Cranelli’s Italian Restaurant

Unbeatable. Perfect experience. Lovely & personable service by ALL.
If there’s something more intimate, please let me know :-)
PS~ Unilocal should state: «take out» ratings only count at drive through’s.

Amazing little restaurant hidden in a strip mall off of Park Meadows Drive near the mall. Totally reminds me of the hole in the wall Italian restaurants in Chicago and Chicago definitely has great Italian. Sauces all taste home made and fresh… we had the diablo, chicken piccata, garlic knots and a side of meatballs. The flavors were all good but wish the serving temperature for the food was a bit higher. Garlic knots were a bit lukewarm as well as the meatballs. Pastas were perfect though. Looking forward to going back and trying the rest of the menu.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this place! Perfect place for my husband and I to have a date night close to home. Amazing food, friendly staff, fantastic wine and the owner is an absolute pleasure! So nice to see a local place thrive!

Im officially a CRANELLI’S addict. I thoroughly enjoyed 3 meals in 3 days in a row here. Friday and Saturday, Chicken Marsala, Chicken Genovese were so great had the same thing 2 days in a row. Sucked down two hauntingly tasty Italian sodas. Don’t overlook these on your next visit, they are stupid good! Woke up Sunday craving those sodas, and had to go back for more. Finally enjoyed one of their pizzas. Simple ingredients done just right! I’d love to know the record number of consecutive days a customer has eaten here. I honestly don’t think I hold the record at 3.

I really write reviews for restaurants but this place was amazing! The food is awesome the people are awesome and the atmosphere is great! The entire staff looks after your every need even know the place is packed and they have lots of other customers to deal with. The only recommendation I would make is you should definitely make a reservation and the parking is kind of a nightmare she might have to park across the street.

I just discovered this place. It’s great. Really friendly staff. They all got a kick out of my Star Wars pants. Even though I took my food to go the service was so warm and welcoming and friendly. They are attentive, but not annoying. Just really nice and down to earth.
The food is fantastic. I got the Chicken Piccata, without mushrooms of course. (Cause mushrooms are just nasty!)
They gave me free garlic knots since it was my first visit. I definitely recommend this place and I will definitely be back.

I’m giving 4 stars because they resolved a mistake quickly. So service was a 5 but food unfortunately was a 3. Ordered online for pickup because typically this is nearly foolproof to avoid mistakes. Sadly, not as foolproof as we had hoped. First, the caprese salad was awesome! The cheese bread was a Great touch. We did request no onions but they were still included. I ordered the chicken parm and while the chicken was excellent, the sauce was one note. Adding red pepper flakes and parm cheese helped but one thing was probably missed — salt. I know I know health and all that, but it isn’t the most widely used seasoning for nothing. My wife’s Shrimp Alfredo with mushrooms was prepared the first time without shrimp, but that is where the good service took place. They were going to make an entire new order but I said just to add the shrimp as it looked delicious. Unfortunately this dish was also one note. Almost as if there was little to no parmesan cheese in the Alfredo sauce. Again salt to the rescue.
All that being said they were super friendly and quick to not only fulfill the order but fix the mistake. Food was okay. Fair prices for the portion size and friendly service. We will try again… just not sure when.

Wish I would have waited to snap a pic of my chicken genovese, but I was to hungry and it looked way to good. Have been here more than a handful of times and lately enjoy coming in on Sunday evenings. Always a great atmosphere with plenty of energy, attentive and knowledgable staff who seem to enjoy working here — a great fm reflection of ownership. If you are looking for some great Italian and want to support local businesses, strongly recommend. Of all the meals we’ve ordered throughout our household, there has never been a bad one!!!

What a great find! Fabulous Italian food at good prices. We got the «Italian Poppers», which were a bit spicy and I wish the server had told us so. For main course I got a pepperoni thin crust pizza and it was cheesy, crispy perfection! My boyfriend got pasta in Alfredo sauce with sausage — this is what I will come back for — wow, that Alfredo sauce is kick butt and the sausage was high quality. The food came out a little slow, but our very attentive waitress apologized for that and explained the oven was getting to temperature because it was earlier in the day. The atmosphere is good, the tables are a bit close together but it’s a small space, so they work with what they have! Will definitely be back to explore that menu a bit more.

Went here for dinner with a friend on a Friday evening. We had a reservation for 8:15 and once we entered the restaurant we realized that was never going to happen. The space is not very big, but they definitely do the most with what they have. We were seated at 8:40, which if we had not had a reservation would have been fine, but if we have a reservation anything more than a 10 – 15 minute delay is not really acceptable. Don’t accept reservations if you’d can’t stick to them.
Our waitress was very nice, but forgetful. She forgot my drink when I ordered it, not really that big of a deal, she brought it 5 minutes later, but she also forgot marinara sauce with my entrée which was a big deal because it meant my food became cold as my dining companion was able to eat. In fact she came over to check how everything was and when I asked for marinara sauce again she gave me an excuse about how they moved the sauce and she couldn’t find it. The thing is they have an open kitchen and I saw her hang out and chat without really looking for anything. Just tell me you forgot, don’t lie to me. She was very nice and seemed genuinely sorry for the mistake, but the point was moot as my dinner was cold by that point.
The food was ok. We got the garlic knots. The bread was fresh and hot, but had no real garlic flavor. Maybe we just came on an off day? I got the eggplant rollatini. There was no flavor except for cheese. I love cheese, but I need more flavor than that. My friend got the chicken genovese which was very good. I will probably never go again, but if i were to go I would get the chicken genovese.
***Update: Adding a start because I greatly appreciate the level of customer service this restaurant and family strives to provide per the comment from the management and family below.***

Amazing new fine. Very low-​key location, only a handful of tables, but what a treat. Best Italian place in the ‘Park Meadows Bubble’.
Food is outstanding, service is amazing, and first timers get free garlic nots.
I will become a regular.

Good food, great service. We made a dinner reservation for Jan 1^st for family of three. Like other reviews mentioned the place is pretty small so reservation is recommended.
We were greeted by Brittany and waited about 15 mins before we got a table near the entrance door. In the meantime, the staff made sure to keep our 3.5 yrs old son busy and entertained. Being a cold night, Brittany placed a space heater near our table so we don’t feel cold when the door opens. We ordered drinks and food recommended by staff and were happy with our decision.
It’s a great little restaurant with staff that keeps customer satisfaction as their top priority. We would definitely visit again.

Amazing experience from start to finish.
We went in on a Saturday night with a party of 8 (we had booked a reservation earlier in the day). The restaurant is pretty small and hoppin so I definitely recommend getting a reservation!
Since it was our first visit they brought us out some complementary garlic knots. Yum!
They had a happy hour going on (happy hour on a weekend evening — yes please!). The happy hour was buy-​one-​get-​one on house wine and spirits.
My husband and I split a full size pasta dish and a side salad. Other people at our table got pizza, a sandwich and other pasta dishes. Everyone was really happy with their meal!

We ordered out from Cranelli’s and were impressed. Food was fantastic. Pickup service was a bit confusing.
Want to try eating in sometime soon but hesitate because when I arrived to pickup our food it was overly packed and people waiting outside. And the parking lot was packed. Also a testament to how good this place is!
It’s a bit hidden and it appears on busy nights it’s nearly impossible to hear yourself think. Not the best place if you’re looking for a romantic dinner or solitude! There was some live music but because of the noise level, it was impossible to hear it!
Hopefully they either open another location or expand their current location significantly to spread out the overcrowding based on their success! But I’m assuming that it’s more tame Monday-​Thursday night!
Overall, great food for the price! Not five stars because haven’t gotten the full picture by eating in and the noise level and overcrowding is a bit over the top.

After reading the owner’s response to my review, I’m even more convinced than before that the service at Cranelli’s is, in a word, a problem. I’ve read similar negative reviews (both on this site and others like it) which only serve to reinforce my belief that this restaurant simply «isn’t a good match» for my wife and me.
I won’t take the time to address the myriad inaccuracies and omissions contained within the owner’s recounting of our evening at Cranelli’s. I’ll simply point out that I’ve written a grand total of one Unilocal review in my life. I’m not exactly a «squeaky wheel.» However, I wrote this one with ample cause. Our evening at Cranelli’s was truly a bad experience.
I implore the owner to reconsider her aggressive approach to receiving honest feedback from her patrons. Accommodating unbiased opinions from customers, even when critical, can only serve to benefit her business in the long run. In fact, that’s the very premise upon which Unilocal,TripAdvisor, Zagat and countless other successful businesses have been built.
I wish you all the best. Enjoy the holiday.
Rick

The most consistent and delicious eggplant Parmesan is here at Cranelli’s. This lunch sandwich is absolutely incredible. A friend and I come here often for lunch since we work close by and I refuse to order anything else — unless we’re talkin’ garlic knots, then it’s a different story.
This little Italian spot is run by the family and their recipes. You’ll feel right at home at Cranelli’s because the service is usually on point and the food delivers every time.
Looking to break up the usual spots down in DTC? Look no further than this spot.

Came here back in August. We got the garlic knots to share as an appetiser. They were nice but a bit salty, the sauce helped cut that out.
We had a range of meals, mostly pastas, the people having the Chicken Alfredo said theirs was a bit salty too. The others were fine.
Service was good, but we’d asked to see the dessert menu, which he bought over, and then bought the bill without asking if we wanted dessert… good thing we decided against it.

Cranelli’s lived up to its high ratings for us. We were visiting from out of town and I wanted to have a casual but delicious eating experience to share great food and time with our family members. I am so glad to have found this wonderfully unique location. I had called the day before to make reservations because we were going to have a party of six. I was pleased that they were willing to take the reservation, and they had a table ready for us when we arrived.
The staff was very quick to welcome us and help us get drinks set. Before I knew it there were the most delicious garlic knots possible on the table. These are true golden gems or flavor. The dough is so fresh and they had to have just come out of the oven because they tasted so soft and fresh.
Next we order the Italian Popper which was another amazing treat. They take a Publano pepper, roast it and peal it then take the two halves and stuff them with sausage and four types of cheese. They are so amazing, I could have just kept eating those the whole evening.
For dinner I got the Eggplant Rotalini witch was fantastic. The cheese stuffed eggplant rolls were creamy and rich, covered in marinara. Also included with the plate was pasta in a béchamel sauce. It was a huge portion, but it tasted so good I ate the entire serving.
Unfortunately we did not have any room left for dessert, that will have to be another visit.
This is the real thing, people who love food sharing their passion with those that visit. I was so impressed with everything, thank you Carnellis for a great experience.

Hostess was super nice. We came in earlier than our reservations and they found us a spot. The restaurant smelled so yummy. Hostess comped us a garlic knot order since it was our first visit and we are from out of town. We had a Caesar salad and house salad. Also had baked ziti and the bolognese pasta half orders.
i was in the midst of an old review so I am adding onto it with our current visit. Came back again and ordered the garlic knots which were piping hot and buttery with kosher salt sprinkled on them. I also had the half order of chicken picata which had deliciously al dente noodles and they were generous with the capers and garlic (maybe a little less capers for my taste buds) and my husband had a full order of the lasagna. Our waitress was the owner’s daughter who was super nice and friendly. Consistently good food and service.
Don’t forget to sign up for their loyalty club with your email.

Felt like Italian food on this occasion and luckily I found a place within walking distance to my favorite hotel (Element). I’ve been meaning to check this place out for months; I finally made it over and I was pissed at myself. Why the $@?! did I not visit this place sooner, it was outstanding in every department. The service, the food, the atmosphere and the value were just simply awesome.
This place is small, but that is what makes it special. The staff here is either related to the owners or they just really love working for them. I just really love when the staff is genuinely interested in my experience and satisfaction. On my initial visit with Janet O., we were served by, as Janet described him, mellow, cute and a professional, and without hesitation I agree. On my second visit he wasn’t working (sigh), but I learned that his sister works there as well, how cool is that. I also met the owner Lasinda; she is one cool lady. She remembered Janet when I mentioned her, which is exactly what a family like service is all about, noticing your customers and their needs. My waitress during the second visit was on par with the first; she was super attentive and very friendly.
The restaurant is situated in a luxury apartment complex, making parking very convenient. The interior is simple and inviting. One review actually complained about that, are you $&@? kidding me! The place can be a bit cramped, but that’s nothing one should complain about, if anything it makes the experience more personable and intimate. Want space, go to the S’hole called Olive Garden. Sorry about my rant, but apparently I have fallen in love with this place.
Service and food must complement each other for an ultimate meal. I think it’s pretty clear from the reviews that this place has both under control. The food is simply delicious, screams quality and tender love. I had the Lasagna both the first and second visits. Why? Because it was out of this world!!! Most lasagnas I’ve had are usually over cooked, theirs is sublime with the pasta firm, the meat and sauce flavorful and the cheese very stringy without oil separation indicating high quality ingredients. Always go for the full portion, because you will be yearning for more. The Italian Fries were also a great start, and the Italian poppers deserve a standing ovation. The Almond Cannoli was a perfect ending to a five star meal.
The Unilocal rating of 4.5 stars is by no means hype, it’s definitely deserving and the few reviews with low rating are simply outliers just like the people that wrote them. If you live in the apartment complex, you are one lucky tenant with 10% off daily and 25% off on Tuesdays. Go and indulge in one fine Italian meal.
I’m passionate about fine cuisines and the people that make them a reality. Guess where I’m going for dinner my first night back in Denver?