Bella Colibri — Restaurant in Golden

Reservations recommended, we got ours 30 minutes before we ate though, so that was good.

This was a treat my family will be raving over for a very long time. We feasted with multiple appetizers and deserts, so spent more than we normally would; you can see plates in the teens and low twenties though. This is an upscale dining that accommodates families and any dress code. I was nicely dressed, but after hiking my husband was in jeans, and not a single eye was bat. The atmosphere is perfect for a date night. The bathrooms were clean and well decorated. There was a space for private family gatherings and a rehearsal dinner was happening at the time of our visit.

The wait staff is attentive, solid, engaging, kind, and working pretty hard in these times so always exercise patience. My waitress and I hit it off pretty quick with similar interests, but that didn't distract her one bit from impeccable service.

Let's get to the real interest, the food! It is so good, such complex flavor profiles. For appetizers we had the olives, burrata, and bread. The bread was good. The burrata was an insane dish of sweet figs, tart tomatoes, cheesy goodness with bread. I've never tasted anything like that. Next, I personally despise olives with anything, I took a taste and several of them in the bowl were delicious! My husband said they were unlike anything he's had.

We ordered the lasagne, duck confit pasta, and stuffed shells for our meals. Every single meal was absolutely to die for. I didn't think I would like the duck confit due to the mushrooms, but all they did was enhance the flavor to that like a stroganoff. It was amazing. The lasagne on the left side of the menu comes with a spatula and it's big enough for an entire family to eat! All three of us enjoyed that. The pasta shells are perfect for a normal Eater, but my teenager was still hungry, lasagne to the rescue.

We got all 3 sides: rating asparagus highly. If you're on a budget, skip these. The polenta tastes like butter grits.

We had the lemon sorbet, canoli, and lemon cake for dessert. We took home a TM, and woo was it boozy! The canoli is rich, decadent, will hit the back of your tongue with a punch, and is totally shareable. The sorbet was so light and refreshing after a heavy meal. The cake was a shocker. It has freeze dried SOUR strawberries that punch with the cake. The cake pieces are very dense and so most they border wet. I loved it.

Do yourself a...

My wife and I finally discovered Bella Colibri and we both have no idea how we managed to live without it. It stands on an unassuming side street in Golden Colorado in one of the oldest buildings in the state. The interior is tasteful yet sublime with exposed brick and tall ceilings, and has a wonderful but quaint bar back near the corner of the dining room. Now let’s talk about the menu… wow. From traditional Italian fair to exciting new takes on old classics like lamb osso bucco and tuna concerva and wonderful hand made pasta like bucatini, cappelletti and gnocchi there is so much to love and explore. We decided to start with the olives and the baked bread plate. Both were wonderful and seem to be a perfect way to start the meal. My wife chose the porcini cappeletti and I decided to go more traditional route with the handmade lasagna that by the way was quite possibly the best I’ve ever had. She had a Cabernet and I tried the Abruzzo, both were flavorful and complemented the meal nicely. Although the lobster gnocchi beckoned I decided to leave it for next time. One small stumbling point was the menu we viewed online was not exactly accurate with the menu we encountered at the restaurant, most of it was the same but I thought I would mention that in case this might be a problem for some people. Eric was our server and was outstanding and professional in every regard even going as far as to give several excellent recommendations and wonderful descriptions of the food. We ended with my wife choosing a lemoncello and I had a simple latte. For as wonderful an evening as we had and as spectacular as the food was we felt the price was very reasonable and quite frankly can’t wait to return. Whether you are looking for a romantic dining experience or a fantastic family dinner the food the service and the ambience will absolutely help create some...

We were a group of about 10 for a 6:30 pm weeknight reservation, the big table was ready and we were seated and offered water immediately. Granted it was a bit slow that night but still, a good start.

And then it became spectacular. A beautiful, elegant and comfortable setting as I'd heard about.

And up front I'll say, I see reviews here of bad service and other complaints, and I know even the best businesses screw up on occasion, and more often these days. They can't get, or keep, good staff - same with my company so I can really relate to that challenge. But our evening was perfect.

We were recommended a very nice Chianti which we ended up polishing about 3 (???) bottles of, very happily. And a bottle of white and, well, some other drinks. Things got a little fuzzy at some point in the evening and I lost count.

The food - the FOOD - amazing. An appetizer that was tomatoes and squash and, other stuff, I just know that the table gobbled up two big plates of it in no time and were all raving about it.

Then, the entrees - everyone loved their food, I got the lasagna and that is a great choice! You see photos of the lasagna here from others, it was the envy of the table, a huge serving and it came with it's own special silver spatula, which for some reason I fell in love with, it was just a really fun cool touch. The cheese and pasta and sauce and meat in this dish were just amazing, but I was forced, begrudgingly, to share some bites of it with my table mates as they could see how much I was enjoying it. Next time I'll eat alone!

Anyway, yes we'll be back, I want to do the Chef's table seating, I would love to watch them prepare their amazing food and try some of their other...