El Moro is one of the fancy-pants options on Main Avenue, and it's worth reserving a table for Friday/Saturday nights. My group had the privilege of visiting twice in one day, stopping in for midday drinks and then returning in the evening for a full repast. We arrived around 2:00 PM on Saturday, just as the brunch menu was ending and before the lunch menu had kicked in. We stuck to drinks, a process unto itself: the spirit list features hundreds of bottles, and if you want a cocktail, the ingredient options are practically limitless (but easily computed using combinatorics). I opted for Del Maguey's Santo Domingo Albarragas, neat, a delicious mezcal that I drank much took quickly. My girlfriend had a tequila sunrise, which she enjoyed. My other friend, inspired by Nick Offerman, impulsively ordered a Lagavulin, only partially regretting it when the bill arrived. That night, we returned for dinner after failing to find a table at Orehouse. For appetizers, baked brie (served sizzling in a skillet with bread for dipping) and bacon green chile fritters (delicious, and I LOVED the dipping sauce as well). My friends drank wine, while my girlfriend and I stuck to still water. And then, finally, the entrees. My El Moro burger was cooked medium-rare (nice!), and the bacon was crispy and warm. The kitchen heated up some green chile for me, which elevated the burger to delicious new heights. I ate every bite, save a couple nibbles traded to my girlfriend for some of her ahi tuna sandwich (also yummy). Our one friend had the lamb special, which he crowed happily about, while his girlfriend opted for the New York strip, which she called the best steak of her life. Impressive for a restaurant to satisfy all four of us on two occasions! If I lived in Durango, this would be one of my go-to restaurants. Consider stopping by if you're visiting, whether to indulge in a delicious meal or to pick something rare from the extensive bottle list. Great service, and you can buy the kitchen staff a round of drinks for $5 if you think they've earned it. read more

I've only eaten here once but every element was top notch. Promptly greeted and seated by a polite bartender. Presented with menus and given insights to the many craft beers on tap and then offered a taste of the two finalists. Beer was served in a frosty mug, food was well prepared and delicious. The best dish was Scotch Eggs and they were cooked to perfection with a four minute egg oozing in the center of well spiced sausage, fried crispy and a nice sauce on top. All in all, a great spot! read more

El Moro Spirits & Tavern - This place is really cool... and the is cold and tasty. - New American Near Me - Durango, Colorado

Their food was so amazing, they even got my husband to try asparagus for the first time EVER! I give them 5+ stars. I cant eait to go back read more

Always awesome. Great staff, great drinks, great food!! Oh yeah!! Hard to go wrong with this spot!

You have to get this the Honey-Sambal Lollipops lemongrass & ginger marinated redbird 'lollipop' chicken drumettes, honey sambal sauce, green curry & coconut crème fraiche. This is a must that sweet Asian flavors and the cooling taste of the fraiche mix is a combination of ecstasy ! read more

We stopped on our way through town. Friendly service and the food was excellent. I had the salmon and it was perfect!!!

What a great place in Durango. One of the first stops getting into town. I had made a reservation and they had it ready to go. We were on the extended patio since we had a dog and it was perfect. The inside of the restaurant is beautiful. Our serve today was super friendly and hospitable. We ordered a few appetizers and they were so delicious! Bone marrow, Korean fried cauliflower & the lollipops (we had to get second round cause they were amazing). We shared a few sandwiches and tacos, everything came out hot and super tasty. I highly recommend this restaurant. The Agridulce a mezcal cocktail was delicious. read more

El Moro Spirits & Tavern - New American Near Me - Durango, Colorado

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One of my first stops in Durango.... a great one at that. This tavern is seriously cool. Esthetically, there are so many details that were put into it's design, the decor, even the bathrooms... I wanted to take pictures of so many things - oh wait, I did! The bar is fully stocked, beautifully crafted and organized well. The bartenders were friendly, casual and interested in making connections with you instead of getting you out of their queue.... that's the "Houston" in me talking... Durango is a world unto itself. Check out the photos I posted - the attention to details is alive and well here - in the atmosphere, in the staff, in the creation of your food and drink, in the walls. So very cool. read more

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Very nice local place with patio seating. The atmosphere is nice and slightly upscale. The service was great. This prices here are a little more expensive, but the food it great. I had lamb and my husband had steak. The meat was cooked very well and the food portions are perfect. read more

El Moro Spirits & Tavern - Steak - New American Near Me - Durango, Colorado

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Just moved down from Houston Texas and had probably one of the most wonderful lunches with my father here, great cocktails, better service!! I'll be back. Very tasteful aesthetic throughout the venue, very nice music selection. GREAT CHEESE! read more

The burrata was amazing! Mozzarella was super fresh and balsamic glaze was outstanding. Their drinks were on point! This place is great! Not much to choose from in this town and they did a great job. Only one slight miss... the pork chop was over cooked and lacked the care the rest of the dishes had. Other than that I would go here again read more

Delicious food, interesting menu, great cocktails, and awesome service.. I love the appetizers.

Overpriced for what it is - a bar with a restaurant. I tried two not really tough items to make. The Scotch Egg appetizer was over cooked - the sausage outer was darned hard to cut through. The bed of greens was useless. Also had the roasted beet salad. A few slices of beets on a large handful of typical bagged greens. Maybe I ordered the wrong stuff, but I was completely underwhelmed. FYI - prices on the menu at the restaurant are higher than what's on the website. Add to that a 3% surcharge across the board that shows up on the bill. read more

Wow wow wow!!! This food was flavorful tasty beyond imagination. The wait staff was awesome! You order on line even while sitting out or in for excellent Covid protocols. Love this place. Highly recommend stopping for lunch or dinner. I'm sure that's fabulous too. read more

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Oh My God! Unbelievable food and service! I'm so glad we stopped here! We had the charcuterie, green curry mussels, and some special boiled eggs wrapped with sausage...all of them really good. Then we had lamb shank, pork chops, and a steak...OUTSTANDING! We ask to take home the fig jam cause it's absolutely the best I've ever eaten in my life! The best part was the service tho, Thomas is the best server that we could've hope for, he doesn't give you just the food, but the whole experience, very knowledgeable and very passionate about his job! Well manage, cleaned and super cute! We'll definitely be back very soon! read more

El Moro Spirits & Tavern - Cute little place in Downtown Durango! - New American Near Me - Durango, Colorado

We wandered in less than 10 minutes after opening to find a lovingly restored dining room, mostly empty. The wood of the tables, chairs, and floors pretty much glowed, and we could all but see ourselves reflected in the rich, wooden surfaces. It was clean and quiet and even as the restaurant filled to near-capacity behind us, we could still converse in regular voices and hear one another across the table. This likely derives from the high ceilings, since the original, sound-dampening plaster has been stripped on all the walls to reveal the beautiful brick construction of this historic building. We were tickled to see the KFC (Korean Fried Cauliflower) and decided to try the decadently vegetarian appetizer. We also had a self-built charcuterie board to offset any benefit gained from eating our vegetables. Our server was extremely knowledgeable about the whole menu, and offered a good many helpful suggestions where the charcuterie was concerned. When Raz was less than overwhelmed at a milder cheese I had selected, our server actually wrangled a sample of one of the sharper, more aged varieties we hadn't ordered so that Raz could try it. That was incredibly generous and gave a seriously lasting impression. For our mains, Raz had the Grilled Hanger Steak, and I tried the Lamb Keftas. Our server warned that the lamb was pretty lambish, and that he had recently been subbing in some of the house chicken sausages. I stuck to my guns on the lamb and was super glad I did, since those Keftas were awesome. The champion of the whole main-course show, however, was the garlic broccolini that came with Raz's hanger steak. Not sure where the florets of the Broccoli went on the menu, but the spears, tossed in a buttery, garlicky sauce and made hot without losing their internal crispness were an awesome way to serve the part of the plant that normally gets wasted in restaurant cuisine. This statement is made not to undercut the amazingness of the perfectly cooked hanger steak, nor the artistry of the light prickly pear sauce, but to exclaim just how awesome the veg really was. read more

El Moro Spirits & Tavern - New American Near Me - Durango, Colorado

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I stopped here on my way to Mesa Verde and I'm glad I did! This place has an awesome space and the food is delicious. There menu is online and they have paper disposable menus because of COVID. I ordered the Korean Fried Cauliflower (KFC). It was probably the best vegan style boneless wings I've eaten. It wasn't soggy and was very crispy but a little spicy. Still delicious though. I also ordered the Ivan the Terrible which was amazing! The bratwurst was huge and the pickled purple cabbage was a great addition. read more

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Great food and service. Beet salad was amazing! Minor critique but the ketchup seemed a little runny. Their menu is always changing so many of the yelp photos they weren't currently making. We also had the fried cauliflower. It was good but definitely different. The flavor tastes like a great chicken wing sauce but it's on cauliflower. Still good, but different. Their current dessert menu didn't sound great to us, we were sad they weren't serving the apple crisp that someone else had posted. Overall, would definitely return. read more

Menu and bar menu Outstanding! Bartender Mike is super friendly and a great mixologist. Cocktails are Original with wide variety of ingredients. Ramen noodles are amazing. So are Honey-Sambal Lollipops and Korean Fried Cauliflower for appetizers. Wonderful atmosphere and GREAT SERVICE! You won't be disappointed ! read more

El Moro Spirits & Tavern - New American Near Me - Durango, Colorado

Food was great! Service amazing! And cocktails to die for! So glad we where able to try it out. Bar tenders are all so talented there. The bartender was was kind enough to get us in for dinner as well. read more

Great food, great service. Atmosphere is awesome.I would recommend anyone go by and have a drink, eat good food and just enjoy the evening.

This spot was a pleasant surprise!! I loved everything we tried here .. scotch eggs, pasta as well as the meat and cheese board. The cocktails were great too! It's pet friendly with outside seating which just worked perfect for us..situated right in downtown on the Main Street it was a great spot to just sit and relax on Halloween! Would definitely recommend read more

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Hi guys. When there is a real valid problem with a customers food order, don't ignore them after you ask to have it corrected. Just take care of it happily. I wasn't mad or impolite. Even said please. read more

Everything was excellent that I ate which included a house salad with blue cheese and their 1/4 Pounder Burger. Loved the ambiance as well. Service was impeccable! read more

Came here for brunch and thought it was just okay. The portions were on the small side and looked better than it tasted. I was actually really looking forward to eating here after I saw chicken fried steak on their menu. I ordered chicken fried steak and was surprised to learn it can with melt cheese over it. I'm from the South and we like it with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans! NO cheese! I asked for sans cheese but they still put it on anyway so I had to scrape it off, losing some of the little gravy that was there. I still ate it, but it was quite unsatisfying for this southern girl. Probably won't go back anytime soon being that there are several better options in Durango, and definitely wouldn't be on the top of my recommendations. read more

NEVER EAT AT EL MORO. The manager is awful. The manager took my legal ID, claimed it was a fake and held me hostage there for 30-40 minutes until Durango Police came and said it was real and made her give it back. Worst part is SHE DID NOT EVEN APOLOGIZE. Been in Durango for 6 weeks and never had an issue. worst experience I have had in Durango by far. read more

Extremely rude and discriminatory waitstaff AND uncompassionate manager. A group of friends and I went to enjoy a good dinner after completing a day of work at various health clinics. We are all different ethnicities and races. Two members of our group are Native/POC and immediately at the start of our dinner, the host had very different interactions with us with very inappropriate dialogue and tone towards our native coworkers and friends. Our waitress approached the table and told us about a gin special and went around asking for our drink orders. I ordered an iced tea and had a pleasant exchange. My coworker was next and asked for a recommendation for gin cocktails/refreshers. A general well-known bar term for bubbly sweet gin drinks. The conversation went south due to the waitress's behavior and response. The waitress said "I don't know what that is". Our coworker sweetly replied "a gin refresher". The Waitress' tone quickly turned sharp and replied "I don't know what a "refresher" is" mockingly. My coworker said "oh you know something sweet with gin:)". The waitress said "LIKE THE SPECIAL I JUST MENTIONED? If you listened to the special That's what I just described. Or If you just LOOK at the menu you could SEE the options. Mm yea". Needless to say the table was stunned and quiet during the interaction. I have never had a waitress be so rude and off putting when a paying customer was simply asking for recommendations. The 7 of us were witnesses to her behavior... Then she came around with the drink orders (beer and cider). She went a step further and poured everyone else's beer into the glass and walked away from my friend she originally snapped at. The whole interaction was so odd and off putting. We just wanted to celebrate and enjoy the night. I understand waitstaff deal with a lot from customers. And everyone has a bad day every once in a while. But this behavior was totally pointed and intentional and there's absolutely no excuse for it when you are supposed to provide exceptional service to customers. The food was good. Atmosphere is great. But the manager and business owners need to take equal care and consideration to choosing kind, accepting and professional waitstaff. We also attempted to discuss this matter with the manager. Needless to say it was completely brushed off. With no helpful action, accountability, OR responsibility taken. It is important to note, in no way were we trying to get a "free deal". We are doing just fine in our careers. We were simply asking for basic human decency and understanding. Needless to say, we won't be coming back. read more

I really like the brunch here. That has to be the best part about it very yum !!!!!! Good taters

Very nice dinner at El Moro. Excellent service. Knowledgeable staff. Reservations recommended. Salmon was amazing. My husband didn't like the lamb burger too much but has had the regular burger on other visits and raved about it. Lavender vanilla ice cream with white chocolate and coffee crumble was the best dessert of my life. Not kidding. It was perfect. The food is fresh and so flavorful. read more

I can't say enough good things about the food, service and the great people. Had a wonderful breakfast with all the trimmings. Looked like it might be a yuppie type spot but far from it. Food was excellent with some special care and accompanying extras. Prices very fair. All the employees care about your experiences! Enjoy! read more

For us we thought, "what a find!" We had just pulled into Durango and needed to cut the edge off our disappointment about our crap hotel and cutting the edge is exactly what El Moro did! We couldn't get a table which was annoying in the moment but soon learned it was a blessing in disguise. We needed cocktails and dinner and we got the added bonus of 3 amazing and quite funny bartenders! We ordered beautiful steak dinners and had lots of laughs with the guys behind the bar. This is a gem! The bar is beautiful as is the building itself. A few of the floor wait staff were less than friendly, one gal in particular...hey, I think 1984 is calling and wants Boy Georges hat back! Joke To the gentlemen behind the bar, we are so thankful that you helped make our visit to Colorado a great one! read more

Enjoyed our brunch! Great and knowledgeable staff. They have a delicious and appealing food and bar menu for every part of the day. Clean and accessible dining space. We will be returning and recommending. Not recommended for large parties as the restaurant doesn't have the layout to accommodate. read more

Don't let the fire keep you away from Durango!! Such a wonderful town with tons of stuff to do despite the fire!! A visit to El Moro is one of the highlights of the latest trip. I had seen it on other occasions but moved on some of the other restaurants along Main - what a mistake! Durango is a little foodie Mecca, but Moro doesn't get caught up in that. Rather than being pretentious, they focus on great food served elegantly, with an amazing bar - 100's of bottles. Well known and obscure options are all on display and the bartenders were skilled without being hipster. I had the Monday lunch special which was a perfectly cooked hangar steak on top of FRESH field greens (no iceberg lettuce) and a small cheese plate with two local cheeses I have never tried before - amazing cheese! Housemade pickled onions, peach preserves, pickled mustard seeds and ground mustards were great - the housemade "prohibition" pickle stole the show. Great atmosphere and friendly, attentive staff rounded out the experience. I would highly recommend this place over another spot right down the road that charged me an arm and a leg for overcooked and entirely over seasoned scallops. read more

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