Grandpa's Burger Haven — Restaurant in Denver

Let me start by saying - I wanted to like this place. I had been looking forward to trying it for a while after hearing good reviews and seeing them mentioned in local articles as some sort of local staple and one of the best things Denver had to offer.

But it's no good. Sorry. It's all novelty for people who've never been to an old local stand-type place. The reason it gets a star is because the cashier lady was nice and had positive energy. The food is sad.

So about that food. First of all, as my wife accurately put it, you can either be good or cheap, very rarely both. This was neither. We spent over $20 for simply two burgers and one order of fries, nothing else, and her burger was the small size. That's nice sit-down restaurant pricing. Not walk up to an old stand and take it to-go. You can't have it both ways. And if you're going to charge those kinds of crazy prices, the food had better at least be decent.

I actually don't know what about it takes so long to make, because it's not even fast food quality. As someone else I saw mentioned that needs further reinforcement, the fries are basic, forgettable and literally void of any seasoning at all, and you get two microscopic little salt packets to pour on them. Why, even? Why bother? A value fries at McDonald's is 10x better than them and less than 1/3 the price.

So this burger. I got the large double because I heard great things about it. It was wide. That's what they mean by big. I was excited at first because it felt a bit like a Whataburger at first to take out of the bag, but Whataburger actually packs a punch in their burgers. I see why they offered three patties as an option. The patties were so tasteless and paper-thin you basically didn't even notice they were there. It was literally all bun. And possibly the worst bun I've ever had at that, completely dry and again, tasteless, worse than the stale extra cheap buns you get at the store that crumble and fall apart and probably cost 5 cents to make, you know the kind.

I hope you can tell even from the poor picture how dry, flaky and basic that bun is, because there's a reason that's about all you can see. I got the "works" of ingredients but I couldn't even tell you what they were now (except a bit of mustard, that snuck through) because they were basically non-existent and there was so little flavor to combat that bun that I literally ended up having to turn my burger into a Taco Bell $1 burrito style-meal and use ketchup packets with every bite to get any semblance of flavor at all and make it edible. My mouth is dry just thinking about it again. It's bad.

Normally I would just chalk up a bad experience to it making sense with how it looked, cheap place, cheap neighborhood, sure whatever. But I literally read that this was one of the best original burgers Denver had to offer. That's insulting. That's embarrassing. And I wouldn't fault the restaurant for other people's words but I feel cheated by how they tried to take that and run with it, judging by their prices. I'm no In-N-Out shill but you have to give it up to them for having actual fast food value compared to this trash; you can get an entire meal there for 1/4-1/3 of the cost of this place and probably throw in a shake too. I would have tried the shake here but didn't feel like blowing that much of the eating out budget after getting hit with that receipt.

Yes the burger is wide. But a Whataburger Jr. has more flavor and filling to it and that things on the value menu for like $2 and that's not even what this burger's worth. I'd buy this burger if I had to for $1 but I'd rather get a Taco Bell burrito because at least I know I'm getting some flavor for that money if I know I'm going to be eating it bite by bite with sauce packets. If all you have here is their ketchup you're basically getting salty/vinegary dry crumbly bread bites. That's honestly as accurately as I can paint the picture.

I feel robbed and cheated. I feel sorry for the loyal neighborhood that's kept this place afloat and has obviously never had a...

We will never go back again. If we want a good quality burger, we'll go to Jim's Burger Haven for far better quality and friendly staff on Sheridan St. or even for a heart attack scale crusher Mexican style burger at Hambugersas Don Jesus just east of Federal Blvd. Both of them are of superior quality with friendly staff.

Recently, we ordered a take out and drove back home in Arvada. Upon opening the bag, we quickly noticed that the lettuce appeared aged with little discoloration and to our disappointment, the flavor wasn't what we expected. My wife decided to call this place to express our dissatisfaction. On the first call, the person answered the phone, but quickly hung up on her. There's no reason for this. My wife made a second call, the staff answered and asked to speak to the manager. The person who answered claimed to be manager, we wouldn't have known if it was true or not. My wife expressed our dissatisfaction and offered her name and contact information. It appeared the staff had either an attitude or in a bad mood. Nearing the end of conversation, my wife asked for the staff's name (supposedly a manager), but the staff flat out refused stating that she "cannot give her name" (why is this a top secret?) and even said that she can't give the owner's name. Hmph. Really? Being rude to her wasn't really necessary and it wasn't our fault that we bought poor quality burgers when they could've taken the step to check quality. The staff was very unprofessional and unethical. My wife told the staff is she doesn't get a call back from them, the review will go into Yelp.

A while later, my wife received a call, but the person on the other side didn't say anything and simply hung up. Her mobile phone didn't show any date (Grandpa's or owner's name or even a phone number) so she suspected it may be from this business, we can't tell. I guess we anticipated that we'd never hear back from them. I told my wife that if they continue to disregard us within the next three days, I promised to post a detailed negative review. Working and errands made me forgot then a week passed when I realized three days have passed.

As promised to my wife, we will never go back to Grandpa's Burger Haven. We'd rather go to the two burger places I mentioned above where they treated us well and with...

Tried this for the first time today. I’ve lived in Denver for over two decades and can’t believe I haven’t heard of it until recently. It’s authentically old school. The menu board looks like it’s the same one they’ve been using since the 70s, and I love that. There’s no seating which isn’t a criticism, it’s just their business model and something you should know/expect. You’ll have to take it to go or eat in your car. The menu is simple with different burger sizes, sides (fries, onion rings, etc.), and shakes. They tout their “Big Big Bun” on the sign so I felt the large burger was the way to go since I was looking for their signature. It’s very wide and loaded with all the classic toppings but not too tall which I really like. Easy to eat but requires two hands because it’s about as wide as a small frisbee! 😂 The burger is a thin tasty smash patty with nice lacy edges. I’d probably get a double next time now that I know they do thin smash patties but honestly I was stuffed even with just a single. The bun was perfect as well. Not like any other bun I’ve had, and I’m guessing they have it made specifically for them. It soft and I think lightly toasted on the griddle but didn’t get soggy. I’d say it’s as soft as a brioche bun but it’s not eggy or sweet. The fries were hot, fresh and cooked to order. They were fairly thick, maybe a little thicker than Wendy’s. I’d prefer them with more salt, so next time I’ll probably just ask for some salt packets. Just a great old school...