Prima Ristorante
Denver, CO 80202-2201
Phone: (303) 228-0770
- Price:
- $$$$
- Cross Street:
- Arapahoe Street
- Hours:
- Sun-Thu 7am-11pm , Fri-Sat 7am-12am , Bar open until 2am Mon-Sat, 12am Sun
Editorial Review for Prima Ristorante – by Ephraim Mallery
In Short
Situated in Hotel Teatro, Prima's tall windows spill light onto warm textured walls, and comfortable tables surround the black granite bar and fill the intimate balcony. Starters include soft polenta steeped in creamy mushroom sauce. Popular pasta dishes include homemade spaghetti in hot pepper-spiked red sauce or tender gnocchi rich with gorgonzola and a touch of walnuts. For the main course, there's tender, flavorful balsamic-drizzled veal.
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Insider Tips
ParkingGrab a spot right across the street in a paid lot. If you want covered parking or are heading to the show, get a spot in the Arts Complex, also across the street.
The ExtrasOn weekends from 10am to 4pm, indulge in a traditional northern Italian brunch, complete with unlimited champagne and several amazing courses.
User Reviews for Prima Ristorante
02/25/2008 Posted by SassyPuss
Everything about this place stunk, except for the bartender who doesn't deserve to be faulted. After finally being seated at 9pm for our 8pm reservation, we thought the worst was behind us--Not so! We ordered the calamari app, which was OK, but not spectacular. We then waited for another 35 minutes for our pasta course to arrive, but instead we got our entrees, which we had specificually asked to come after the pasta course. I asked the waitress what happened to the pasta and she replied "oh yeah". About 10 minutes later our cold and gummy pasta dishes (which had clearly been sitting around in the kitchen while we were waiting) were shoved on the table in between our entrees, leaving us about 0.1 inches of free table space. Then, after the third request and almost being completely done with our meal, we finally were brought bread--just in time for dessert. The entrees were not good at all--less than hotel quality. The chicken paillard was very bland and dry, the large portion did not excuse the poor quality. The pork tenderloin was cooked well but the potatoes were underdone and there were 3-4 whole roasted red peppers, which tasted straight fromt he jar and were really slimy. Both entrees tasted like they had been made in masse that afternoon and had been in warming trays since. Aside from being cold, the egg ravioli was pretty good; however the black truffles advertised on the menu were clearly porcini mushrooms, not truffles. On a downnote, the ravioli sauce had a lot of lemon and it was so acidic that it overpowered the already mediocre taste of our entrees. If the courses had come out prima and segunda (as one would hope from the name of the restaurant), it have been OK, but the pairing made all three dishes virtually inedible. Luckily for us, we were just dining out to try a new place. If this had been a special occasion it would have been the pits. We shall never be back.
11/30/2007 Posted by sconrad
My husband and I went to this restaurant for our wedding anniversary. I usually don't try new places when it's a special occassion...however knowing that this was a Kevin Taylor restaurant put me at ease. I have to say, that this was one of the worst restaurant experiences we have had since we've lived in Denver. Service was slow at best. My soup was so salty it was barely edible, and my pasta was so gummy that it stuck to my teeth. I didn't think that spaghetti with marinara could go so wrong. Would not go back--and now I am reluctant to try another restaurant with Kevin Taylor's name attached.
