Gaetano's — Restaurant in Denver

Brunch might be a little too early for these late-night Italians. Best to come for the dinner menu.

Seeming a little groggy Saturday morning, the staff unlocked the front doors by 10:03am. We were the only patrons in the place, but the service still seemed to be off its game.

After waiting in the cold a few minutes, we were warmed to the ambient sound of Italian crooners singing standard hits like "Fly Me to the Moon". On weekend evenings, patrons can experience the real version with live singers.

Five out of the nine of us ordered coffee. I was not one of them, so I can't speak to the taste. However, those who did found quite a lot of coffee grounds at the bottoms. The server did apologize, but it came out the same way the second time as well.

The three-year-running Westword winner of the Bloody Mary Bar category did hit the spot! The pickle-infused vodka was strong enough to give the cocktail a kick, even through all of the goodness one adds to their own Bloody Mary. Mixes included a house mix, V8, and Clamato. The choice of hot sauces was immense! What really makes this a stellar Bloody Mary bar is the generously-sized garlic shrimp that one can add to the side of their glass. They also served large thickly-cut candied bacon. It was a little too undercooked to stand up straight in a glass, but tasted great on its own. That along with the more standard accoutrement including celery stalks, pickle spears, peppers, olives, cocktail onions, fresh horseradish and more.

Several of us tried the eggs carbonara. We were all surprised that it was served with penne pasta, instead of the more traditional spaghetti, linguini or fettuccine. The shape of the penne didn't allow for the same kind of velvety texture, one normally associates with carbonara. My sunny-side up eggs were a little overcooked as well.

Others tried breakfast tacos, chicken and waffles, the Italian sausage scrambled skillet, and the world famous sausage sandwich. I think most people enjoyed their food fairly well. The sausage sandwich was tasty, but not what one would imagine. The sausage had been flattened, almost looking like a schnitzel.

I had placed a reservation online via OpenTable for 6 people. This is the maximum amount this restaurant allows on-line. I didn't find out until the night before that we would have nine people attending brunch. Not opening until 10 a.m., I called the restaurant at 9:45. I told the gentleman that answered about our number change, and I got a little bit an "educating" tone instructing me that normally one would need to call 24 hours in advance for parties between 9 and 11 people. Looking back, and remembering the entire restaurant was completely empty except for us from 10:00 am until 11:55 am, it was hard not to feel a little schadenfreude.

All in all, it's still a fun Italian mobster experience with its own ample parking lot directly to the west. From this particular experience, I would say stick to...

Came here for my boyfriend's and my 1st anniversary. We came on a Friday evening around 730pm, even at this time the restaurant was nearly full of patrons.

The Food: We thought it was very good. We had the mussels to start, and the garlic butter sauce that those came in was very delicious. We didn't have any rotten mussels either. My boyfriend got the Lobster & Shrimp ravioli, he said he liked it a lot. Sauce was very tasty. I got the peascatore which is a seafood pasta dish: shrimp, mussels, clams, & white fish. All the seafood items were cooked good and no rotten shellfish. The spicy pasta sauce it came with was very good. Not a thick pasta sauce, a little more on the thinner side, but I enjoyed it. People make fun of Denver being land-locked, but I've found most restaurants do a great job with the seafood. For dessert my boyfriend got the cheese cake which he enjoyed, I got the cannoli which was also great. We definitely could have shared the cannoli dessert, you get two cannoli pastries and they are quite large. Espresso on the side was good as well. Food was priced right for what we got. $20-25 per main plate I'd estimate. There were some dishes like the eggplant parm that was under $20 if I remember right.

The wine/cocktails:

-Price was about average for cocktails $10-14, not too bad. Boyfriend got the espresso martini, it was rather good. -Wine pricing seemed average to below average. We've dined at a few Italian restaurants further downtown and felt the wine by the bottle prices here were lower (very nice). We found a wine we liked at about $35, other restaurants we'd be around $50 or so. The menu had wine paring recommendations by some items, I found that touch nice.

Noise level:

As mentioned before we came for our reservation at 730 on a Friday, the restaurant was nearly full (definitely recommend a reservation ahead). The noise was moderate to noisy for sure. If you are hard of hearing or soft spoken, I would suggest possibly coming during an off-time. This is a small-medium sized intimate setting restaurant. The restaurant also has a patio which is nice for the warmer months. I think something the restaurant can try to do to minimize noise is to close the plastic door between the main restaurant and outside. A number of times motorcycles/loud traffic would come by drowning out the restaurant.

Service:

Service was a little slow to start, but after our server came around she was great! This was understandable as the restaurant was nearly at capacity.

Other notes:

As mentioned, definitely recommend a reservation, especially on the weekend. They charge a 4% kitchen appreciation fee as part of your tab. We didn't find this bad at all and we had no problems with that given the high cost of living. For a party of two there was no pre-added tip, so you may tip as you please.

Would definitely recommend and be...

Still in complete shock about what happened last night at your restaurant. I’ll be leaving a review literally anywhere I can so no one else goes through this. I made a reservation for my husband’s birthday. He’s 6th generation Denver and if you are not from here you may not understand how significant that is. Denver is a young city. My husband’s family have been going here for over 60 years for every family celebration. This was the one thing he wanted to do.

I MADE A RESERVATION. I made a phone call and spoke with an actual human. I called the restaurant several times throughout the week because this dinner was so important and I wanted to make sure we had a table

I’ve actually been getting consistent reminders about my reservation via text. All week.

Came on time with my kids dressed up and a sack of presents in hand to celebrate the birthday. We had talked about this meal all day.

The hostess tells us we have to sit on the patio. It’s 97 degrees. There are 7 empty tables inside. She says they’re reserved. I said yes I have a reservation. She said sorry. I said for what? I have a reservation. I show her the reservation. There are several empty tables. I HAVE A RESERVATION. She tells us we can sit on the patio. It’s 97 degrees. And that patio is disgusting on a nice day, it’s in on 38th ave which is a major street in Denver and super gross. This patio is disgusting. Non stop traffic. Oh…. And NO ONE is on the patio. Because no one would eat out there. Again it’s 97 degrees.

I ask to speak with someone else. The “manager” comes out and tells me the empty tables are RESERVED. Again, I have a reservation. He says it’s going to be a 45 minute wait with our 5:30 pm reservation. It’s 5:30 pm and we’re there FOR OUR RESERVATION.

Again… there are SEVERAL OPEN TABLES IN The RESTAURANT. They said they need to keep them open???? We have 4 people and I MADE A RESERVATION. I have two little kids and were starving. I also specified that it was a birthday dinner. And we have two little kids so we won’t be there very long. Still NOTHING.

Easily the most unprofessional and rude staff I have ever encountered in my life.

As I left the “MANAGER” said I’m sorry… I said “are you? He goes “yes” And I said “then MAKE IT RIGHT. And that COWARD just stared at me. You are a COWARD DUDE. You had the ability to make it right and you were too much of a chump to make a play. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Will...