-Night Munchies · Best of Denver
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Rank 508. Reckless Noodle House
Vietnamese Noodles
- Westword 2023 · Best Shrimp · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best West Coast Transplant · Best of Denver
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- The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
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Rank 559. Atomic Cowboy & Fat Sully's
New York-style Pizza Cocktail Bar
A floppy, grease-translucent New York-style slice shares menu space with a biscuit sandwich called the Franklin, which is exactly as chaotic as it sounds. Atomic Cowboy and Fat Sully's is a cocktail bar and pizzeria on East Colfax that has quietly annexed breakfast and turned the whole operation into a cheerful monument to comfort food. The crowd arrives thirsty and leaves very full, which seems to be the plan.
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Rank 559. Bar Dough
Italian
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Rank 559. Bistro Vendôme
French
A shady patio and a menu that runs from onion soup and escargot to whatever the season suggests: this is a proper French bistro, not a beret-and-accordion situation. The team behind it has a reputation for warm rooms and real hospitality, and the Park Hill dining room earns it. Order the steak frites or linger over happy-hour bubbles; the pacing is entirely up to you.
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Rank 559. Carrera's Tacos
Mexican
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- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
- Westword 2023 · Best Patio for Tortured Writers · Best of Denver
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The bar and patio at City Park Golf Course overlooks the fairways and the Denver skyline, which is a combination most dedicated nineteenth holes can't claim. It's a casual sports bar setup with TVs inside and cold, cheap beer either direction, drawing golfers waiting for a tee time and golfers celebrating surviving one. The food is solidly fine. The view does most of the heavy lifting, and at a municipal course, nobody's complaining.
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Rank 559. Cucina Bella
Italian
The strip-mall address on East Alameda is doing this Italian restaurant no favors, but the inside goes full fine-dining with veal marsala, house pasta, and pizzas that take themselves seriously. The kitchen also folds in the brothers' Mexican heritage on the brunch menu, which keeps things from getting too reverent. Regulars apparently start with the calamari and work backward from there.
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- Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
- Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
- Westword 2023 · Best Pickle Shots · Best of Denver
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Rank 559. Dragonfly Noodle
Asian Noodles
Noodles pulled and cooked in-house is a rarity in Colorado, and Dragonfly Noodle makes them on the premises, which gives the ramen a texture that dried product simply can't fake. This casual noodle shop on the 16th Street Mall works its way across Asia, moving from Japanese ramen to Singaporean, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese dishes. The broths run deep and traditionally built, with just enough tinkering to keep things interesting.
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A walk-up sandwich counter tucked at the end of a thin alley in Five Points, with old photos of famous Dukes lining the path to the window. The menu runs to four sandwiches, which sounds like a dare until you see the chopped cheese, a New York import of griddle-smashed beef and white cheddar on a soft hoagie with pepperoncini. Naming your place "Good Sandwiches" is either false modesty or excellent bait.
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A food hall just west of Denver where you can walk in for tacos, stay for Ethiopian, and leave with a new tattoo if the afternoon really gets away from you. The layout is easygoing enough that grabbing a drink first while you decide where to eat feels like the obvious move. Vendors rotate and grow, so there's usually something new to investigate alongside the regulars.
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Rank 559. El Tejado
Mexican
The green chile here is a gravy-thick, pork-studded Colorado classic that regulars order straight up with tortillas, no plate required. El Tejado is an old-school Mexican diner on South Broadway, and the room does look a bit like a cartoon cave, which somehow suits it. The hot version of that chile is a separate proposition entirely, built in layers rather than just spiked, and it will find your limits.
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The Spring Fling cake, a zucchini bread layer frosted with cream cheese icing and piled with fresh fruit, was the calling card of a beloved Denver institution for decades. When that place closed, the head baker struck out on his own, and now his family-run bakery in west Denver keeps the recipe alive year-round. People fly in from out of state for that cake alone, which is either a testament to nostalgia or to zucchini bread's untapped potential.
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Rank 559. Fish N Beer
Wood-fired Seafood
Oysters grilled over open fire are the opening argument at this wood-fired seafood spot in RiNo. The kitchen runs on smoke and a crowd that seems constitutionally opposed to sitting still, with counter seats for ceviche and mussels and bigger plates when you're feeling ambitious. Beer-battered cod and whole striped bass share the menu without any pretense of fine dining. Loud, casual, and comfortable with itself.
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Rank 559. Golden Saigon
Vietnamese
The curry is the reason regulars keep coming back, which surprises people who think of Vietnam and curry in the same sentence as a typo. This strip-mall Vietnamese spot in Aurora has been serving pho and homey staples forever, but the house curry, built on madras powder, coconut milk, and a heavy hand with lemongrass, lands somewhere all its own. Nothing Thai about it, nothing Indian, just a dish that makes the menu feel longer than most.
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Rank 559. Hell or High Water Tiki
Tiki Cocktail Bar
- Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
- 5280 Best for a Big Night Out · The 23 Best Bars in Denver
- Westword 2023 · Best Use of a Leopard Speedo · Best of Denver
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The menu comes with a warning: "Hot, not recommended for the first-time visitor." This no-frills Thai spot takes that seriously, leaning on Thai chiles the way other places lean on salt. Green curry, larb, drunken noodles, and pineapple fried rice all land with real heat beneath the lemongrass and galangal. Order mild if you want to taste dinner rather than survive it.
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Rank 559. Little Finch
Coffee
A coffee shop that also pours wine and cocktails, Little Finch sits on the 16th Street Mall as one of the rare locally owned spots among the chain-store sprawl. The team behind Olive & Finch built it to run all day, moving from pastries and fresh-pressed juices through sandwiches and salads into a proper bar program, which is either very convenient or very dangerous depending on your afternoon.
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Rank 559. Noble Riot
Wine Bar
- Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
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Rank 559. 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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Rank 559. Parlor Doughnuts
Dessert
Parlor Doughnuts builds its doughnuts from laminated dough, which gives them a tall, layered cross-section and a richness closer to a croissant than a cruller. The Denver outpost of this Indiana-born chain carries flavors like French toast and raspberry pistachio, all draped in icing and clearly not interested in restraint. A doughnut shop for people who find regular doughnuts a little too subtle.
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Rank 559. Pho Broadway
Noodles
The broth simmers for twelve hours, which tells you everything about how seriously this Vietnamese noodle shop takes its pho. Sixteen variations run from the classic stacked beef bowl to seafood versions with shrimp and fish balls. The room is no-frills and the portions are generous, the kind of place where the soup does the talking and nobody feels the need to narrate it.
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Rank 559. Pit Fiend Barbecue
Barbecue
The rotating sausage of the week pulls from global flavor traditions, which is either a bold move or a perfectly normal Tuesday at this RiNo barbecue spot. Brisket and pulled pork anchor the menu, but jackfruit and mushrooms hold their own alongside smoked confit duck, so vegetarians aren't left staring at sides. The D&D-themed name prepares you for the crowd, in the best possible, genuinely unsurprising way.
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Pochitos is a north Denver tortilla factory that also sells tamales by the dozen, and that second fact tends to overshadow the first. It's a bulk-buy, family-run shop where you stock the fridge: tortillas, chips, salsas, refried beans, rice, and masa for the ambitious. The tamales come in red and green, and they sell masa too, in case you want to make your own, though most people try one and quietly put that plan away.
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Rank 559. Queen of Sheba
Ethiopian
Denver has a genuine Ethiopian dining scene, and this East Colfax restaurant quietly anchors it. The kitchen is largely a one-woman operation, and the food reflects it: injera that's properly tart and springy, stewed lentils and collards that take their time, and a shared platter loaded with enough variety to make the table a conversation. Come with people you like, because eating solo here would be missing the point.
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Rank 559. Steuben's Uptown
American
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A Thai cafe tucked into a strip mall on South Colorado, Thai Pot Cafe is the kind of neighborhood spot that fills up fast on weeknights. The drunken noodles are the draw, charred thick and loaded with eggplant, green beans, and tomatoes. Heat runs on a scale where ten counts as "Thai mild," so the numbers above that are not decorative. Westword named them Denver's best drunken noodles in 2023, which the regulars already knew.
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Rank 559. The Greenwich
Italian Pizza
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Outdoor grilling stations let you cook your own marinated meats al fresco, which is either a dream or a chore depending on your relationship with fire. This Indian grill in the Park Meadows mall takes familiar dishes, butter chicken, dal, coconut curry, and runs them through a French culinary lens. Everything arrives at one spice level, with the chef's hot sauce on the side to dial up the heat yourself.
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The heat levels at this Edgewater Thai spot are not a performance; the chiles do actual structural work, balancing galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, and ginger rather than just torching everything in their path. Curries arrive thick and deeply spiced, and the papaya salad dressing pulls no punches with lime and fish sauce. Order mild if you need to, but the kitchen built this menu for people who don't. Sloan's Lake is two minutes away, just in case.
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Rank 559. White Pie
Wood-fired Pizza
Wood-fired pizza shop in Denver's LoHi neighborhood, where the charred, garlicky pies lean into their New Haven roots without being precious about it. The menu runs white and red, and a frozen Negroni is always on offer, because of course it is. The team also runs a Mexican spot around the corner, and that same willingness to ignore what a dish is "supposed" to be carries over here. Casual, counter-order energy with pizzas that tend toward crisp, smoky, and just cheesy enough.
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A LoHi brewery where the patio is basically the point: a massive open-air front deck and an enclosed back area with picnic tables sized for groups, dogs included without a second thought. The taps are solid, food trucks rotate through on a regular schedule, and live music fills out the week. If you happen to be walking a dog in the neighborhood and need a reason to stop, Zuni Street has already thought of that.
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