Chili Verde — Restaurant in Denver

I guess Ill be the dissenting opinion here. I just moved into a new neighborhood in Denver and decided due to the plethora of Mexican restaurants, I want to find the best one, by getting Steak Fajitas at each one. Naturally, I had to stop by the only one with 5 star reviews. I left not understanding the hype.

The service was not great. It took maybe 20 minutes before a waitress even approached us. Not a great start but who cares, she's probably busy. Bring me salsa and Ill be happy!

Which leads me to my first huge complaint. Salsa is the be-all and end-all of Mexican food for me. And their salsa is good, but they are oddly stingy about it. I thought it was a joke when they brought a small dish with (I am not exaggerating) maaaaybe 2 tablespoons of salsa..for two of us.

Not surprisingly, 4 minutes later I wanted more salsa and the waitress is no where to be seen. She brought two more rounds of salsa, each time me asking for "LOTS" of salsa and each time bringing back a couple more table spoons worth. Not a good start.

But onto the main issue with this place. I ordered the steak fajitas. They charge $13 which is a tad high for fajitas but not terrible. The issue is, much like their salsa, they bring a laughably small amount, probably about half of what you would get at any other Mexican restaurant. And no, they aren't twice as good. Half the fun of fajitas is having leftovers for the next day or two. You know how at every mexican restaurant ever, they bring out the exact same skillet and the entire thing is filled with meat and veggies, and they bring a separate plate full of sides? Not here! Here, they bring out the skillet, which is half full of meat/veggies and half full of sides. This is the first time Ive actually been able to eat an entire order by myself.

Overall, this place seems way overpriced unless your really want "fancy" mexican food, when there are tons of other places...

Super hopeful for a great experience, but that didn’t happen. We had a reservation for 5:45… around 6:10 I went to the bar to order drinks because no one has been by. I specifically asked for an NA Beer, the bartender said He had a Mexican Lager. Cool, ordered that with 3 margs (6:10ish.) We had the thought we should get food in because we had somewhere to be. Ordered at 6:15. We got the queso, it was cold and we asked for chips, didn’t get those. 6:35, went to get more drinks, at the bar, lord knows they didn’t come to the table. They tell me they don’t have NA Beer?!? What?! I ask the bartender, he tells me he thought I said “IPA.” And that he “was busy.” That they do not in fact have NA beer. This is HUGE!? This could ruin someone’s life, 3 other people heard him say he had an NA Mexican Lager. Trying to enjoy the night and not be a Karen, we let it go.

After returning to the bathroom one server asks how things are going. My response was something like, “when I ordered an NA Beer I was apparently not given an NA beer, we asked for chips 15 min ago, didn’t get those, and you said our food would be ready in 5 min yet I see no fajitas cooking.” The response by one server was, “have you even ordered yet.” The other server said, yeah you aren’t getting your food for at least 15 min but I can bring your chips. An hour and 15 min later we leave.

Of all the things that went wrong, I’m most disappointed in the fact they blew off the NA thing. Folks, don’t believe the bartender. I need to take my own advice and always see the bottle, but he so confidently said Mexican Lager and if you don’t drink, you know this is a common NA beer...

Went in on a whim craving some mole and OH BOY was I surprised! The host asked if we had a reservation (sadly we did not and they were busy) and was able to accommodate us at a shared table quickly. Our server was attentive, quick, and thoughtful.

10/10 chips & salsa and beans. Shoutout to Chili Verde for not smushing the beans in the bean dip and leaving them whole. They were very good but I’m not sure if they were vegetarian as they had a lil’ meaty taste. One of the salsas reminded me of an Asian style chili oil and it had a great amount of heat with some sweetness and surprise smokiness, it was delicious.

10/10 mole poblano. The chicken was tender and delicious and the mole tasted like it had been slow-cooked, for hours. I don’t want to compare them to anywhere else because it was truly one of the best moles I’ve had.

10/10 chile de nogada. I didn’t get this dish but my partner did and shared a few bites and I’m so happy I got to try it. Sweet/savory/meaty, it was a textural and taste paradise in a dish. Which is fitting, given its historical context.

All in all, do not sleep on this place and go try some of their great food and drinks TODAY. I wish we lived closer but now Chili Verde is going to be our go-to spot for out of town guests. Thank you...