Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Littleton

This was our first time dining at the Lazy Dog, and let me tell you - what made the restaurant a place that I would happily return to wasn't the food (not that it was in any way sub par) but it was the people!

My husband and I had a fun date night at Meow Wolf and then came here for a late dinner and sat at a high booth in the bar area. OK, MacGregor was our server - and he was GREAT! As a degreed hospitality professional, there are not many servers I come across that truly impress me. However, MacGregor had a personality that was infectious. His knowledge of the menu items, paired with his upbeat personality and his true passion for his patron's enjoyment of the evening - made for one dinner I will not soon forget.

The evening started off with an order of complimentary parmesean kettle chips as a thank you for being first-time customers. We ordered an unsweet tea and water for our beverages, no complaints there. We perused the menu, had our eye on a few of the entree options, and then asked MacGregor what his favorites were. In great detail about not only his favorite meals, he described the BBQ Ranch burger, fried chicken dinner, and the Bison Bacon Meatloaf. Not only did he include the ingredients and sauce pairings, but he went as far as even commenting on the texture that the fried onions and bacon give the meatloaf - a true professional.

I was debating between a simple 5 cheese grilled cheese with tomato basil soup (as I was not overly hungry) or the meatloaf, but his attention to detail in his explanations sold me on the latter.

My husband had the BBQ Ranch burger and had no complaints. And when my meatloaf arrived, it was barren atop. No crispy fried onions. I soon found out that the fry cooks had all but obliterated the last of the fried onions to an unfortunate burnt crisp. But MacGregor came out holding a small plate telling me the unfortunate news, followed by - I picked out as many as I could find that were not burnt, but I have already notified my manager of what happened and had him discount your dish since it is not the complete meal - I am so sorry.

I was taken aback. He noticed a problem, fixed it, and also went above and beyond by noticing that it still was not up to their standards. Absolute GOLD, I tell you. In this industry, there are not many like MacGregor. It was no surprise that he was training a new hire. Keep him. Promote him. He needs to be the model for all trainees.

Finally I was able to eat the meatloaf that was so highly regarded. Now, the fried onions definitely made a huge difference in mouth feel. A nice crispy texture to complement the smoothness of the loaf and pureed potatoes. The bacon and the in house made BBQ sauce gave the meatloaf a good flavor. Without it - it is just ok.

The manager Martell came over to apologize about the shortcomings of the evening and was a true gentleman. Inviting us to come back and give them another shot and offered us a dessert on the house.

We opted for the brownie. I should have read the description first, that brownie was a massive bowl of chocolatey goodness. Chocolate sauce, toasted marshmallow creme, and vanilla bean ice cream - man - it most definitely made up for any shortcomings from the meal.

Of course, I could not leave without trying the Huckleberry Apple pie, so we grabbed one to go. I couldn't wait, so I stole a bite before bed, and it was sweet, tart, and delicious.

Martell, MacGregor, and the sweet girl in training - Thank You. We...

About last night...buckle up, this is going to be a ride. I live not too far from the location in Highlands ranch, i go there by myself on occasion and never had too much of an issue, sometimes the staff just kind of leaves me alone but thats a different issue. So last night, my girlfriend and I were starving, so we popped in for a quick bite to eat. We got seated right away and our waiter seemed energetic to be there, honestly, I dont remember his name but he was older and had a tattoo sleve. He takes our drink order, comes back and i put in an app order for some chips and queso. 45 mins go by and we still haven't gotten our queso and 1 drink refill. Ques finally shows up and we start diggin in, it was not great. I could tell that the queso was reheated in its dish. 40 mins after receiving our app, we finally got our main dish, 10 mins after our waiter said it was being plated. The food was ok, i could tell my burger had sat for a while though. After bringing our food, our waiter refilled our drinks for only the second time and offered us 1 free dessert for the wait. It was the only time that he even acknowleged that we were there for tha long. After eating, we waited another 30mins for the check and dessert to go. He appologized for the wait and I responded with 'look, we've been here for 2 hours now'. His response was the absolute worst response that he could have had 'yeah, we got slammed with to-go orders'. That is entirely unacceptable when we watched other people come in, get thier food and have thier tables turned over in the time we were there. Blaming it on the kitchen and just being busy is the absolute lowest cop out you can do as a waiter. At this point I would have liked to have seen a manager, but we just wanted to leave. The absolute worst service and food I have ever had there. Now getting back to the queso, when you reheat cheese that has been cooked and sitting out, you have a chance to introduce bacteria. So thank you Lazy Dog for the 1am visit to my toilet and the food poisoning to go with the...

First visit to a Lazy Dog, won't be our last at this location. I rarely give any establishment 5 stars across the board, but these were earned.

The atmosphere is appropriately described as "lodge-chic." It's appropriate and the ambience never feels forced or cookie-cutter like many chains. It was comfortable and mellow despite a fairly busy Sunday night crowd.

The only thing better than the food (which was outstanding) was the service and attention to detail. Our server (Brandon) was attentive, helpful, friendly and engaged. You really couldn't ask for better. One thing that stood out was the way all of the staff worked together. We had a number of different people bring various dishes, drinks etc. to our table. It ensured nothing sat and waited on a specific server to pick it up and bring it to us. The food was hot, fresh and straight from the open kitchen. That comes from leadership and culture. The kind exemplified by Martell - one of the managers on duty who stopped by, introduced himself and welcomed us as first time guests. And treated us to us to some tasty fresh house-made Parmesan chips. He was working as hard as any of the staff running food etc.

The food: I had the grilled lemon chicken - which was amazing. Cooked perfectly, seasoned appropriately and delivered hot and fresh. Just like the Sweet and Spicy bowl my partner enjoyed. Veggies and such were fresh, crisp and cooked "just right" by the busy kitchen crew - kudos to them as well!

I didn't think to take pictures of the meal - I hadn't planned to write a review, but will definitely add some after our next visit. I did get one of the Butter Cake dessert - which was a perfect way to...