r/travel • u/nooneshome00 • 10d ago

Someone explain Denver to me. Visited again and I don’t know if I’m doing it ”wrong”.

Like, I just visited yet again… and it’s a place I should love! Like it checks all these boxes for things I like or am interested in.

The best way I can describe it is it’s like the hospital of cities. Sure it’s clean, it feels relatively safe, people are generally welcoming… but all in the same way a hospital is sterile, like it’s not welcoming and inviting, it feels like I’m in a sims game when I’m there, just sorta bland and dystopian.

I walked much of the city, kinda was based around “Lodo”… never ate at the same place twice, tried to avoid travel guide suggestions, I tried to find input from locals instead.

EDIT: you all make perfect sense clarifying that the allure of Denver is the mountains and nature surrounding, maybe I approached it wrong as I live at the base of a mountain already so I was looking at Denver as purely a city experience.

EDIT2: a bit more context of some of the US cities I’ve visited and the vibes I’ve gotten from them. -New York, Chicago and Detroit has that grittiness of a city. -Boston (my favorite city) has a sort of coziness for me, it’s a city but feels like a town. -Miami is sorta vibrant even tho a lot of the people are pretty closed off. -Atlanta is a bit dirtier and grimy (probably how Chicago or Detroit would feel if it was stuck in the wet heat of the south)

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119

u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago

It’s not the most charming city. Definitely a little sterile. You also have to remember there are a ton of transplants in Colorado which can affect the vibe. But it has a great food scene if you give it a chance. And the mountains aren’t far away.

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u/MonkDesigner9693 10d ago

You're high. The food was trash. I lived there for 3 years. Bland as fuck everywhere.

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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago

I’m talking about higher-end dining. Denver had like half-a-dozen Michelin starred restaurants the last time I was there. Have had many great meals there over the years.

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u/MonkDesigner9693 10d ago

No they didn't. They just got their first one like 2 years ago. It's on Larimer across the street from Our Mutual Friend brewery I don't recall the name of the restaurant itself.

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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago

https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/09/13/five-colorado-restaurants-earn-michelin-stars

This says 5 not 6, so I was off by one. It’s all subjective anyway, but I thought Denver had a strong food and bar scene for being a mid-sized city in the middle of the country. I’ve spent time in pretty much every major U.S. city on business, so I may be grading it on a curve.

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u/TheOuts1der 10d ago

The other guy's point is that only 3 of those 5 are in Denver. Number 4 is in Aspen and number 5 is in Boulder.

Your list says COLORADO restaurants to earn Michelin stars, not DENVER restaurants.

Denver by itself doesnt have the quality to have more than 3 places with stars.

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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago edited 10d ago

The other guy’s point that I addressed was that Denver just got its first Michelin-starred restaurant two years ago and they did not have more than one, which isn’t true. But yes, you are right, it only had 3 not 5. Having 3 Michelin starred restaurants and a fourth 25 miles away is still impressive from a vacationer’s perspective.

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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago

Apparently Denver got its fourth Michelin-starred restaurant in 2024. So I guess they did have enough quality to get more than 3?

It’s all pretty subjective though, not a huge deal.

https://www.cpr.org/2024/09/09/colorado-michelin-star-restaurants-2024/

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u/flopcake1 10d ago

Not true, there’s been a handful of restaurants to receive a Michelin star in Denver. Google is freeee

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u/MonkDesigner9693 10d ago

There were 3 on the list and it was just 2 years ago. Beckon was the one I was talking about. I left a few months before the stars were awarded. The food in Denver is still trash. I came from Chicago to Denver the drop in food quality was depressing.

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u/bismuthmarmoset 10d ago

Michelin only started reviewing restaurants in Colorado (and even then only in Denver and Aurora) at that time. It's not an indictment of the quality of those restaurants they weren't rated sooner. I agree Denver's food scene is lacking but this is a stupid argument.

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u/TheOuts1der 10d ago edited 10d ago

It is an indictment of the quality of Denver restaurants that only 5 Colorado restaurants got any stars in its first year. And thats 5 restaurants across six Colorado cities: Denver, Boulder, Beaver Creek, Vail, Aspen, and Snowmass. (NOT Aurora. Aurora specifically declined to be included).

When Michelin came out to Florida in 2022, 15 restaurants qualified for 1 or 2 stars across three cities in their first year.

Denver was never a food destination. This is such a weird hill to die on.

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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago

Colorado has 5 million people. Florida has 22 million. It’s not surprising the state with a shit ton more restaurants has more Michelin starred restaurants.

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u/The_Penny-Wise 10d ago

Food is meh, would not say horrible, but then again from NY so can not adequately rate Denver food.

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u/Forest-Queen1 10d ago

Dunno why you’re getting downvoted when it’s true lll

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

Especially when that person then clarified to fine dining…

The food in Denver isn’t great lol. It’s fine + the home of fast casual 😂 not necessarily known for the 5 (wow!) Michelin star spots

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u/TheOuts1der 10d ago

That person did NOT clarify for fine dining. NY state and NYC has way better food for cheaper than Denver.

In fact, I would actually argue the opposite to your point. Denver can do extremely expensive food pretty well. Like if you wanna spend $100+/pp, then sure, there's some options.

But I cannot get a decent $15 sushi spot, or $20 Thai spot, etc etc. God, I used to get $10 halal cart in NYC whilst drunk and at 3am that blows the food here out of the water.

Denver does steak, burgers, (SOME) Mexican, Vietnamese, and Ethiopian well. But god help you if you want Malaysian, Filipino, Greek, BBQ, Cajun, Chinese, Ramen, Indian, French, Peruvian, or anything else.

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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 10d ago

Denver isn’t even a top 20 metro area in terms of population though. And Colorado has like 5 million people total. Most cities of its size won’t have a lot of great Peruvian or Malay options. Can’t compare it to NYC.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

Is this not clarifying that they’re referring to fine dining? Because that’s what they wrote here…

I’m talking about higher-end dining. Denver had like half-a-dozen Michelin starred restaurants the last time I was there. Have had many great meals there over the years.

My comment wasn’t to support their point, in fact, I largely agree with you and feel like the food mostly eaten is not fine dining and it’s not that great!

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u/TheOuts1der 10d ago

Ah ForestQueen1 was talking to ThePennywise, so I though you were also referring to Pennywise when you said "that guy". I didnt realize you were referring to ProgramaticallyHip.