West End Tavern - Dinner with a View
Written: Jul 11 '00 (Updated Oct 15 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great burgers, good drinks, AWESOME VIEW
Cons: slow seating at times
The Bottom Line: The West End is well-known by the locals for having great views, burgers and fries.
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| martytdx's Full Review: Boulder |
One of the best things about Boulder is the diversity of things that you can see and try, taste and drink. There are a ton of fantastic restaurants in town (Flagstaff House, Dandelion), a bevy of ethnic cuisine (Ras Kassa's (Ethiopian), Sawadee (Thai) and Narayan's (Indian)), and a bunch of bars that actually have good food.
My favorite of these is the West End Tavern, located on just past the western end of the Pearl Street Mall. The bar - with one of the nicest back bars in town, by the way - is small downstairs, with about 16 tables plus the large bar. But the real delight is upstairs on their locally famous deck.
Invariably, when the sun comes out all year (which it does with quite a bit of frequency in Boulder), people all seem to find themselves on the deck. The deck holds about 150 people and offers one of the best views of the Flatirons in town. That in itself is worth the trip - to eat and have a cold beer while sitting in the warm sun and staring at the beginnings of the Rockies is a fantastic experience.
Onto the restaurant itself. There are two things that you are going to be looking for there (obviously) - drinks and food. The bar serves 5 beers on tap (incl. Fat Tire and Ballard Bitter), and has another 2 dozen in bottles, with quite a wide variety. They have an extensive tequila collection (try the Porfidio Plata) and the normal complement of other liquors. They make their drinks the old-fashioned way - they free pour and usually give you a good stiff drink for your money.
The menu is definitely bar-oriented, but also has some touches inspired by the hippie-influenced staff and owners. Their veggie sandwich is surprisingly good, considering that I am a strict meat-eater, and they also offer several other vegetarian dishes. But the real reason to come to the West End are the burgers and fries.
The West End burgers are about a 1/2 lb. before cooking, and are made of organic, hormone-free beef. Aside from the environmental aspects of that, it really does create a better-tasting beef. The burgers also come with a side of their famous fries - these are absolutely delicious and a great complement to the burger. They also server a Jalapeno burger which comes with a helping of chopped jalapenos mixed into the burger - try one with bleu cheese. You'll like it - trust me.
The menu continues with Mahi sandwiches (awesome), huge burritos and authentic Jerzy Dogs (imported from Jersey - I'm serious). They also stock many of the other bar staples such as salads, quesadillas and turkey sandwiches.
Getting a seat is sometimes a bit slow, because when it is 80 degrees in the springtime, EVERYONE decides to hit the West End. The place fills up in about 30 minutes, and happy hours often result in a 30-45 minute wait to get a seat (unless you can sneak your way onto a friends table). But when you finally get there, you can sit back with your burger, a Fat Tire, the mountains and the sun on your face and wonder if there is anywhere else that you REALLY have to go for the rest of the day. I found out (all too often) that there wasn't.
r e l a t e d COLORADO r e v i e w s
Boulder
Rocky Mt. National Park
Great Sand Dunes National Monument
Red Rocks Park
Great American Beer Festival
Fat Tire Ale
Left Hand Blackjack Porter
Ojo Caliente, NM - not quite in Colorado, but close.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
martytdx
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 - Top 200 |
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Member: Marty
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 482
Trusted by: 179 members
About Me:
Doing what I can to try new places, restaurants, books and beers.
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