Mustard's Last Stand — Restaurant in Denver

I don't usually leave these types of reviews. We've had decent experiences with this place before which is why this time, when we did a pickup order, the experience was appalling.

Today we got 2 Italian beefs, fries, and two drinks. Not even going to get into the attitude from the cashier when we tipped on the food, but not the drinks when we realized we forgot them on the first order. The one time that gravy was actually included in our order (requested every time) it had come on the side, which is perfect, and set our expectation. This time however they were dipped when we asked for gravy to go with our sandwiches. Not just dipped, but dipped beyond any expectation of being easily edible or enjoyable without things going wrong.

And things went wrong. First, the lack of a boat to hold the sandwich caused all the gravy to drip out of the foil and into the bag, which caused a hole to form, dripping grease and the bag fries all over my lap when the bag was handed to me from my SO. I had to hold my hand over the hole to keep any more from dripping. Then when getting out of the car, the shoddy drink carrier fell apart causing one of the drinks to explode all over my pants and soaked the car seat. Unbelievable.

We get inside and after changing my now ruined clothing, we open our bag to find sandwiches unbelievably soggy, our fries were soggy because they were either refried or not fried enough, and we were down to one drink.

We threw our food away and we're not coming back. It's a shame because we had thought we had found a reliably delicious Italian beef place with good flavor and crispy fries. We'll be looking elsewhere...

Note this was an uber delivery for what it’s worth. I find some establishments don’t pay as much attention to delivery orders as traditional pick up/dine options. This may be the case here as none of my notes requesting mustard and ketchup, no ice in the drinks, or requests for napkins were heeded. Maybe that’s a denver thing? No napkins for take out? Although they did include the garlic ketchup that I paid for. I guess as the saying goes, “you get what you pay for..” 😒 So that is strike one. Can’t eat a corn dog without mustard.

Regarding the quality of food. Seemed good quality ingredients used. The fries and corn dogs were my favorites (even without the mustard). My 10yo son loved those as well as the teenie weenie hot dog option (he compared it to a ballpark hotdog). The Chicago dog was just okay. I couldn’t finish it b/c the bun got too soagy and the peppers were too hard to bite through. To be fair, I have had some of the most amazing beachside hotdogs in the nation. So I guess Denver not being a beach town, limits the potential for a great hot dog? Not a fair comparison? I choose ‘Mustards Last Stand’ over others recommended in Denver for their long-standing reputation, price and variety of offerings. I am still in search of a great Chicago style (or beachside) hot dog...

The best hot dogs in town. Period. End of sentence. Full stop.

Okay, okay, a little more. The 1/4 lb. Jumbo Char Dog. It's my favorite. I love that grilled crispiness. It's a pretty big dog, too. I've never quite worked up the courage to try the Mike Ditka 1/3 lb. Monster Polish. That would be too much for me, I think. My wife prefers the regular Polish Sausage. We both love their fries. Now, that's really about all there is to report.

Oh, one more thing. The patio. So fun in the summer! Now I really am done, but you may see me at Mustard's Last Stand. If the weather's nice I'll be outside; if it's cold, I'll be inside, sitting under the big map of Chicago with hundreds of push pins in it, each for a different hot dog place. Pass the ketchup and mustard, please.

P.S. There have been lots of great reviews of Mustard's over the years. In 2018, the Daily Camera ran a good one: "Mustard’s Last Stand Marks 40 years of Hot-Dog Slinging in Boulder." ...