Teachers' Lounge Food + Drink — Restaurant in Denver

We dined here on March 3, 2023. The food and service was terrible. It was obvious that both the front and back of the house were mismanaged. It was an overpriced experience that did not satisfy. They were doing restaurant week which included a three course dinner for $35. The first negative experience came here because they required full participation from everyone at the table in order for one of us to do the restaurant week. They said this was so they could pace our dinner. Okay. We all participated, but the pace and service was terrible. Three of us had the stake frites, which was okay, but the fries were heavily over-salted. I had monk fish, which tasted okay despite smelling bad. However, it was literally a piece of fish served atop some sliced cabbage - it was not anything special. They took so long to 'pace' our dessert that we had to ask for the check before our dessert came. It took approximately 30 minutes between finishing our entrees and when they brought dessert. And it is not like the dessert was hard to plate - one of us had cookies for dessert, two of us had scoops of ice cream, and one had an apple crumble. Okay, maybe it takes 4-5 minutes to plate an apple crumble, but it should not take more than one minute to plate ice cream or cookies. Another area of disappointment came with our drinks. I ordered the drink 'Paradise Lost' and it was filled over the top with ice. There was probably only about 10 mL of drinkable liquid and the rest was ice. The drink cost $16. Furthermore, they only served us one round of drinks and never checked to see if we would like another round of drinks in the 1.5 hour experience. They also neglected to bring water so I had to go and grab some water carafes myself. It was a pretentious, overpriced experience with poor service. I ended up paying $136 for myself and my wife, and I wouldn't have felt much better about the experience if it had only cost $40. I gave them 2 stars instead of 1 because, while the service was bad, the server was very polite. Otherwise this would have been a 1 star experience. I do not recommend eating at...

We had a peculiar experience with this restaurant on a recent Friday night. We had an early pre-theater reservation, and it was our first time there. One of our party has a disability, so when we were shown to a counter-height table with high chairs, asked if there was a normal-height table available. The hostess said there would be only if we were willing to wait for a while (the restaurant was not busy at this time, and was never full for the entire time we were there), and then said that we can't be "picky" about our table. What a weird thing to say. I said that it was a strange way to communicate and that I wasn't loving the customer service so far, and she said she'd send the manager over (which she did not). I could understand if there were really no other table available, but that didn't seem to be the case, and it was just kind of needlessly snarky rudeness right off the bat. Having been given no other realistic option, we sat there anyway, and then watched the staff walk around the table while ignoring us completely while tending to other tables. We were actually on the point of leaving when a server finally brought some water and we were able to order.

The burgers and fries were good. The salmon, although nicely cooked, was strongly fishy-tasting. The pasta was fine. Every so often the hostess would pass our table and flash us this strange exaggerated smile. The server herself was good though, perfectly professional.

An interesting experience, and not really in a great way. I can't see us going back, as there are other better options for pre-theater in the area, although not as many as before...

This restaurant is located in the old Emily Griffith Opportunity School, and while some elements of the original building remain, the overall remodel gives off more of a boutique hotel vibe. The décor is beautiful and welcoming, and I was genuinely excited to try it out. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to my expectations.

We were seated promptly, and our server greeted us shortly after—but that’s where the service stalled. We ordered drinks and waited over 10 minutes for them to arrive, despite there being only one other party in the restaurant. When we finally placed our food order, it took more than 30 minutes to come out.

My husband’s flatiron steak may have been cooked to his preference when it was first prepared, but it had clearly been sitting in the window too long and had dried out. My salmon appeared to be baked but was completely unseasoned, and the greens and burrata salad was very light on the greens. Both of us found ourselves reaching for salt and pepper repeatedly throughout the meal.

Our server walked past our table multiple times without checking in or offering drink refills. The only time he returned was to ask us if we wanted anything else. That wouldn’t apply this time. At that point, I was more than ready to wrap things up.

The food wasn’t awful, just underwhelming—especially given the ambiance and initial impression of the space. Sadly, it didn’t meet our expectations, and we won’t be returning. I really hoped this would become a new go-to spot, but it...