Stowaway Kitchen — Restaurant in Denver

It is with much disappointment that I write this review because my coworkers and I have had many delicious, memorable meals at Stowaway over the course of the last two years. We used to be regular patrons every single "Japanese Friday." It is undeniable that this place creates thoughtful, creative, and healthy food for their customers. However, over the course of time here, we noticed a continual disregard of customer service.

It started with waiting about 45-50 minutes for our food. I understand it takes longer to create dishes with fresh ingredients but the servers rarely came back to check on us to see if we needed anything else in the mean time, even when the restaurant wasn’t crowded. Additionally, they never got to know us on a personal level after visiting weekly which would have been well received, seeing as how loyal we were to them and how community-driven they claim to be.

The tipping point though was three different encounters. My colleague and I came in to do some work on our laptops one day and we simply asked the owner if they had an outlet, at which point they responded with “we are not trying to be one of those internet cafes, so no, you will not find that here” with much pretension in his voice. Not only did he fail to recognize us, but the lack of respect in his response was enough to turn us away and go somewhere else that day. A simply no would have sufficed or a more respectful, approachable answer of their purpose behind not providing outlets. The second encounter was when a coworker asked if they had pumpkin spice syrup and they answered with “no, we only make homemade syrups. If you want that then you can go to Starbucks.” Again, a simple no or respectfully educating the customer on their purpose behind that would go a long way and would even elicit further conversation and openness. The last encounter we had was asking for our server’s attention to order after we waited at our table for 45 minutes and she responded with “hold on!” After that encounter, we have not been back.

Again, my intention behind this review is not to disparage the business because they have so much to offer but rather provide some constructive criticism so they can change the way they manage the business and treat their customers. We hope your future patrons will receive treatment as good as your food because that is what truly...

TLDR: Delicious, casual, great service, will absolutely return.

We just enjoyed a light brunch at Stowaway and loved it. We went on a total whim choosing it moments before arriving, waited maybe five minutes (we got lucky on Sunday at almost 10:00 am), and had a fantastic meal. The service was super friendly and attentive but not remotely overbearing. The food was excellent—my husband had the scram sandwich and an Americano I had the seasonal spring pea tartine and a lovely breakfast tea blend. Phenomenal: great flavors, great bread, perfectly cooked eggs (his scrambled, mine poached), the whole nine.

It’s very casual with a mix of ages and various groups of families, friends, and couples. Not a big deal, but as an FYI the banquettes/booths and most chairs are quite hard and flat. I felt it was a smidge loud but not crazy, and besides it was pretty full. There are a few outdoor tables on the front patio that I think are dog friendly. They have well-organized printed menus (hooray!) and a QR code that you can use to view the menu online where you can also see that day’s baked goods. If you need/want a bit of a visual aide, they’ve got everything pictured on their Instagram. I kind of hate QR code “menus” that you have to scroll through on your phone but they did it the right way as an option and augmentation. I want a printed menu to be able to see everything at once and easily point things out to whomever I’m with, and—call me an old-fashioned elder Millennial—I want to fully enjoy the moment/food/company and I’m sort of anti anything that encourages people to be on their phones while dining out.

Definitely give it a try, even if just for a caffeine boost and something from the wonderful looking and clearly quite popular bakery case. We’ll be...

had looked at their menu online and because I'm not a big fan of vegetables, I was planning on just having coffee. But when we sat down to the table, I noticed the menu included a breakfast "spesh" of custard french toast with orange drizzle and carmelized oranges. (And I really should have paid more attention to the fact that after the description of the dish on the menu, there was additional verbiage that said "Lucky you.") I figured what the heck...it sounds kind of good. That is an understatement. This dish.....which I proclaimed to the waitress ought to be a regular dish on their menu....was fabulous. It came with a dollop of cinnamon sugar dip that was to die for. AND, I almost didn't even eat the carmelized oranges because they looked like a garnish. However, my husband tried a little bite of them and said I really should try them. I'm so glad I did. I cut up the oranges and ate them with the french toast....seriously, it was a flavor explosion in my mouth. So delicious. And now I understand the need to put "Lucky you" on the menu!

The place itself is in Five Points so it has a great vibe to it. The space is awesome. Brick, exposed ductwork, garage doors, wooden tables, and fantastic artwork.

The only reason they didn't get five stars from me is that when you first walk in the door, there was an unpleasant odor. Once we were seated, we could no longer smell it so we wondered if we had just gotten used to it. But no, when we left, we smelled it again. Since it was our first impression upon walking into the place, I'm glad we overlooked it enough to give the place a chance. However, it would behoove management to investigate where that smell is...