Café Mercato — Restaurant in Denver

Food awesome, as always. Hostess would not allow my father to bring a wrapped gift for me to our table stating there was no room for gifts in dining area. On a chilly March night of the 14th, the hostess said she would have to seat us outside if we wanted to bring one box the size of a bread box approximately to a dining table. I thought she must be joking. I then anticipated before being seating a very cramped tiny uncomfortable table, maybe even a captain's table full of strangers if such a relatively small gift was not allowed in dining room. She went on to insist my 80 year old father carry the gift back to his car why my son and I were seated at a four top. Party of three at a four top. Gift would have easily of set in fourth chair without impeding anyone a adjacent tables or wait staff. As my son and I were seated and my father was putting my gift back in the car, I made a comment to the hostess that it seemed absurd to suggest there was no room for a wrapped gift just a bit larger than a shoe box at our table. She remained rude, detached, and actually, happy it seemed she won a power trip by disallowing gifts or celebrations at our table. It was so rude, it didn't matter to me the food was good. And our waiter was detached and disinterested in his job, although he spared us flat out mean like the hostess. I won't be back. If only the back of house is doing there job, and the front of the house could care less, then to me it seemed the whole experience was disjointed and not worth the sticker price. Just a nice front staff would have kept this place on my list of favorites. Rude. Really rude hostess. Ruined...

Review Time!! Went local for dinner.. this amazing Italian Restaurant is hidden and has never been a disappointment!!! When we want a fancy dinner and have a reason to splurge we come here! This place is Michelin Star worthy! Romatic vibe, indoors lit up by the fire brick oven and candles on every table. Indoor/Outdoor open concept onto their lovely out door patio. Neighborhood locals all over, walking to the across Biergarten, Airplane Museum or Ice Cream Shop and renting a Tandem bike riding around. Great vibe!! Our waiter Matt was so personable and hilarious. His customer service was impeccable!

Time for the food: We both decided to try something new this time, but my reason for going here is the memorable Gnocchi. I would drive hours to get this if I lived far. Best I've ever had! However, We started with a Bottle of Pinot Grigio ($44) and Bread w/Basalmic & Oil ($8). For Entreès We ordered the Braised Short Rib Ravioli in a Crimini Mushroom sauce ($24) and MY GOD if I ever imagined heaven in my mouth this IS IT!! We also ordered the Cioppino ($28) the brothy tomato sauce was so delicious, seafood so fresh and cooked to perfection. Nothing chewy or over cooked. Muscles, Clams, Octopus, Calamari, Shrimp and Fish danced in this broth with homemade spaghetti noodles. BOTH dishes so so so GOOD!! As if I could eat more, we finished with the Crème Brûlèe ($9)..

BEST CELEBRATION DINNER EVER!!!! Thank you to our waiter Matt for making it a great...

It was an incredibly busy night, so I'll try to give credit where it's due. The staff was up-beat amid the storm of hungry masses, still managing to offer solid, albeit slow, service. It took 15 minutes to get bread at our table, which was nearly jaw breaking it was so hard. The menu offered up some really delicious looking items but at horrifying prices. This is not a restaurant for casual eating: the cheapest item was $16, the average $20, and the upper range hit $25+. As a guy who averages $9 and change for decent meal, this was far above my price range. After waiting so long though, we were going to eat here no matter what. So I paid $18 for some tagliatelle, which amounted to a "fancy" Stroganoff. At that price I expected... more! More flavor, more food. Prepare to be disappointed. There was nothing special about my food, it tasted about as good as a bag of frozen Italian from the supermarket. Portions were embarrassingly small for everyone at the table. My girlfriend paid $20 for about 1 and 1/2 cups of Alfredo with 3 shrimp and the taste was nothing special. The food lacked the necessary wow factor to justify small portions and steep prices. The appetizer was well crafted, but small and could only tease the tastes of 4 people for $18, the price of much larger entree, which was still hardly enough to be...