Bastien's Restaurant — Restaurant in Denver

Authentic, Outrageous, Old-School, Awesome! Come one and come all to Bastien's and enjoy food like it was once served long ago. I grew up in the restaurant business, so I love getting the chance to visit an authentic 🥩steak house. Bastien's is located in the heart of Denver, off Colfax, so it's easy to get there.

I walked in, apparently to the bar, and all the employees were waiting for customers. It was about 5:00 PM on a Sunday night. I guess that's a good time, because during the evening, I overheard they get busy at night.

Rachael, the bartender, was my server since I elected to sit at the crazy bar where every bar seat is super short, but the bartender is behind the bar, and down a few stairs, so it works.

I ordered my food and got to chat with Rachael for a bit, and I could tell, right away, the management is good. There's an easy going vibe about Bastien's I really enjoyed.

Rachael brought out the shrimp mushroom appetizer and I ate it all. So buttery and good. The second course was a caesars salad. This is no ordinary caesar, however, they roast the romaine over a smokey grill before drizzling over the dressing. Outrageously good!

I ordered some Pinot Noir for dinner because I knew the sugar steak was coming.

Just then, some locals came in, and after a few conversations with Rachael, Barry and Paula, the locals, were ready to chat with me. I ended up sitting and talking with Barry and Paula for 2 hours during dinner. Felt like I knew them when I left.

The sugar steak came and I dug in. Ten ounce strip steak. Mashed potatoes and gravy on the side. Sautéed vegetables with an edible flower over the top. So much color in the presentation. The steak was not as sugary as I expected. It was smokey, carmely, and salty. Trifecta of flavors entered my mouth when I ate the steak.

Bastien's has my favorite dessert on the menu; boston creme pie. I ordered a slice. Rachael brought me some coffee while I waited for the pie. My slice was huge and it was adorned with whipped cream. I could only eat a few bites, but to my surprise, Barry and Paula tried some when I offered.

Overall, I had an awesome evening of food, wine, sharing, & conversation. I cannot wait to go back when I'm in Denver next time.

If you are not in a hurry and want an old-school dining experience, I highly encourage visiting...

We walked in and were seated right away. - Bonus!

At first the waitress was nice and chatted with us and told us about specials.

We ordered the $52 Ribeye. It came out and was super tough and chewy. If I am paying $52 for a steak, that thing had better melt in my mouth like butter!

We never could get the attention of our server again the rest of the night! We flagged down a different server who sent back the steak and ordered the NY Strip steak instead. (We were afraid all ribeyes would be tough). Keep in mind the NY Strip is $39. ($13 less then the ribeye).

We finished dinner. Sat for what seemed like an hour. We wanted to order dessert as it was my birthday dinner. But after sitting forever and waiting, we were over the entire experience and opted to get the check.

Again, we never could get our server, so we asked a different server for the check. We also asked for a military discount.

When the check came, they had charged us for 2 steak dinners (we ordered 1) charged us extra for sides that are supposed to come with the meal and over charged us by $5 for the Strip steak. The check she added up was over $165! What we ordered was only $65!

I got out my calculator and figured out the weird math she did actually ended up coming to $65 with $5 something tax.

So, we actually did not get a military discount, which was fine. But don't act like you gave us a discount when you didn't. Just state you don't give discounts. Don't do a manipulative math thing to try and make me believe you gave us a discount. I am more savvy than that!

It turned into an uncomfortable, awkward dinner experience because the waitress went from nice to GHOST. And the rest of the experience was horrible.

After she brought back the credit card after we paid, the waitress literally said "Good luck with that". I have no idea what that statement was about.

Maybe she was having an "off" night. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. But honestly I think because we only ordered one meal, she thought we must be poor or unable to afford two meals and wouldn't be good tippers. HUGE mistake! We tip super good when service warrants it! Don't judge a book by its cover! The tip we left reflected that bad attitude and ghosting trick.

The food was good. Service = TWO...

Though it was our first time, Bastien's is an "old tradition" here in Denver, for better and worse.

The better is that it feels like a classic steakhouse -- not trying to be super-snooty fancy or pretentious. And its longevity shows they know what they are doing. The menu has something for everyone (except for the couple who came in and then immediately left because she didn't see a non-beef dish she wanted), but it pretty straightforward. On the steak side you can get NY Strip, Rib-Eye, or Filet Mignon, with a dozen different preparations, including their famous "sugar steak".

The worse is ... well, the place is more than a little worn. There's a lot of dust in the grillwork by the lower floor booths. Wires run through weird places. Antique decor clips still show up where they oughtn't. The place could use a freshening up.

The service was very good -- slow at times (they were apparently slammed with more guests than expected for a Wednesday night), but friendly and helpful in an "old school" comfortable way.

We had multiple cocktails from the menu. All were well done.

Foodwise things were mixed, though overall good. I went for the "sugar steak" -- grilling with sugar to give a sweet crust to the meat. An interesting technique, but, I decided, not my cuppa. But there were plenty of other options for the next time there. My ribeye was a little tough. The twice-baked potato was not as cheesy as expected, but the mashed potatoes were quite good, and the steak fries awesome. The mixed veggies were good, and the french onion soup a smash. Only one dessert was ordered, the chocolate cake, but it was huge (all three of us nibbled off of it and were content).

Overall, I'd give this a 4.5; 4 downplays some great elements here, 5 ignores some flaws. I'll round up, though, for the experience. Dinner wasn't cheap, but we felt we got value for the money. It's not in our part of Denver, but we'll definitely remember Bastien's for another...