Culinary Dropout — Restaurant in Denver

Spacious locale with upbeat atmosphere, we did have an early dinner reservation for 5pm on a saturday. No problems getting in and seated promptly. Keep in mind that by 5:30 the influx of patrons was picking up and the place was almost full by 6. We did manage to find an on-street parking spot after a bit of driving around but do note that they do have valet parking. We sat at a booth along the front windows which was very spacious which seemed to be the case for most of the tables we saw people seated at. Our waitress was prompt and very friendly. She knew the menu like the back of her hand and had recommendations from tasting experience. Through the meal she was always available and attentive at all the right times. The menu here is interesting but not in a weird way. My wife and I are food experimental but we have our limits and I think we would have tried almost anything on this menu. The options are limited however so if you're looking for a large selection check this menu out before opting in. We chose a simple dinner of the custom charcuterie board with 6 options and the pork belly nachos. We hoped to maybe squeeze in an actual entree but the portion sizes here are decent so had no need, besides we always try and save room for dessert. We had no issues with timing or temperature of our meal and were very happy with the quality and presentation. The food here was fresh and delicious, again with no weird spicing or seasoning. The deviled eggs we had were a bit bland but being from eastern Pennsylvania where germanic and slavic quisine abounds we're probably a bit particular about our deviled eggs, lol. Over all great meal and their cocktail/beer/wine selections were ample. We will definitely be back to sample actual entrees next time. Also, a good portion of the restaurant is located in an open air "patio" which has a couple of corn hole set-ups for fun and though we areived too early for any entertainment they appear to have a stage for live performances. The place seemed to be family friendly as a number of families with young children were dining there and we did see at least one patron out in the patio area with a dog, so seem to be pet...

Great food and great service.

We went for a casual birthday night for a newly turned 21 year-old and two other birthday girls and needed a place that wasn’t too stuffy, had a large drinks menu, and was a fit for multiple palates. We got it all with Culinary Dropout.

The vibes were very chill with the sneaker wall, the large central bar, and the transparent kitchen window. It felt stylish without being pretentious and for younger people just exploring outside of fast food, this was a comfortable place to be and still feel like you are “dining out”.

The drinks menu made it hard to choose with multiple cocktails, mocktails, wines, shots, and beers. We had three of the cocktails: Evil Jungle Princess, Abandoned Cadillac, and Campfire Vibes. All were good but the Evil Jungle Princess was the fave. We were impressed with the balance of the drinks. They don’t skimp on the alcohol but it isn’t so boozy that the mixers are overwhelmed.

Lastly the food. I had some picky eaters and everyone found multiple exciting options. We ended up with The Slicer, the salmon dip, the 36-hour ribs, the chicken katsu sandwich, and two orders of the Peking duck. The Slicer was a HUGE hit. Everyone enjoyed the selection and there was enough for all four of us to try everything. The salmon dip was pretty delicious too, but a complaint for both the Slicer and the salmon dip was that there could have been crackers or more bread to enjoy the dips with. The Peking duck was good and spicy with lots of flavor. One of my guests thought the rice was a bit gummy and we all agreed that the presentation was a little thrown together but overall it was tasty. The chicken katsu sandwich was good but it was a sandwich so not much to say other than soft bread and crispy chicken. However, the real star was the 36-hour ribs. Three huge pieces of sticky, sweet, and tender rib sections with a bright coleslaw and crispy fries. Everyone had a taste and all agreed it was the best entree of the night. A repeat order for sure.

Finally, at the end of the evening, our amazing server treated the birthday boy to a monkey bread that smelled like heaven.

We had a wonderful night and will be...

I agree with the abysmal reviews of this place. This review is solely about the horrendous service. I am a single Mom this week as my partner is out of town on a business trip. So I went to culinary dropout with my kids and got treated like total trash. The server was nice at first. He explained the menu and the specials. And I ordered the kids macaroni and cheese immediately after we sat down. Well, it took a total of 20 minutes for the Mac and cheese to come out and during that time my 11 month old was screaming because she was hungry. I tried to ask multiple servers for bread as I hadn’t seen our server in like 18 minutes (and btw we were the table closest to the kitchen entrance so many servers passed by very frequently) but no one seemed to care one bit! My daughter screamed louder and louder and the service got worse and worse. Then the kids dinner came out and the manager (who was eyeing our table for the last twenty minutes but hadn’t come over to ask us if we needed anything) had the audacity to come over and ask if everything was ok?? So I actually took that opportunity to tell him “No, actually the server is horrible and hasn’t been by to even ask us if we needed anything over the past 20 minutes all while my kid is screaming her head off!” The “manager” left and in the most possible worst moment came back with a check for my drink (I didn’t even get asked what I wanted to eat) and the two kids meals and said we aren’t going to serve you anything else. So I left the restaurant with my kids and again no one seemed to care. They have a kids menu but I can 100% guarantee none of these “dropouts” have any kids. Back when I was a server, if a kid was at my table and was obviously hungry, I would at least offer a cracker or some bread to help out the parents! Please don’t go here as they are literally robots who have no clue about empathy, to say the least!! I wish they were smarter about customer service because their food is...