The Goldfinch — Restaurant in Denver

I am so excited to welcome Goldfinch in the Platt Park neighborhood. I’ve only been for happy hour but definitely plan to try it out for brunch soon.

Interior: The decor is great, it’s like a moody lounge vibe with awesome textures and touches of old Hollywood. Even the bathrooms are well thought out and fun. The patio isn’t quite finished yet but I believe they are working to make it nice for the upcoming summer.

Service: The staff are some of the nicest people. Even when they are busy they still make the time to make you feel welcomed and un-rushed.

Drinks: ive had their dirty martini, cenicero, a well gin drink, and noconut nojito. They use Castelvetrano olives and olive brine for their dirty martinis which I love because they have that lemon flavor. The cenicero lacked the smokey-ness from the tobacco syrup I was expecting. The random gin drink was made great and the bartender was so sweet for indulging me in my random request. And finally the noconut was awesome. TIP:The bartender actually refilled the glass with soda water once I had finished the drink and it became this really amazing bubbly version of the drink.

Food: we had the Brie and crab, diablos rancheros, canapé, and raclette. The Brie was amazing. The crab which was real crab not that fake stick stuff but the crab meat was minced up. They might want to invest in lump crabmeat. It also will have better flavor. The crab meat they are currently using just tasted bland. NOTE: Full disclosure I’m born and raised in Maryland so I’m particular when it comes to crab meat. The Diablos rancheros are fancy devil eggs. I personally didn’t expect that when it came out based on the menu description. But they were good. The hash is dry. I’ve had it twice now and the dry hash seems to be a choice. The canapé is amazing and I’ll be getting that 9/10 times we visit in the future. And the Raclette was actually a cool flavor combo. I would consider it a tapa size serving.

Overall definitely recommend if you’re looking for something with a good atmosphere and...

I really like this place, but it has a couple issues. The drinks that I've ordered both on and off the menu have been good. I've had one food item, the falafel, and that too was good. The furniture is very comfy, the music is good, and I like the aesthetic. I like the diversity of lighting within the bar, there are really cool hanging fixtures and good variation of the color and temperature of lighting.

Being said, there is one main issue. It is so dark in this bar at night! I couldn't see the detail in the face of my friend who was sitting just 3 feet away. I had no idea what I was really eating outside of "there's a plate in front of me and I should put what's on the plate in my mouth", it just looked like a black blob on a plate. I couldn't read the detail of my check without using my phone to provide additional lighting. It is truly just way too dark in this place, it's like night club lighting and it makes everything feel distant and awkward for a cocktail bar. I can't connect with who I bring here because I can't even see their face. It is by far the darkest cocktail bar I have ever step foot in. If all the lighting were kept the same, but was made a bit brighter, it would be fantastic! My only other point is that the table closest to the corner by the DJ booth is very awkward if you're sitting in the chair vs on the couch. The staff is consistently trying to get passed you to go downstairs or into the DJ booth, but there is so little space they're always squeezing behind you and the wall. It feels like you're...

We really wanted to like this place, and it does have a cool vibe and the DJ was good… but a few major complaints…

Our food was not good at all! We got the ceviche (ceviche is really hard to screw up) and it was terrible. Worst ceviche we’d ever had. It was completely inedible because it was so spicy. The menu said nothing about it being a spicy dish. It was over the top hot. I had only one bite. My wife ate some of it and it gave her a stomach ache because it was so spicy. And also, it was supposed to be a shrimp dish but it had almost no shrimp. It was literally 98% diced veggies with maybe 4 or 5 tiny bits of shrimp. Not enough to even taste.

Almost as annoying as the food is the fact that they do not have printed menus. So the only way to look at the menu is on your phone. We hate this. We intentionally like to put our phones away when we’re out together. But they force you to sit on your phone scrolling endlessly through the menu. At one point we looked up and almost every person in the whole bar was doom scrolling the menus on their phones not paying attention to anyone else they were sitting with. It really takes away from the vibe of a place like this when everyone is literally forced to be on their phone. A printed menu on the table would be great.

We may go back eventually for just a drink because the DJ vibe was great. But overall we did not have a...