HiLo An American Eatery — Restaurant in Colorado

We tried this place with high hopes because of all the great reviews. We were immediately disappointed that everyone on staff was not wearing masks. There is no mandate but staff is exposed to people all day long and it just did not make us feel comfortable. We are vaccinated and are taking our own precautions, but its a nearly no-cost very small gesture to show you care about your customers, their comfortability and the greater community.

The menu items are all pretty basic home type cooked meals, nothing a decent home cook could not whip up on their own. With that said, I was expecting it to be something extra, but we were both disappointed by our appetizer and entrees. Our appetizer of the burrata, was fine, but it was simply a burrata like one you could buy in the grocery store and a few different additions you could add, the pesto was ok, the pepper relish was ok, the olive "tapenade" was nothing more than some chopped up olives, and the bread was just blah, not even. a nice crust. The burrata cost more than the one at Osteria Marco which is handmade in house, hands down best burrata in town, and $1 cheaper than here. I got the cavatappi dish and it looked delicious but when I tasted it, it was super salty, I almost sent it back so salty. My wife got the mushroom ravioli with the pesto and spinach. It was also nearly inedibly salty. I think we may have had them sent back if anyone had come and asked us how our meals were, but that did not happen. Overall impression was that the entrees lacked on any wow factor, creativity and execution. At the $24 for any one entree, we would expect much better results.

We had a great bottle of wine, so kudos to whoever curated the list as we saw several selections on there that we knew were good, albeit again, a bit on the expensive side for the overall caliber of the restaurant in our opinion.

In the end, the bill before tip was $110 and left us disappointed and wishing we had gone to the Mexican place next door. We won't be going back and would not recommend it to others as there are much better options out there...

We debated posting this review, but after sharing our experience with our family members, we felt compelled to share. The experience we had was one of disbelief. Our appetizer was the Brussel sprouts, they were absolutely delicious. That's where the 2 stars comes from. My husband's pasta was very watery, but had a good flavor, very messy to eat. That's the other star. The main issue we had was with the ahi dinner. I grew up by the ocean, I've eaten many types of tuna. I've eaten tuna in this landlocked state, and have been pleasantly surprised at freshness. This was not one of those times. The consistency was grainy and it had a distinct aroma of ammonia. I thought, I'll just eat the rest of the app and have afew bites of my husband's pasta, and call it good, and share my feedback.The chef actually had the gall to have each of the staff taste my dinner, and come back to my table and tell me no one else tasted anything, and it must be me. I was stunned. I figured he say "is there anything else I can get", but he came back to my table to tell me it was me, not his food. I'm sure this doesn't happen often, but for us, we won't be back, and we won't share that this restaurant could be amazing if the chef/owner ate a little humble pie and treated his customers better. Edit to response: Again, it tasted off, and had a frozen texture (grainy). It was a bad piece of fish. You again are trying to say the fish was fresh and it was not. By you sharing that the staff did taste it, and they didn't think it was bad only solidifies my belief that you truly care about telling people it was fresh and I am the issue, not the ahi. I would have rather you shared with me that you sorry I wasn't happy, and left it at that. Because now, you're again trying to tell everyone it was fresh, and this ahi, in fact, was not. Just stop trying to defend what you did, it was a very poor way to treat your customers, especially first time patrons. Learn some customer service skills that do not berate, or belittle your clientele. Learn from this, and try to treat your customers better...

A Diamond in the Rough!

Not that Littleton is all that rough, but you don't normally look for a sleek, modern, true gourmet eatery in a Colorado Front Range town like this .... much less in essentially a strip-type mall on the outskirts of town.

Family run surely, and I believe we chatted with one of the owners after our (large) extended family lunch (of whom two families traveled to see our Local cousin) -- Wonderful, friendly woman who runs an impeccable front-of-shop, and who triples as booker, hostess & maitre-d'. (Next time we'll know one another's names!).

This is the kind of joint where the cleanliness, clean lines & well-dressed staff does not feel off-putting to those if us who are out for a casual lunch (dragging along a daughter's 3-month old). Quite the opposite ... our GREAT waiter could not have made our group feel more welcome & at ease.

The food? Fabulous. We're a pick & talk kind of group who can stretch appetizers, drinks & conversation over hours rather than 10-minute bites - and HiLo's staff let us go. We knocked out some unexpectedly fantastic appetizers like charcuterie platters, amazing Tuna Tartare and Burrata plates with house-made bread & chips -- then dove into everything from a a five-star Chicken Parm & Yellow Chicken Curry to 12" wood-fired Neopolitan-style pizzas. My Greek pizza was as good as any of my favorite Chicago joints.

Every little sauce, seasoning & plated extras were perfectly paired, and thoughtfully added. Believe me when I tell you, this place deserves your attention and, in our case certainly, repeat visits. We'll be back as often as we visit our new Grandbaby & family in the area -- perhaps next time in something other than shorts & a summer weight...