Corsica Wine Bar — Restaurant in Denver

TL;DR, Go now while you have the chance because I'm sure once word spreads about their food, it'll be hard to get a reservation. Order the chips, frites, meatballs, branzino, beef brochettes, and tiramisu. Sit at the bar and chat with the staff.

We found this place on the second night of opening their doors. Corsica sits on a corner in RiNo not too far from its sister restaurant, Barcelona, and boasts French and Italian inspired tapas with a stunning wine and cocktail menu to match. We sat at the bar (open seating) and were immediately greeted by Meghan and she walked us through the menu of wines by the glass, cocktails, beers and aperitifs; their extensive wine by the bottle list, and the food menu, which consisted of four parts: apéro (small bites to enjoy with your first drink), then small plates of vegetables and meat, then a selection of pastas followed by meat and fish "main" plates, and finally, desserts.

We started with the salt and vinegar chips with chive aioli and the farm egg. The chips were OUTSTANDING, and I could have easily eaten my body weight in them, they are not to be missed, and although I enjoyed the the egg, I could see it not being for everyones pallete. We chatted with the Som, Austin, and he recommended a beautiful bottle of wine to pair with our next plates: meatballs, baked lumache, and Corsican frites. The meatballs were perfectly salty, charred, and paired with a bright red sauce, I highly recommend them. The frites were thick cut and cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside and buttery in the inside, and served with a Calabrian chili ketchup and aioli, also would not miss these. To finish, we opted for the branzino, pork milanese, and beef brochettes. The steak was melt in your mouth and served with a rich, green peppercorn sauce; the milanese was crunchy and paired with housemade pickled veggie, both great options, but the branzino...that was my favorite dish of the evening. The fish was exceptionally cooked with crispy skin and a kiss of char that played off the juxtaposition of the cool fregola tossed in a bright and refreshing pistachio pesto. Whatever you do, get the branzino. It was subtle and beautiful and exactly the kind of bite that made me sit back and savor its simplicity. How could something so simple be so damn good. After being blown away by dinner, we couldn't pass up dessert, and neither should you. Their tiramisu was one of the best I've had, not too sweet, not too creamy, well balanced, and a perfect end to our meal.

Even though our dinner was one of the best meals we've had in Denver, the night wouldn't have been the same without the fantastic FOH team. The bartenders Meghan, Meghan, Chance, and Caitlin, along with the Som, Austin, the GM, Michael, and Mimi (who I didn't get a chance to ask her position) were all incredibly friendly and knowledgeable and took the time to chat with us about the food, give their reccomendations, and made sure our glasses were never empty. I don't think I can say enough good things about this restaurant, and if you aren't already driving there, what are you even doing...

EDIT: Corsica Wine Bar Manager Mimi was kind enough to reach out and extend an invitation to come back to correct the rough experience my fiancé and I had during our second visit to Corsica. We couldn't have had a better experience this time around.

Our server Devin was one of the best servers we've had throughout our time in Denver. The food was immaculate as always, and overall the service experience was 10/10.

We left previously thinking we wouldn't return, and now we are excited for our next opportunity to bring friends to try Corsica.

Thank you Mimi, Brandon, and Devin, for such a great experience!!

I rarely if ever leave google reviews, I feel compelled to leave one.

I had a reservation at 8pm on Saturday night for 4 to celebrate my engagement the night prior. We checked in at 7:58 and were told to head to the bar and we’d get a text in a minute. We were waiting until 8:45 and paid $70 for a round of cocktails while we waited. I checked in with the host at 8:25 and he said they were cleaning our table currently, but waited 20 more minutes while others were seated. Others waiting at the host stand seemed to have complementary limoncello as an apology for their wait. A nice touch, but not us.

We had marked that it was a special occasion dinner to celebrate our engagement but not once did anyone mention it or ask if we were celebrating. Which, not a huge deal, but why do you ask if you’ll just ignore it anyway? We didn’t expect much, maybe a desert or champagne on the house if anything, things other restaurants of similar caliber would happily do.

After our 45 minute wait, we were sat and promptly ignored by our server, no water or bread or apology for the wait for at least 15 more minutes (we're now an hour+ after our reserved time and are finally getting our first cups of water. What if we had somewhere to be after dinner? We would have had to leave without dining). Our server also missed multiple items of our order after asking twice, never explained the menu, and ignored us for 20-30 minutes at a time while we were attempting to correct our orders/order drinks. She seemed completely unaware that we were hungry tired and frustrated after waiting an hour. No sense of urgency.

I give service workers as much leeway as I possibly can because I know they take so much crap, but I was honestly shocked at our treatment, it turned a celebratory evening to a confusing and frustrating one.

We had been once before and had fine enough service that we decided to come back to celebrate this big occasion. Now? Not likely again in the near future until we hear their service issues...

We had a 7:30 reservation on a Friday night and upon arrival were told it would be a 15-20 minute wait with a text to alert us. At the 30 minute mark with no text we went back in to check with the hostess who informed us that it would be a further wait. We were finally seated 45 minutes after our scheduled reservation. Why is this restaurant accepting reservations if they are unable to honor them? I wish we’d checked reviews prior as this seems to be extremely common and 45 minutes is actually somewhat quick. It might have been less of an issue had the host been friendly, polite, or helpful.

We did, very luckily, get to select a table on the patio. The restaurant was extremely loud and while that may be substituting for “atmosphere” in the rest of these reviews our party didn’t feel like shouting at each other all night. The patio was much more calm. We were not warned about the umbrellas presenting two massive trip hazards in the middle of the main walkway however.

After being seated at 8:15 we ordered a bottle of wine and then an assortment of dishes in three courses due to our tiny table. They had added another chair to it so we could fit (party of 6 which is why we had a reservation in the first place) and after water glasses, wine glasses, and a cocktail there was very little room for actual food.

The first plates came out fine, if a little slow, with the drinks. We then had to wait 10 minutes after finishing for our server to notice, clear dishes, and ask if we wanted anything else. Second round was fine but they forgot 3 of the 5 plates until the server came back to ask if we wanted dessert and we had to mention still waiting on those. We finally ordered and received dessert and by that time it was 10pm.

No wonder they can’t keep up with reservations! We hadn’t planned to be there that late which really threw off our night.

The food was overall on par for a Denver restaurant that isn’t fast casual. A few items were particularly good, namely the chips, olives, and meatballs. Overall it felt a bit over priced and like they’re trying too hard to be a “nice restaurant” while failing at or ignoring the basics. Unlikely that we will be back unless the management can figure out how to run a restaurant more efficiently.

As a side note, 2 of us spent the night vomiting which may or may not have been due to this experience but it’s...