Best (and Cheapest) All-You-Can-Eat Restaurant 2024 | Yuan Palace Mongolian BBQ | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best (and Cheapest) All-You-Can-Eat Restaurant

Yuan Palace Mongolian BBQ

Hidden behind a car wash off Arapahoe Road, this Mongolian barbecue restaurant offers heaps of food at an unbeatable price: all-you-can-eat lunch for $13.95 and dinner for $18.95. The single-location, family-run business stands out from the HuHot and BD's chains in the state, providing higher-quality food in a more low-key atmosphere. But don't worry: Your dinner still comes with a show, as the chefs cook your meal in front of you on a sizzling griddle. After decades in business, Yuan Palace has become a beloved institution for those in the know.

Best Strip Mall Thai Food

Suvipa Thai Food

Tucked away amid the seemingly endless Vietnamese and Chinese options on South Federal lies Suvipa Thai Food, one of the best bets in the city for authentic Southeast Asian cuisine. While some may find the furnishings a tad modest, there's something comforting about seeing fresh herbs and peppers growing in the front window. Celebrating a decade of capsaicin-rich green papaya salads and perfectly rendered pork belly in the pad kana moo krob, owner Banthawan Glode hasn't changed much since opening in 2014. And she hasn't needed to, because the flavors speak for themselves.

Best Indian/Barbecue Mashup

DJ's Watering Hole

Linnea Covington

Darryl Johnson has won awards for his barbecue, and cousins Jatin and Shivang Patel have a passion for Indian food, so when they decided to open a restaurant together in a former Outback Steakhouse, they combined their skills to create a mashup that we've fallen hard for. While there are items like cheese fries, burgers and fried chicken on the DJ's menu, it's the Indian-American combinations that really stand out. Try the Paneer Pboy, or opt for a barbecue plate of house-smoked meat topped with a slightly spicy masala sauce and an order of housemade naan on the side for the ultimate cuisine combo.

Best Weekly Deals

La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal

Molly Martin

Chef Jose Avila's La Diabla has been heaped with praise for everything from its namesake pozole to its tacos and stellar house margs, and rightfully so — it does a lot of things well, and it offers guests a lot of deals on those things. In addition to the Thursday-through-Sunday happy hour from 2 to 6 p.m., there's a wings-and-beer special on Mondays for $10; $4 street tacos on Tuesdays; the Jose's Gone Fishing offer on Wednesdays, with two al pastor tacos and a house margarita for $5; and two-for-one bowls of pozole on Thursdays. It's enough to keep us coming back over and over — sometimes several times a week.

Best Sunday-Only Special

House of Bread

Mark Antonation

You know about House of Bread, right? It's just the best — okay, only — Armenian bakery in metro Denver, and it's home to ajarski khachapuri, a canoe-shaped bread bowl brimming with molten cheese, sunny eggs and a pat of butter. Definitely stop what you're doing now if you've never been, or if you've never had this Armenian take on a Georgian specialty. But if it happens to be a Sunday, make sure you also order the jingalov hats (call ahead to shorten the wait time), thin flatbread that, at first glance, resembles nothing more than oversized pita. But hidden inside is a thin layer of greens and herbs — 22, according to the bakery! — so bursting with fresh, bright flavor that you'll surely return the next week...and then it might just become a Sunday ritual.

Best Cure for a Case of the Mondays

Odyssey Italian Restaurant Pasta Deal

Molly Martin

Thanks to capitalism, just the thought of Monday strikes dread in the heart of those who work a traditional schedule — but the thought of a delicious bowl of pasta waiting at the end of the day can help most people get through it. If that bowl of pasta comes with bread and a Caesar salad for just $11.95, it's an even better way to banish the horrors of the first workday of the week. Odyssey, which operates out of an old Victorian home, offers just that, along with a stellar waitstaff and an endearing atmosphere.

Best Spaghetti and Meatballs

Dio Mio

Danielle Lirette

It says a lot that with all the creative and seasonal pastas Michelin-recommended Dio Mio churns out, its spaghetti and meatballs is such a standout. Digging into the heaping portion of noods taps into nostalgia, but what keeps us coming back is the taste. Dio Mio cooks its pasta al dente, yielding a perfectly chewy, tender-firm texture that pairs well with its rich, velvety Bianco DiNapoli tomato sauce, which has a bright sweetness and well-balanced acidity. The meatballs are made with Colorado-raised pork and beef and are a savory, sweet, slightly garlicky topper to the housemade spaghetti.

Best Savory Cannoli

Gallo Italian Supper Club and Bakery

Molly Martin

In Denver, "cannoli" can refer to the classic Italian dessert, but often it's actually a bready roll stuffed with meat and sometimes a strip of chile. A few old-school Italian joints like Lechuga's shorten it to "canoli," but at Gallo Supper Club, it's spelled the same as the sweet version available from its bakery case. While it's listed on the menu as being "mini," this is a hefty snack filled with sausage, strips of jalapeño and plenty of mozzarella oozing out of the thin dough.

Best Unexpected Persian Food

Urban Cafe & Restaurant

Molly Martin

We first tasted Frey Asgari's Persian fare when he was serving it from under a tent in a parking lot on Santa Fe Drive in 2020. Now it's re-emerged in a shiny new cafe that's connected to the Denver Health building. Hospital employees have easy access to Urban's smoothies and cheap breakfast sandwiches in the mornings and unusual lunch sandwiches (like the pistachio cream, burrata and mortadella option), but anyone can, and should, dine here. Our favorite order so far: the zereshk polo — slow-cooked chicken in a mild tomato sauce alongside a heaping platter of saffron rice — paired with a float made with carrot juice and Persian ice cream that's infused with saffron, rose and bits of clotted cream.

Best One-Vendor Food Court

Mordy's Falafel & Grill

Mark Antonation

Mordy's Falafel has been serving Israeli street food since before the pandemic, primarily the namesake falafel jammed into fluffy pita with all manner of tangy, salty, spicy and crunchy toppings. Late last year, the truck shifted just around the corner to a new position, wedged against the side of what was once a dry cleaner. Now, instead of baking in the sun or freezing on an icy winter day, you can simply step inside the building, order and pay for your food at a self-serve station, then pick up your grub from a window that opens onto the truck. The sign on the door reads "food court," but this is a food court of one, and we love it that way.

mordysfalafel.com

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