Savina's Mexican Kitchen - Downtown Denver — Restaurant in Denver

If you like being treated like trash and feeling unwelcome as a customer this is DEFINITELY the place for you! The only reason I can think of that this place would get more than a star and a half would be that when you treat some people better than others based on dress or skin color you essentially become a place that the "welcomed" folks really appreciate and the "others" just don't bother going. This place has been a classist place for years and now it seems like it's been upped to flat out racist too. I could never understand how a basic, half way decent restaurant as La Loma could have such an air of arrogance and self assuredness that would make you think it's five star dining. If you ever eat here you'll know it's NOT!!! In trying to get a table for two tonight I was told “yeah I’ll be with you in a moment”. With the attitude I was told, I should have known just to leave, but my wife actually likes the food here. Instead, I said ok no problem and although she wasn’t exactly nice about it, they were busy so maybe she was just having a rough night. Not but two minutes later I see people get seated that came in after me. Instead of approaching the wait station angrily, I still waited patiently until deciding to ask if I was still on the list for a table. The same lady I spoke with 10 minutes before looked me in the eye and said “uhh you spoke to me”? Like are you kidding me, I just asked you a few minutes ago. So when I ask why others got seated in front of us I was told "oh they had reservations". Well that’s funny because two different couples that got seated before us actually came in just after us and were trying to find bar seating and BOTH couples said “well let’s just put our names in since there’s no bar seating”. Then the same lady told me “you gotta put your name in the tablet”, turned around, and bolted in the other direction. Really??? I'm going to just grab your tablet with a seating chart and put my name in? Aren't YOU supposed to do that? At this point I realize this front staff worker obviously didn’t feel I was important enough to receive her help in being seated so even though people will still dine at this obnoxiously arrogant, racist, classist dump, I hope this review will serve as a warning to others and help some people decide if this is the type of establishment they'd like to support. The crazy part is I'm now stuck analyzing if I somehow brought on my own terrible treatment or if the lady just treated me terribly because someone who has my skin color should just wait until the other more important people get helped first. For some reason she felt like she was justified in treating everyone and I do mean EVERYONE else better and somehow thinks I’m stupid enough to not realize why she treated me the way she did. To give an even more detailed description of what happened, before she asked if I had spoke to her, she actually ignored me as I was standing right in front her saying "excuse me, excuse me". Again, she obviously felt that I was someone she could just ignore as if I didn't matter. Honestly though I doubt she cares as I’m sure she feels like treating people like trash is something she can get away with at any point in time. Yes, La Loma is that type of place!

To add more insult, the manager came over to “try” and help but seemed way more interested in making sure that I did not express my anger to her racist employee rather than understanding our anger over what happened. Honestly if these are the type of employees you hire here then you did us a HUGE favor that we, our friends and family will never have the desire to come back, and I'm pretty sure you won't read the review anyway because I'm sure you only want "certain" types of people to dine...

UPDATE Restaurant management did the right thing, they reached out to me. They took action to speak to their staff so that this situation doesn't happen to anyone else. I really appreciate that, and I will be back again. I love this restaurant. I grew up in Denver, and always come back here to eat. I invite family and friends. The food is probably one of the best Mexican I have ever had. Today, our food and drinks were fantastic. Our server was nice. The restaurant was as crowded as I've ever seen it. My friend and I enjoyed our meal, and were able to catch up on our lives since we last saw each other. Our bill came, and we paid it complete with 20% tip. We stayed to enjoy our margaritas, and even ordered sopapillas. 30 minutes (or more) later, our server returns to the table saying we still owed $25 due a mistake he made on our original receipt due a mistake on his part. We changed our 2 margaritas to a pitcher long before being served. He explained when he changed the ticket, he forgot my friend's meal, and the sopapilla she ordered long after our original meal order. While it was his error, we still needed to pay. A few minutes later a manager came to our table to explain why we couldn't take a drink to go (which is allowed in Colorado). I then asked about the "mistake" and that we could have left as soon as we paid. It was only because we stayed to enjoy our conversation that we were there. She immediately started with an attitude that we owed the money, and since we were still there they could come back and charge us. She went on to say that if we had left, the server would have to pay it. We questioned that, then she said, well no, the restaurant would have covered it. Again, I said that I understand mistakes are made, but from a customer service point of view, I had paid the bill. After a bit of discussion she said that she could take the balance off, and give a refund, but why should she. I'm sorry. I work in customer service. Sometimes you just have to cover a mistake in order to make the customer want to come back. I don't ever try to get out of paying what I owe. But to blame me for a mistake, long after I pay my bill, is just wrong. As much as I love this place, I'm not sure I would come back. If you think I am in the wrong, put yourself in my place, paying over $100 for a meal for 2, only to be charged much later for a mistake that...

I had the Anniversary Plate from this downtown Denver restaurant, which came with a stuffed sopapilla, chile relleno, and a chicken flauta, smothered in green chile This place is known for their green chile, so I was very interested to try that specifically.

It was, as expected, quite good. It tasted very rich, like it was made with a lot of fat - and this comes through in the flavor. It's not spicy, but enough that you can feel the presence of the chili pepper that served as the original base - I think I would like it more if it was spicier. The pork shoulder in here, though, is exceptional. There were a few large pieces that were probably the highlight of my meal. As far as the thickness, I think it felt a bit light to me - more on the liquidy side. I would've preferred it slightly thicker, but overall, I did enjoy the chile Funnily enough, after seeing that the flauta was not covered in any chile at all - I had to ask for a bit more. Thankfully this didn't cause an extra charge

As far as the actual content of the meal, this was exceptional. Probably some of the best Mexican food I've ever had What's the most impressive in each of the three foods in the plate was how crispy they managed to be, despite the presence of the chile over top. It showed how amazingly these were fried - that I could still get a great crunch despite being on my last few bites. The sopapilla was especially great at this, having a double-layered batter with cheese underneath that was so good The flauta was also stuffed with chicken, and the chile relleno was plentiful with its cheese as well. I also loved the rice - it was very flavorful, and cooked perfectly, but honestly what might be the real highlight was how good the guacamole was. It tasted incredibly fresh and perfectly seasoned. So good

We also got a margarita pitcher for our group, and this was quite strong, and very large

For the price, this ended up at around $45 per person, which honestly isn't too bad considering the drinks + food. Also, the portion size is pretty massive

Overall, I came here for the green chile, but I ended up being more impressed by everything...