Zane's Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Denver

My wife and I have eaten at many “fine dining” restaurants in Denver that compare fairly to the prices of dishes that are served here. We were disappointed with our experience however. We paid higher prices than what we do at a normal finer restaurant in the Denver area. The food was great, and the portions were big and we felt the value for the food was decent but in comparison to other fine Italian restaurants in Denver like “The Odyssey” we found that we paid more for an experience that can be compared to what you would experience at an Applebees or a Red Robin type of establishment. Simply put, we were not impressed. We each had the “Zane’s Trio” as well as the meatball sliders. I ordered two glasses of wine and my wife had a Diet Coke. Everything was good but I don’t necessarily feel it was worth the $116 we paid for the two of us to dine. Granted we did walk away with left overs and we did enjoy the food but for that price we were expecting a bit more of a fine dining experience. When pulling into the parking lot we assumed it was going to be packed and that our reservation was worth making but as we sat down we realized that we probably did not need the reservation. At 5:30 pm on a Friday I would expect a restaurant at this perceived caliber to be packed and flowing with people but that was not the case although their packed parking lot seemed to suggest otherwise. When walked to our table we passed many open tables and I felt slightly embarrassed for even Making a reservation. Our service wasn’t bad but for $30 a plate on average it simply did not compare to other restaurants that we have dined at for similar prices. We were told twice that we would be receiving complimentary bread but did not receive it till after our appetizer was served and we got it only shortly before our entrees came out. The food tasted great, and the portion was big and we definitely felt for the price it was worth it for the food. But when spending this kind of money (isn’t a crazy amount but is more than somewhere like Cheesecake Factory) we expected better ambiance, service, and a finer dining experience. Our favorite Italian restaurant like mentioned previously is the Odyssey where their plate prices are slightly cheaper but we have multiple staff members taking care of our needs more attentively and efficiently. Over all the 3/5 stars was given due to the packed parking lot with a lack of business and a lack of attentive service. When we choose a fine dining Italian experience again we will stick to places like The Odyssey, but I would still choose this place over Olive Garden any day. The service and experience are comparable to a place like Olive Garden but I would still choose this place over Oliver Garden as far as how good this food was. I will probably utilize the delivery option...

Horrible. My mom and I came here today for dinner. We sat down, and our waiter (older guy, longer hair with a pony tail, thin) got our drinks (a beer and a watered down mojito) and ordered. My mom ordered a minestrone soup, and a salad. I ordered the mushrooms for an appetizer, and a calzone with no red sauce. Just cheese, pepperoni and sausage with ranch as the dipping sauce and no marinara. The waiter seemed to understand. 20 mins later my mom received her soup and salad from some random guy that wasn’t our waiter…. Said my food would be out shortly. 10 mins later our waiter comes by and says that he specifically asked whoever delivered my moms food to not bring it out yet (blaming someone else) then asked if we wanted him to take the soup and salad back to “keep it warm” til my food came out. Literally a half hour later comes our waiter and I ask about our appetizer (the mushrooms) and he said they would be out in a second. 10 mins later they get delivered by our waiter…. And proceeds to tell us that it’s the other guys fault as to why my foods not done yet again…. But here’s the appetizer. (I asked …Doesn’t an appetizer come before any of the meals?) he said “usually but he assumed we wanted them with our meal” what?! I never said that. we wait 10 more mins and my calzone comes out, the waiter says “we good” and walks away. The calzone has red sauce when I asked for it to be taken out and marinara when I asked for ranch. ANOTHER 15 mins later he comes back and he says “can I get you guys more beers?” Um no…I asked for ranch and no red sauce in the calzone and he says “oh yeah you did she must’ve forgotten.” Who is she?! It was a he he was blaming up until now. So I just asked if I could get it taken off my bill and to forget it because I refused to wait another hour to get my calzone. Waiter was rude not taking any accountability and service was extremely slow. We got there at 5 and left at 630. Mind you, I had mushrooms for dinner….My mom ate by the time we got the appetizer, and was waiting a good 15 mins after already being done eating before my calzone even came. Had to ask the waiter for our check after thinking about if we should just leave or go wait at the front register… Got charged full price…. Waiter apologized for “the other people not getting things right”So frustrating because I’ve been here 2 other times and thought it would be a nice sit down place to take my mom as she loves Italian, and since I’ve always gotten great service. The manager is great. My husband and him would always chat, he’s always asking how things are etc although tonight he was talking to another customer or I would have spoke to him about this visit....

This breaks my heart to leave a bad review, but my experience leaves no other option. We were seated promptly and were excited to dig in. Our Server was quick to the table. (this was the last time). We were given bread (kind of stale) and waters. Our Server took our drink order and when he returned, our dinner order. We ordered an appetizer, two dinners, one with a salad. The appetizer was the vegetarian antipasti. This is my only complaint about the food. The plate came with what seemed like 50 cloves of garlic (awesome we love garlic), olives, caprese and chopped artichokes and red pepper. Keyword CHOPPED. What did not come was any vessel to put crushed garlic or chopped peppers/artichokes on. Any other antipasti plate would include crostini, or crackers or something. Not here. It is what it is, we were confused but fine. To top all this off, the dinner salad came at the same time as the appetizer. So much for enjoying any sort of flow to the courses, just throw it all on the table. This became even more so when 2 minutes later (no lie, immediately after) our dinner dishes were delivered. We barely got a chance to figure out how to eat chopped antipasti without bread before our food was right in front of us to get cold (I had not even thought about my salad yet). NONE of these dishes were delivered by our Server. We actually never saw him again until we were done with all the plates still on the table and we had to ask someone to go find him. It was not until then that he asked, "do you want another drink", "do you need more water?" (our water glasses were long dry). "Do you want desert?" No Un-Server, we want boxes for all this cold food and our check. I have not left anything under 25% of a tip since Covid, my rule before that was 15% was for the absolute worst service I could have, which I never had before. I left 10% tonight. I don't feel bad, I should have left 5% and that should be for the attentive server around us who summoned our server...