The Fifteen Best New Denver Restaurants of 2025

Every year, it seems to get harder to narrow down the best new places to dine in Denver, and 2025 is no exception.

Since the arrival of the Michelin Guide in the state in 2023, new restaurants across Colorado have upped the ante. From the start, Michelin took note of tasting menu-style restaurants…and more keep opening here. This year, two earned Michelin stars just months after their debuts: Kizaki and Margot. Both are indeed exceptional, so that duo, along with two more tasting-menu options, made the roster of the best new restaurants this year.

But you don’t need to drop hundreds on a single meal to get a taste of what’s happening at the city’s most impressive dining additions. This year’s lineup features a variety of new places we’ve loved, including five upscale à la carte spots, two restaurants that double as bars, and four more casual eateries where reservations are not required.

Here are our picks for the fifteen best new restaurants that opened in Denver this year:

The Tasting Menu Spots

The Counter at Odells
3200 Irving Street
In October 2024, Miles Odell had a quick hit on his hands when he opened Odell’s Bagel, combining his Jersey upbringing, Jewish heritage and Japanese fine-dining experience. This year, that fine-dining background came to the forefront when he opened the Counter at Odell’s, which operates out of the same space in the evenings. The intimate affair, a 16-course kaiseki-inspired meal that includes both hot and cold dishes, isn’t as stuffy as some other tasting menu spots — it’s clear that you’re eating very high-quality food in a bagel shop, which is part of the fun, as evidenced by the first course on a recent visit: a latke topped with otoro and caviar. The whole dining experience lasts about two hours and is the kind of meal you’ll be thinking about long after, making it well worth the $175 per person price tag.

Kizaki
1551 South Pearl Street
Toshi Kizaki and his brother, Yasu, are Denver sushi pioneers. Since opening Sushi Den in 1984, they have become an integral part of the city’s culinary evolution. South Pearl Street at East Florida Avenue is known as Den Corner, and the latest addition to the area is the crowning jewel of chef Toshi’s career: Kizaki, a sort of restaurant-within-a-restaurant that shares its address with Margot. Behind one door in this space is the intimate, nine-seat chef’s counter where Toshi and his team dish out a stunning, 20-ish course omakase experience priced at $225 per person. Offerings change depending on what’s fresh, and with an expert like Toshi leading the way, all you need to do is relax and enjoy a truly sublime sushi session that feels like a masterclass in thoughtful storytelling through food.

Margot
1551 South Pearl Street
Since rooting his former pop-up concept at a permanent address, chef Justin Fulton has elevated Margot ti its most vibrant iteration yet. Every dish is made with local ingredients and flourished with color and texture — edible blooms, a tangle of fresh herbs, the gloss of finishing oil. While visually striking, the highlights of the twelve-course menu priced at $165 per person offer unexpected comfort. Fresh-baked olive oil brioche, pillowy bites of Parisian gnocchi, and a dense dark chocolate dessert await those at the chef’s counter as well as the spacious main dining room, where walk-ins are welcome and the season’s latest creations are available as à la carte options. – Abigail Bliss

Sushi by Scratch
1441 Larimer Street
We were admittedly skeptical of Sushi by Scratch when it moved into Larimer Square last December. The ten-seat omakase counter is located below NADC Burger, another concept from season thirteen Top Chef contestant Phillip Frankland Lee, who now owns thirteen Sushi by Scratch outposts with his wife, Margarita Kallas-Lee. (Denver was the twelfth.) The Montecito location earned a Michelin star in 2021 and 2022, so expectations were high when Sushi by Scrach announced it was coming to Denver, but the idea of a high-end omakase chain was a bit off-putting. Still, Sushi by Scratch has proven itself a standout in the Mile High scene. A meal here runs $195 per person for seventeen courses, plus a 30-minute pre-dinner experience in a lounge area where guests enjoy a welcome beverage and canapé service. After moving to the ten-seat counter, you settle in for a perfectly-paced, professionally-guided meal that feels a lot like a dinner party where you don’t have to do any work — besides keeping up with the bites.

Upscale Favorites

BearLeek
2611 Walnut Street
RiNo got a real culinary boost in July 2025, when chefs Harrison Porter and Rema Maaliki, who met while working at Mercantile in Union Station, opened their first eatery in the subterranean space that was formerly Osaka Ramen. A set of stairs transports you to a trendy restaurant that’s urban, edgy and energetic. The team is clearly having fun with the food, adding themed touches throughout, like brioche rolls served with bear-shaped seasonally flavored butter and the popular BearPop dessert made with passionfruit sweet cream and black garlic salsa macha. Settle in with an Amari Palmer to sip and let the hip-hop playlist and helpful staff guide you through the menu, which just continues to get stronger.

Boombots Pasta Shop
2647 West 38th Avenue
Husband-and-wife team Cliff and Cara Blauvelt are on a roll. Their rowdy little Sunnyside sandwich shop, Odie B’s, expanded to RiNo in January, and in November, their brand-new concept, Boombots, made its debut next door to the OG Odie B’s. Despite its pasta focus, this isn’t an Italian joint. Instead, it takes inspiration from all over for a menu that’s a pleasure to explore. Start with the best charcuterie board in the city and an order of Big Ass Mozz Stix before moving on to options like the dirty martini bucatini (which you can pair with a pasta water martini), samosa agnolotti, or smoked duck and green chile lumache. Boom!

Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse
2345 East Third Avenue
Yes, Broadway 10 is another steakhouse in Cherry Creek, which means it’s not even located on Broadway…but bacon! The owner of the flagship restaurant that opened a decade ago in Oklahoma City (at Broadway and 10th), thought long and hard about where he wanted to open his second spot, and Rick Sapkin, the developer of this new building at Third and University, thought long and hard about what eatery should occupy the first floor. All that thought shows in the sleek interior, attentive service, expansive menu…and that bacon. Start your meal with the bacon flight, and you’ll be in hog heaven here. – Patricia Calhoun

Cimera
3330 Brighton Boulevard
We’ve long loved the rooftop views on the top floor of the Source Hotel, but with the October opening of Cimera in the space that was formerly the Woods, the food, drinks and decor are now as much of a draw as the downtown vistas. Former Hop Alley executive chef Geoff Cox is leading the team at this pan-Latin spot, along with consulting Peruvian chef Diego Muñoz. Brightly colored murals bring a vibrancy to the space, while bites like the tuna tiradito, papa rellena and pork belly skewers are early standouts.

Pig & Tiger
2200 California Street
In 2020, chefs Darren Chang and Travis Masar introduced their modern Taiwanese concept Pig and Tiger as a stall at Avanti in Boulder. This summer, they made the jump to a Denver brick-and-mortar, which has been a big win for local diners. The dishes here combine Chang’s Taiwanese heritage and Masar’s encyclopedic knowledge of East Asian cuisines for a menu that’s filled with heart. Start with a May Mei, a salted plum spritz named for Chang’s mother, then dig into favorites like the signature crispy, double-fried Taiwanese fried chicken served with chicken fat rice and a small,bear-shaped jar of chile honey; along with newer additions like beef noodle soup and vegetable dumplings filled with butternut squash, spinach and tofu alongside a maple and burnt lemon yum yum sauce. Coming soon: Taiwanese breakfast service.

The Bar/Restaurant Mash-Ups

Rougarou
2844 Welton Street
What happens when an award-winning bar team opens a new concept with a full kitchen? Very delicious things. In August, Yacht Club owners Mary Allison Wright and McLain Hedges opened Rougarou, a spot named for a shapeshifting swamp creature that pays homage to their Southern roots. Wright’s brother, John David Wright, is leading the kitchen, which is dishing out options that reimagine traditional Southern cuisine. Think pickled green tomatoes on a blue cheese tart, boiled peanuts with fermented collards and lime leaf, and hot and sour catfish. The drinks, not surprisingly, rival the bites. These are all winners, sipping libations like the muffalata-inspired martini and the surprisingly tropical, buttermilk-washed Champagne Killer.

Malinche Audio Bar
1541 Platte Street
La Diabla owner Jose Avila has been working to expand his roster of spots in Denver, and this year added the undeniably cool Malinche. It’s part mezcal bar, where the spirit is poured from glass vessels traditionally used to age the spirit that hang above the bar, and a vibrant statue of Mayahuel, the goddess of mezcal, oversees the action. It’s also part audio bar in the spirit of Japanese kissas, but starring Alvia’s personal collection of vintage Mexican records. And the “nikkei” menu is a mashup of traditional Mexican flavors combined with Japanese influence. don’t miss the tamalito de conejo with rabbit braised in black miso and pasilla mix, or the nicuatole, a dessert of nixtamal custard unexpectedly topped with salmon roe.

Casual Hits

Ma’s Kitchen Dim Sum & Noodles
1514 York Street
The BRT construction project made traversing Colfax difficult this year, but even those ugly white bus-stop arches can’t stop this strip from shining in its typically tough fashion. Despite the challenges businesses in the area faced in 2025, a crop of new bars and restaurants have opened, and Ma’s Kitchen is a standout. It comes from the owners of Okinawa, who in October opened Ma’s Kitchen Dim Sum & Noodles in the former Tacos Tequila Whiskey space next door. Bringing dim sum to the neighborhood was a smart idea, especially with dishes as tasty as some of the early favorites at this spot, including the Singapore butter prawns, braised pork ribs and pan-fried Cantonese daikon rice cakes with XO sauce.

Mama Jo’s Chicken, Biscuits, BBQ
3525 East Colfax Avenue
Another new favorite on Colfax is a different kind of mother, Mama Jo’s, which started as a food truck before moving into the former Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs in February. Here, husband-and-wife duo Ben and Jodi Polson are churning out some damn good barbecue (don’t miss brisket Saturdays!), but our favorites are sides like the pimento mac and cheese (yes, you’ll get a damn impressive cheese pull) and Southern-style collards; the fried chicken, which you can enjoy as a sandwich — a boneless thigh on a biscuit or house-made bun — or get bone-in on Fridays; and Jodi’s desserts, especially the apple fritters with salted butterscotch dipping sauce.

Molino Chido
2501 Dallas Street
Mexican food in the metro area continues to evolve, thanks to the talents of chefs like Michael Diaz de Leon, who left Bruto in 2023, shortly after it earned its first Michelin star. Now he’s got a place of his own with partner Tommy Lee, owner of hot spots Hop Alley and Uncle. Corn tortillas, which diners can watch being made, star at this Mexico City-inspired taco joint,where options like traditional al pastor, pavo (turkey), and lengua made with bison tongue have already proven to be hits with diners. 

Riot BBQ
2180 South Delaware Street
From the proverbial ashes of AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, which closed amid allegations of bad business behavior by owner Jared Leonard, Riot BBQ has risen, and the city’s barbecue scene is better for it. This spot combines the knowledge of former AJ’s pitmaster and current Riot co-owner Patrick Klaiber, along with his passion for Texas-style smoked meats, with one-time James Beard nominee Manny Barella’s northern Mexican heritage. The result is a mouthwatering lineup that ranges from al pastor ribs and pibil-style smoked chicken marinated in achiote and citrus to vinegar-based slaw made with salsa macha and esquites-topped cornbread. Pro tip: Show up early for the best selection.