Six solo-dining options to eat (and read) alone in Denver

According to a 2025 TouchBistro report, almost a third of Americans say they dine alone weekly, if not more often. For Gen Zers and Millennials, that increases to nearly half. 

But dining solo can take many forms. There are casual solo dining experiences that are more socially neutral, like grabbing a quick lunch or dinner at a fast casual restaurant. That’s different than attending a sports bar during a game, which can provide instafriends when you cheer for the same team.  

But what if you want to commit an act of pure solo dining? There are some places where you can put your phone in the bottom of your bag, pull out a book, and experience the unique pleasure of comfortably eating in the presence of yourself; and potentially have a casual conversation with a stranger. 

Denver Book Society, an independent bookstore and cafe that opened earlier this year and recently began serving alcohol, is clearly a perfect place to hunker down with a book, drink, snacks, and more. It’s not alone. Good Girl Cafe & Bookstore is opening soon along South Broadway, focusing on romantic reads and strong coffee. Zero-proof Moxie Social in Greenwood Village is the newest home of the monthly ColoradoBookworms’ Silent Book Club, where you read for an hour with similarly minded (and quiet) new friends. 

Since more and more diners are plunking themselves down to dine alone, we were inspired to create a list of additional places to visit for some not-alone alone-time with a book (and we even gave you a book pairing).

Denver Book Society
1700 Humboldt St.
Denver Book Society is a bookstore with a cafe that took over the former Humboldt restaurant. The bookstore opened earlier this year, but the cafe began serving alcohol—beer, wine, seltzers and canned cocktails—last week, alongside small plates. The best part of grabbing a solo snack at this bookstore-cafe-combo is the indoor patio, a slip of space with a bunch of tables between brick walls and under an opaque natural-light atrium. While it’s weird to pair a book with a bookstore, and a book-about-a-bookstore is tempting, let’s celebrate that this bookstore has snacks with the only nonfiction on the list: “Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain. 

​Trattoria Stella 
3201 East Colfax Ave.
Trattoria Stella is an Italian restaurant with two dining rooms and a small bar that typically has an open seat. The bar shares a room with low-top tables, but because the barstools are unusually high, the perch conveys a feeling of otherness, in a good way. You face away from the crowd, have enough light to enjoy your book, and they give you free bread. Wine is affordable by the glass and the pasta is housemade, so you feel indulgent. But its 27 years as a local joint have worn away any snobby fine dining feel. Trattoria Stella has another location in the Highlands as well. Want to pair the experience with a book? Try “Beautiful Ruins” by Jess Walter, which takes place partially on the Italian coast.

Dew Drop Inn
1033 East 17th Ave.
The ownership team behind the Horseshoe Lounge, The Lowbeam, and Embassy Tavern creates such friendly atmospheres in all its Denver bars. But while most of their havens are primarily drinking establishments, the Dew Drop Inn provides a neighborhood bar vibe with an inspired menu, including tacos, mussels, or French fries with an Asian flair. The bar’s decor is quirky and old fashioned, like Horseshoe Lounge, and has an inviting, cozy bar with plenty of seating for solo diners. Read a Scott Fitzgerald or Hemingway or Hunter S. Thompson book, as this is a place for classic masculine literature. Or at least make sure someone drinks a martini in the story. 

Panzano
909 17th St.
There is nothing like a hotel bar for solo dining. Panzano, part of the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, is unique for a hotel bar, however, in that it’s not a static boring-hotel-furniture bar, but an established restaurant with an almost 30-year history. The dining area is separated from the casual bar, which hosts a happy hour with solo-diner-sized flatbread pizzas along with drink specials. Grab “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amos Towles. Nothing makes you appreciate a hotel bar — even a good one — like knowing you don’t have to live there. 

Vine Street Pub 
1700 Vine St.
Vine Street Pub’s bar is your choice if you read best with some ambient chattering. The brew pub boasts a menu that rises above the usual pub fare, and the generous baskets of fresh-cut fries are worth the finger smears on your book’s pages. The place is often crowded, but there is usually a bar seat open, and if not, you won’t have to wait long — most people sitting there are just waiting for a table. The beatniks long to be read in this hippie brewery and kitchen. Grab a Kerouac or finally read “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg. 

Sienna Wine Bar 
3434 East 12th Ave.
There are very few pleasures as wonderful as a glass of wine and a book. At Sienna Wine Bar you can sit at a small table on its large patio, listen to soft music (live music on Monday nights), choose a glass of wine from an extensive menu, and snack on their solo-diner-friendly small plates or desserts. For this experience I suggest a book based in Paris, like “The Paris Bookseller” by Kerri Maher or local author Kate Lansing’s “Colorado Wine Mystery” wine-centric murder mystery series.