10/03/09

Happily Awaiting the Demise of this Trainwreck

by BigJay

This restaurant has become a sore point with me. What seems like generations ago now, this place used to have top notch food and great service.

Now it is a broken shell of what it used to be. Food is possibly the worse in town, service is completely abysmal. These people deserve a smack in the face for letting a good spot for food go under so badly.

All that is left is for the people who used to enjoy this place to now watch the clueless owners finish flushing it down the toilet. And at this point, I will feel nothing but complete and total satisfaction to bear witness to this mistake finishing itself off.

I wish Molly the worst for letting this happen. Your family would be proud!

• Pros: Distant memories of good meals once enjoyed
• Cons: That this place still finds a reason to open its doors

09/25/09

DO NOT DO IT!!!

by bigredone

This place used to be good, now it is awful! They (as in every person who works there) do not care about the customer...our waitress spilled a tray of margaritas down my mother-in-laws back and then blamed US!!! WTF! The food used to be good, now it comes out cold and soggy. If you ask for a crisp taco shell you get a dirty look...Taco Bell does a better job. I have eaten at the place a dozen times prior and I can tell you this...I WOULD NOT LET MY WORST ENEMY EAT HERE! If you do not believe me, go there for drinks on a Friday night at 6PM and see how empty the place is!!! DO NOT DO IT TO YOURSELF! STAY AWAY!

• Pros: cold beer
• Cons: everything else

03/23/09

Worst Treatment I've Ever Received

by JuneyTunes

I have never been treated so horribly by any one in my life. Seriously.

I received terrible service one night after being a faithful customer for numerous years. I thought that mgmt should know so I asked to talk to the manager. It was the brother (I can't remember his name - his sister Molly is a co-owner). When I explained the service problems, he proceeded to treat me so horribly it took me by surprise. One of the statements he made to me was: "who do you think you are? You are nobody."

I was a faithful customer until that point.

• Pros: Food was great
• Cons: The owner

03/19/09

What Happened?!

by aboutnaround

What can make a really great restaurant go so far amiss? La Cueva was once one of the better places to eat in town. The menu, the food, the selection -- the food was fresh, the salsa and sauces were spicy and flavorful. It was all good.

But I was there last night with five other people and we were all disappointed. The salsa was all onions and little else. In fact, carelessly prepared onions were the item of the day. My fish--which appeared to be a poorly prepared fish stick out of the Costco freezer section--was doused in fried onions and a salsa that could easy be beat by anything in a Taco Bell condiment station.

The sad thing is: the service was still friendly and tried to be accommodating. But whatever was going on in La Cueva's kitchen was very poor in quality.

• Pros: Used To Be The Best Mexican Restaurant in Town
• Cons: Now It's The Worst Mexican Restaurant In Town

03/12/09

absoultely amazing

by hockey672

This mexican restaurant just outside of denver was probably the best I've found in Colorado. Great spice to all the dishes I have tried and delicious margs. The service was decent, although, they couldn't keep up with how quickly I was downing the chips and salsa! That's probably not their fault!

I recommend this to everyone, they always like it too.

It's a little bit of a drive for those of us downtown, but well worth it!

• Pros: everything
• Cons: What are the drawbacks?

12/24/08

Best in Colorado

by denver204

I'm a hardcore mexican food lover who moved here from Austin. There were so many awesome restaurants there and Denver was a bit of a disappointment until I found La Cueva. This place has exceptional food and some of the nicest folks working there. They have by far the best tasting green chili and really good combinations. I am a vegetarian and they have so much I can eat. The salsa and chips are incredible.

I am so glad I discovered this place!

07/07/08

Superb Mexican food and great attention to detail

by Steveatshylo

I frequent a number of favorite restaurants around the city with sushi being my favorite cuisine. In the last 20 years I've found several acceptable Mexican restaurants in the Denver area but none that showed the detail that you might see in a good restaurant in San Antonio or Albuquerque. Today (7/7/08) I stumbled by accident into La Cueva and was hugely surprised by virtually everything that we ordered. I feel that Chili Relenos are always a good measure of a Mexican restaurant and these were exemplary. The staff was charming and the house salsa which is heavy on onions as I like, was good enough to take home. In the 6 hours since we left there we've referred it to 3 other people already. Job well done!! Steve

06/16/08

Never going back

by rporter242

I had been a patron since I was a kid (1977). I had noticed slow and sometimes cold service from the wait staff in recent years. I was willing to overlook the bad service because of the excellent food. Until two visits ago! I brought my credit card up to Molly (one of the owners) to pay (they neglected to pick up my credit card long after I finished eating). Molly had problems getting the machine to print. I tried to make the usual small talk with her. I asked her how she liked her new home in the newly built neighborhood. In her frustration with the credit card machine she basically told me to shut up! Even in front of a couple of her wait staff! To say the least tension was extremely high. When I finally settled up with her she made some lame excuse about her day being hard. She never apologized. I returned two more times and she never apologized. I would have returned if only she would have apologized. Why is it so hard for some people to simply apologize when they are wrong? I couple of visits before Molly went off on me I witnessed her go off on another patron.

• Pros: Great food if you can stand the terrible service
• Cons: Terrible service

05/15/08

Restaurant in Trouble

by absolutelyawfulexperience

I own a business and hosted a meeting at La Cueva - I have done this many times. On 5/15/08, as I was waiting for some of our guests to arrive, both owners of La Cueva literally verbally abused both me and my employees. The owners alleged we were hosting our meeting here and were not going to order any food. We were called treated with incredible disrespect and were charged initially for waters and chips/salsa. Both owners were terrribly mean and angry without any real reason. After we ordered food (and yes, we always order food when at restaurants), one of our appetizers had a dead critter on it.

I will never go back to this place either. I suspect the restaurant is struggling financially because the owners behavior was truly sad. I have hosted over 25 meals at this restaurant for the last 3 years and I will never go back again. The food was bad and I cannot believe the level of disrepect we received for no reason.

• Pros: I'm sure the beer is cold - I did not order any though
• Cons: Too many to discuss - do not go here.

04/13/08

Nothing better in Denver

by bigavsfan

I have been going to La Cueva for years. Although it's a bit of a drive, I find it more than worth it. There is no better green chili period. And they also offer it vegeterian style, how many mexican restaurants do this???

Everything on the menu is delicious, authentic and spicy. I am completely addicted and go there as often as we can. The kids even love it and they are so kind to us.

Whenever I read a review about them that isn't 5 stars I have to realize these are not people who appreciate authentic and fantastic mexican food made from the heart. Too bad for them. For everyone else who absolutely love La Cueva, I'm with you. It truly is the best.

• Pros: everything
• Cons: they close too early