Ophelia's Electric Soapbox — Restaurant in Denver

Post-Pandemic Changes Mire a Cool Venue.

Ophelia's used to be a "foodie" place. Things like duck wings and other bougie feeling American comfort food with great sauces, executed brilliantly.

I knew as soon as we sat down at the cheaply refinished tables and felt the plastic drinkware, that corners had been cut since the reopening. The classy and convenient real paper menus were recycled in lieu of the now commonplace QR code, and that would have been fine if the waitress wasn't so annoyed and pushy while waiting for our phones to load the drinks (cell phone reception not great).

I think it's tough to be a great restaurant and a great venue at the same time. The food side of the equation is breaking down. The burger is now laughably small. The eggplant app was executed very poorly. The fries reminded me of a high school cafeteria. Don't get the shrimp boil unless you like veins!

If Ophelia's just leaned into the cheap guilty pleasure fried food vibe, I think it would feel more honest and work better, but it's still trying to pretend like it's bougie with the menu and the prices, and not delivering that like it used to.

If you just want a drink and greasy fried pickles & cheese curds before a show, this place is still good; don't go there for a nice dinner...

I have to be honest here even though it kind of hurts. I went there Sunday for my Birthday brunch. My fond memories of Ophelia's led me to choose it as a place to celebrate. Cool building, great history and creative menu all promised to make this a wonderful event. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I mean no one cried, and the food was edible. The service was lackadaisical. The food was meh at best. I like spicy food. Having said that... A good plate has spicy and cool. If you just slam spicy on top of spicy and add more spice it gets uncomfortable and boring. Right? Boring spicy? But it happened. I even asked for ketchup to eat the fingerling potatoes because my mouth needed help. The Bloody Mary mix is over the top too damn spicy and no warning on the menu about that. They were kind enough to trade the bloody out for a Mimosa but even that was boring. Served in a large plastic tumbler poured out of a plastic pitcher at room temp. I get that Denver loves a good power day drunk, but come on. I did enjoy the cappuccino. I hope this was just a bad day... But I won't be heading back soon. Sorry Ophelia's. This just...

Ophelia's here has to be one of the more eclectic places I have ever been to. We were visiting Denver for a wedding, and came across this place by a recommendation from a friend. We were not disappointed. The location is convenient to downtown, and is a short walk from many hotels. I can't say enough about the wait staff, that was phenomenal. They were very attentive, but not overly so.

We showed up for a Saturday brunch, and ended up sitting at the bar for some chicken and waffles and cocktails. We didn't try the endless mimosa, but many people were. Their selection of in house made drinks was good. I can't recall what I had, but it was refreshing!

The restaurant is tiered with the central section open, so that you can either sit on the bottom lounge area and what the band (that was live when we were there), or on the second level and look down into the band stage. There was also an outside area you can sit in to relax or just have drinks. The decor of the space was also really unique. The bathrooms had stall dividers made of entirely old wooden one food long rulers, from back in the elementary...