Ash'Kara — Restaurant in Denver

This is an updated review from July 7, 2025:

There's no option for a 3.5 star but a 3 star would be unfair so I'm settling for a 4 star. The food here was as good as I expected and lived up to my experience from last year. The drinks too were fantastic. Had family visiting from NC and friends visiting from MO and IL. I had really hyped up about both, the food and service here. The food really lived up; everyone enjoyed the food. The service on the other hand honestly was shocking and a big let down.

Let's start with the good.

The star of the food was the lamb kofte. These were so good that we had some folks who don't eat lamb but tried it and loved it. It was juicy (not easy to pull off) and full of flavor. In spite of being juicy, it held very well together.

We ordered the trio mezze all of which were amazing however the quantity of the mezze for 8 people was really not enough (and sadly our server didn't suggest getting 2 of them. I really missed our server from last year, Kelsey who took excellent care of us giving us the right suggestions).

The zatar chicken which we ordered 2 of. The chicken itself was overcooked and dry. However the sauce it came with was OUT OF THIS WORLD. The sad thing is there was no spoon given to us to use for the sauce (and believe me, the chicken was dry enough that you did need to drizzle a good amount of the sauce) and by the time our server, Jonah, got around to seeing us when we requested the spoons, the chicken and gravy were already cold. Suggestion to the restaurant on this dish; by default, you MUST provide a spoon for the sauce.

The cauliflower tagine was as good as it was last year.

The zatar fries and dip that came with it were ok.

Now the bad which is sad it happened. Unlike the service we received last year, we were not taken care of at all this year. Guys, I'm not looking for someone coming in every second to check in on us. What I do expect is at least once to come in and check if everything is ok. While passing, at least check in on our table from time to time. Our server Jonah, just passed us by at least 10 times and since we were seated in the corner, it was very difficult for us to get his attention.

Honestly, this was a big let down (especially since I had spoken so much about the food and service to the family and friends).

If I went here again, I'd make sure we are not served by the same server. He was in his own world; kind of couldn't care...

The HH has some decent deals on food and drink, and cool atmosphere overall. When you order off the menu, order what you want and it will be good, but don't forget about the FRENCH FRIES. They are always cooked perfectly crispy, the sauce that comes with them is amazing, and add the chili sauce also if you want to add even more flavor (just learned that trick last night).

Changing my review to 5 stars. The fries, people, are amazing, the hot sauce is off the hook, and we always love our time here.

NEXT VISIT WITH PHOTOS: So...this is a place I never expected to like. This is not a food I thought I would dig. And who would have though that the french fries would be the best fries in the city (they really are, folks)? And, I am a husband, and my wife dragged me here, and now I drag HER here. The HH is fantastic. Wine is $8, Ratio Antidote is $5 (totally a deal for any HH), delicious olives (I hate olives but my wife lives for theirs) are $5, hummus is $5. The aioli is made with the hot sauce, but I recommend in still getting a side of the actual hot sauce ALSO. Trust me. I hope you get Sam as the bartender, as he is cooly laid back and smooth, yet off the target efficient. It is their corporate thing to do the 20% automatic service charge, and I complain, yet the places are still good enough of product that we still go there. Plus, say the word "Ashkara." What a cool word. We are not having kids, but I would definitely consider Ashkara if we hypothetically had a girl. You should too. Of course, if you gave her a nickname, it would be Ash, and that wouldn't fly. Let's move past that. Definitely recommend and...

The food is wonderful; however, the service is so entitled and bad. We dined here 3/18. We ordered several dishes at 8pm. By 9pm, we noticed that our server disappeared and we were now being waited on by a few different people including the manager. We noticed there seemed to be confusion and frustration amongst the staff, and we kept getting looks from several waitstaff, wondering what the problem was.

By 930 pm, we still hasn’t gotten a couple of our dishes. We were tired and asked for the check, deciding to forgo the dishes that still hadn’t come out. At that point, the manager became COMBATIVE with us. We stayed calm and just asked for the check. When the check arrived, there was a mandatory “gratuity” of 20% for a party of 5 people!

I explained to the manager that I really did not feel a 20% gratuity was earned, and provided examples of why. She still was unable to explain why some of our food never showed up, other than “some trouble in the back”. She snapped at us that the gratuity is a “living wage divided by all staff to support them for their work being done”. I said that’s great and I would be happy to pay it IF we actually got the service it’s given for! She condescendingly began arguing with me and told me this would be the last time they would serve us! As if we did something wrong by asking where our food that we ordered almost two hours ago was! So unprofessional, entitled, and terrible customer treatment. There are a million places to dine in Denver. I recommend choosing one that is...