25 Best Restaurants in Denver

This month’s 5280 Magazine just arrived at my house with my favorite annual feature from the mag… the 25 Best Restaurants in Denver.  Every year I look forward to seeing where the top restaurants in the Denver-Metro area stack-up and if my personal opinions align with those from the 5280 food writing staff. 

1.    Frasca Food and Wine (Boulder) 

2.    Sushi Den (Pearl Street)  *

3.    Cholon Modern Asian Bistro (LoDo)  *

4.    Luca d’Italia (Governor’s Park)

5.    Fruition Restaurant (Cherry Creek North)  *

6.    Mizuna (Governor’s Park)

7.    Z Cuisine (Lower Highland)

8.    Café Aion (Boulder)

9.    Colt & Gray (Riverfront)  *

10.  Linger (Highland)  *

11.  Bittersweet (West Wash Park)  *

12.  Il Posto (City Park)  *

13.  Table 6 (Cherry Creek North)

14.  TAG Raw Bar (LoDo)

15.  Twelve (Ball Park)

16.  Trillium (Ball Park)

17.  Pizzeria Locale (Boulder)  *

18.  TAG Restaruant (LoDo)  *

19.  Potager Restaurant & Wine Bar (Capitol Hill)  

20.  Fuel Café (RiNo)

21.  Oak at Fourteenth (Boulder)

22.  Duo Restaurant (Highland)  *

23.  Café Brazil (Berkley)

24.  Pinche Taqueria (Capitol Hill)  *

25.  Barolo Grill (Cherry Creek North)

Out of the 25 restaurants, I am happy to say I have dined at 11 of them.  The list is chalked full of Farm-to-Table mainstays like Bittersweet and Fruition and prominent Italian eateries such as Frasca Food and Wine, Luca d’Italia and Il Posto.  A couple surprising restaurants on the list were Cholon Asian Bistro, as my last couple visits were less than memorable beyond lacking service and TAG Raw Bar, as it has so many duplications (it is an heir to TAG Restaurant which also made the list).

I cannot wait to dive deeper into this year’s Top 25, share my opinions on some of my favorites and also come up with my top 5 restaurants that I hope to dine at from this list in the year ahead.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the list.  How many restaurants have you dined at from the 25? 


* = restaurants I have been to