Lemon pizza was a bit overwhelming, pasta was delicious. Service was quick and kind. Great happy hour options as well read more

Gusto - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

I selected this spot to celebrate my birthday with my friend. We came at 2 on Saturday for the start of Happy Hour. They have $8 cocktails and great deals on food. Our server Linda was fantastic. We ordered the wagyu beef meatballs which came with three (large) and a big piece of yummy bread for sopping up the sauce. We also ordered the Caesar salad which had a good amount of whole anchovies in it! Yes!! It was really fresh and delicious. For pizza we got the Amalfi pie, which came with Confit Lemon, Calabrian Chili, Pecorino, Ricotta. So good. They even brought fresh grated cheese and red pepper flakes for us to add. The place is small, but they have bar seating and a few tables. If you are going for dinner or a busy time, I recommend making a reservation. We easily found street parking, but there's also an attached parking garage. read more

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This lovey Italian eatery is part of the Cholon Restaurant Concepts by Chef Lon S. As of the date of dining (May 9, 2024), this restaurant opened only a few months ago. I always find it fun to discover a business that's has been around for a short period of time and yet it's thriving. Gusto is my type of place. And its high-end restaurant feel, although it's a bit small, makes anyone feel like you are being treated for a special occasion. Wonderful ambience throughout; I enjoyed the flower decorations handing from the ceiling in the center of it. We hit the Happy Hour time (we got there a little past 4:30pm). There were only a few to several people in the dining room and at the bar. But once the peak dinner time gradually crept in people started to show up. By the time we were done with our dinner, this small restaurant was full. Anyway....let's get into the drinks and dishes we ordered. I was debating between the House Red (Sangiovese; it's only $7) or Nibbiolo ($16). Our kind waitress allowed me to taste both before making a decision. I was quite shocked as to how delicious the House Red was and yet Nibbiolo was by far better in the overall structure so I went with it. My friend went with a cocktail with Ketel One; it looked so refreshing. The items on the Happy Hour menu are all generously portioned with reasonable prices. We got us Mozzarella Di Bufala ($16), Wagyu Beef Meatballs ($14), and Italian House Salad ($10). All of the items on the HH menu are/were shareable. We were pretty happy with the choices we made for our bites as they were well seasoned and beautifully presented on beautiful plates; nothing was too salty or overdone. Out of all three, what I highly recommend is definitely the Wagyu Beef Meatballs. The crispy garlic toast was nice and long with the perfected crispiness. The melted whipped ricotta gently placed over the meatballs simply did the magic. We wanted to order one of the pizzas but since we got 80% full, we simply stopped after the three dishes. There is always something we can look forward to at our next dining to experience how the pizzas are (Amalfi Pie which is $16 consists of confit lemon, Calabrian chili, pecorino, and ricotta; this sounded so delicious. Upon request, they can make it gluten free which I might opt for.) Once our wonderful bites were all gone, our waitress brought us a Happy Birthday complimentary Limoncello based cocktail shots! What a nice surprise! Did I mention that it was a birthday occasion in the reservation I made? Maybe I did. This has made the list of my favorite restaurants for sure. I shall be back for another HH occasion. I cannot wait to taste other dishes on the menu. read more

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The food was so good. We had their gluten free mozzarella sticks and gluten free Margherita pizza. The bread that came with the meatball appetizer was gluten free and we were stunned by how amazing it was! We were wonderfully surprised to be there during happy hour because we went at 2:30pm on a Saturday. Wonderful service and atmosphere. read more

Gusto - Gf pizza - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

Beautiful restaurant. Small inside, but good use of space. The salad was a little heavily dressed. The pizza was pretty good! It was firm on the bottom with a nice char. Our waitress was attentive and comped one glass of wine for us due to a mistake. I will definitely be back to try more they have to offer. read more

Gusto - Margherita pizza - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

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Great vibe natural woods and hanging vines from the ceiling. Great patio outside with a nice view of Sloane's lake. We made a reservation for 6 pm and it was already booked and crowded with a short wait for those that didn't make a reservation. Wait staff were nice and friendly and made great food and drink recommendations. The food was good! Everything made in house and had great flavors. We got the meatballs which were delicious and came with a butter toasted bread with the right amount of crisp. We also got a pizza with mushroom, pepperoni and jalapeños and a walnut pesto pasta with peaches on top. read more

Gusto - Walnut pesto pasta with peaches - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

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This is a cute lil place right by sloans lake. I love the ambiance of this place, its a pretty small dining room so it can get pretty busy. We made a reservation for HH so we were able to get a table. If you plan on coming for dinner I would come slightly earlier for the HH deals and then wait around until their dinner menu starts (5:30), but they do not offer anything outside of the HH menu during HH. The food was pretty decent and came out pretty quickly. Our server was very friendly and attentive. She made sure that the kitchen didnt send all the food out at once which I really appreciated since our table was kinda small. They also switched out our share plates after a few appetizers. The aperol spritz was pretty good, it didnt taste very strong and it was very refreshing. The meatballs were good, I was expecting them to be slightly moister and softer because they were waygu. The calamari was pretty good too, it also have fried shrimp and fried lemon rinds in it. I thought it was good, but the shrimp seem like the frozen shrimp. The pizza was the star of the show for me. I really like lemon and dont mind the bitterness of the rind, but if you do then I wouldnt reccommend it. I would come back here during dinner time to try out the pastas. I think that the menu is pretty creative and unique, but some of the things are the menu might be slightly overpriced. read more

Gusto - HH menu - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

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This holds the title if bottom of the barrel. We never experienced suck lack of service and waited 29 minutes for our bill, before we just left money on the table & went out to eat at another restaurant. Hard to find but not worth finding! read more

Good food but the vibe inside is kind of off. Always very empty and quiet. The view is great of the lake.

This is quickly becoming my favorite restaurant! I'm vegetarian and every item on the menu is absolutely phenomenal. From their unique zesty and spicy lemon pizza to the gnocchi which had apples, walnuts and blue cheese to the pistachio caramel cheesecake which was fluffier and more decadent than the dense traditional cheesecakes I've had elsewhere. The server was very attentive and provided fantastic recommendations! The dining room is very intimate, warm and cozy for a cold winter evening. My boyfriend and best friend (who aren't vegetarian) absolutely loved every dish as well - we split everything family style. read more

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The vibes were great! Sleek and fancy and quaint. First came the meatballs and they were great. The bread looks crunchy but was also smooth and buttery. Delicious. Rigatoni Buttera- really good! Noodles were a little chewy but they were bigger noodles so that might be it, I like smaller noodles, just a personal preference. The sauce was good I would take it home if that wasn't weird. Also the basil on top was fantastic. Service was very fast. Cons- I wanted to add shrimp to my pasta, my girlfriend wanted to add a protein to her ceaser salad. They don't do that at dinner...but they do at lunch, odd. Also, adding 6% to the end of your meal is personal pet peeve, just raise the prices. Overall, I would come back! read more

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Gusto DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Expectations exceeded. We got there at 4:30 for happy hour and enjoyed wine and appetizers for a great price. The appetizers were so good... 10/10. Our server was very sweet and took amazing care of us / gave wonderful recommendations for dinner. The rigatoni was so good but the Almafi Pizza was KILLER! Never had anything like it. We will definitely be back. Also, make a reservation people. It's small in there and walk-ins are not going to be easy for staff to accommodate. Thanks for a wonderful evening! read more

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2nd visit in 5 weeks. I had another great meal. I started with their on tap Negroni. Good price of $15. They serve it in a rocks glass with a square ice cube. My server, Samantha M was very helpful. She steered me away from accidently getting two salads to a freshly baked foccacia bread with herbed butter in a cup of EVOO and their Spring Opening salad made with Arugula & farro. Nice salad and yummy bread. I added a 2nd Negroni where it was filled almost to the brim. My pasta dish was the Spaghetti all'Assassin, a dish created by mistake in Italy in 1967. It had soft and crunchy pasta in a spicy tomato sauce. I had a glass of 2017 Paolo Bea Sagrantino, a wonderful red wine. For dessert, I had truly massive piece of Tiramisu with grated parmesan for only $12. Soft music was being played. I sat at a table next to the windows with a good view of the inside watching other customers enjoying themselves. I will be back. read more

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A little bummed overall. I really wanted to like this place but I didn't love the taste of the food because comparison is the thief of joy. I've just had better. The service was decent, they were very attentive to food allergies, especially gluten free, and everything is made in-house. We got the on-draft Boulevardier which was ok, a bit light, wine was very good. The focaccia was tasty and the pesto butter was delish. The wagu meatballs were just ok, weirdly dry and spicy in a way I didn't like. Caesar salad was just ok, it looked bigger than it was and I wish I ordered my own vs splitting, it came with candied lemon and anchovies, lacked dressing and flavor and wasn't worth $15. For entrees we got the rigatoni bolognese which was fine but so undercooked, I prefer al dente pasta and this was super chewy / almost crunchy pasta and way too salty, and we got a gluten free Sicilian pizza which was decent for GF but very greasy and I didn't love the red sauce. It was also loaded with chunky garlic so I got it on the side. Overall this place was just OK, I personally just didn't like the flavors and I've had much better for the same price in Denver. Very gluten free friendly though! read more

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Cute little restaurant with a welcoming decor. The food was delicious!!! And the staff were amazing!

Cute bright spot which is a good addition to the area. It is pretty small so resys are recommended. Had awesome experiences with staff on both visits. The butter with the bread is outstanding! Check out the happy hour. read more

Ambiance: small and crowded with no waiting area and cold because they leave the door open. I would definitely recommend getting a reservation. This is not the spot for showing up to meet friends on a whim. It's so small that we laughed that there were two hosts. The service was decent. Everyone was very friendly and wanted to help. Their style is this new up and coming way of waiting on tables where anyone can help you out. There's pros like being able to ask any employee for a refill, but there's cons like having one person knowing what you need and then getting it lost in translation because someone else asks you or you have to repeat yourself over and over. They claim to be family style with dishes coming out as they are ready, but the portions are not family style. Portions are on the regular to small-ish size. I'd say half of our dishes were good and the other half were odd and I would not recommend. It's a restaurant that popped up in the very gentrified area near Sloan's Lake, and the vibe felt very much like that. A little full of itself, and over priced. Don't think we'll return, but I'm sure with a few tweaks it could be great. read more

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New Italian spot and the NAILED it. Pizza's and Pasta all made from scratch and were delicious! Fritto misto very light and tasting, Arancini were great (usually don't love but I did these), Melted Leek Focaccia was incredible. Service excellent! In depth Italian wine list. Small cute space; highly recommend but suggest making a reservation. read more

Went with a group of 6 and ordered over half the menus we all shared. Everything we ate was great. Not one item disappointed. The staff operated as a team and service was good. Our particular server was not able to handle the job well and the others covers so overall we were well taken care of and a memorable experience and look forward to returning. A few tips: Very difficult to find parking in this area. Restaurant is small so make reservations. If you go as a group ask for tables over booth. The corner round boot was very tight and uncomfortable and lacked space for food on the table. read more

I went to Gusto with my family for a night out and had nothing to complain about great food and great service. Honestly the best Italian food in the city. Cant wait to go back. read more

Service was okay - we ordered our wine and had to ask again for the bottle because our food came out before it. The food was also just okay. Kind of overpriced for what you get and the quality / consistency. Do get: melted leek focaccia, amalfi pie, and the tiramisu. Don't get: fritto miso, bucatini cacio pepe, and chocolate pistachio dipped cannoli. read more

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I rarely leave reviews, but this place needs to do so much better. Firstly, I tried to order 4 items from their food and drink menu, which they were out of all of them. Secondly, the service is incredibly slow, it took over 30 min to get a drink served, water was rarely refilled. At no time was the soap refilled in the ladies bathroom and we sat there with a group for three hours. A bathroom that also employees use... lastly I also noticed the morning after that they had charged us a drink additionally that we had not ordered or received, seriously!!?? I would not ever dine there again, although that the food was very good and tasty. read more

The food here was pretty amazing! The service was also very friendly and d ready to help out even the relaxed vibe right across the street from the lake was really pleasant and brought the ambiance together. Overall kinda perfect place. Little pricey but very tasty. read more

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We had our company dinner here for Christmas for 35 people in the mezzanine. It was really great !!!

Shared space with ChoLon. The waiters suggest sharing the plates but the pasta is big enough for an entree. The focaccia starter was bomb!

Food, service were excellent. Found this place while visiting Denver and If you're looking for a place with great atmosphere and true authentic Italian, I highly recommend this place. Oh yea and the expresso martini is the best I've had! read more

Had a wonderful experience last night for dinner. We had a little bit of a later reservation (~8pm), and the dinner crowd was definitely cleared out by the time we showed up. The bar was still packed and looked engaged and entertaining. Our server, Taylor, was enjoyable, and knowledgeable of the menu, helping us navigate the food and wine list. The apps were delicious, the Focaccia was incredible! The Wagyu meatballs were a fantastic start as well. She got the Cacio e Pepe, I got the Rigatoni, and we were both impressed with how fresh everything tasted. We have tried other Italian in the area, and found the portions to be just right, which was something to be left desired in our past experiences at other restaurants. Definitely excited to come back, even just for an app and drinks, and look forward to seeing the staff at Gusto again! read more

Rigatoni was amazing very similar to North Italia. Meatballs were great as well as Caesar. Cocktail and wine great. Love the small and quick environment. read more

Gusto - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

Weekly Date Night with My Husband: Service: We were greeted by a hostess who immediately told us our table had another reservation at 8pm. We arrived for our 6:30 res at 6:40, and then, the service was extremely slow and somber. Normally, this wouldn't be a bother, but the vibe was very off - 2000s Sandstorm.... It's an Italian restaurant. Not as authentic as we expected. Food was good and the price points were semi appropriate. Burrata was strange - did not have much flavor and was overpriced. Oddly tasted like sprite. Rigatoni was great, no complaints. Pizza was a bit undercooked (which we like), so if you want your pizza on the doughy side, do that! read more

The food was pretty good. The service was just okay. They were out of aperol at 6 on a Friday which was a little sad but happens! They put in the wrong food order for us so our pizza came way later and by that time we didn't even want it. No discount. They did bro out limoncello as it was windy and that was one of the best parts of the meal other than that delicious bread. May give it another shot someday but probably won't go out of my way. read more

We (my partner and one year old) arrived around 5 on a Friday with no reservation. We were greated very fast and friendly and were informed rather quickly that they could get us in because there was a last minute cancel just so we were gone by 645p. The service was great by the staff and our server. We ordered drinks first, then before our drinks arrived at our second interaction with our server we ordered food of wagyu meatballs, Italian house salad and fritto misto. Our fritto misto arrived first and once it was finished the meatballs arrived. The calamari (fritto misto) was good and lightly fried but the pepperoni peppers were whole and fried so the stem was on them which if not noticed before putting in my mouth would have been very off putting. The meatballs were very tasty except that the ground was not up to par for meatballs as I found several bones and hard cartilage within the ball that I had to spit out that I couldn't chew. The salad was ok, as the lettuce was not very fresh but all of the other ingredients were good. With the only dressing being a red wine vinaigrette, the salad needed something else to make it satisfying, maybe cheese or croutons. We ordered a tiramisu to go as we had a one year old who was at that point ready to leave. We waited (walked him around) for at least ten minutes when I asked when will the tiramisu be ready since we already paid. Our waitress told us she would check on the order and 5 minutes later she brought it out. We ate the dessert at home, it was strange to find it was drizzled in shredded cheese. It was ok but the cheese made it a bit odd tasting. Will not order the salad, calamari or tiramisu again but will be back to try their pasta as people around us ordered it and it all looked amazing. The staff were extremely friendly to us and especially to our little one is why I upped the stars a bit! read more

First off, the service was amazing! They brought our food fast and the servers were very nice and respectful. Some of the food was amazing, and some was mid. We got focaccia, meatballs, calamari, rigatoni, agnolotti and olive oil cake. The focaccia was amazing! The sauce was just scrumptious and the bread was so soft. The meatballs were fine. They were kind of your everyday meatballs, nothing special. The calamari was as good as it can get for Colorado sea food. It was slightly breaded and tasty. The rigatoni was probably the best thing we ate. The creamy tomato sausage sauce was great! But the best part of this meal was by far the pasta. It was cooked to perfection with the best al dente texture I've ever had. The agnolotti was pretty good too. It was light and not very filling, but it was good. If you don't like goat cheese though, it's not the meal for you. The olive oil cake was kind of disappointing. First off, olive oil and cake don't go hand in hand as well as I'd hoped. Second, it was just mid at best. Aside from food and service, the interior of the restaurant was amazing! It was cool and a satisfying calm ambience. It had relaxing decorations along with a bussing bar. Overall, I think Gusto is a good small business restaurant for a good Italian meal. read more

This was our second time at Gusto and it did not disappoint! The spicy spaghetti and zucchini pasta are non-negotiable. All five of us loved it! We got the margherita and cacio e pepe pizza and both were delicious. The tiramisu is unmatched - must order! Our server was very friendly, energetic, and knowledgeable. The restaurant is small but cute and intimate. Highly recommend! read more

Amazing lemon pizza, I recommend the spicy sausage on it! The staff were wonderful and all of the food and happy hour were great!

Negative stars if possible. I found Gusto from social media and wanted to try it for my late bday dinner 5/31. The Gusto experience was the worst dining experience I've ever had. The wait staff act like they're too good to be in the service industry and are not accommodating to all their customers. It's exceptionally rare to have an overarching bad dining experience which was why I reached out to talk to restaurant manager last night by leaving my name and phone number to contact me but instead of contacting me to address it and take accountability for being wrong, he got my original review taken down to bury this honest bad review. Do not be fooled by the fake impression this restaurant wants to give off that it's hip and classy. Food is simple and not even high quality. The prices are like Olive Garden but the portions are much smaller and the taste is worse than Olive Garden. The atmosphere is stiff and fake, not welcoming nor relaxing. It's very pretentious both the vibes of the staff and the overall clientele it attracts. The staff was snobby and talked down to me and my friends and I felt like they were lowkey racist and maybe not gay friendly with the unwelcoming "you don't belong" attitude they were giving us. Two out of three of us are not white and we were the only non white ppl in the restaurant and my friends are males gay couple. We got seated at the bar and TJ was lecturing and talking down to us while he was being extra nice to everyone around us who were all white straight girls. I don't think that's a coincidence. The worst part aside from the bartender talking down to us like a parent lecturing a child about the menu was he loudly snapped and barked at me when I took a small sip of a friend's drink, which my friend offered me to taste. I don't drink alcohol and all my friends and coworkers know this. The only reason why my friend offered me a sip was because of the unusual drink he ordered and he wanted me to taste it. TJ loudly flipped out at me saying "you can't be drinking from your friend's cup!" I held back and said nothing because my friends were already feeling uncomfortable and that ruined the whole night for me and my bday dinner. My friends and I weren't talking and just basically ate in silence from all the negative angry atmosphere. TJ was being totally inappropriate. No sense of awareness of why that's unacceptable behavior towards a customer. On top of getting yelled at by the horrible service, it took forever for the bartender to tell the girls who were crowding and taking up my space as I was eating, to leave. They wanted to order drinks and he talked to them for a good 10 minutes. Why did he not tell them to go sit down and he'll have the drinks brought out to them? This isn't a club to stand in line to order shots at the bar. This is dinner time at 6pm on a non holiday Friday and they were in my eating space. When the check came I gave my friend $31 in cash for my portion of the dinner. My friend is very generous and kind so he left that money to tip TJ who did not deserve it, especially for mistreating us and yelling at me. Again, he's ungrateful. He should be in trouble for the bad behavior. It's partly my fault. I shouldn't have given my friend cash and just Venmo him instead but I didn't know he'd leave my cash as tip for the worst service and subpar basic food. The public should know this, especially the people of color and LGBT community should know they'll probably not be welcomed here and get mistreated because they don't fit in with the obvious projected restaurant's clientele demographics. Update: received phone call from the restaurant manager. I gave Mike a chance to come to terms and if he really was concerned with the negative experience I had as an actual customer then he would have tried to make it right. Instead Mike double downed and took the defensive combative route and tried to bully me into removing or amending my review. I refused and he banned me from all Cholon restaurants. He admitted that he did get my original review removed. I firmly stand by my review as that is the truth, my account is real, and no one can buy nor influence my reviews. This was my experience as a real customer and it sticks out badly which is why I am so upset. Manager don't take accountability for staff's missteps and instead of listening, tried to gaslight me as last ditch effort and yet is so completely unaware that this is what contributed to my upsetting experience in the first place. The fact that you were defensive about this proves to me you know better but just don't want to do better. This further solidifies the poor review you rightfully deserve. read more

Highly recommend! Right by Sloans Lake. Food was delicious. Get the meatballs, you won't be disappointed. I ordered a mocktail and it was fabulous! Service was lovely and the ambiance was cozy, as we sat inside the small dining room. They do have outside seating as well. Great new find. read more

It wasn't just a dinner, it was a dining experience on steroids! We sat the bar and had the pleasure of meeting Reeves who ushered us through multiple courses of exquisite culinary masterpieces along with the perfect pairing of cocktails and wine. It was truly a masterpiece of Italian dining wrapped in a fantastic setting with an expert guide (Reeves) leading us along a path of decadence. We will definitely return! read more

A little pricey but the food was delicious! Our server was very knowledgeable about gluten free entrees. The restaurant is a little small but great food. read more

Went to Gusto for the first time last night and was very impressed. The staff were so welcoming and attentive during our meal. They took the time to explain things on the menu and checked up on us regularly. You can tell they all really enjoy working there. We started with the focaccia which came with a pasto/olive oil sauce and it was the perfect size for an appetizer. Then I loved the pasta dish I got it was the rigatoni sausage pasta with peas. It was so good and flavorful. There was also mint added on top and I really liked it in combination with the pasta. I also tried the tiramisu martini and that was so good. Not too sweet with a great balance of cream with the mascarpone liquor they make it with, there was also a decent wine selection as well with a wide range of price options. The decor and layout of the restaurant was nice. Music playing but not too loud to where you can't have a conversation and the lighting was nice. Overall I would definitely come again. read more

Gusto - Tiramisu martini - Italian Near Me - Denver, Colorado

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Food and service were both alright, but they definitely have some opening kinks to work out. We were surprised to learn upon our arrival that you can't order off of the dinner menu until 5pm. We had a 4:30 reservation, and this information about dinner isn't listed on the restaurant's website that I could find. We would have made a later reservation had we known this. When we ordered, both our drinks and our food took forever, and our drinks came out roughly 5-10 minutes after our food arrived. We were nearly finished with our appetizers when our drinks finally came. My friend who dined here a few weeks before I did had the same experience with the drinks coming out well after the food. The melted leek focaccia was fantastic, but that was about the only fantastic thing about our dinner. The fried carbonara-ncini came out lukewarm, and our entrees (marry me lasagna and pesto and ricotta stuffed pasta) were just subpar. Not sure if we'll return. read more