Huh? Are we going to the same restaurant? This is someone's all-time favorite Mexican place? WHAT? Why? What in the world did you EAT here? We visited this garish little spot last night, trying to squeeze dinner in between a work event and a school event. I knew there was gonna be trouble when we opened the door at 6:30 p.m. and the hostess was just walking out of the ladies room, wiping her hands on her apron. Ick. I know it's probably benign, but ICK. The restaurant itself is cavernous, but half the lights were off, and there were only four tables taken (at 6:30!). I should preface all of this by saying that the MUSIC was so FREAKING LOUD that I thought someone was playing a joke. SUPER loud hyper trumpet-and-guitar, with intermittent angry bellowing/wailing. The waitresses seemed oblivious to the cacaphony, perhaps having lost their hearing long ago. We too were completely flabberghasted by the shortness of the skirts as other diners have noted; there was one waitress whose slit in the back of her skirt rose to, um, above the line of demarcation and when she went up the stairs, the whole dining room was flashed. ("Is that BUTTcollete?" whispered my husband) (he just learned what "decollete" is, via QVC, and now is trying to apply his newfound knowledge everywhere) (he will freely admit to you that he has a lot to learn about girls) It was sort of like dinner and a show, in a horrible sort of way. Seriously!?? Isn't this supposed to be a FAMILY place? II was trying to mentally word how that would go in the job description for new hires... uniform: tight white blouse. Skirt: no longer than 12" please. Maybe it's the manager's way of keeping the waitresses on their feet all night, because no way could you ever sit without turning your skirt into a belt? That, and my runtlings kept pointing and whispering because, sure enough; when I turned in my chair to see what they were talking about, I was seated under the naked-woman-rising-from-the-volcano part of the wall mural. The wall mural that also featured a stuffed marlin and a scene of what appears to be the coast in Barcelona. There are some strategically placed chunks of volcanic rock... but there you are with your deafening hyper mariachi music, your extra- heavy-on-the-unmatched-Saltillo-tile... combined with completely unrelated garish carpet, violently colored booths, Queen Anne dining chairs, bright wall paint/mural, American neon beer signs...viewed from your post under a pretty-much naked woman...it's a lot to take in. For some reason, the combination of it all gave me the worst case of the giggles I've had in a looooong time. I tried to squelch them, but then the Waitress With The Slit went up the stairs again, flashing us all, the man on the jukebox wailed in misery at a jet-engine volume, and at the same time, there was some horrible full-color surgery being performed on the giant televisions mounted around the place; something involving bloody flesh and sutures... and I just started laughing. WHAT in the WORLD?? I couldn't make my eyes read along the lines of text on the menu, the music was THAT LOUD, so I just tried my best to pick out words I like to eat, between muffled guffaws, and settled on the Tacos Pastor. Once I calmed down, I coached my family (by screaming) to order their food in the quietest voices possible, hoping that maybe it would cause the waitress to turn the music down so she could hear us, but I see the waitresses are given a course in lip-reading when they are hired. Seriously I ordered barely above a whisper and she was at the other end of the table; she just nodded parroted it back. We ordered the Tacos Pastor, enchiladas and seafood-something-or-other, molcajete and fajitas. I do have to say, the food arrived quick-as-a-whip. But my taco meat varied greatly in toughness; made me wonder if it had been cooked with the pork that is sold for stew-type applications and comes from all over the pig. I wasn't impressed; it was seasoned with too much acidy oily flavors and the pineapple tasted canned. The tortillas had been steamed beyond the point of structural integrity, and disintigrated; making my dinner more of a fork-and-knife affair. The molcajete was Ok, but not great. Nothing to get all excited about or proclaim as "THE BEST!!!" My husband wolfed down whatever it was he ordered (octopus? Shrimp? Squid?) and the fajitas were pretty good, if a little tough. Nothing else note-worthy. I kept looking for anything to justify the rave reviews, both in food and in atmosphere, but either we were just there on a truly off-night, or I'm a snooty pain in the neck with sensitive ears and a pickypants spoiled palate, with no sense of humor and a personal neurosis about keeping one's swimsuit regions covered in public. I suspect it might be a little of each. read more

They probably have the worst waiters, they made us wait over an hour for our food, plus they were being disrespectful. They had us waiting like if they were cooking good/delicious food, the food was terrible. My grandma cooks faster and cooks delicious. The steaks were great, good taste! Also the shrimp but other than that it was terrible. The only enjoyable thing was the atmosphere, great diverse Mexican music. Regardless, I'd probably never go back. read more

What I dislike most about Mexican restaurants in Denver is that they all seem to have the same menu. I usually do not even bother to look at the menu. I know that whatever I order, they will probably want to smother it in Green Chile and American cheese. Why have the immigrants from a country with such rich culinary diversity been willing to so dumb down their cuisine for success in the United States? What I like about "El Paraiso" and its sister restaurant "El Mercadito" is that the owner is trying to do something different. The owner of "El Paraiso" made his successful debut on the Denver Mexican restaurant scene with "Las Palmeras" about fifteen years ago. More than any other restauranter, he introduced sea food to Denver's Mexican restaurant scene. At "El Paraiso" he adds grilled meats to his seafood offerings. I especially like the "molcajete" which is a mixed meat plate with queso fresco, onions and nopales on top. The other thing "El Paraiso" has going for it is a great atmosphere. This is the restaurant that Mexican immigrant families go to when they have relatives visiting from out of town. There is something almost magical about a Sunday evening, when the beers are flowing, the conjunto musicians are playing and the provacatively dressed waitresses are milling about. Enjoy the evening because tomorrow morning, it is back to the factory job. For people who enjoy Mexican culture, there is probably a no better people watching opportunity anywhere in Denver. read more

Never ever coming back. I give a 3 star for the food and a 1 star for service. Giving them a 2 star rating. I ordered the stuffed Sopapilla smothered in green chili. It tasted like cinnamon for some reason. I assume that they stuffed a Sopapilla that was normally used for dessert. My husband and son tasted it as well and agreed. I asked if I could just cancel the Sopapilla and not order anything else since we were kind if in a hurry. The server agreed but them came back 10 minutes later saying that I had to order something else because it couldn't be canceled on our ticket. It seemed like the staff was annoyed because we didn't speak Spanish, they rarely check on us and we ended up being there for 2 1/2 hours. read more

Wow! This place is great. We went on a Saturday afternoon after a rough night on the town. We were greeted by a dashing senorita who sat us near the kitchen. The place is huge and the front of the house is entirely female. Moments after sitting down, the most beautiful Mexican girl I've ever seen took our drink order and brought us chips and salsa. Not only was she impossibly attractive, she was wearing next to nothing! In November!! The other lady who waited on us was well-kept too. Even the bartenders and support staff looked like they could have been in a Mexican soap opera. The food kinda sucks and it was a little expensive, but it was still one of the best dining experiences I've had in a while. I'll DEFINITELY go back. read more

I could go here and just eat the homemade corn tortillas. You can easily tell when a tortilla came out of a plastic bag: it cracks and splits when you roll it or pinch it. I played with an El Paraiso tortilla for my whole meal, a good 15 minutes, rolling it between my fingers, squeezing it, doing everything I could. It stayed soft and supple the whole time, until I finally gave up and just ate the thing. read more

The Westword called this place the best Molcajete.. so this is why we ended up here. However, neither my husband nor I tried the molcajete. I knew I wouldn't since they're huge. I thought my husband would, but since we both love fish tacos so much we both ended up ordering that. He decided that if the fish tacos were good we'd go back for the molcajete. I got my tacos mixed with shrimp and fish. We didn't realize that the tacos would be HUGE and I mean it! Order carefully when at El Paraiso. I ordered the tacos thinking they would be your average size tacos. I even ordered an extra steak taco just to see how it was, and I couldn't eat all four tacos. I love tacos and I never have a problem finishing them, except at El Paraiso. Of course my husband ate the rest of my tacos. Let's just say that their tacos are like three mini burritos. Their margaritas were good, and I'm sure my husband enjoyed looking at the hostess' ass as she walked us to our table :) The waitresses seem to wear the shortest skirts possible. We'll probably go back but not soon since it is kinda far for us. We will try the molcajete Westword not to worry! read more

This place is HUGE! When we first arrived, we were slightly confused as the hostess asked us which side we wanted to sit on. At first glance, I didn't really see a difference, but as it turns out, one side is the bar and the other the restaurant. I think we made the wrong decision as we ended up at a wobbly table in a run down room all by ourselves. There was some sort of holiday party happening in the main dining room and had we known where we'd end up, I definitely would have opted for the bar. The food was good, but in all honestly it wasn't a whole lot different than a lot of the other Mexican places around this area. The first basket of chips and salsa was really tasty and free - when they asked if we wanted more, we decided to go for it. The second basket of chips was awful - they took it from a nearby table where the supplies for the holiday party were sitting and the chips were cold, thick and gross. And we later found out, basket #2 was not free. We opted for a seafood combo that easily could have fed 3 people and was overall good. But the service we had was horrendous. There were 3 separate servers waiting on us - it took 15 - 20 minutes to get drinks each time we ordered, and then it took close to another 30 minutes to get our check. I was also annoyed to see that although there were only 2 of us, they took the liberty of adding the gratuity. After waiting for our check, and then waiting to see if anyone would take the check to run the card, I finally inquired and was told that we should take it up to the hostess stand to pay. Would I go back? Maybe, but with some different expectations. And I would definitely opt to sit on the bar side next time - it could be an entirely different experience. read more

I've travelled a fair bit to the colonial cities in Mexico. My grandma was from Mexico City. She was an excellent cook. The dishes she made exposed me to the colonial and internationally influenced dishes of the Mexico City area. You rarely find that kind of Mexican food here in the U.S. (usually only found in homes or in recipe books like those of Dianne Kennedy). El Paraiso is as close I've come, in the Denver area, to finding a restaurant that replicates what I feel is authentic Mexican food. I really enjoyed the dish I ordered - a meat, cheese, vegetable meal cooked in a molcajete. It was chile pepper hot, but had a great roasted pepper and roasted tomato broth. I thought the price was a bit high for the portion. But it was delicious and refreshingly free of the green chile goop and cumin overload found in the Mexican food in Colorado. read more

Service was horrible. Music was way to loud. Forgotten about for multiple times. Won't be back.

I could stare at their menu for hours. Lots of pretty pictures of authentic-looking Mexican food. And shrimps. Ate there last night for my sister's birthday. Had a large group and the service was good. I had the Shrimp Fiesta and it was excellent but I want to go back and try some of the other amazing-looking dishes they had pictures of on their menu. Menu had a lot of seafood, pork and beef. They had a full-on Mariachi band too. read more

Tonight they served us Mushy langostino, Lukewarm seafood soup and a giant Weak margarita. Service was fine. It is often so loud in here you have to shout at each other. They're known for their Parrillada's but they've been so greasy lately, I keep trying other items, mostly with disappointment. I'd say this is our last visit here. read more

This place has authentic Mexican food , they have a huge variety of plates and their mixed drinks are good too! staff is ways nice when I'm there . Weekends are really busy but it's worth the wait ! read more

worst food ever!!!! do not waste your time. food was absolutely disgusting shrimp and meat were chewy and smelled old. also horrible service!!!! read more

this place is MUY GRANDE! read the reviews and almost didnt go because everyone complained about their food taking so long and the slutty waitresses being rude, but i didnt have any problems! the food was delicious, hot and hot (temp and taste)! and the waitresses didnt offend me with their wardrobe :) the owner ( i think ) is the only one i saw wearing a red mini dress with her booty all out! but i wasnt offended...if i had her butt, i'd be wearing stuff like that everyday too!! :) the mariachi is what brought us here! there isnt much of this where i live, so we made the hour drive here and am glad we did. i would come back if this place wasnt so far :( food was good. margaritas were great. service was awesome, and marichi was GREAT!!! u must try it! and we went on a sunday, too! read more

I have lived in Wheat Ridge for 15 years and have never visited El Paraiso. I will definitely be going back many more times. I had the Chilis Rellenos smothered in green chili and oozing with cheese and extra spicy as I requested. Large portions, good beans and flavorful rice. The spicy salsa and chips are a great beginning. So many other reviewers said to get the corn tortillas and they were spot on! Fresh and warm, made sopping up the remaining green chili delicious! read more

A casual dining experience should never take close to 3 hours. Come to El Pariso and it will :-P Here's the thing my brother always suggests these "awesome" Mexican places and yet every single time he does, it ends up being beyond awful. Whether it be the food or the service. Usually it's one or the other. Nope not this time! This time it was both. There was not a single positive to the evening spent at this place. We arrive and have a party of 4, soon to be 6. We are seated and the waitress sets down some chips and salsa and then leaves. She returned once the other 2 arrived, so far it was off to a good start. She takes our drink orders and then leaves again. This was where it all began. She never comes back with the drinks or to take our order. I kid you not it took 40 minutes to get he first drink (margs). My sister ordered a vodka soda, it didn't come out until maybe 19 minutes after the marg did. They have her a vodka with coke in it and when she pointed it out politely to the waitress, who then got upset and decided to not work with our table anymore. So we get a new waitress. We had to chase her down to take our order. I begged everyone to just get the check at this point and go elsewhere it was nearing 1.5 hours there at that point, but no, let's give it a try they say. So she takes our order. Food comes out probably a half hour later. I had enchiladas, they were cold, the enchilada chili sauce had no flavor whatsoever. To be honest I've had better enchiladas at Casa Bonita, at least they were hot! My sisters taco salad was slimy and scary looking and they gave her packets of ranch for it, which just grossed me out beyond belief. These were the items worth mentioning I'll spare you the boring yelp review of describing everything gross on our plates in detail lol. Once the food arrived we never saw a waitress ever again. Trying to pay was a disaster. The waitress had to be tracked down it's now 11pm and we are all angry and annoyed and taking it out on each other and wondering how in the heck we ended up in this place. Why would we do this to ourselves? Why wouldn't we leave at the first red flag? Why can't we pay our bill and leave? Where's the waitress? So many questions. I'll wrap it up with this. Eating here was like self inflicted torture, it taught me that patience is not always a virtue. read more

Excellent authentic Mexican food. Traditional atmosphere. Incredible amounts of food. We got 4 meals off of our "dinner for two". Could not ask for a better bang for your buck...or flavor for that matter! read more

We visited this establishment almost by accident. The atmosphere was extraordinary, the food was spectacular and the service was outstanding. It seemed that three different servers made sure we had everything we needed. read more

So many problems! And when told, they did nothing to make it right. Walked in asked if they did anything for birthdays. Young woman said she'd check, never came back to say anything. 1st waitress I told her I had a couple of questions, asked them, she said to hold on and got another waitress to serve us. There were only 4 -5 tables with people including us. I asked 2nd waitress questions. Initially she said, "I dont know". I asked her to find out, ask someone who knew the answers to my questions. She left to find out, didnt come back for 15 mins. My daughter ordered a $30 shrimp plate for her birthday. It came with food on a tray that sat on top of what I can best describe as a fire box, never seen anything like it. Instead of chafing fuel in a can under the tray to heat/cook the food, they had dumped the gel fuel directly into the fire box and lit it. It smelled bad, made my daughter immediately nauseous when they put the food in front of her. So I immediately had her lift the tray using napkins and moved the fire box out from underneath, blew out the flame and moved the fire box out of the way completely so we wouldn't then smell the smoke from it being blown out. Even though it was only on that tray for a matter of a couple of minutes the 6-8 shrimp and piece of fish were horribly overcooked. The bed of onions and peppers we're barely cooked which meant they cooked the seafood beforehand, overcooking it and then put it on top of the bed of vegetables on the tray. A couple of shrimp were supposed to be stuffed with crab, but instead came stuffed with cheese. The other few shrimp tails were still attached to the body of the shrimp for some odd reason. It looked absolutely disgusting to see the shell of the shrimp body with its insides exploding out. Daughter left to continue with the birthday night out. My chile relleno was very good and so was the guacamole tostada. I couldnt finish it, so I asked for a box. I was looking at all the food my daughter had left, wondering why she barely ate anything. As I looked at one of the shrimp, a bug fell onto the foam box, and crawled around. I called over the young woman who'd seated us, telling and showing her. She said nothing, just took the box and brought another. I could see the shrimp tails were cut in half, butterflied, and so overcooked that literally only the first 1/8 of an inch of meat or less could be eaten the rest of the tail was crispy, crunchy hard. The fish was a super thin piece overcooked to being rubbery hard, it too being inedible. It came with a baked potato and a corn tortilla bowl of melted cheese. No where near worth the $30 price, even if it wouldve been good. When the waitress finally appeared after not seeing her anywhere for over 20- 25 mins, I told and showed her how severly overcooked the shrimp and fish were she said nothing, just walked away. When she came back for payment I told her again how bad it was, that I felt bad because my daughter was barely able to eat any of it and I'd brought her for her birthday. The waitress responded, "oh you should've told me, I would've given her a cake". I told her I'd asked about it 1st thing when I came in and was never given an answer. She just looked at me. I also told her about the shrimp not being stuffed with crab but instead cheese. She said, "oh yeah, we don't have that anymore" I told her that it was still on the menu. She said nothing. I told her about the bug. She asked if I still had it. I told her no, the other young host took it. "Oooh" she said. Then said. "Oh yeah, you know why, because we have the door open so they come in". I told her, "this bug didnt have wings". "It didn't?" she replied. "No it didn't" I said. Again she said nothing and again just walked away, with my credit card, charging me full price for everything. So many problems and never an apoloogy, or compensation for such a bad experience, making it even worse. read more

This place is amazing! I don't think people know about this place, wow! The menu was SO HUGE that I seriously wanted to take it home and read over it. I love seafood and does this place have it! There is nothing fancy about it, the service is good, though English is not their first language, which is even better. In the bar area, they had a mariachi band singling, juke box blaring as well as TV's. It was funny. However, if you don't care to have all your senses saturated there is plenty of restaurant seating available. The patio wasn't open when we were there, but it looks like a great patio to enjoy a beer and/or margarita and good seafood Mexican medley. We will certainly be going back...ALOT! read more

The food is so-so and pricey when it comes to Mexican food. The minchiladas (red beers with mex seasoning) are soooooo good. We go just for the drinks! read more

Went back again (it's located very conveniently to my house, and we could walk), and it was the same mediocre stuff. That will be the last time I go. read more

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What an experience. My family walked in to quite a few people waiting to be seated, but most of the tables were empty as this place is very large. After about 10 minutes a frazzled hostess (?) told us we would be helped in a minute. We waited 15 more minutes without a word from anyone until we were finally seated. We waited for what seemed like forever until a waitress came for our drink order and she was neither apologetic nor friendly. She seemed extremely annoyed that my husband didnt speak Spanish (I am Hispanic, my husband is not). Of course Spanish is spoken in a Mexican restaurant, but I would think they get a fair amount of English speaking clientele as well so idk what the issue was. As we were waiting for our drinks, the three (THREE!!!!!!!) other tables they sat before us all got up and walked out in a chain reaction. They were all sitting waiting for drinks and were all getting no service. We were discussing leaving as well when our drinks finally arrived. Our waitress sat a huge uncovered glass of water in front of my BABY with a straw. Not super helpful. She made no attempt to take our food order and walked away muttering. At this point we had been in this place for 45 minutes and all we had to show for it was a flat soda. We threw down a $5 for our pitiful drinks and left with no one making any attempt to apologize, explain, or stop us. So that was our service. Aside from that, the place was HOT, as in no AC or it was broke. It was also dirty. The floors, and tile work on the walls etc was super grimy. The wood booth was sticky and the menus were old and covered in sticky yucky food stuff. They were obviously very understaffed for a holiday weekend. This place was a mess and had the rudest staff I've ever encountered. read more

one word: NO! We had tried once before a couple of years ago and didn't recall having a good experience, but since we now live nearby we decided to try it again. We were reminded of why we had not gone back after the first visit. Service is poor and food is worse. My chicken enchilada was so salty I had to douse it in sour cream. My boyfriend's tacos al carbon was gross, the meat was half meat/half fat. He had to pluck out the pieces of fat from the taco shell. It took more than half our meal for anyone to check in on us, and when it was time for the bill we waited so long I had to ask the hostess for it. We really couldn't wait to get out of there. There are so many mexican restaurants in and around Denver... this is not one we'll return to. read more

Stepping into El Paraiso on a Saturday night is maybe not exactly what I envisioned Paradise to be like, but nevertheless, there it is. I suppose if God were a Norteño, and couldn't get a real band for the night, then maybe this would be paradise, because the overwhelming sound of a one-man synthesizer show filled the restaurant in a most obnoxious manner. Despite this, we enjoyed some great mole enchiladas, frijoles charros and an OK seafood platter where some items were nice and hot, others cold and clammy. Still I would go back, though I don't think I could ever call it Denver's best Mexican restaurant. Authentic yes-- everything from the music show to the food. Check out my site for an even longer review. read more

We were seated quickly and love the decor and atmosphere! Mariachi band was so good and really made the mood fun and exciting! The food was delicious and the service friendly. This is not a fine dining establishment, but an authentic, high quality Mexican restaurant. Highly recommend if you're an easy going out of the box type that wants authentic food and you're not going to be disappointed because you have to wait five mins for the margarita. Also note the price, totally worth it but not a super cheap option. Enjoy and live a little! Ole' read more

The best Mexican food in Denver! Ive lived in Denver my whole life and have eaten at probable every notable Mexican food restaurant around, this is the real deal. Every dish has dynamic flavor as I would expect from the costal areas of Mexico. The restaurant is very comfortable newly renovated as they are very busy, although I've never had to wait to be seated or waited for food. There are few English speakers in the staff but all are very eager to please. The specialty seems to be enormous grills brought to the table with meats, seafood, fish and vegetables. My favorite is the Pablano chicken enchilada with a rich spicy red chili that is the best flavor Ive ever had. The pork green chili is also one of the best and if you want spicy hot this is the place. read more

No No No!!!! Uhhh let's not even talk about kinda randomly standing waiting for a hostess...anyway my huaband ordered a medium well T-bone steak got more like a medium rare I'll be cooking that at home. I ordered enchiladas suizas (my fav. 17 years ;) ) she brings me a plate of RED enchiladas she tells me they are red lol um no!!! So i get "new" enchiladas just to find its the same plate they just added green took a little red off Wth read more

Had been som time since we had Ben to paraiso. Place was very empty,ordered fajitas - no sizzle almost cold. Service was quite bad and then they had a political group meeting with a microphone that was a real killer. This is the only bad review I've done and this meal truly warranted it. read more

I worked there for 3 dats and They obituario país me 2 dats They Said They Climent fin the Cárdenas where i punched in so i worked for free

Stop!! Don't go! This place is terrible!! Had a birthday dinner for my mom, we reserved a table- it wasn't ready - had to wait 45 minutes. Service was terrible/ had to wait over an hour for drinks (water) and chips. Finally got our food ordered and when it finally came it was cold and half food orders were wrong. Talked to manager who is also terrible and he argues that our food is taking a long time because we keep sending it back! Duh because it's not what we ordered and it's been over 2 hours!! The manager is a jerk! Ruined moms birthday - don't waste your time, unless you have 3+ hours. read more

I really wanted to like this place. It is in my neighborhood, and the decor is very festive. The salsa was spicy and delicious with the homemade chips. We decided to visit on the recommendation of a local chef's article in the Westword. He said the Parrilladas, which are a sizzling plate of onions and peppers with a variety of meats on top, were his favorite, so we were anxious to try them. Ours came out barely warm, the onions and peppers hardly cooked, with tons of oil. The waitress tried to relight the sterno underneath the bone cold platter, but it immediately went out. Service was poor for us, but the wait staff seemed very attentive to the Spanish speaking guests. Their Parrilladas were sizzling, but ours were cold. I hate to scream racism when it's not cut and dry, but it is difficult not to. read more

The food, as usual was delicious, drinks were refreshing but management on the other hand was rude and ignorant. We came for a family dinner, and because we did not "look the part" he hovered over our table, spoke bad about us in Spanish, not knowing that a few of us understood what he was saying, and played stupid when confronted. We asked to play at the pool table and he continued to glare and whisper negative things. If you want customers, make everyone feel comfortable, no no mas nuestra jente. read more

This restaurant has great food, but it's a gamble if you will get good service or not. We will continue to go because of the food, but plan on extra time to wait. You will be there longer waiting for someone to greet your table, water, refills, the check etc. than you will spend eating. read more

I would give it zero stars if I could!! Nasty food!!! My carne Asada was dry and cold, they brought out my kids food way after ours the service was just plain horrible I will never step foot in that restaurant again!!! read more

Terrible. I honestly never say this but I got the feeling they were racist. Maybe they didn't like me being with a Latina? Sad. The food wasn't good and I had to wait 45+ min for a simple burrito read more

I like this place. Cool table presentations and quality food. Not a fancy place, but think that's one reason I like it so much.

Service was horrible. Ate dinner here last night and it will be the last. Asked 4 times for a coke and water, guess what the drinks never came. And to top it off they added a $18 gratuity fee to a $100 check. In no way did our waitress deserve a $18 tip. read more

Oh my god! I had given up on Mexican in Denver. It all started with what was described to me as "the Best Mexican in the area" and ate at Moose Hill, I think that's what it was called. It was disgusting. And then I realized that many establishments did this horrifying thing of "smothering" their food in green chili - sounds good, but in practice, it's like pork gravy with green bits, presumably chiles, in it. Then, last night, we went to El Paraiso. Saw reviews from some of our trusted yelpers and got in the car. How had we overlooked this place in all of the years that we have lived here? Okay, so the wait staff was slammed and while things took time to get to the table, it was so worth the wait. Granted, I had little understanding of what exactly I was ordering but at least the husband knew, and what he didn't, he was able to crackberry check it. The menu is about 8 pages long so go prepared with stimulus overload in mind. After long deliberation we decided on the 7 seafood cocktail - I won't butcher it's actual name and the Parrilladas Cancun, a metal griddle overflowing with mixed seafood and onions and peppers, with rice and an especially tasty tortilla shell filled with pork...DAMN! When I sat down, I knew that I wanted to have the flan for dessert - I have to go back for it because we couldn't even finish our dinners. I'm enjoying the leftovers as I type this. The flavors were pure and unadulterated and I think that it will become a mission to go back there again and again so that I can taste all of the goodness on this menu. Mmmmmm, mmmmmm - TASTY! The mariachi was fun, too. read more