Sugarbeet — Restaurant in Longmont

Was a balmy, muggy night with pockets of drizzle here and there. I hadn't showered and my girl was greasy and in a rage about the price change for a pack of Newports. I was mostly hot about that clown that cut us off in traffic but it wasn't the hill I was dying on that night. I needed to find Shelley and quick, it was a matter of life and death and I didn't have much time. Rewind.... I need to give some context here. Shelley and I had met a couple of times. She was gluten free and dairy free. Mostly vegan. She was a Russian tortoise with very specific dietary restrictions and for some reason she found me interesting. Tonight she needed romaine, just the green part and preferred not to be present at service. Sort of a mix of self esteem and constantly being late every where she goes. So this is where sugar beet ties into this and why it's all important. Mika and Shelley didn't get along, I found myself carrying one or the other home every time they came into contact. Mika was also reptilian, but was more social and without all the baggage. No shell either. So there i am with Mika, when we are graced with an ambivalent server, maybe 25, approaches and begins to sound off the special for the day and great options for wine pairing. While this sounded viable to me, Mika was underwhelmed and asked to be excused. She wandered off, upset about options so I ordered for the both of us. A bowl of celery for her and the beef oscar for me. Food arrived and Mika hadn't returned. I waited, every good cowboy does but eventually I would succumb to the feast before me. It was mediocre. They used some sort of crab substitute claiming that it was for sustainability and the environment. Befuttled and tired of waiting for Mika, I sauntered over to the powder room to get her over for her meal and she was gone. I was destroyed. My Mika was gone and I had already shelled out money for the celery. Devastated about Mika and unsure about Shelley's disappearance I made the trip across town in search of my Shelley. I was not able to make contact with Shelley and Mika had gone missing too. I'm hoping to recoup the cost of the celery and hope sugar beet will be understanding of this. I was charged $1.75 for the side of celery, and given the whole imitation crab on my beef oscar, it's a fair request. What an awful night. I'm out of the reptile market, really...

We recently went to Sugarbeet for our anniversary and we're both super impressed with just about everything. The only issue we had was that it took quite a long time to get drinks in front of us, but the owner or manager who was walking around and checking in on everybody frequently stopped by, and when I mentioned it, we had our drinks right away. My wife had their signature Beetropolis which is gin, beet, tonic, mint, and lime and it was excellent.

We started with a sizzling shrimp appetizer, and although shrimp scampi doesn't really challenge the chefs, the shrimp was cooked to perfection, and it was served with delicious toasts with a nice char that really brought the sizzling shrimp together. Next time I would order something different, but I have no complaints at all about the sizzling shrimp, beyond that it's a little basic.

For the main courses, my wife had the seared ahi tuna and I had the Arctic char. Her tuna was perfectly seared, and it was served with an incredible kimchi sticky rice and sugar snap peas that were cooked just enough and still had a really nice crunch to them. There was a really nice creamy wasabi sauce on the plate to dredge the tuna in as well as ponzu, and it was excellent.

It's not as if I'm a chef, or a food critic, but outside of COVID I travel fire business frequently, entertaining customers, and eat at a lot of nice restaurants. My experience here was the first in a very very long time where every single item on our plates was perfect, sometimes the steak is good, but the veggies are a little mushy, or the fish is a little overcooked or potatoes a little salty. The Arctic char was out of this world and one of the best fish dishes I've ever eaten. It had a crispy skin and a pesto sauce on top that was mind-blowingly delicious. I stay away from grains so the couscous that accompanied it was mostly untouched, which was a shame, because the bike that I took was stellar.

Sugarbeet is a place we'll reserve for special occasions, and I'm very much looking forward to the next one. I'll update my review if anything changes on our next visit, which will be in a couple of weeks when the in-laws visit us from New York.

LOVED everything about this place. Keep up...

My wife took me for a special dinner to Sugarbeet to celebrate my 40th birthday. I had the filet mignon and she had the crab cakes, both were expertly cooked and delicious. We also had the brussels sprouts as an app, which were very tasty, too, especially in combination with the fresh sourdough bread. The brussels were shredded and tossed in oil and spices much like a slaw, a welcomed difference from the usual way they're prepared. Also, their blackberry cocktail was excellent and the chocolate cake for dessert was deliciously decadent.

The reason for the 4 instead of 5 stars has to do with sort of an awkward interaction involving my birthday. First, there was no mention of it at all even though my wife had them take note of it when she made the reservation. Not that big of a deal as I am a grown man after all and don't need much fanfare but a little attention would've been nice. The awkward part happened at the end of the meal when our server realized it was my birthday once she saw that my wife had given me a card. She quickly scooped up our bill and went to the back of the house. We, of course, thought oh maybe she's going to comp our chocolate cake or something like that. She returned with an empty plate with a lit candle on it. We all chuckled and I made a wish and blew out the candle. It was a sweet and amusing gesture on her part, she was a good server overall. However, the bill was the exact same as when she took it back.

Afterward, I surmised that she must've been denied by the manager or owner to comp anything on the check and so she had to think of something quickly to return with, thus the plate and candle. Frankly, that left a bad taste in our mouths about the whole experience. I'm sorry but that's just plain cheap and classless, especially considering it was a 40th birthday celebration and we ordered an appetizer, two entrees (one being the priciest on the menu), drinks, and a dessert. Taking a $9 piece of cake off the bill would've been a much appreciated symbolic gesture to say "hey happy birthday, thanks for spending it with us". Very...