State House — Restaurant in Commerce City

This review is from Sunday, June 26, 2022. I recently edited a typo in my review, and then Google updated the review to today, June 28, 2025.

When they first opened three years ago, their food menu and beer list was terrible - short menu, nothing special, below average flavors, and no vegetarian entrées for my spouse. They also always seemed to run out of items on the menu and behind the bar (and this was pre-pandemic). So after trying it out a number of times, we decided not to go back - it was just too annoying to go there and constantly be told they ran out of something.

Recently, however, I read some reviews, and people were saying they've expanded the menu and elevated the food. So we decided to check them out again. We went two nights ago: the food was delicious and they had new craft beers. That said, they still don't know how to keep enough food and drinks in stock. They told us they were out of cucumber vodka (for a signature cocktail on their drink menu), chicken wings, two of the draft beers we tried to order, and a couple of other menu items.

Nonetheless, we decided to go back again last night (second night in a row) to watch the Stanley Cup (Game 6). They have a great patio with a gas fire pit, they allow dogs on the patio (which is awesome), and we live right in the neighborhood. Plus they have tons of large-screen TVs inside, although on the patio they only had two smaller TVs, which is sort of annoying if you go to watch a game outside with your dog, like we did.

And once again they ran out of food (second night in a row). The game started at 6 p.m., so we arrive at 5:30 p.m. to get a patio table. When we first sat down, we heard them tell the table next to us that the NY Strip steak was already out, along with a couple other menu items; and then the chicken wings ran out BEFORE 6:30pm. Like what?! It's a game night and the place was at about 85% capacity (not ridiculously busy, but predictably busy given it's a game night). Oh, and the night before our server told us to arrive a little early for the hockey game because they knew they would be busy - and they still ran out of food (including wings) before the first period even ended.

Notably, they did have wings available when we first got there, so they weren't still out from the night before. And the two beers that were out from the night before were now available.

The staff was always kind and apologetic; but the management blamed the wing shortage on some unknown table who "ordered more than we expected." (Come on, man; you ran out of wings by 6:30 p.m. on Stanley Cup game night - before the first period was even over; don't blame other customers for ordering too many wings.)

I did wonder if I walked over to King Soopers and brought back 20 lbs. of wings whether the kitchen would fry 'em up for all of us hanging out on the patio. :)

We had such high hopes for a new patio restaurant nearby. And the patio is great, but it'll be a while before we go back. There are just so many other better places that are always dependable and reliable. It's too bad we can't drive 6 blocks over for a lovely patio AND good food that they don't run out of, but they just can't seem to find someone who knows the basics of running a restaurant kitchen.

Attached is a photo of the sunset mountain view from their patio. It was...

UPDATED 2 VISIT!! I recently ordered takeout from State House Restaurant in Commerce City, and overall, it was a mixed experience. The Chicken fried chicken was a HUGE disappointment—it was small (the same size as the chicken sandwich), burnt, and definitely not worth the $18 price tag. The sausage gravy that came with it was also extremely bland, which didn’t help.

The Nashville chicken sandwich had potential, but the breading was poorly done, making it less enjoyable than expected. On the other hand, the Cheeseburger was nicely cooked, and the Cajun Wings were the highlight of the meal—perfectly prepared and full of flavor! The side salad was fresh, and I really enjoyed the spicy blue cheese dressing. The fries and tots were also a nice touch to an otherwise mediocre meal.

As for the restaurant itself, the inside was very clean, and the manager was extremely friendly, which I appreciated. However, the front doors were surprisingly heavy, making it awkward to get in and out—definitely something to keep in mind if you’re carrying a big takeout order.

Overall, it was a hit-or-miss experience. Some dishes were great, while others fell flat, especially given the price. I’d consider giving them another try, but with different menu choices.

REVIEW #1 I think its better than a 3 but not quite a 4, but i gave it a four. State House 38 is a bar/tavern style restaurant. It has a nice full bar and a wide open layout. Lots of windows and high ceilings. Cool vintage Denver/Colorado decor and old photos. Food wise they have classic bar food that seems maybe a little elevated. We started with potato skins and a salad. The potato skins are thick and still have a good amount of potato in them. Topped with melted cheese and some bacon crumbles, they're just ok. The extra potato on the skin is a kind of dry and they taste pretty bland. They definitely needed salt and either sour cream or ranch to counteract the dryness. Salad was mixed greens with some red onion. Classic restaurant mistake where they put far too much salad on a little plate. Every bite knocks stuff off the plate onto the table. I had the special, The Above The Bar Burger. A burger topped with blackberry jam, bacon, green chili cream cheese and fried onions. Ordered medium and it came pretty close. A little over. The burger was good. The meat is bland and under seasoned and could have used some more of the jam. The fries were GREAT! Crispy on the outside and fluffy potato goodness on the inside! Well seasoned and very fresh tasting! We also had the Reuben which was good, but barely has any meat on it. Definitely could have had at least doubled the meat and still not been overwhelming. About $70 for lunch which is about what it costs most places for 2 lunches, an appetizer and 2 non-alcoholic drinks. The service was great, she very attentive and quick to check in often. Worth a...

Update to add: service is still hit or miss. Nearly the first people in for brunch and it took 40 min to get food. Our waitress checked on us exactly once after bringing out the food leaving us just waiting for a check. Mac and cheese is tasty but it's definitely a soup with how runny it consistently is. We really want to love this place and they make it super hard.

We just checked out the new menu last night and the food was so much better! Still some room for improvement - the queso with our pretzel bites was grainy and my Mac and cheese was a bit watery. However, the flavor was so much better than before. I can happily say I'd get the buffalo chicken Mac and cheese again for sure!

Not to mention we got a pretzel appetizer last time we were there several months ago and it didn't even come with pretzels, just some bread that was cooked wildly differently each bite and was 100% not a pretzel. While our bites last night could have been salted better to hold onto the salt, they were delicious little pretzel bread bites!

On top of the food improvement (the rest of the menu actually sounded super appealing too), service was excellent. Our waitress was so nice, our food came out correct and quickly on the first try, and there were no issues with our check.

We used to come to State House once every six months hoping it had improved because it is one of the few non-fast food places in Reunion. I think it's finally reach the point of actually being somewhere we WANT to go back to. We'll certainly be there again soon!

++++++ PRIOR REVIEW+++++

The service is super hit or miss and the food is always "meh". I still really miss their BBQ menu and I can't figure out why they abandoned their most appealing options.

I've been a few times and had experiences of needing to send at least one item back each time for being completely incorrect. In two of those instances, I ended up with an issue on my bill where I was charged for both the correct and incorrect item... And getting the bill sorted took ages longer than it should have.

On one occasion, we were completely forgotten about for about 30 min -- our waitress took our order and forgot to hit "enter" on her computer when she submitted it to the kitchen so it didn't get made and she hadn't come by to check on us and see. They didn't even offer any comp for the lack of service which wasn't a huge deal but would have been nice (especially since this lumped in with one of the times a wrong item was delivered leading to further delay to eat and resulted in issues with the bill).

I don't imagine we'll be coming back here unless there's an announcement of new management or otherwise major changes to how the...