Hop Alley — Restaurant in Denver

This is the review I didn’t want to write but feel I must after the way we were treated upon returning to support this business.

We arrived at Hop Alley around 8pm and were added to the waitlist understanding it would be about an hour. When we added our names we asked to be seated at the bar. We did not request a table because I enjoyed my previous evening with Josh and Benjamin (two wonderful bartenders) and wanted to share that experience with my partner this time around.

When we received the text that our seats were ready, we returned to the restaurant. I don’t know if the host forgot or what, but she mentioned clearing the table right by the door for us to dine at. This was not what we asked for and I said as much. I asked for the bar again and she said it shouldn’t be a problem and it would be a few minutes, as two guests were paying and leaving. I don’t know if this was a lie or the truth because we walked back outside just after 9pm and we stood outside for another 15 minutes in the cold. While waiting, we observed two different sized parties leaving from different parts of the restaurant.

When my partner walked back in to check what was going on with our seats, the hostesses response was that she had to check bar availability. So two things had to have happened here, 1. She ignored that we requested the bar seats and did not check in the first place and 2. She ignored seeing us waiting outside in clear view after telling us it would only be a few minutes. Either way, that’s pretty messed up behavior as a host who’s position it is to relay information to guests and to remember people standing right in front of you.

After she’s forgotten our initial request, then us repeating it, then a third time requesting a set of bar seats she’s already said were available, she went to the back for a while and when she came back did not say anything to us.

We approach the host stand again. We wait. The kitchen staff is now looking at us as they’ve seen us in and out of the door just trying to be seated. There are looks of confusion and maybe even a bit of sympathy. I finally asked the hostesses if theres a problem and if we should just come back another time? This is when a rude manager (I’m assuming) appeared at her side when she’s returned to the stand after my pointed question and begins to explain that they can’t help the situation and that hosting and finding us seats at the bar isn’t an exact science like I’m some child. At no point did I raise my voice. At no point did I get nasty with either of these individuals.

It’s now pressing 9:30pm and the restaurant closes at 10pm. We’re starving. It’s been a long travel day, and all we want to do is eat.

This “manager” then asks me “do you want me to kick people out of their bar seats?” I say no and that’s not what I was asking. What I was asking for was communication and honesty. I can only assume he’s reacting to me this way because this hostess has relayed to him that we’re being problems. I say this because of his hostile posture towards us. Customers. Why would you ever be hostile towards polite and respectful customers looking for answers of why they’ve been ignored not once, but MULTIPLE times.

I’ll remind you, I’ve mentioned to him that I was a return customer who had a great time days before and just wanted to understand why our request was messed up, ignored, or otherwise. I wasn’t asking for much. Especially when we watched multiple people exiting the restaurant while we were waiting and we were offered the worst table that we didn’t even want.

Frustrated, hungry, and upset by this terrible experience we left and returned to our hotel to order DoorDash so we could not go to bed on empty stomachs. I’m still very confused by this ordeal. Nothing short of baffling.

While my great personal experience days before was a memorable one, I don’t think we’ll be returning to patronize Hop Alley or the other concepts that the ownership operates until something changes.

Be kinder to your guests. You never know what good experiences missed...

I hate writing a bad review but I can’t get over how this was a 4.5 star rated place. I don’t know where to begin. Let me also preference we live in Denver and are foodies. We travel a lot around the world and try everything. This is also the first bad review I’ve had to write in over 2 years. It doesn’t happen often. This was our experience.... We had a 7:30 reservation we didn’t get seated until 8:20. It is a very small, loud crowded place be prepared if that’s not your scene. The hostess asked if wanted to order drinks while we waited, she recommended this decanter wine thing that would be great to share for 4 people. Little did we know it only came with a little over 2 glasses of wine. Um why would you recommend that for 4 people? Once we were finally seated they said we should order family style. Well since we had almost an hour to figure out what we wanted to eat we were ready to order. For 5 people we ordered 2 entrees, a soup, and 3 appetizers. She said that wouldn’t be enough so we added another entree. The manager sent over a few appetizers to say sorry for the wait for the table. We appreciated that. But unfortunately one the appetizers were over the top seasoned potatoes. And when I say seasoned I mean so seasoned we had 2 bites and couldn’t eat anymore. Let me just throw out my husband is the most non picky eater ever! He was in the navy. He eats Anything! He couldn’t even eat them! We slowly started getting our food here and there. But remember the waitress said what we ordered originally wouldn’t be enough? Well we were so full we had to get 2 of the entrees to go! One of the dishes was a garlicky shrimp dish, we tried it, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. Too salty overall unfortunately. The moo goo dish tasted like everyday Chinese food. It’s sad that the only things we really cared for were the fried wontons and the beef soup. Everything else was over seasoned or bland. We really expected more from HopAlley with all the hype. The food was just ok compared to other Asian cuisine. At the end of the evening we were compensated for our drinks and the entrees to go. We very much appreciated this. But why is your waitstaff trying to upsale and over sale on drinks and food? I prefer you just to be honest. So that is our take...

I hate to be writing this because I wanted to like this place so bad!! :( This was my second bad experience here out of 4 times total and I will sadly not be returning or recommending Hop Alley to anyone. I was so excited to bring my partner here because she had never been and I was pretty embarrassed with our experience when we left, the food was mediocre at best- we had the grilled bavette which looked like it was cooked beautifully but the flavor was all salt, our waitress tried saying it was the egg yolk dip to which we assured it was the actual seasoning on the steak, we also had the broccoli floret which was also covered in salt and no other flavor- had to mix it with the white rice to make it somewhat bearable, it was inedible and mind you I’m from the south where we love our salt and butter but when I’m going to a restaurant like this I expect way more flavor and complexity, not clogging my arteries with each dish. We also had the chicken thigh, which seemed like someone went to shake red pepper on top but the cap fell off and covered the entire top, it was so spicy and again inedible, no flavor. Really disappointed in our service as well, this was the first time I experienced poor service here as the vibe and atmosphere were great the other times. We ordered our food and about 15min later she comes by and says she’s so sorry she hasn’t even entered it in yet…okay no biggie stuff happens, she didn’t walk us through the menu, explain any of the dishes or even provide any type of warning for the spiciness of the chicken, I had asked for another drink menu in hopes for a second round but she was nowhere to be found until we were finished eating what we could(the white rice and fried shrimp rice, hard to mess up) and then it was too late and we were already feeling forgotten about. Only sharing this in hopes from one service industry member to another to enhance the quality and unlock the true potential of this place. These dishes are not worth $25-$80 a piece, save yourself and choose a date night where you’ll be satisfied all around, food, service...