Barolo Grill — Restaurant in Denver

I rarely leave reviews, but in this case I truly hope the staff will take notice.

We visited this restaurant last night. We came with high expectations, but the experience turned out to be so disappointing that it was honestly one of the worst restaurants we’ve ever been to.

Let me start with the design: the place feels very outdated.

Drinks. We were offered three different wines to taste, recommended by our server. I should mention that they do have a sommelier, but he only assists if you’re buying a full bottle. If you want to order wine by the glass, he won’t consult you. The wines we tried tasted cheap and flat, despite the waiter assuring us that they were excellent. In the end, we ordered two cocktails, which were very mediocre.

Food. For the appetizer, we had octopus. What we received was just two small boiled tentacles with undercooked white beans. Octopus with beans?? The combination was unpleasant and made little sense.

For the mains, we tried the risotto with coffee and beer caramel. It was unusual and not bad, but the flavor of beer mixed with espresso felt out of place. As for the duck, we were told this dish has been prepared the same way for 32 years. Unfortunately, it was completely flavorless — just boiled duck covered in sauce with some boiled vegetables on the side.

Of course, we will not be coming back. It was overpriced and tasteless.

Reading other reviews, I can’t help but feel that many of them must be purchased or heavily biased. At least most of them don’t reflect what we experienced. There are many far better restaurants in Denver with much lower ratings and far more authentic reviews.

Amendment:

I am a restaurateur and the owner of several restaurants, so I can stand behind every word I say. Having traveled the world and experienced many different establishments, I can confidently state that your restaurant left a very disappointing impression: cheap and tasteless wine, mediocre food, and an outdated design.

Look at the restaurants that have been awarded Michelin stars: they are recognized not only for the quality of their cuisine, but also for the uniqueness of their chef’s creations, rather than for borrowing dishes from other establishments. In this case, I truly do not understand why this restaurant has received Michelin recommendations.

I would also like to point out that there are many respectable restaurants that invest in their concept, design, and atmosphere, thereby showing respect for their guests. Here, however, it feels careless and lacking in attention to detail. The wine was indeed cheap and unpleasant — I would strongly recommend reconsidering the work of your sommelier.

It is not very nice to resort to personal attacks and try to justify your shortcomings with someone else's bias.

I can ask our chef to give you free recommendations on how to improve your dishes. And what to replace those disgusting boiled...

My husband and I had a fantastic expierence here. We parked around the corner but they do have a small parking lot. When we walked in we were greeted and seated immediately. We ordered the Monte Cassino drink to start, I am not a Burbon fan but my husband love it and we look forward to attempting to make it at home. We received a delicious warm bread for starters. My husband complained there was no butter but I thought the olive oil showed throughout it and didn't need butter. When it came to the meal I ordered the wine pairing with mine which some of the pairings I didn't really get but that's most likely my lack of inexperience with wine. ‘Super’ caprese so delicious, I had a hard time getting the taste of balsamic through the pearls but presentation was 10/10. This was the wine that I believe came with it Rosato of Nebbiolo ‘Rusin’ Ioppa 2021 Piemonte this was a delicious wine however I did not feel as if there was much of a balsamic flavor from the dish for this wine to cut through it. Soufflé di formaggio was really good. I have a hard time eating gorgonzola but my husband loved the taste and fluffliness. Agnolotti di mais with the Langhe Chardonnay was delicious a great pairing. Rigatoni ai frutti di mare was delicious as well my husband and I are still expierementing with octopus so it was fun to try. On to my favorite dish, Maiale, omg I thought this dish was the most amazing the pork was like butter and the Brunello di Montalcino was delicious. My husband got the duck which was really good but I loved the pork - Bravo Barolo. Lastly for dessert my husband ordered the granite which he loved but we were so stuffed by this point it was hard to eat anything else. I ordered the mousse and there was some confusion with the wine because she brought out a d'asti but I asked her about it and she realized it was the wrong pairing and corrected it and brought out the Vin Santo, Badia di Morrona 2015 Toscana. This was a great pairing and as much as I liked this wine the 2021 Piemonte she brought out was so amazing I'm glad the mistake was made. :) So overall food was absolutely delicious and the service was even better. I already forgot her name but it was her first week and I would come back just to have her serve us again she was so polite and knowledgeable. We had a conversation about olives be abuse my husband hates them and I love them so she took the time to get us some olives to try which was just above and beyond for her to do. It made the expierence...

Update - 10/01/2022 - Had a great chat with the GM (I think?) and he explained some of the plating challenges with meat, particularly, versus pastas, etc. He said he'd send me something in the mail as a gesture, which I appreciated. Sure enough, it arrived (great) and when I opened it, I was a little take aback, and not in a good way - keep in mind that Barolo's "spendy" by most people's estimations.

Given that I'd already had two full meals plus wine, and had issues with both of them, I thought I'd get one meal's equivalent comp'd....but apparently my business is not that important to them, which is fascinating and frankly, disappointing. The amount of the gift certificate/card was...wait for it...$50...heh, well, ok. The review stays at 3 stars and I have a renewed commitment to avoid eating there anytime soon, sadly.

Barolo is a 5-star restaurant that seems intent on fumbling its way to three stars.

Stellar service, stellar wine list, fantastic plating...

But I've been twice in the last 6 months and BOTH times the kitchen refused to make the main course of port tenderloin or beef hot (enough). Why is this hard? Medium-rare pork or beef should be as hot as everything else on the plate - um, McDonald's can do this, other restaurants in Cherry Creek have discovered how to do this, but Barolo's kitchen digs in their heels when it comes to adequate main-course heating, at least in my limited experience.

Given the potential for 5 stars and the price point, they get three stars for such an obvious deficiency.

To be clear, I sent back the main course my last time and my server apologetically said that the kitchen was doing this on purpose (i.e., they thought it was the appropriate serving temperature). Um, no, it's not - this isn't just a case of "the customer is always right," this is simply strange.

Barolo, fix this and I'm happy to give you 5 stars and recommend you to my friends and family in the Denver area. Otherwise, I will continue to mention this subpar experience to literally everyone who asks for a great Italian restaurant. Your front-of-house staff are killin' it and the food is almost perfect...super...