Esters Virginia Village — Restaurant in Denver

I enjoy this place, but liked it better when they were still new enough that they hadn't really been discovered and there weren't always crowds. Now, you can expect a wait and very full restaurant just about any time you go (good for them, I know that's a sign of being successful, but selfishly I liked when the crowd was more moderate). The restaurant that used to be in that location was so gross, and so to see it flourish into this clean and tasty place with a fun atmosphere and good service was a neat transformation as a neighbor to this restaurant. They have a good menu, but if you are there late they do close their kitchen a bit early compared to how late they are open, so that was a bummer one night when I tried to go after seeing a theatre performance with some friends and could only get beer (not sure if that's still the case, it's been a while since I've gone later in the day). My fiance and I go every so-often, but it's gotten more inconvenient for us to go because of the crowds (going on off-times can help with this some... but typically they're almost always busy these days). But they typically have a good selection of rotating beers so it's fun to try new beers (and I appreciate that they typically have at least one sour available since that's pretty much the only beer I drink). They have a good menu, the fall salad being their best salad imo (sadly they don't offer it all the time), and they try to change up the menu periodically as to what types of pizzas they offer (sad to see when some favorites rotate off the menu, but lots of what they offer are good flavor combos). They do offer brunch on the weekends, and it's fine but I like their regular menu better, and if you just want an appetizer their Fat Tire Nachos are really tasty. Sometimes you just need nachos and...

Esther’s. Even the name has gravity. Not a restaurant, not merely a dining establishment—but a test. A Rorschach blot made of charred crusts and peanut glaze, daring you to admit what you want. Or worse—what you’ve always wanted.

Let’s begin with the wings. Peanut butter and jelly. A phrase that evokes childhood, comfort, perhaps even a mother’s hum in a sunlit kitchen. But Esther’s doesn’t coddle you with nostalgia. No, these wings arrive lacquered in Thai peanut sauce and some dark red elixir—jam, yes, but jam like a fever dream. Sticky. Spicy. Sweet. Carnal. Eating them is less like having a snack and more like conducting a séance with your former self. You do not consume these wings. You reconcile with them.

Then came The Mikey. House-made sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, parmesan, oregano. On paper, simple. A boy named Mikey could have dreamed this up in the back of algebra class, doodling pepperonis in the margins. But in execution? A revelation. The crust held the crisp defiance of a man who’s been told “no” too many times. The sauce tasted like it had once seen Italy from a balcony. The pepperoni curled into little charred cups of oil, like they were trying to whisper their secrets to me, sizzling through the veil between decadence and damnation.

I didn’t just eat dinner. I communed. I danced at the edge of something hot, unspoken, and deeply satisfying.

Would I return? Of course. But not for nourishment. For confirmation. That somewhere out there, pizza still matters. That somewhere out there, people still put peanut butter on poultry not because they should—but because it haunts them when they don’t.

Esther’s, you magnificent little fever dream of flavor. You’ve earned your place in my culinary subconscious.

Rating: A taste of something...

It's pretty rare I leave a bad review. I know how hard running a business can be, but I did not enjoy my experience here. My husband, a friend that a was in from out of town and I wanted to watch the Tottenham match viewing and drove in from two hours away. I'd called ahead a few days before to try to make sure with our drive from Leadville, we would most likely have a spot to watch, to which the girl on the other end replied "yeah, you should be good." We arrived 5 min after start, everything was full, so had to sit in a middle room where my husband could stand to see the TV, and I had to watch from the reflection on the glass from a door. At the half, a table leaving came up and told us we could have their spot in the viewing room since they were leaving and had seen is struggling to see the entire first half. We switched tables and sat there for a few minutes to have the server come up and tell us people had been waiting, to see her then give it to three guys that had just arrived a few minutes before. To top it off, the brunch itself came far from saving the morning. The breakfast burrito I ordered came with one spoonful of tiny, greasy and overcooked breakfast potatoes saddled by the giant burrito. The burrito had an overly sweet tomato sauce, nothing spicy, and a pretty off and bland combo of flavors. Its been a while since I've ordered a burrito I haven't liked. I ordered a Bloody Mary as well which was also lacking in spicy with a tangy and sweet tomato flavor. I'd read the reviews that some of the food was bad, but I didn't expect the overall experience to be that...