Kawa Ni — Restaurant in Denver

Enjoyed our meal at Kawa Ni and thanks to our server Matt who was a nice balance of relaxed, conscientious and knowledgeable. While I'm not sure all the dishes we ordered were exactly to our taste, nothing was sloppily composed or executed and I feel like I would definitely go back to explore the menu more as there were several things I really liked. Cocktails and the whole beverage menu was great. I had the Green Tea Negroni which had a lovely herbal and menthol ting from the Shiso. My wife had the bullet train which was also great. As always, with mixology getting so sophisticated at most restaurants, I'd love to see more flavor notes provided for cocktails. For people not super familiar with uncommon spirits, it requires a lot of help and good judgement from servers to understand the flavors. Later in the meal I got the Moon Ring Sake and my wife got a Sapporo with a side car sake bomb with blood orange. Both nice accompaniments to the meal. We ordered: Addictive Cabbage, Scallop Temaki, Red Curry Onigiri, Biang Biang Chicken Bao and the Shiso Meatball Chicken Udon. Stand outs for me was the cabbage and the udon. Scallop Temaki has you making your own temaki with a composed scallop, rice and seasoning on the plate. Bites with seasoning were good, but seasoning did not quite go to edges meaning our first rolls made from the edge were buttery from the scallop but lacking any salt or spice. Overall, texturally, I just didn't love this dish as the scallop is extremely soft and seasoning overall is light. My wife liked it better than I did and I would simply say its not for me. I think the Onigiri would be better described as a red curry squash soup with a fried onigiri. My impression from the menu was it was the onigiri and the red curry an accent when I think the opposite was true. Great curry, lovely pumpkin and delicate tofu. I didn't quite get the coconut in the onigiri and overall a good dish, just not what I was expecting based on menu description. Bao buns were pretty standard Bang bang flavoring but really excellently executed: chicken was crisp but still sauce drenched, bao were soft and pillowy. I could have done with more assertive acid on the cucumber salad, but overall these were really good and came out perfectly. They served them with a hot towel which was a really nice touch service wise. My favorites were the addictive cabbage which was punchy and bright with superb texture from the popped sesame. I wouldn't have thought I'd eat an entire bowl of just raw cabbage, but I loved it. We finished our meal with the chicken meatball udon which our waiter said he has moved away from calling a 'gravy' because it has the wrong connotation for most american cuisine. I agree, but this was a really beautiful and balanced dish with a strong gravy vibe. The gravy itself is not overly unctuous or umami like a typical american gravy but instead I tasted bitterness and herbacity with a pleasing creamy texture. This was balanced by the silkiness of the udon which was perfectly al dente and the umami and salt of the meatballs which were split and slightly browned on the flat side adding a bit of crispy texture. I think many creamy sauces can overstay their welcome and you can get worn out on the level of salt and fat. I thought this was great because the sauce had so much more nuance to it and let the other less salient ingredients balance out the flavor. It was a really great dish and one that really seemed to indicate the subtlety the kitchen was capable of bringing out. Decor was simple and nice but not super memorable or design heavy. As I said, I thought service was top notch and if I find myself back here, I will be excited to explore more option on the menu even if I didn't love everything I had...

I LOVED the atmosphere of this place before I ever ate there. Shortly after it first opened, a very friendly and helpful waitress who was out on the patio gave me a menu to take home when I stopped to ask her a question while I was out walking my dog. Dogs are welcome on the patio! I was excited to go there some time.

I met my parents there for my birthday. I purposely arrived 10 minutes early so I could enjoy a solo glass of wine on the patio, before parents arrived. It was early evening and Kawa Ni wasn't busy yet. That was my biggest wish for my birthday dinner that evening and I was so looking forward to that relaxing solitary pre-dinner glass of wine.

The hostess told me to go sit where I wanted on the patio. I asked her for a glass of wine. She basically said that wasn't her job. She did not offer to tell a waiter. Horrible hostess. I went inside and asked a cheerful man in an apron for a glass of white wine. He didn't seem to speak English and smilingly waved me off, perhaps in confusion? I walked up to the bar and asked a bartender for wine and they said my waiter would be out.

I did not smell bad. I smelled very good, actually. I'm conventionally attractive, not that that should matter where service is concerned. I'm quite tall and not invisible. I was clean and well-dressed. I was relaxed, at least at first.

I staked my table, then went to my car and got my dog to settle him in near my table. He's decently behaved at restaurants. Calm, though lots of begging with his eyes. I sat out there with nothing for several minutes. Then the guy in the apron came out with a big metal dog dish of water, smiling and bent down to give it to my dog (A star for that!) He spoke heavily accented English to both of us. It was very sweet. I was touched and sincerely thanked him. And since he DID speak English, I asked him again if I could get a glass of wine. He said my waiter would be by. I told him the waiter hadn't been by yet, and that I'd love to order that glass of wine now. He smiled, shrugged and walked back inside. I hoped maybe he'd tell someone. That was too much to hope.

I hung out with my lovely sweet dog, who was cooed at and admired by all who walked by. I was no longer relaxed about being in what's supposed to be a nice place. Parents, also clean smelling and nicely dressed, finally arrived. Waiter came over after a few minutes. After that, his service was excellent, very well timed for the food we ordered. The food was fun and enjoyable. As he served us birthday dessert, he delivered a very sincere little speech about how he should be given a large tip--as though wed had no experience with tipping. What a phuquing DIQUE! Rather than calling him that, I responded by gently telling him that I'd asked three different people, four different times for a glass of wine when I arrived, to no avail and that he'd never even come over to greet me as I sat there for 10 minutes. I would have left him a symbolic dollar, maybe a nickel (but who has one of those, let alone three shiny pennies?). My father, a generous person and generous tipper, was paying. I don't know if he tipped well or not.

I've never been back. I'm planning to meet up with family for another dinner now and though Japanese is my favorite cuisine, and this restaurant, in my neighborhood has excellent atmosphere and good food, I really can't come here. It just brings back sad and disappointing memories. This restaurant has been ruined for me by truly...

Everyone in the universe, including all of the professional critics and the vast majority of customers, seems wildly enthused by this place, but I guess I'm one of the few contrarians. I was not impressed. I've had a better version of every dish we tried at other venues.

The space is a former firehouse which is completely encapsulated by an office building built over and adjacent to it, occupied by Compass Real Estate.

Access to the restaurant is very confusing. The property comes to a point at 32nd and Erie with a high concrete platform that supports the restaurant's outdoor patio. There is an unmarked staircase off 32nd with a steep wheelchair ramp. There is a small, private parking lot just west of the staircase which is reserved for Compass; however, it includes one handicapped spot. This is completely unmarked, but I was informed by the staff that it could be used by restaurant guests. Once I found this, it was very convenient, but I had driven around the block three times by then, finally stopping the car in a no parking zone to investigate on foot.

We had a reservation and we were seated immediately at a table properly set up for my handicapped friend. The restaurant is small, but attractive with a long bar and a row of booths on one side, tables on the other. It was unbearably noisy with blasting music and loud conversations. We were also treated to two screaming children in stereo, on either side of us. We should have chosen the peaceful patio, but it was a bit chilly.

The server was very pleasant and knowledgeable and other staff popped by to help, but we felt rushed as our four dishes arrived randomly with no attempt at coursing. Despite the fact that the dishes are designed to share, our plates were not swapped out and became very messy. Empty serving dishes were eventually picked up, but crowded us on the small table for far too long. I finally started stacking them (I know this is rude) which attracted the attention of a staffer.

There's a nice list of wines and cocktails. I started with the Kiku-Masamune Kimoto (junmai) saki which I enjoyed. The first dish was the "Szechuan" Pork Dumplings in a ponzu and garlic hot oil sauce. These were not at all warm. I thought for a moment they were intended to be served cold. Other than that, they were fine--nothing special. Despite a warning from the server, the sauce was very mild. Nothing Szechuan about the dish.

The Peekytoe Crab Rangoon with a ginger-kosho sauce was also OK. I'm confused about the emphasis on natural crab when most of the filling was surimi. The server did make this clear. The wontons were crisp, the dish was fine, if rather bland.

The Biang Biang Chicken Bao (fried chicken sandwiches) with "hot" honey, yuzu goma (citrus sesame dressing), and pickles was adequate. Karaage chicken should be very tender and juicy. This was just fair, but I apparently picked the good sandwich. My friend said his was so tough that it was mostly inedible.

The final item was the Crab Fried Rice with pork belly, corn, kani (another surimi product), and a fried egg. This was our favorite dish and was quite flavorful. The pork belly was a little tough, though.

To sum things up, the space is attractive, the service was pretty good, the noise was unbearable, and the food was very average. I would...