A5 Steakhouse — Restaurant in Denver

As someone who has worked a variety of service based jobs, I’m not often one to criticize businesses or staff as a whole. While the food was alright- the experience here left such a bad taste in my mouth I did not feel the need to order more or finish everything we got. When you check into a restaurant with one host about 20 minutes early and decide to go wait in your car, you would expect when you walk up to the same hostess she’d remember you had a reservation. Not expecting the host anywhere to remember specific names, times or tables even, but to have been ushered to the bar with no update on the table is a bit odd. Assuming we were waiting for our table to be cleaned, we ordered drinks and told the three bar tenders- who all separately asked for our order- that we were waiting for our table. I’ve received a third email expressing how I may be charged $20 for missing the reservation, now I’m concerned. The last bar tender asks us if we have a reservation and why we were waiting, assuming for more party members or early check in. She goes off to find the manager, who is never found, but tells us we can go sit at our table and she’ll transfer our drinks over to that tab. We’re standing in the walkway now, while the bartender goes back behind the bar and starts opening a bottle for a different customer. Then she turns to point us to a table in the corner that is still being set up by the host we check in with two times. It’s slightly inconvenient but we sit down and we think the food is going to be as great as everyone says and that nothing else could go wrong. When the waitress approaches us about 10 minutes after sitting down she apologizes for the wait and we order another drink from the menu provided ( a completely different drink menu then the one we had at the bar???), nonetheless after waiting yet another ten minutes for the second drink, we order the food. We anticipated a long wait for the food so we assume now everything will be back on track, we’ll have some amazing food, celebrate my partners birthday and leave happy. I’m getting progressively concerned and make a comment to my partner that surely nothing else can go wrong. Food comes out, it’s good, not at all a 5 star meal and overall tasted fairly bland without the $8 extra add on sauces, but nonetheless it’s edible. Now we’ve seen the manager walk by and chat with every single table in our sight multiple times, from bringing food, checking on them, having conversations, taking pictures with and for them, it was obvious he was making his way around the room. I saw that manager twice, once in passing on his way to another table he asked if everything was tasting okay, we said yes as nothing was bad, and I was not willing to wait another two hours at this restaurant for lower than average service and okay food. The second time he comes back to offer us a free dessert because he “heard we’re celebrating a birthday” we get the dessert, nothing to write home about, not warm not cold, just okay but it’s free so why complain. At this point, while sitting at our reserved table, in total I’ve seen a staff member (waitress, manager, buster) a handful of times. I’m over it and would like to leave, allow myself and my partner to thank the staff, add extra trip to their already included 20% service fee, and we leave. I would not recommend this place if you want to have a good experience. We were paying customers with reservations who were told multiple times the tables were reserved for reservations, which we had. The food is not worth the terrible service. I’m sure if we were a group of six men with a bill over $700 they would’ve treated us...

I had to mourn the loss of Morin in this space. Max's restaurant was poised to be one of the best in Denver, if not the region with thoughtful food, a best-in-class beverage program, and impeccable service. When they announced that it was going to convert to a steakhouse, I was skeptical. As a straight-white-dude I'm an apex-predator in those spaces, and Denver doesn't need anymore of them, we have enough already. If you want to eat average commodity beef, have stuffy service, and drink wine that has less soul than the US Senate, pick your choice, because A5 isn't any of those. The team goes out of their way to source great beef (and it shows) with call-outs on the menu to ranches that they work with, the wine list maintains Morin's ethos of working with honest winemakers, the bar program has impeccably executed classics with a few tropical drinks snuck in for variety and fun factor.

We ordered all of the raw bar selections (best oysters in Denver, Uni aguachile, lobster tail and a shell fish escabeche), followed it with snacks. The Wedge Salad is a plate-sized disk of crispy iceberg, a crunchy mix of nuts and seeds, and bits of crispy pancetta. The creamy dressing is studded with roquefort (not some BS blue cheese crumbles). We followed with steaks, not wanting to order all of them, we stuck with their appropriately sized NY Strip at 30oz sourced from Creekstone Farms, The Denver Steak from Black Hawk Farms, and the Bavette from Strube Ranch, we wanted to try three different steaks from 3 different producers. The Strip was most traditional with the prime cut being unctuous and beefy. The Denver Steak was both rich and toothsome, appropriate since it is cut out of the chuck primal. The bavette had a little funk and was supremely beefy. Sides are both familiar and exciting. Don't sleep on the croquettes or French fries the chef has a way with potatoes.

Desserts were simple, but satisfying since at this point we were hitting the wall. The server recommended a splash of Fernet to finish and it was graciously needed.

The atmosphere is transportive, lush wall paper and great lighting, there can be a bit of a bar scene but sitting further in the dining room would probably be a bit more quiet. Music ranged from Motown and Disco hits that fit the vibe. Service was professional, but still warm and attentive. It fit the vibe, from the start to the finish it was like everyone was rooting for us to have...

Visited here as two couples, as part of our new resolve to tour the top restaurants in Denver. And, yes, I can see why A5 was on the list.

FOOD - Everything I tasted was top-shelf good. We had an amazing Japanese curry poutine (!) as a starter (the other three also had Oysters Rockefeller; not my bag, but they all made yummy noises). We eschewed the sides and salads (though there were numerous things there that looked good) to go straight through to steak.

We shared a massive Porterhouse steak between the four of us -- priced as such, but everyone had their fill. The meat was cooked just as we ordered (medium rare). The sauces and special bone marrow/alliums accompaniment all added to the meaty bliss.

We skipped desserts (a fairly scant menu) in favor of some good coffee.

DRINK - A wide array of elegant cocktails were on the drink menu. We tried four separate ones, and each was very, very good.

The wine list was long enough to feel luxurious, short enough to not feel overwhelmed. Prices were high, but the cab we got went very nicely with the steak.

SERVICE - We had a very helpful and friendly waiter. The only negative I could say here is that service got slower as the restaurant filled up; the interval between entree being finished and dessert menus being presented and coffees ordered and coffees delivered was ever-increasing to the point of being mildly annoying.

A 20% service charge is included in the meal price; further tipping for exceptional service is accepted, but not expected.

AMBIANCE - Seating was comfortable. Places were well lit (esp. with the little lamps on each table). The place was a bit busier, and with tighter (though not cramped) seating, that I would expect for the food and service delivered (and the prices paid). The noise level got substantial enough to cover the background music, but never to the point we could not hear each other.

All told, it's not a place I would necessarily bring someone for a romantic dinner for two.

VALUE - So this place charges top dollar. The four of us, with cocktails and wine, plus service charge, dropped about $700, and could easily have dropped more if we'd done salad, sides, dessert, more wine, more cocktails. So ... not a place I would casually go.

I could see coming for a very special occasion, though, because net-net I think we got our...