Bistro Barbès

Food and service excellent. Everything we had was great: crispy quail appetizer, beet salad, braised short ribs, melt in your mouth scallops, chocolate bread pudding, house sorbet and fruit. This place is a find. Quiet and comfortable in a cozy bistro atmosphere. The location will throw you but don’t let it deter you from making the trip. And they catered to special dietary needs without batting an eye (unlike some other places like Locanda del Borgo). Sent out beautiful food that met our dietary needs. Thank you!

Wonderful spot in park hill! The chocolate ganache dessert that my boyfriend and I shared makes me want to go back just for that!

If you haven’t been here yet you are missing out! If you saw it and drove past it definitely your loss. This place is the best kept secret of Denver. Although it’s made top 25 and has increasingly become extremely busy the owners are humble, the staff makes you feel like family and the food is out of this world! Love the menu and the prices are reasonable. Great place!!! And a must try!

One of our top meals! Our waitress Rio was spectacular. We had the escargot to share then the duck and scallops for the entrees, Rio recommended the perfect wine to pair. We finished with a cheese plate for dessert that the kitchen happily accommodated for a food allergy to make it work. The spot seemed a little odd but by the end we were so happy that we choose this restaurant off the beaten path!

Another FANTASTIC evening at this wonderful neighborhood place. Though many non-​neighborhood folks seem to flock here. This was my third dining experience in the past 2 months as I’ve been staying w/​a great friend who literally lives around the corner to BB. Megan, Rio, Mitch and the entire crew are great at multi-​tasking and making you feel welcomed, and satiated. The lobster bisque currently on menu is incredible for a starter. Not a traditional bisque but more like a lobster cream soup w/​lobster-​filled tortellini, fried sage and an unexpected (but highly welcomed) fennel-​kumquat slaw. Following this was an impeccable roasted beet salad w/​sunflower nage and chickpea (ceci) crackers. All the while, enjoying a great Pinot noir from their limited, but good, wine list. Moving to the main, was a perfectly seared diver scallop (actually 3) which was accompanied by turmeric lentils, braised fennel, carrots & blood oranges and a caviar crème fraîche. Stunning. Wasn’t going to stop there so I dove into dessert. I had previously enjoyed a couple of the items (green apple panne cotta, cappuccino pot au crème) so I went for the special Camembert, julienned apples and red wine reduction. Again, so tasty. I highly recommend you try this little jewel. It’s in a non-​descript building, but utterly worth finding.

VERY intimate neighborhood bistro. Came on Valentine’s Day for their 7 course prix Fixe dinner. Each course reminded me of the commercials where the diner wonders where the rest of their meal is. I’ve always had great experiences in the past with prix fixe menus and assumed in error that this experience would be similar.
Food: satisfactory.
Service: Great
Because of all the great Unilocal reviews I decided to give this place a try. Maybe I came on the wrong day. I’m glad I was able to support a local small business I suppose.

What a fun, quaint little restaurant tucked in Park Hill.
We came here on a Tuesday night and there was literally one other party dining, which was great. Server came over and we ordered the escargot to start. I was a little weary, but the preparation was great. Not a traditional dish, but totally more approachable than what I was thinking.
Going with the theme I opted for the octopus, which was delicious. Super moist and easy to eat, I literally cut it with my fork. YUM! No complaints here at all!

One of the best French Restaurants in Denver. The food is delicious. Seemingly simple dishes with lots of complex and subtle flavors.
Service wasn’t great. Tables are super close together though. Kinda dampens the romantic feel. But, overall, the food is a must try.

Food here was delicious. The place, or some of the locals, were a little pretentious. Even making comments, out loud, about how people should respect white table cloth, elegant places. One, we live in Denver. It’s chill. Two, anyone is allowed to eat anywhere they want and to dress as they please and to dine with whomever they want.
Onto the food… we started with drinks. The old fashioned they made was delicious. The escargot is a must get. It was so beautiful to eat and the flavors from the carrot purée and the turnips was delicious. I highly recommend the sea bass. It had an amazing sauce with it and the skin was perfectly crisp. The short rib was also good, although I preferred the sea bass. We ended the mail with the cappuccino pot de crème. If you’re looking for dessert, get this.
I’d give this place 5 stars, but the pretentiousness of it knocks it to a 4.

Not impressed. Not at all. Not one bit. So this is a new spot in a garage in Park Hill. The space has potential. Unfortunately the lackluster cuisine and the snotty, inattentive staff does not meet that potential. We came in around 6pm on a week day evening and there was no one in the restaurant but for staff. We ordered cocktails and I tried to chat up the female hostess and the male server. I might as well have been a bum speaking Chinese to them for the interest that they paid me. I wanted to talk menu, wine, fun cocktails and the server could not be bothered. When he clearly had nothing else to do. My experience did not get any better.
Started with the absinthe cocktail = meh. The pumpkin stuffed gnocchi was bland, the duck breast was dry, and the beef coulette was not impressive.
I did like the smaller wine list, the amuse bouche — which quite frankly had me excited for the meal, and the beet salad.
Anyone who writes that this place is anything like a restaurant in Paris has clearly never been to Paris. I am all about supporting smaller restaurants in my hood however I will not be back to spend another $ 240.00 for a meal in a brightly lit box with servers who have the personality of dry toast.

Had dinner Saturday night and it was fantastic. Small place in a strip mall but it’s really nice inside. It’s full but it doesn’t fill like people are on top of you. The service is super professional, but the food is what is so special, fresh, cooked to perfection. I had the escargot and the duck breast and it was outstanding. It’s popular for a reason.

Great spot, with great food. Small so plan ahead but worth the planning. Regularly changing menu as a bistro should be. On one of our visits we had an Amazing chocolate dipped foie gras mousse.

Signed up for Unilocal just so I could review this restaurant. Our experience was THAT good!
Mitch gave us a warm welcome and exceptional service all evening.
The space is very cozy and was especially lovely with the bay door up on a warm September evening.

We were served a potato chip amuse bouche with crème fraîche. I knew at first bite we were in for a special treat!
We began with the shrimp cocktail over which Mitch poured a freshly shaken consommé (great presentation!). The shrimp was tender and delicious and the finely shaved horseradish on top added a nice pop of flavor.
Next, we tried the roasted quail. New to this bird, I was a little timid about ordering the quail, but it was fantastic as well! The meat was mild in flavor and the perfect texture.
We followed with the courgettes (thinly sliced squash) and melon salads, both of which were amazing. I especially like the courgette with the subtle dressing and pieces of goat cheese along side.
For our main courses, we tried the sea bass and the beef coulotte. Again, both amazing. The sea bass was perfectly cooked and served crispy skin-​side up. Truly delish and well paired with the accompanying vegetables and spiced yogurt. The steak was also perfectly done and tasted amazing with the moroccan glazed carrots and shallot purée. Mitch, who also helps compose the wine list, recommended a fantastic rose which paired beautifully with both.
Would highly recommend this restaurant for those looking for a classy, high-​end dinning experience. The team at Barbes are clearly invested in their menu and their diner’s experience. Amazing restaurant!

I came here on a Friday night and fell in love. The menu is tight but amazing. The food was awesome. The cocktails and wine excellent. This place is a gem. The neighborhood is lucky.

Hubby took me here for my birthday dinner. The sea bass was delightful. After years of seeing it on Top Chef, I finally got to have crispy fish skin! And the escargot was quite yummy. Hubby, however, felt his steak was very bland. So he’s not as excited to go back as I am.
I will admit the strip mall is a little off-​putting. But I’d like to give it one more try.

The unspoken Unilocal rule that everyone knows: «Four or five stars is hot. Three stars is not.»
Bistro Barbes edges into four-​star-​land, but barely – as you’ll see if you trouble yourself to keep reading…
Hip, new-​ish (a year+ old), very small, somewhat stark but popularly clean-​lined, pretty loud, north Park Hill neighborhood restaurant «nestled» (the perfect word:) at the end of an old commercial strip. Looks like someone took a long one-​car garage and turned it into a restaurant.
Meals here are nouvelle French. Intricate and complicated tastes thoughtfully crafted. Smaller portions and seemingly higher prices than you might be used to for such a venue that has a limited «select» menu (e.g., they didn’t have any scotch at all in their bar service, and less than a handful of dishes in each category of choices).
Really nice, professional and committed staff. Meghan (front of the house boss) and Mitch (head chef) want to do it right. They’ve set the program up like a European bistro. The servers get «much more» than minimum wage and you can leave an «extra» tip if you think the service was worth more. (Meghan suggested anywhere from 0−15%, based on however you feel, but they seemed to be committed to seeing that their wait-​staff and their kitchen workers were fairly paid because whatever more you leave gets shared with all the hourly employees and not just the servers = an interesting and somewhat strange approach that not a lot of American restaurants have taken and which, if you read the Unilocal reviews, apparently has been confusing /​bothersome to some diners).
The service was excellent. The food was four star good. A little overly complicated for my honey and me, but that’s just an idiosyncrasy we have. Figure anywhere around $ 50-​$ 75 a person, total. Pricey for what you experience, but a bit unusual and cool.

Good food but WAY overpriced and felt a bit scammed.
The good:
Terrific food.
Small portions, but delicious.
The bad:
Oddball location in a kind of a dank strip mall.
Interior ambiance is meh.
I’m ok paying $ 14+tip for a cocktail, but I expect them to have a bit more ‘kick’.
The ugly:
The prices on the menu are on the high side — not crazy — just the top end of the reasonable spectrum but they SEEM to be offset by the print on the menu that says «Service Included»…until the end of the meal when there’s some explanation about what that really means and that you’re expected to add an ADDITIONAL 15−20% tip! (which sounds a bit like service ISN’T actually included, right?!)
For the approx $ 100 per person that Bistro Barbes costs, we regularly eat at many of Denver’s fine restaurants that offer terrific food and great cocktails, plus a location and ambiance that this place lacks… and there’s no hokey «service in included,…but not really» scheme.
Not sure how other reviewers ate for $ 100 per couple. We were 4 people:4 appetizers, 4 entrees, 2 desserts, 2 beers, 2 cocktails, 1 middle of the road bottle of wine. Everything was delicious, and everything was small.
Food quality = 5-​stars (really 4.5 due to portion sizes)
Location/​Ambiance = 2-​stars
Value = 0-​stars
Nice work in the kitchen. Business management… not so much.
The place was 3-​quarters full on a rainy Saturday night so maybe they don’t need customers like me, or maybe the customers were ‘first-​timers who aren’t coming back’, like me.

Bistro Barbes’ small, cozy space evokes the Parisian bistro culture that inspired it. Named after a North African neighborhood in North Paris, BB served incredible dishes and provides wonderful, personalized service.
My wife and I had the escargot and the Dauphine potatoes as a starter; the root vegetables set the escargot off perfectly and the cheesy, crunchy pop of the potatoes is something you really must experience for yourself.
For our entrees, we loved the duck breast and the haddock. The buttery fish pairs perfectly with the moussaka side dish and the duck is sublime.
We finished our meal with the Rhubarb Millefeuille, which is an incredible pastry stack (the pastry is made in-​house) that’s layered with Rhubarb ice cream and topped with almond mousse.
If you like rye whiskey, the Boulevardier is a must, too!
The service was impeccable; Megan and Mitch were particularly helpful. If you get a chance, sit at the bar, so you can see the action in the kitchen and eye the food as it goes through the pass.

I saw this restaurant in 5280 and decided to give it a shot, despite the reviews on Unilocal stating the service wasn’t the best. I had the best service anyone could ask for at a restaurant. The server was very attentive and never did we have to ask for more water, bread (The butter for the bread was awesome), and new silverware (after eating the salad course). Writing the name of the meal and date on the leftovers was an added touch which more resturants should adopt.
The food was amazing. I love there are only a few choices on the menu but the menu changes weekly which keeps you wanting more. The charm of this small restaurant along with the fresh farm to table food was perfect. If you want to try a new restaurant I would strongly recommend this place. Make reservations and give this place a shot.

I was lucky to be invited to an amazing dining experience. Fantastic flavors. Definitely a must-​try. Highly recommend this fine dining experience for a wonderful romantic date or special celebration.

I brought my family here for my anniversary dinner, and boy, was I surprised. Having been to this same location for the last two restaurants (Satchels & Perrys), I had high hopes that this obscure location would continue to surprise me with high quality food. The inside of the restaurant has not changed that much over the years. The new open kitchen concept had our table watching with great interest how the team navigated around one another in such a small space.
We started with some amazing appetizers (Moroccan potatoes and Fall fatoush). Both of these offerings were bursting with flavor, and while a bit different than expected (e.g. the potatoes were tangy and sweet and the hummus was pureed), the flavors were complex and complimentary.
Between our appetizer and our main entrée we had a nice palate cleanser of a concord grape sorbet, which was quite a pleasant surprise.
For our main course, we had the sea bass and the scallops. Because I noticed the duck confit’s presentation seemed to be more to my taste than what came with the scallops, the kitchen was more than happy to place my scallops in this new arrangement. In fact, I got the sense that the kitchen would do practically anything for the customer including create dishes that may or may not have been on the menu.
All in all, this is a gem of a neighborhood restaurant. Park Hill is lucky to have these hidden gems. My only knock on Bistro Barbes is that they have a very limited beer list. For such a fine restaurant, it would be nice to have a bit more of an alcohol selection to choose from.

I’m officially giving this 3.5 stars. It was kind of pricey. And my entrée was overcooked. That said…
They had a great wine selection. Wine prices weren’t too bad, and we found a nice bottle of Langhe Nebbiolo that wasn’t too spendy.
I had the King Salmon, and unfortunately it was overcooked. A fine piece of salmon should err on the medium-​rare side, and this was like medium-​well. It came with a really nice garnish of smoked okra however which played really well with the salmon flavors. In fact all the entrees were creative and unique and highlighted the earthy, smoky tones of the food. Ie. this restaurant reminded me of a fine single malt scotch. Quirky and unique and earthy and malty. The goose liver pâté was super rich, immensely earthy and amazing once my palate had adjusted.
The highlight of the meal was the dessert, a flourless chocolate cake stuffed with foie gras. Yes, that’s right, chocolate cake with fatty goose liver. It was supremely rich and decadent. The chocolate frosting was rich dark chocolate and the foie gras and salt just took it to another level. Outstanding.
I’ll probably come back just for dessert, and perhaps to sample more entrees.

Well, I have to say that the fish and the carrot cake were fantastic. Our fish was perfectly prepared and the flavors were anything from ordinary. The table next to us had the same thing and was about to lick the plate and even wanted some our ours. The carrot cake was not your typical carrot cake, but our server gave a great description of the dessert so we knew it wold be different. We loved it! A good moist thin slice of cake with a light «icing» underneath and a light sorbet. Lots of flavor yet very light. the wine selection was small, but both wines were very good and were well paired for our food.
The service was great as well. Very attentive, but not overbearing. We will be back. It’s nice to have a great place like this in the area, east of Colorado, to eat at instead of a chain. By the way, the table next to me had already been in 3 times.