High quality and great good, was very impressed with the pasta and service. Would recommend.read more

Luca feels like institutional decay disguised as refinement…read more Somewhere around the gummy mushroom pasta and the grainy polenta underneath the short rib, I realized I was not having an expensive dinner at a great Italian restaurant. I was watching a restaurant visibly coast on an old reputation during a $450 night out. And once you see it at Luca, you cannot stop seeing it. The evening actually started with promise. The radicchio salad was one of the better things we ate all night. Bitter greens, spice, texture, contrast. It had energy. More importantly, it tasted contemporary. Alive. Like somebody in the kitchen still understands that Italian food is supposed to balance bitterness, acidity, restraint, and texture instead of simply delivering expensive heaviness to affluent diners sitting in dim lighting. Then the burrata arrived and the evening drifted backward again. The cheese itself was genuinely delicious. But the accompanying bread felt greasy, limp, and careless, like an afterthought attached to a dish nobody in the kitchen has seriously reimagined in years because burrata reliably sells itself. That realization kept repeating throughout the meal. The mushroom fusilli looked exactly like upscale Italian restaurant pasta has looked for the last fifteen years: creamy sauce, mushroom richness, parmesan shards, carefully rustic curls of pasta arranged to signal luxury comfort food. But the actual experience was aggressively salty, gummy, and heavy in a way that became too much halfway through. The dish felt assembled from memory. A reproduction of what sophisticated pasta is supposed to be. Then came the short rib. Honestly: what year is this plating from? Braised short rib over polenta with carrots and jus could still work if approached with confidence and skilled execution. Instead, the polenta was grainy and dull rather than lush and creamy, which made the entire dish feel dated. Not classic. Not timeless. Just old. And that is when the restaurant itself showed its age. Luca could use its own cosmetic surgery. Drop ceilings. Tired decor. A dining room that feels barely maintained rather than refreshed. The kind of space that only knows how to dim the lights anymore. The room was not full when we were there, and the energy matched the food: expensive, muted, and lifeless. Luca has a little Miss Havisham about it: still dressed for dinner, still guarding the old rituals, while the dust gathers. Even the bathroom somehow reinforced the point. The sink was on one wall. The paper towels were awkwardly positioned behind you on another. The trash can sat between the urinal and stall in exactly the place a person would collide with it. And I did. It sounds minor until you realize that this is exactly how the entire restaurant feels: designed long ago, never reconsidered, and now surviving only through habit and reputation. The frustrating part is that the service staff itself was not the problem. They were warm, authentic, and trying hard. Which made the evening feel sadder. They felt like musicians continuing to play while the ship quietly took on water. By the end of the meal, especially once the mandatory 22% "Creating Happy People" surcharge appeared on the check, the entire experience crossed from disappointing into insulting. And then the final insult is the phrase itself: "Creating Happy People." That phrase irritated me more than almost anything else all night. Because by that point the disconnect had become impossible to ignore. Luca no longer feels deeply invested in hospitality, pleasure, or contemporary dining culture. It feels invested in maintaining the appearance of importance. That is the real problem here. Complacency. Expensive complacency. Denver has better Italian restaurants. More alive ones. More self-aware ones. Restaurants still participating in the present tense. Go to Barolo Grill or Tavernetta instead. Both understand that refinement alone is not enough. A restaurant at this level should feel alive. Luca does not.

We had a wonderful time at Gusto! I was actually thoroughly impressed with everything. They have a…read moregood happy hour. The house wines are okay but not spectacular if you know wine (to be expected for $9) but their Sangiovese was divine ($18). All the food was delicious. We got the Wagyu meatballs on happy hour, the bread and leek butter was insane! I'd eat that butter with a spoon. And the margarita pizza had fresh mozzarella and was so yummy and also on happy hour. I've been before and only got the cesear salad which I didn't prefer because the candied lemon was odd but I have a whole new perspective with this round of food! Really delicious. Service was great! No complaints. Also love that it's on kind! It did fill up quickly but we were a walk in at 5:30PM and it was fine

So I guess Gusto and Cholon recently merged together at Sloans Lake. While the concept is good, the…read moreexecution is not. We made reservations for 6:15 on a Friday night and when we walked in it was about 30% full. The hostess walked us around the corner and tried to seat us literally right next to the bathrooms where you can see into the bathrooms while you eat. She was like "how's this table?" And my husband was like "uhhh do you have any booths available away from the bathrooms?" She responded with "well, we have a lot of reservations coming in, let me go check" I looked at her and said "well ARE your reservations!" She ended up coming back and seating us by the windows where "Cholon" used to be, which was fine by us. The booths near us and the window seats next to us continued to stay empty until we left around 7:30. I was in a bad mood from them trying to seat us IN THE BATHROOM, but decided to move on and order some of my Cholon favorites. I look at the menu and I'm shocked with the prices because I know the size of the portions. AND they didn't have Kaya Toast! That is the thing I always order at Cholon! So we order the waygu beef satay ($18) to start and it wasn't good at all. The beef was tough and chewy. The sauce was weird. We didn't finish it. For our entrees I ordered the Olathe corn agnolotti dish that was good, but wasn't worth $28. My husband ordered the super Tuscan pizza which he liked but I found super oily. We were waffling on whether to get dessert because everything had been pretty meh. We decided to get the palisade peach cannoli tart to-go (I didn't want to sit in that place any longer). We got home and when I tell you this dessert was bad... IT WAS BAD. There was literally not a hint of sweetness. The peaches weren't ripe. The cheese they used wasn't sweetened AND I think it had like a basil balsamic glaze on it or something because this was the most savory "dessert" I had ever had. We each took and bite and threw that $15 monstrosity into the garbage. Whoever okayed that to be on the menu should be fired. I was honestly upset we spent $150 for dinner and another $80 for a babysitter for such a disappointing dinner. Side story: I was talking to my friend who lives in Sloans Lake about how bad our dinner at Gusto was. And she said "that place sucks! They sat us RIGHT NEXT TO THE BATHROOMS, and the whole place was empty!" When I told her the same thing happened to us she continued on to say they had made reservations and the hostess said, "all the other tables are reserved." And my friend said "we have reservations!" But alas, they didn't move her and she ate by the bathrooms.

We had reservations for four on a Saturday night at 7:30. The hostess was lovely. After we were…read moreseated in a comfortable booth with nice, warm lighting, it took a bit to be greeted by our server. When he did get to us, he never introduced himself, which was surprising at a restaurant of this caliber. We had to ask Miguel, the Somm, what his name was. Turns out Tim was lovely and took good care of us. Miguel too, as he answered our questions about the wine and was very helpful in choosing a great bottle for us. We elected not to do the tasting menu and order a la carte. We ended up ordering the perfect amount of food for the four of us (parents and adult children). Here is what we ordered and what we thought: Burrata - The special pesto of the night was a shishito pepper and sesame seed one that was unique and excellent. With the yummy bread served with it, we ate and sopped up every bit. Crispy Pork Terrine - such a different way to make a terrine that really worked. We all loved it! I just wish there were a few more peach slices on the dish. Rainbow Trout Spiedini - Oh my gosh this was a surprise! It was probably our favorite bite of the night. It comes with three pieces, but Tim added another so we could each have our own skewer. I would order this for my main next time. So fresh, not at all fishy, and the salsa verde was fantastic. Eggplant Parmesan - it was good but didn't stand out like the other dishes we ordered. Sweet Corn Anolini - since it was sweet corn season, this dish hit on all levels. I think it was gone in two minutes. Tagliatelle Alla Bolognese - don't think heavy red sauce here. This version is authentic, light, well balanced, and so flavorful. It was absolutely delicious! Baked Cookie - I'm a fan of browned butter in any baked good, but this cookie needed more sugar. It was barely sweet. This place is pricey for sure. Even though we loved the pastas and they are obviously homemade, $36 and $37 for the amount of pasta served is a bit much. And $9 for a cookie? We would go back though.

Favorites: (1) strawberry bianco cocktail - I literally said "this is so good" every time I took a…read moresip. (2) anolini pasta on the tasting menu (with wine pairing. (3) crispy pork terrine. Everything we ordered was so delicious. Every order comes with focaccia. I think that the à la carte small plate options stood out as more worthwhile to me over the focaccia accompaniments. Outstanding menu curation that was unique enough to offer great assortment and narrow enough to feel like you explored every section. Truly spectacular service to service such care for the food. This cannot be said enough for Denver restaurants, often finding reviews of the food outweighs the service every time. Not at Olivia. The som who outlined our pairings in the tasting menu was knowledgeable, kind, and passionate. The location threw us off a bit when entering, but you're quickly wrapped into your own pseudo-Italian trattoria. What an experience.

Was visiting from out of town and stopped in to have a drink and some food and man a great time was…read morehad!! We will definitely be back on our next trip! A huge shout out to Blake for the outstanding service! The bar was absolutely packed, and Blake was constantly on the move, yet he never missed a beat. Even with the crowd and nonstop demands, he stayed friendly, attentive, and professional the entire time. Our drinks were spot on, service was quick, and somehow Blake managed to make everyone feel welcomed and taken care of. It's rare to find someone who can handle that level of pressure with such a positive attitude and genuine customer service. Thank you, Blake, for going above and beyond and helping make our night so enjoyable. Your hard work definitely did not go unnoticed, and it's employees like you that keep customers coming back! Hope to see you in the near future!!

We had dinner here with another couple who lives in Denver and they made reservations…read more We started off with a Caesar salad which has anchovies which i like and what makes a real Caesar salad. Of course I enjoyed it. My wife had the cast iron lasagna, I had the chicken Parmesan, another had the eggplant Parmesan and Chilean sea bass. My wife lover the lasagna but only could eat half as it was cheesy. My chicken Parmesan was cook perfectly and it was delicious. The other couple loved their food but they been there several times prior so they love their food. Service was great and from the outside it looked small but they seat you downstairs which had a lot of tables. This is another place I would co e back if I was ever back in Denver.

What a great dinner for our anniversary celebration!…read more Not gonna lie anytime I see - farm to table - my initial thought is always - could they be pretentious? Not this place! We had such an amazing time with all the yummies! Their menu changes by the season and availability of the products. We started with the roasted beets - always a summer staple - what an interesting mix of plum sauce and sesame chili crunch oil. A little on the spicy side if you're spicy sensitive but it was the perfect level for us. We loved the sauce so much that we let Tina know that we wish we could sop up the leftover sauce when she was taking our plate away - she immediately sat it back down and said she could totally get us a couple slices of bread for that - drool! We also ordered the cast iron corn bread from the starter menu - it was piping hot and served with some sweet cream butter and house made peach jam. Don't sleep on those - I could have this for dessert too, so tasty! Main entrees - we ordered the pork chop and the salmon. I initially wanted the pork chop but didn't want the BBQ sauce cuz I'm not a sweet on savory girl... I opted for the salmon w all savory ingredients... Gosh, both are so amazing, thanks to the hubby for sharing his pork chop with me, the sauce was good and not too sweet - also it was more on the plate than drizzled all over so the pork really was able to shine through. So tender and juicy too. The curry potato salad paired w it was very refreshing and delicious. The salmon was nicely done, placed over a bed of dill dressed salad and smashed baked baby potatoes.. the potatoes were hot and crispy, the salad well dressed with nice big pieces of cucumbers and croutons. We are usually not dessert folks but we couldn't pass up the double chocolate pot du crème. It was lightly sweet and the cream was creamy but not sweet - really brought out the double chocolate - the sugared walnut was such a nice touch. We received complimentary 2 little celebratory bubbles for our anniversary from the restaurant and it was such a nice touch. I remember Wildflower also did that for our last anniversary dinner - so grateful for those. Tina was our server and she was amazing, made really great recommendations and super thoughtful w the bread for our beet sauce. Thanks Plimouth for making our anniversary special!

Came here for the first time for my anniversary and I liked it quite a bit, but can't say all the…read morefood blew me away like I was hoping. We started with three shareable appetizers and the best one by far was the peach and ricotta with herbed oil. It was fresh and vibrant and played with the balance between sweet and savory in such a fun way. This was my husband's favorite bite. The next one was the cornbread and it was ok. The cornbread itself was sweet and a little gooey in the center but crispy on the outside. Not terrible by any means, but with the honey butter it eats almost too sweet. Then the jam it was served with was super tart and it just wasn't to my tastes. The last shareable was the charred broccoli with plums and Polenta. This was my second favorite but the char was intense and made it a little bitter. The polenta was delicious and creamy though and I loved the sauce and plums. Me and my husband shared two entrees and the first was the grilled pork. It had some really good flavors, especially the pork chop. In fact it was the best pork chop I've ever had and the peach and onion slaw went with it so well. Whoever was working the grill really knows what they are doing. This was definitely my favorite bite. What didn't work was how overcrowded the plate was. The potato salad also felt unnecessary and the curry flavor with all the other things on the plate was an odd choice. It was also unevenly salted on the cauliflower and some were bland and others super salty. The other entree we got was the salmon. The sauce was great and so were the crispy potatoes but the salmon was underseasoned and the skin wasnt crispy, so that was a bummer. The salad was really nice but we didnt enjoy the bagel chips as they were hard and in really large pieces. Dessert was good but the plum tart, wasnt actually a tart but more of a galette. I wasn't expecting Puff pastry but the cream and plums were delicious. The apricot sorbet was nice and bright and made a great way to end the meal. Overall the food had some real highs and lows, but the service was very nice. All the wait staff was very attentive and the restaurant is small but inviting. I love that this is a scratch kitchen and the menu changes daily but it can also mean that some dishes aren't as refined. I would definitely come back and try some of the other things cause when the food here hits, it hits good and is worth it to me to keep coming back.

The food is fantastic, the place has a calm and welcoming atmosphere, and the service is…read moreimpeccable. Robin was the sweetest and most considerate servers I've had in a while. Very friendly staff. 10/10 my partner and I will be returning!

We had such a DELICIOUS meal! Matthew was a wonderful, very knowledgeable waiter - when it came to…read moreboth the food and the wine! We highly recommend!!

THE CHARM IS GONE --bring Danny back to train the current horrible waitstaff…read more We've been loyal customers for 20 years, but last night we experienced terrible service, even though the restaurant was somewhat empty for a Friday. After our food arrived, we couldn't get our waiter's attention. When he finally rushed over, he just handed us the check without asking if we wanted dessert or anything else. We tried to order an extra meal to take home, but he claimed it would take 30 minutes because they were "a very busy restaurant." I called BS as there were plenty of empty tables, but he clearly didn't care. It makes no sense for staff to rush customers out and actively discourage them from spending more money. While the food is still good, this place is definitely not the same anymore.

Such a fun neighborhood place, featuring Italian options in a cozy environment at good prices…read more Tucked away on a street corner in a vibrant part of Park Hill, The Cherry Tomato works so well. This is one of my favorite places in Denver. Grateful to Elena and Matt for all their assistance and excellent custoner service. Enjoyed my Seared Salmon dish, loved sampling others, and the salads were great. This is a terrific place to bring family and friends.

Great vibes, nice place. A little loud inside, nice patio outside…read more Our server Billy was so fun and guide our ordering. Wine list BTG was excellent. I got a beaujolais and it was very good! BTG prices are reasonable. Menu is primarily small bites, they were still enough for 2 to share. We ordered based on some tik toks and the items did not look the same but we nontheless delicious. Cesar salad was fresh, chilled and had an amazing bright flavors.

Back to Corsica and had a lovely experience once again! Tried our luck on a Saturday evening with…read moreno reservation and were able to get a seat at the bar immediately. The bartenders and the rest of the staff were extremely friendly and made sitting at the bar a great experience! We decided on a few small plates; cannellini beans, focaccia, carrots, and lemon bucatini. The cannellini beans and bucatini were stand out dishes for sure. I love the experience of ordering small plates so this place is perfect for that although there are larger plates you can order (they do warn you that these take longer to prepare). For drinks I tried both the citron sunrise (frozen citron pressé, chamomile, cappelitti, sparkling wine) and the corsica martini. The citron sunrise was very refreshing although a bit too sweet for my taste. The martini comes with multiple garnishes and most of the drink in a smaller vessel on the side so that you can mix and match and create new martini flavors as you drink which I thought was such a great experience! Definitely going to come by again as their menu selection is quite large and there's lots left to try.