Our Recommendations for Great Restaurants in Uptown Denver
If you’re looking for great Uptown Denver food, you’ve come to the right place. We are residents of Uptown Denver who are very passionate about the neighborhood and the community. We have explored every part of it on foot and tried (almost) every restaurant. Having surveyed and vetted the array of food available in Uptown, we are in a good position to make a battle-tested list of what we consider to be the best Uptown Denver food – and that is exactly what we did.
About Us: We love Uptown so much that we decided to open Worth the Fight Boxing & Fitness Studio a fitness studio offering classes mixing boxing fitness, strength training, and high intensity interval training bootcamp classes. If you’re feeling a little portly after dining at the eateries on this list, WTF Boxing might be the perfect counterbalance to get you back in shape. Get Worth The Fight’s best rates on fitness memberships!
Without further ado, here is our list of the top Uptown Denver restaurants:
🔶Coperta (Best Italian Food in Uptown Denver)
Coperta is an inviting eatery located on 20th Street in Uptown Denver that celebrates and honors authentic Southern Italian cuisine and wines. The menu features delicious items such as wood-fired beef sirloin, ricotta ravioli, and salumi plates with house-made meats, prosciutto, mozzarella – the works. There are several excellent pasta dishes – the type you want to dig your fork into as soon as you see them – such as rigatoni carbonara with farm egg, pecorino, guanciale (i.e., salt cured pork jowl). The housemade potato gnocchi alla norma with eggplant, tomato, mint and ricotta salata is to. die. for., but note that it is only available Thursdays. As a vegetarian, I can vouch for the selection of salads and side dishes – plenty options for every taste. One thing I appreciate about Coperta, besides the fact that I always leave very full with extra food for the next day, is the variety of ingredients they use. Their menu features many ingredients you don’t typically see on an Italian menu. Wood-fired pak choi and salt cured pork jowl are both on the menu as we speak.
400 20th St.
Denver, CO 80203
Coperta’s Website
🔶Humboldt Kitchen & Bar (Best Restaurant Experience in Uptown Denver)
Funnily enough Humboldt Kitchen & Bar is the first restaurant in which we ate after moving to Denver, and we loved it. We also came here on our first Valentine’s Day in Denver, and we loved it again. I still remember how good that meal was and exactly what I had – gnocchi (now gone, sadly), crispy parmesan broccoli, sriracha brussel sprouts, and fries. (Yes, we got three side dishes. My wife got the steak.) As a picky vegetarian, I sometimes struggle to find dishes that look enticing at some restaurants but I did not have this problem at Humboldt. They have so many great vegetable dishes, including the two I mentioned, which we always get. Humboldt Kitchen & Bar aims to unite its guests over unique craft cocktails, great food, and genuine hospitality. The bold New American menu, both adventurous and familiar with new spins on old favorites, incorporates small plates and elevated entreĂ©s, seasonal craft cocktails, eclectic local beers, and a wine list curated to complement the food. Humboldt Kitchen & Bar is great for celebrating, commiserating or just catch up with friends (remember that?). It is clear that the experience of eating at Humboldt Kitchen & Bar is just as important to them as the food itself. Since I had one of my best meals ever in Denver at Humboldt Kitchen & Bar, I knew right away they would be making this list of best restaurants in North Capital Hill.
1700 Humboldt St.
Denver, CO 80218
Humboldt Kitchen & Bar’s Website
🔶Walter’s 303 Uptown (Best Pizza in Uptown Denver)
If you are looking for great chicken wings or great pizza in Uptown Denver or for a bar in Uptown Denver to have a beer while you watch your favorite team, Walter’s 303 Uptown is your place. One thing we love about Walter’s is that there are lots of options – the chicken wings come with seven or so different rubs and another seven different possible sauces. My wife loves the barbecue rub with the Mango Habanero sauce. I love their tomato sauce/barbecue sauce combination for pizza. I have lost count of the number of times we have ordered from Walter’s. It’s definitely a staple in the Guide to the Galaxy – Uptown Denver Restaurant Edition. I remember one specific time when we had gone on a three-day ski trip with my dad and stepmother and we were driving back into Denver around 8 PM, and we were exhausted, having skied for three full days, and my dad and stepmother wanted to come in and get a load off, so we decided to order some food. We ordered two pizzas from Walter’s, one cheese with my favorite barbecue/tomato sauce and one with sausage, mushroom, and pepper, and it hit the spot so deeply. My dad still talks about how good it was.
Oh, and Walter’s is right down the block from our fitness studio, WTF Boxing, which is quite convenient if you’re feeling like you might have been having a little too much pizza and beer recently.
1906 Pearl St.
Denver, CO 80203
Walter’s 303 Website
🔶Voodoo Doughnuts (Best Doughnuts in Capitol Hill Denver)
Okay Voodoo Doughnuts may technically be in Capitol Hill but it is way too good to be left off of this list – we go to Voodoo at least three times a week – and besides the Uptown Denver neighborhood is sometimes referred to as North Capitol Hill. Voodoo Doughnuts makes unique doughnuts that are literally mouth-watering. Their base doughnut dough recipe is phenomenal (sorry for the non-technical language – I am not exactly a baking expert!). But the best part is all the interesting flavors and fillings they incorporate, together with their irreverent decoration. (They may have a doughnut that looks like a cock and balls, for example.) When I travel to see my family, I always bring them doughnuts from Voodoo – and they remind me every time. You will never enjoy a doughnut from Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme again. We recommend the eponymous Voodoo Doll (a chocolate-frosted doughnut with a berry filling in the shape of a voodoo doll), the Butterfingering, or the Memphis Mafia (an apple fritter topped with caramel and chocolate). They regularly make special doughnuts with unique ingredients – some recent examples were their deconstructed Key Lime Pie doughnut, their Pop-Tart doughnut, and, if you’re adventurous, a Ramen doughnut.
1520 E. Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80218
Voodoo Doughnut’s Website
🔶D Bar (Best Desserts in Uptown Denver)
D Bar features healthy savory New American dishes that are seasonally inspired, but it is best known for its delectable eye-catching desserts, which guarantees it a spot on the list of great restaurants in North Capitol Hill. Successful pastry chef Keegan Gerhard sets the menu at D Bar. Their must-try dish is the Cake and Shake, which is a nod to one of Gerhard’s childhood dreams. This particularly gluttonous duo features a slice of Gerhard’s three-layer cake — the layers separated by frosting made from Guittard chocolate — and a shake spun from your choice of flavors. We also recommend the Fried Brussel Sprouts with a Sriracha and Honey Glaze. They also have to-die-for vegan desserts. D Bar was a staple for us during the pandemic – we would often get takeout from D Bar because it has a lot of healthy options, like my wife’s favored quinoa and chicken dish. It is very conveniently located in One City Block which is not too far from anywhere in Uptown.
494 E. 19th St.
Denver, CO 80203
D Bar’s Website
🔶Dos Santos (Best Mexican Food in Uptown Denver)
Dos Santos is an outstanding taqueria in Uptown – strangely enough the space happens to the former home of D Bar, but the brothers behind Dos Santos transformed it with an industrial yet somehow rustic feel. (Dos Santos is also next to Humboldt!) The first time we went there I remember we specifically commented on how much we liked the dĂ©cor and the furniture – everything is just cool. On one wall you can make out the painted letters of a dry-cleaning sign that was uncovered during renovation. Another wall is decorated with old school gym lockers and planks placed just so. Flickering prayer candles and crosses scattered around add to the mystique of the restaurant. Majestic wooden joists rise toward the high ceiling giving the sense of lots of space. But the best part is the delicious tacos: the tinga, with chicken braised in a smoky tomato-chipotle broth; the pork, with slow-roasted pork fragrant with cumin and orange, and the arrachera, with grilled, marinated steak. I also have to give a nod to the ganache-filled churros that are only available during weekend brunch. One thing I really appreciate about Dos Santos is that they are a study in doing a narrow range of food very well instead of having a huge menu of mediocre food. Lastly, I love their pickled carrots. I always eat mine and my wife’s and at least once I’ve ordered a whole side dish of them, even though they’re really a garnish.
1475 E. 17th Ave.
Denver, CO 80218
Dos Santos’ Website
🔶Manzo Lobster and Oyster Bar (Best Seafood in Uptown Denver)
Manzo Lobster and Oyster Bar is a relatively new addition to Uptown Denver, but it definitely a notable one. The restaurant dĂ©cor is really unique – the floor is painted with ocean blue streaks that give the impression of waves, and the columns are wrapped in lobster netting. It gives you a vibe of being under the ocean which I think was unique, especially the floor. Manzo is a New American oyster bar with the stated goal of bringing the freshest, most sustainable seafood to landlocked Denver. Its eponymous owner Rich Manzo has relationships with fishermen on both coasts to bring in the best catches on a daily basis. My wife and I are not huge seafood people, but we decided to check Manzo out one busy Saturday night recently, and we both really enjoyed it. She got the red curry mussels and the scallop crudo, which she reported to be very tasty – I honestly did not even know that she liked scallops or mussels, and I got the beet and kale salad (with yummy candied pecans) and fries. After eating at Manzo, my wife has been inspired to incorporate more seafood into her diet.
500 E. 19th Ave.
Denver, CO 80203
Manzo’s Website
🔶Colorado Campfire (Best Outside Dining in Uptown Denver)
Colorado Campfire boasts 70 unique craft beers paired with upscale pub fare that really hits the spot. You can enjoy your delicious meal of really good comfort food with a twist and craft beer outside by their firepits taking in the ambience of the Uptown Denver neighborhood. This is a great place to come with a big group of friends. Also, the fire pits make it way more comfortable and more fun to eat outside. When my dad came to visit in the middle of the winter, we were able to still have a meal together outside at Colorado Campfire, which was really nice since we hadn’t seen him or his wife for about a year due to COVID. I always really enjoy the desserts. We recommend the Chorizo burger.
500 E. 19th Ave.
Denver, CO 80203
Colorado Campfire’s Website
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If you are feeling like you need to lose some weight after all that eating, check out our article on three steps to sustainably lose weight. Also, stay updated on the launch of WTF Boxing and get our best membership promotions!
