The Rouge Wine & Bourbon Bistro — Restaurant in Greenwood Village

Pros:

Great atmosphere, very comfortable lounge style decor. Fit what they were going for exactly.

The Wine and Bourbon flights were excellent and presented well.

Cons:

Food had the quality of something I would expect at a food hall for half the price. We ordered the Oysters, Yellowtail Crudo, Goat Cheese Beignets, Fungi Pizza, and Red Snapper Tacos.

First the Oysters. They were clearly not fresh and as we made our way through the half dozen they got worse. The last one had a film on it and was inedible.

Second, the Yellowtail Crudo, this is the restaurants take on a fairly popular appetizer with yellowtail sashimi, shishiro peppers and some sauce. The amount of fish was criminally low for the price and the quality did not match. It's like they took the $12 appetizer from Mika sushi, left the fish out for a day, and then used a butter knife to trim fish. After which they then decided to charge $19. I don't take pictures of food often but I wish I had for this one it was appalling, especially for the price point.

Third, the Goat Cheese Beignets. Restaurant is very liberal with the word beignet here. There is almost no breading and it is essentially a fried ball of goat cheese. It was fine but misleading. Best item we had.

Fourth, the Fungi Pizza. This pizza had all the markings of something frozen and reheated, the middle was lukewarm the cheese was barely melted and it was just covered in overpowering truffle oil. For $28 I'd expect much better.

Last was the red snapper taco. Fish was cooked fine but lacked any significant flavor. The avocado sauce redeemed it and made it edible. Two small tacos for $15 was egregious but it fit the pricing scheme of the restaurant and was the second least offensive item of the night.

We dined in on a Friday night and walked in at primetime to a mostly empty restaurant. That probably should have been our sign, but the atmosphere was nice enough to warrant a try.

Overall takeaway is that you're paying top dollar for food hall quality dishes and it leaves a bit of a bitter taste in...

Beautiful ambience. Semi-attentive service. But nowhere near enough bang for your buck and the “burned butter scallops” were a huge disappointment. I sat at the bar and both bartenders recommended them, probably because they were the most expensive thing on the small plate menu. $19. They didn’t tell me there were only TWO. And I think they forgot the burned butter because they were the plainest scallops I’ve ever had. Most of the plate was a side dish you’d have at Thanksgiving; also plain. Potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes. No salt. The minute they set it down I thought “are you kidding”? —I figured I’d give it a chance. At nearly $10 a scallop. I would totally pay that if they were excellent. These were absolutely not. A guy next to me got the short ribs though and they looked beautiful. He said they were great. I got a $14 Manhattan that was about three sips. Also not good— with the pretense of being special because a twig of rosemary was singed at the edges. Big whoop. Tempted to get a white/rose/bubbly by the glass, but as I looked up what their offerings were online, I quickly realized these were very cheap selections, which they charged the full bottle price for a singular glass. That is, a $14 glass of rosé, and when I looked up the rosé… It cost $14-$20 for the whole bottle. Classic gouging for the ambience. And again, I would take gouging if it were quality stuff, but it wasn’t. And the bartenders never came back to ask me if I’d like anything else after I was honest with them that the food wasn’t great. Like they were afraid to come over again. There are oodles of other places, I would prefer to spend my money knowing I am getting quality....

My experience here was enjoyable and I highly recommend. This place had it all- the atmosphere, drinks, food, and service. Our evening started with a free valet, which seemed silly bc of the close proximity of the door to parking spaces, but it was a nice touch. The place was totally warm and inviting with a lovely touch to the past. You can sit at the bar, enjoy a lounge area, or have a table - each offering its own cozy, intimate look.

Food: We ordered a charcuterie board and it was a delicious appetizer for 3 of us. My friend got the scallops and Brussels sprouts, my husband got the filet, and I got the Blood Orange Salmon. All the food was amazing!

Drinks: I ordered the 50 Shades of Grapes red wine flight and it was tasty. My friend got the Winter Wonderland flight (white wine) and was good- she didn’t care for the last wine in the flight but I thought it was good. My husband got a Notorious F.I.G. and a Mountain Old Fashioned, and enjoyed both.

Service: Our server was very attentive and helpful. Her suggestions were spot-on and did not disappoint! She stopped by to check on us frequently, filling our water and made sure we were happy with everything.

I would definitely return here if we frequently traveled to this area. Very glad we stumbled...