Fill Your Tank — and Your Belly — at These Gas Station Restaurants

When you think of gas station food, a few images probably come to mind. Ultraprocessed mass-market “pastries” wrapped in plastic and piled on wire shelves next to a pot of black dirt water passed off as coffee. Rows of reddish, sweaty hot dogs spinning on a roller grill that looks like a sauna for pathogens. Slurpees. (Okay, Slurpees can be pretty good.) 

So when you stumble upon a gas station restaurant with food that’s not only edible but actually pretty decent, it’s a pleasant surprise. And in a handful of cases, these are legit culinary contenders, serving food worth the trip — even if the only thing needing fuel is you and not your car. 

We’re not talking about “travel centers” like truck-stop diners, or the newly arrived Buc-ee’s, or the in-store chains owned by the gas station company (we see you, Laredo Taco Company). Instead, we’re looking at small, family-owned establishments taking advantage of a space in a high-trafficked area in hopes of gaining customers not easily found otherwise — a critical step in today’s challenging restaurant environment. 

So, whether you’re already in your car and looking for a bite or you’re up for a mini road trip within the metro area, here are three gas station restaurants worth the drive. 

Garibaldi Mexican Bistro
3298 South Broadway, Englewood

Mention food and gas stations in the same sentence, and Garibaldi is typically the first (and often the only) place that will come up. With an eatery located at a Sinclair outpost on South Broadway, between the gas station and the car wash, there’s no forgetting where you’re dining. 

The scent of gasoline from the tanks outside lingers within the dining room, wrestling with the kitchen aromas for dominance over your olfactory senses. Sit in the slightly raised seating area just off the main entrance, and occasionally the floor might vibrate slightly from the car wash next door. 

But you’re likely not here for the ambiance. This popular Mexican favorite bills itself as offering Mexico City-style food, focused on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. It has captured the attention of both diners and local food critics alike: Westword has listed it among the Top 100 Restaurants in the city, and named it Best Restaurant With a View of a Car Wash in 2017.

Don’t limit yourself to the familiar hits. Garibaldi offers a number of relatively rare Mexican specialties, and has an Azteca section featuring all manner of proteins, chiles, vegetables and sauces atop deep blue corn tortillas. Other notables are the queka, a quesadilla-like taco (get the onion/mushroom mix, or the chicharron prensado), the pancake-like huarache and the potato sandwich pambazo.

Earlier this year, Garibaldi was temporarily closed after being seized by the city for unpaid taxes. But ownership managed to work out a deal with the city and the spot reopened in June. 

Shahristan Kabob and Gyro 
7310 Broadway

Travel north almost to Westminster and just off the intersection of I-25 and 270, sandwiched between a car dealership and public storage lots, you’ll find a Conoco station that houses this unassuming kabab and gyro joint.

To get to Shahristan Kabob and Gyro, you have to walk inside the gas station itself, pass the glass-walled checkout register, and work your way through packed convenience-store shelves and towering stacks of energy drink boxes to the counter space at the very back. There are about six seats at the counter looking into the kitchen, which consists of a pair of vertical broilers, a propane grill, a fryer and a gas burner. 

From the broilers, a cook shaves off slices of thin gyro meat or chicken shawarma, then piles it into a pita with fries and a healthy dollop of white sauce. Over the grill lie thick, flat skewers of chicken kabob that have been marinating in a well-seasoned, flavorful blend of spices, slowly developing an exterior char while the inside stays moist and tender. 

This is not fast food: It takes time. And it’s worth it, as indicated by the constant stream of customers placing or picking up to-go orders. The cook is busy but not rushed, smiling and greeting customers warmly as he deep fries a sliced-open hot dog for the Afghani burger that one customer tacked onto his order at the last minute. 

Another customer, an Amazon delivery driver from Afghanistan, greets the cook in their shared native language. He’s been coming here for four years, he says, noting that the same family operates both the restaurant and the gas station. 

It would be easy to call this a “hidden gem,” but the outside of the gas station is plastered with photos of the kabob offered within, proudly noting that all the meat is 100 percent halal, meaning it conforms with Islamic dietary law. 

For a town notably lacking a strong kabob culture compared to that of the East Coast, Shahristan makes a strong case as the leading contender. 

La Cocina de la Abuela
7505 East Parkway Drive, Lone Tree

Pull up to the 7-Eleven on County Line Road and you’re greeted by strains of regional Mexicana music that at first seems like it’s coming from inside the convenience store itself. But it’s not. Although 7-Eleven owns and operates its own taco restaurant chain, the Laredo Taco Company, this particular location is blessed with La Cocina de la Abuela instead. 

Sharing the parking area with the gas tanks (but with its own entrance separate from the convenience store), this small, family-run restaurant has been raising the bar for real Mexican cuisine in the southern ‘burbs for about four years. Sitting audaciously across the street from a Del Taco, La Cocina de la Abuela is miles ahead of that tired chain in terms of quality, variety and authenticity. 

The restaurant serves up some of the best breakfast burritos in the area, available all day. Choose the chorizo for what might be the richest, most flavorful version of the spiced sausage available in several zip codes, mixed with a meaningful amount of eggs and, somewhat uniquely, a satisfying blend of rice and beans. 

While La Cocina has the obligatory tacos and burritos, the standouts here are the torta sandwiches, as well as a range of deeply satisfying, warming stews. The latter includes chamorro de borrego: a huge, bone-in braised lamb shank in a rich red sauce (available in “mild, spicy, or super spicy”), served with a big bowl of the drippings au jus style. Other options include a stew with grilled chicken breast and cactus, several takes on pork ribs, menudo and pozole. 

Whatever you order, it’s not uncommon for the abuela herself to emerge from the kitchen in her flowery apron to personally check on each table, making sure you’re enjoying your meal and thanking you for visiting. 

Time to get in gear!