Upstairs Circus LoDo — Restaurant in Denver

I have been to both the lodo and dtc location.

I would give the dtc location 5 stars but the downtown location 3.

The space at the lodo location is very small. There are 7 tables and each seat 6-7 people. This would be fine if there was enough room to comfortably navigate to the bar and restrooms. But overall, if the place is fully booked (which I'm sure happens often with it's growing popularity) then the lack of space becomes an issue.

There were only 3 or 4 workers and the day I went was fully booked. This isn't the fault of the workers, but the owners. They need to hire more people. My friend had a difficult time with her project and no one offered to help until around 15-20 minutes in. The employees were clearly preoccupied with other duties (and they did a great job - again, not their fault) but overall customer service suffered.

The projects range in difficulty and time requirement. For the projects that are more difficult and require more time, it's not probable to complete them in the time allotted, especially without much help. And especially when the employees are not easily reachable. As a patron, you'd have to choose between waiting and continuing and possibly making a mistake. Another reason to hire more people.

I went to a Making and Mimosas class from 11:30 - 2:30pm. They were not open at 11:30, or maybe they were but there was a long line outside. I was there at 11:35 but didn't enter the building until around 11:50. Then, with checking in and then choosing a project, I probably didn't start until 12:10-12:15. This was partly because it was a fully booked event. That is fine but if you know your events sell out, then you need to hire more employees to make the check in process more efficient so people get to work on a project for the full time allotted. I intentionally chose an easy project but my friend didn't and she didn't get to finish.

Please give patrons more updates on time. 30 and 15 minute warnings until the end of class, at least. There should be clear, audible updates on time for the entire room.

At the end, we were given our credit cards and told to add gratuity. I did not tip and I didn't think the service was worth tipping for. Barely any service was provided - as I mentioned before, the employees were very busy and they were avsilable when needed by basically, they checked me in, gave me materials, and kept my mimosa glass full. They were kind people but I would have preferred to be notified of expected gratuity.

In a paint and sip class, the instructor is usually much more involved and I can see why they would expect a tip. Since these projects are self-directed, that didn't make sense to me.

I loved having so many different projects to choose from and for most projects, the printed directions are sufficient!

Tips are nice but it was heavily implied that they were expected and with the level of service given, tips were not warranted in my opinion.

Overall, I think you'd have a better time at the dtc location because it's larger and the employees didn't seem so rushed. It's a great concept and I appreciate all the work that goes into it but I do think they could improve their business model to provide a more enjoyable experience to customers.

Thank you, and I did...

I really enjoyed this experience overall! I went with my partner for a fun date night to celebrate his birthday, and he loved it! I think the concept is great, and I loved being able to make what I want at my own pace and in my own way while having some drinks. I do, however, think some improvements could be made:

More time and space. We had reservations for Saturday afternoon, which I do understand is naturally a busy time. The website told us to arrive between 2:30-3:30pm, so we arrived at 2:30pm and didn't get to go in until a bit past 3pm - no big deal, I know they were cleaning up from the morning group. Then, it took about 45 minutes from the time we entered to actually get to start on our projects due to waiting in line to check in, pick up our project materials, and get drinks. The timing issue is definitely due to lack of space for a full house. They were sold out, so every seat was filled, which was great for business! However I do feel that moving to a bigger location and having more staff members would be helpful so there could be multiple project pick-up staff and bartenders, so there's not one person tending to almost 100 people. It was also crowded which made it difficult to work on projects at times - I had to constantly move my chair because people were walking behind and next to me the entire time. I also needed to use a hair dryer to dry my paint, but the hair dryer was at the opposite end of the table and I had to take somebody else's seat for a few minutes just to use it, which was awkward and not ideal.

More project options. There were some really cool projects, but I'd love to see more variety. I picked the nail-and-string art project which was super fun. However, due to time constraints, I was only able to get the nailing portion done and had to do the stringing at home. I do appreciate that I was given materials to take home! It did feel like half the projects were jewelry or leather and some other basic painting projects. I'd love some more wood-based projects...

Went to this location (LoDo) last weekend for the Making n Mimosas Saturday morning workshop. We had a blast and it was great to see my friends after such a long time!! While I didn't get to finish my chosen craft in time (I took full advantage of the bottomless mimosas), I was given supplies to take home so I could do it on my own time (which I've still not completed, perhaps I need more mimosas to finish the job).

The atmosphere was great, the chalk wall bathrooms were neat-o, and the staff were fantastic! My glass was almost never empty, they took the time to explain how everything works, and they even stopped by to answer questions/assist with some of the craft steps.

I'd like to shout out Matt as he was a complete professional and compassionate guy, even as I was crying for an unrelated reason when we arrived (my glasses breaking en route to this location made for a very sad start to the day but electrical tape works wonders people). I'd also like to shout out Superman for going above and beyond in helping our group out (our Wonder Woman at the table really appreciated it) and for making "Andy's Birthday Shot" for me, as it was delicious! I would highly recommend this shot to anyone (side note: make sure to ask about the ingredients per allergies). The ladies we talked to before we left were also very nice.

I would absolutely return in the future and my drunk self supports this 1,000% (and my drunk self would have left a much better review). Thank you Upstairs Circus for the fabulous experience your establishment provided and I look forward to visiting again...