Zokas Restaurant & Bar

We’ve been there many time and until the last two times everything has been great. The last two times, anniversary and Valentines Day, the service has been awful. This last time we waited 45 minutes after ordering and our food still hadn’t arrived. We finally left and went elsewhere. I hope they get their act together.

Zokas is our favorite restaurant, they are constantly wonderful. Good food great service every time!

We ended up at Zoka’s by chance since The Bucksnort was mysteriously closed with no mention on the Internet or even the front door. This was a delightful surprise and the food was fantastic. Chef was engaging and our waiter was very insightful About the menu. The buffalo wings and smoked salmon dip were fantastic. Great beer selection and neat place to get some local flavor. Thanks for a great lunch!

We used Zoka’s Restaurant for our wedding rehearsal dinner in October 2015. We had dinner at the restaurant previously, and were very impressed with the food. Our guests commented that they enjoyed their meals at the rehearsal dinner, too.
We had a less than enjoyable experience with the reservation, though. We emailed the restaurant owner months in advance, and it took several reminder emails to finally engage his services. Nevertheless, we made a reservation for 14 people on a Friday night. When we showed up for our dinner, we were asked to sit at two different tables. This isn’t ideal, and we felt it defeated the purpose of making a reservation if our party was going to be split in half. There were a set of tables that would perfectly seat 14, but we were told we couldn’t use them. They were reserved for a party of 9. In fact, the owner laughed at the bride at one point and walked away when trying to obtain a different table. Finally, we were able to be seated together after some persistence from the father of the bride.
Overall, the food is excellent, and I would recommend it for a standard dinner. I would not recommend them for large parties, as we were disappointed with the service we received.

Great place to stop for lunch or just a beer. The people that worked there were very nice and helpful. They were very kind to my 96 year old grandpa which was nice. We couldn’t decide which beers to get so they helped us out by letting us sample a few so we chose the best. I’d recommend the BBQ pork sandwich. It came on a ciabatta bun with slaw on top. The meat was great… good consistency and appearance, very flavorful with smokey flavor throughout. I was thoroughly surprised.

This place is a hidden gem of a restaurant. My folks and I make a effort to stop here every time we’re in the area. You won’t be disappointed, this isn’t fast food but well worth the wait. The pork sandwiches are a must with their stellar brewed coffee!

Shocked! Friends took us here midweek for lunch. Oh my! Everything was perfect! Burgers, SPFs, beverages, etc. all good. Can’t wait to go back!

Good food and drinks. Service was good too. Patio nice but we sat in the bar. Whole place has a good vibe and character. Stopped in after a motorcycle ride to Buck Snort. Did not have a lot of food but what we had was good — chili, onion rings, beer and a ruby red vodka drink.

Was there on a Friday around 3pm. The bar kept serving someone who was clearly drunk. I asked them «why would you serve him more whiskey?» and they stopped. Why should the customers have to police the drunks? He was loud, obnoxious and thought it was «Friday night.» The bar needs to be more concerned about their SOBER customers … and those in the public he moved to after making my stay horrible.

Hey, if you have a few hours to wait for a meal this is your go to place!!! And when you complain, prepare for the waitress to argue with you. She knew we waited 50 minutes!
The place wasn’t even half full… and we waited. What has happened to this place? Service has gone South.
This is the second time I’ve been extremely disappointed. I gave them another chance; now my family and friends are done.

Very disappointing service. After a gorgeous hike with another family we stopped here for a late lunch. We had read reviews and were excited to try it out. The restaurant appeared quasi-​busy – a steady crowd but empty tables. They were able to seat the 8 of us promptly after pushing a few tables together.
Then we waited. And waited. People who were seated after us placed their order and received their beverages. A server finally came up to us and apologized and stated ‘she didn’t know this was her table’. She took our food and drink orders, and brought out our drinks in an acceptable amount of time.
Then we waited and waited. Our server came back to deliver another round of drinks. But still no food. After another twenty minutes or so we asked where our food was, and when we should expect it (We had now been seated for about an hour). Our server was unapologetic and said ‘They’re cooking it. We’re busy’. I pointed out the table next to us was seated after us and they had completed their meal. She replied the ‘kitchen is busy and we should expect that when the fall colors are going on’. Our meal came out about ten minutes after this exchange. When it was delivered she said, ‘It took the kitchen 48 minutes to cook your food. And just so you know, we are really busy this time of year’. She took off. We had to flag her down again to ask for silverware, and refills for our children.
The food was delicious. The restaurant is clean and the location is beautiful. The only thing that completely soured our experience was the server’s poor attitude. An acknowledgment and apology would have gone a long way. Stopping by our table, giving an update, and checking in on us would have been proactive. Restaurants get busy, kitchens get backed up at busy times – and that is understandable. Being rude, condescending, and unapologetic is inexcusable. We are easy-​going restaurant patrons. It takes a lot to get me upset. I have been a server before and cannot imagine ever talking to a customer the way we were spoken to.
We get the bill, and they actually added gratuity! We never tipped under 20%, but felt her rudeness does not warrant our appreciation (although we would have left something). We asked about removing it at the front. The hostess inquired to the manager on duty and came back without the manager and said ‘This twenty dollar bill is from his OWN pocket to take care of it. He’s eating right now’. So from the manager’s lack of response the way we were treated today implies to me that this must be the norm.
The place has a ton of potential. I hope the owners recognize their ‘team’ is not representing their business positively. I hope others have a better experience than I did on what Zoka’s considered a ‘busy’ day (although there was no wait and open tables…).

Everything about this place makes me happy. Great energy, consistently delicious, fresh food, cold beer and really great people! It’s my favorite place to stop for a bite to eat after a day hike or drive in the mountains. They have a little bit of everything on the menu but the pork sandwich is one of my favorites. The Zoka burger is out of this world! When the weather is nice, the patio is a sweet spot to hang with the pups. They even serve corned beef hash for Sunday brunch for when I want food with my Bloody Mary. I would give them 10 stars if I could.

I had the salmon and Swiss burger with fries. It was a very good meal and I was able to wash it down with an Avery IPA I believe. The barbecue sauce I asked for on the side was what really made it great. I was fortunate to visit this place after hiking cheeseman canyon. I would recommend this place and return myself whenever I’m in the area. They also have beautiful murals that depict the surrounding areas if that’s your sort of thing. But I appreciated them as well.

After hiking in the nearby Lost Creek Wilderness, we were hungry and even more thirsty for a cold beer. Zoka’s was surprisingly good and busy on a Saturday afternoon. Menu was typical upscale pub fare with some notable exceptions including the Kobe beef burgers. Six CO microbrews on tap and an oddly large wine list. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

After stopping at the new Riverbend in Bailey, where we waited 20 minutes for them to tell us we couldn’t tie our dog to the outdoor deck, even though there were 5 dogs out there already — we luckily said goodbye forever to that waste of a restaurant and headed to Pine.
Zoka’s is everything we look for in a restsurant and more. Beautiful patio, wonderful service and relatively quiet setting. The food is amazing and innovative. We loved the honey smoked salmon appy. Tasted so fresh and not overly sweet.
Best of all Zoka’s is super dog friendly! They allow dogs on the patio and even offer a $ 4.00 fido burger which I’m sure was the best thing our Golden has ever had!
Don’t waste your time in Bailey, drive a little further and eat where they appreciate your business and deliver great food!

For the past 4 years I have been going here and let me tell you I have never had a bad experience! I’ve tried pretty much everything on the menu at this point! My personal favorites are the Ribs which are next level! The Zoka burger is also amazing! I went in two days ago and learned they now serve breakfast! Can’t wait to try it! If you live in the conifer evergreen area and have never been its must! If your just trying to escape the Denver heat you won’t be disappointed! The views are epic! Always elk and deer runnin around! Beautiful river across the street! And if you make a day trip out of it there are a few hikes such as pine valley ranch l, cathedral spires, and more!!!

Within the context of rural Colorado mountain communities, Zokas is relatively good. In a more competitive environment, the business would struggle. The menu is interesting and diverse and sounds appealing, but critically the food is good, not great. My seared sesame ahi was smaller than a deck of cards, on top of an enormous pile of noodles; a little pricy for what you got actually. My dates spaghetti dish was good and again generous with the noodles, reasonably priced. I’d consider Zokas a good family-​style restaurant and bar. For a Wednesday evening the bar area was lively. They have periodic specials to draw in the community so we don’t turn into a bunch o’ hermits. ;)
Cheers, M.

Oh wow! After a long day running the North Fork trail and hanging out by the South Platte river, we headed to Zoka’s, which had been highly recommended by my boyfriend’s coworker. He said the fish and chips were the best he’d ever had. After living in Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA for many years, I am very skeptical of seafood in the mountains, even fried fish and chips. Skeptical no more!
The location is in the middle of nowhere, but is a super cute little mountain restaurant, with a wrap-​around porch with gorgeous views. The inside has sweet climbing murals on the walls. We sat on the porch and caught the last rays of sunshine from the day. We arrived around 5, during happy hour. Started with a couple of moscow mules with homemade ginger beer. Very tasty. Our appetizer was the chopped pork chili fries that were fantastic! I’m not usually a fan of those kinds of fries, but the house green chili bbq sauce was a perfect mix of sweet and spicy, the pork was great, and adding a little ketchup made them perfection!
We both ordered fish and chips, although I had a very hard time deciding between those and the crab cakes, it was totally worth it for both of us to get the same thing! The cod was fried to perfection and the chips (fries) were just as good on their own as they were in the appetizer. And I haven’t had hushpuppies like their’s since I left the South!
We were too full to try dessert, and needed to get home, but we will definitely be back to try the key lime pie!!! The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is that the service was a little slow/​scattered, but no reason to avoid!!!

Went again, had crab cakes. OMG they were amazing… seriously. So crabby? Is that a way to describe them? They had much more crab in them than filler. They were amazing. Seriously.
Salmon burger was also amazing.
Key Lime Pie was also delicious.
Zokas nails it again.

5 stars for the location and the view, 3 stars for the service, which was frantic yet friendly the day we went, and just a star or two for the food and interior. Man, if they added some solar tubes or skylights, got rid of the sponge painted, early 2000’s feeling décor, and opted for something simple and rustic, and updated their food a little bit, we’d be in business for sure. The wrap-​around porch with seating is to die for.
My hash and eggs were kinda cold and boring. There were weird, squishy, fatty bits in the hash. Ick.
You’ve got the location, you’ve got a crowd, just tighten it up, and you’ll be all good.