Coark Collective Food Hall — Restaurant in Centennial

Went here during its soft opening so I haven't been back to see any of the changes and/or improvements they made for the grand opening. The whole process was kinda chaotic in my opinion. As you enter the building, you stand in line to order from the registers. They had QR codes you could scan while you were waiting to look at the menu, but their menus weren't loading so you had to wait until you got to the registers anyway to order what you wanted. After paying, the hall splits left and right where there are tables and seats. Once you grabbed a table, you had to wait until they yelled out your name, and you had to listen closely as they were competing with the rest of the voices in the hall. It was better to wait in the general vicinity of where your food was gonna come from so you could hear them better.

As for the food, they were okay. Got the bibimbap since it was something familiar. It had very little rice, very little meat, not enough gochujang sauce, but plenty of vegetables. I was slightly disappointed with this offering since I'm used to the bibimbap served in the stone bowls where there's plenty of rice, meat, sauce, veggies, and an egg. So, I'm hoping this place changed it up some since the grand opening. The Mad Spicy Toast was good, but a bit deceiving since the menu had 3 chili peppers next to it but it wasn't all that spicy to me. It's comprised of toast, ham, and gochujang sauce. Nothing completely special about this that'll blow your mind. The chocolate banana croffle was delicious. Serving was pretty big so you can share it with others; just make sure to use a knife. The croffle did have the consistency of croissant dough and had the mouth feel of one even though it was shaped like a rectangular waffle. Plenty of whipped chocolate (tasted like mousse?) covered the croffle with sliced bananas interspersed over the top. If you're in the mood for a pastry dessert, then Croffle Haven is where you want to go. I also had a Sikhye slushy (rice slush) from 3456 tea that was really good. It's sweet and bits of chewy rice floating around in the slush. It tasted similar to horchata but without the cinnamon. Coincidentally, they offer a cinnamon slush and said they could mix the two to create the horchata flavor. I was told that all of their drinks are made in-house.

I'll try to go back one of these days to see if any improvements were made from the soft opening to the grand opening as well as try some other menu...

Was very excited to check this place out. It's pretty darn confusing to know which logo to look for for your food when it's ready. I stood at the counter when my number came up. At the counter that I thought my food was at. Well it turns out I was right. However, I stood there for a couple of minutes because there was no clear way to know that it was my order. I didn't want to take anybody else's food. The staff that was there was just talking amongst themselves while I looked super confused. So upon examining closer, the name that I had saw on the receipt was actually of the server. Was sort of expecting my name. One of the reasons is that there is no servers. There are order takers but definitely no servers.

All in all the food was just okay. Nothing like Taste of Thailand on South Broadway. Admittedly, that's pretty lofty expectations. But I really did expect more. And this ordering system really needs to figure out a way to make it easier for the people looking for their food. I understand that if you are sitting in a board meeting and discussing how it should go, that this might make sense. But trying it as a customer who is not as familiar with the building and the logos and staff who won't acknowledge you.... It makes it pretty difficult.

Also, there is no liquor license at all. So I guess my final synopsis would be... If I were not interested in having a drink and I had a pretty good idea of how the order system already works here and I had a bunch of kids with me. This is where I would go.

Otherwise, they got a bit of work to do.

Lastly and maybe this is a me thing. What in the heck does PIF mean? In my industry, which is retail it means paid in full. Why would I be charged a fee for paying in full in cash? I would love to hear what this means and why I haven't seen it on a single receipt in the entire state. This coming from a guy who eats out four to five times a week and was born and raised here. Still never saw it. If it doesn't mean paid in full and it's an actual tax of some kind. I would absolutely rename it to whatever in the heck it's...

Swang by CoArk & enjoyed it! They’re new so there are some little logistical bumps that could be worked around, but that’s to be expected. I think the ordering system needs huge improvement for something at this scale. Currently all the restaurants yell out your name when your order is ready- but this can’t work if there are lots of people visiting or if you order from multiple stalls. Maybe a buzzer or phone alert system could improve this?

We tried to get something from everyone, and overall enjoyed the experience. It’s casual, and a cool place to just hang & grab varieties of food.

Rice slush from 3456 we loved! I love a good rice punch.

Kimbap - classic, homey, cozy! Had the tunamayo & the cheese.

Gomtang ramyeon - flavored nicely, good for a quick ramen! A casual bite! Also a hearty helping of meat in a small bowl. Not a restaurant tier ramen, more like an instant noodle/street food.

Katsu curry - good fry!! Moist pork.

Overall I think CoArk is a welcome addition to the Asian food scene. It does what a food hall should do; offer a ton of food variety in a communal space! In general, food halls aren’t intended to make spectacular over the top food. I think the most important thing to remember & recognize is that Colorado is far & few in Asian communities. It was really cool to come here & see lots of Asian people get to come together & feel at home! We need more places like this in order to shift the cuisine here + encourage small AAPI businesses. This way we can get even MORE cool places that push the concept of Asian food in Colorado...