Best Neighborhood Gem Restaurants in Denver

The waiters are very knowledgeable, friendly, and remarkably unrushed and available to explain the menu and offer suggestions.

We enjoyed another lovely dinner at Venice. The service, food & wine are all outstanding. The gracious, welcoming manner of Aldo, the manager, just makes the evening special! We love sharing the beef carpaccio appetizer, which is just the right size for the 2 of us. For entrees we had the lasagna and sausage ravioli. Our favorite server moved on as manager of Alessandro's other restaurant in DTC, Chianti, but we very much liked the server we had this night. Giancarlo's wine pairing with our dinner was excellent, as always.

We love going to Shanahan’s Steak House. Yes, it’s expensive and Yes, it’s absolutely worth it. Everything is first-class from the moment the valet greets you. The staff is very friendly and VERY customer focused. The quality and presentation of the food is unmatched by any steak house I have ever dined at - especially the quality of the meat! Outstanding. The steaks and chops are incredible and consistently prepared to my liking, as are the seafood items. The apps and sides are likewise terrific (the lobster Mac and Cheese is one of my favorites). The wine selection is extensive.

Terracota is consistently a wonderful spot for any meal. Food, service, ambience is always excellent!

Again, as always, the food is the star here. There is truly no better (some as good) sushi in Denver or a many, even hundreds of miles mile radius. On this particular night, the crowd was bigger and louder than usual and the service perhaps struggled a bit to keep up with the volume. Usually the ambience is a little more peaceful and the design/decor elements are quite lovely. We go back again and again for the amazing foo, that while pricey, is Incredible. As strange as it sounds for a land-locked state, we have eaten all over the world and will always hold Sushi/Izakaya Den as the gold standard.