Syrup City Park — Restaurant in Denver

Minimal service, bland food, great location.

I couldn't remember exactly why I haven't been here since the place opened. I live in the neighborhood and walk by regularly. The only thing I remember distinctly from my first visit was a former mayor Wellington Webb sighting. So, my family and I decided to revisit the place. We love breakfast and this place is much closer for us than Snooze or Jelly, or Devil's Food, or Waffle Bros or Four Friends (all places that are MUCH better for breakfast). Syrup is walking distance for us, and that's part of the reason it's such a bummer that this place just isn't good.

First, let's talk about the food. Their churro donut is good. How can it not be? Fried dough to dip in salted caramel and/or Nutella is going to be difficult to mess up. But it definitely could be better.

The rest was truly disappointing. The Cherry Creek Bennie, which includes the words "award winning" in the description, is BLAND. It "looks" right, but it doesn't taste like anything. Straight butter would have more flavor than the hollandaise sauce. The corned beef is the only thing you can taste.

The same inexplicable lack of flavor was true for the chicken and waffles my wife ordered. I've had store bought frozen chicken fingers that were more flavorful. The chicken they use seems like frozen Sysco tenders. They haven't been brined and the batter does nothing for them. These are "protein sticks" on waffles. All you taste in each bite is whatever you dip it in.

Syrup has an obsession with tater tots. My plate came with maybe a pound of tots. Mashed tots. Why do they mash them? They half-assedly crush some of the tots with a fork, as if their diners are incapable of chewing their own food. These are chain-food Sysco tots. They are nothing special at all; kind of like the rest of the food. Most plates come completely inundated with tater tots. I'm talking two large servings from Sonic per plate, crowding away the rest of the food. Is this how they feel they justify charging people $16 for a flavorless benedict? It's as if they are trying to distract diners with a mountain of (cheaply made) food. The coffee is weak too!

Our service was bad too. My wife worked in the service industry for decades. When she starts telling me to lower the tip amount, things have gone poorly. We saw her when she took our order, when we were finished with our meal, and when she brought us our check. We had to flag down other people for refills on coffee, water, etc. I wanted some hot sauce or something to make my bland food better, but I gave up. I saw other servers there doing a much better job. We were just unlucky.

While I'm here, I feel I need to mention their total non-sequitur shirts/branding. Their shirts, which the staff wear and are sold as merchandise, have lame marijuana puns. "Buy local hash," in an amateurish font and layout screams legal weed exploitation. It's just another bit of tastelessness that seems to be the only coherent and consistent attribute on offer.

Do yourself a favor and skip this place. Go somewhere good for breakfast. Or make your own. This place is a...

My boyfriend and I just finished a relatively short, 4-day stay in Denver—the first time either of us has been. We had Syrup recommended to us by both our AirBnb hosts & previous guests at the AirBnb via a guest book. We went for the first time yesterday, our second morning in the area, and genuinely both fell in love with this place from there.

Located just across the street from this particular location is City Park, and because we sat on the patio both mornings, we were able to people-and-dog watch during our meal and otherwise just enjoy the park’s beautiful scenery. The outdoor seating is also comfortably shaded and spaced out!!

As for the food, it’s amazing!! The portion sizes are also HUGE, which is awesome considering most meals on the menu hovers around $10.00. Instead of trying another new place, we went back to Syrup this morning after checking out from our AirBnb because the food is that impressive and delicious. We only ended up eating off the breakfast menu both times, but both the breakfast and lunch menus have a pretty good variety of options to pick from. The beignets specifically are a definite must!!! We also shared the Kitchen Sink today and were very dismayed to find it was more than even the two of us could handle. It was just so good!! The food came out really quick both times despite the patio being packed, and it was cooked well & super tasty. Their drinks are also delicious—I tried the seasonal lavender lemonade mimosa & pineapple mimosa, and my boyfriend got their specialty Old Fashioned both mornings and loved it.

As former servers and bartenders, we overall really appreciated how well the staff seems to work together and how efficient they are at making super high quality food. We were lucky enough to have Jameson as our server both days, and we wanted to shout him out for being so friendly, personable, and welcoming!! He knows the menu super well and was able to recommend drinks and modifications to meals based on his own experience, and was all around just an excellent server and very nice guy to talk to. He made sure we were taken care of and will do the same for you!!!

We decided on our way out to the car this morning that Syrup will be a staple for any visits to Denver in the future! If we end up moving out this way as we’d both like to, we’ll be regulars in an instant.

Thank you to Syrup and Jameson for such a great...

I’m so disappointed to give this place such a low rating because it’s so close to our home. I’ve left multiple messages for the GM who’s suppose to be a guy named Ben.

We had a couple mess ups but being Covid we didn’t want to complain. We then ordered $80 worth of food through a delivery app. The food took forever and we could see the driver waiting there and the driver called us to let us know it was suppose to be ready and he was still waiting.

They missed an entire entree and a juice. The rest of the order was sloppy and lukewarm at best. We called and complained and a manager apologized and offered us a $25 gift card. We thought this was acceptable.

The final straw was last week. I called in my order to expedite the pick up. When I arrived on a Monday around 10:30a there were plenty of seats available and had 3 or 4 employees walk by without acknowledging me. After about ten minutes a woman came over and asked me if I needed a table. I shared with her that I just had a pickup. Somehow my $10 breakfast sandwich turned into $15 and asked to add a sprite.

They brought me a tab for around $16. Seven minutes later an unfriendly Hispanic manager rudely told me my gift card was expired. I politely explained the situation of how we acquired the gift card. He asked me if I had a receipt for it and showed him the envelope that it came in as we were never given a receipt. I paid with my credit card and asked the GM’s name. He said Ben but he wasn’t there. I called back a couple times and was told I would get a call back.

Brunching in Denver is a sport! There are plenty of better places, with far...