Enjoyed going here for dinner! The vibes are modern yet cozy and the food was delicious. Definitely get the wagyu tartar (don't need to add the caviar, the flavor of the tartar is incredible as is!) and don't miss out on the Laing either. The Kare-Kare oxtail meat was incredibly tender but the sauce was a little overpowering. Also don't forget the sinangag (garlic fried rice), it was so flavorful and perfect with all of the saucy dishes. Can't wait to come back to try more items! read more

See all

Was the food good? It was not exceptional. Was it authentic? No. Some menu items don't even match their names. If you're not Filipino, this may not bother you. If you are, you probably cook better food. Is the food priced properly? The food is way too expensive for its (sub par) quality. Was the noise level ok for dining? It's a tad loud. The waiters had to bend down and get really close to hear our orders. Is the service ok? It was quick. But I'm not sure why they would hire waiters who don't even know the food (the one serving us looked so offended when we corrected his pronunciation. IKR?) . Also it looks like they are hiding Filipino customers in a back room. What's up with that? Listening to conversations in the back room where the first gen immigrants were, the consensus seemed to be that folks just wanted to be polite. There were zero sounds and exclamations of food appreciation. Details for Pinoys: if you got excited by the inclusion of sisig in the menu, mamu, ali ya sisig. Balamu diced adobo ya. Obvious mga manong at manang, dehins pa nakakain ng totoong sisig ang mga chef. Masabaw sha. Baketwhy? The bagoong does not taste at all like bagoong. It seems like some sort of sanitized bagoong, as if they did not want non-Filipinos to smell the glorious fishy-shrimpy scent. I sense some kind of shame. You don't see Japanese restaurants serving non-stinky natto. They will also place the half teaspoon of (fake) bagoong in the middle of your kare-kare. lol! You'll have to scoop it out and ask for a tiny platito so it can have a proper, temporary home. But then it really isn't enough bagoong (because it's fake) so you order more and really for the price of that extra teaspoon of fake bagoong it you'll realize that you'll need to bring your own jar SHOULD you come back. I really wanted to like this place, but if I cook better food, or if I can have better Pinoy food at a potluck, why should I pay so much money for meh food served with a side of shame? The chef is nice and may come out to chat with you if the waiters sense you're not happy. There will be claims of wanting to take your suggestions to improve dishes. But I think this gesture is just to discourage you from telling others what you think about the restaurant. Menus and dishes are refined before restaurants open and won't change because of the whims of customers. That's because a dish's composition propagates all the way to supply purchases, prep time and funds. We may come back, because we are still hopeful for at least one Filipino restaurant to make it in the Denver metro. But something tells me this is more of a fusion restaurant, like Panda Express on end of the spectrum and PF Chang's on the other. There's nothing wrong with that. You just need to realize and own the decision of who it is you're really cooking for. read more

Food was pretty good, Service was just okay. Good location in the bottom of that apartment building not sure if I'd go back.

Great service and delicious food elevated from what you find at Filipino home kitchens and parties but still familiar read more

See all

Finally!! More Filipino food in Denver by way of an incredible, decorated Filipino chef. I had the pleasure of dining at Chef Carlo Lamagna's first restaurant in Portland last year (Magna Kusina) and LOVED it. I'm happy to see that Magna Kainan has a similar menu and the food is just as delicious! The vibes in here are great, service is fabulous. I absolutely LOVED seeing how excited everyone was to be there and to be serving us. Also love that our non-Filipino server's pronunciation of his recommendations on the menu were spot-on , I know they take the time to train their employees on this and that is much appreciated. Ok the food - the Pandesal is a MUST! Four rolls served piping hot with bone marrow butter and chamoy guava butter - the perfect starter. The Lumpia Shanghai is also very good - not as good as my Mom's, but that's really kind of an impossible ask - but a very good Filipino lumpia. Their Sisig is also VERY good with the perfectly poached egg and just the right hit of spice. I do wish this came with a cup of white rice though, although I guess we could have ordered that for $4. I personally loved the Kare-Kare (especially because the Mr is not really a fan and I had the whole thing to myself). Ate this with their Adobo Fried Rice which was also yummy and the perfect accompaniment to all the dishes we tried. I almost considered giving this review 4 stars because of the Lechon Liempo. Don't get me wrong, it was so good and so perfectly crispy and fatty. But for $32, this came with just 4 pieces which hurt my heart a little bit. Hoping they can add even just a couple more pieces here and we'll definitely get it again. Definitely don't skip on their desserts. I LOVED the Ube Biko and gosh darn it if we didn't ask about taking home a whole Basque Style Pandan Cheesecake - THIS is a must. The Mr wasn't a fan of the biko because he's used to my Aunt's original recipe - but it's a yes for me. If you're a fan of Filipino food or have never had it and want to give this a try, I would recommend, ESPECIALLY because the options are so sadly minimal for any in Denver. Also, I am SO CURIOUS to see what people who didn't grow up with Filipino food think of the traditional dishes here. Some of it is very much an acquired taste, but I don't know, my non-Filipino hubs LOVES it, so maybe not? Anyway, come here but be warned that it is pricey and the servings are not what you would expect if you come from a Filipino household. It's great for a date night and I'm so curious to see where they go with their menu from here. read more

Very excited to see another Filipino restaurant open in my neck of the woods. Knowing that Chef Carlo was a James Beard finalist, I had very high hopes for the food. The location of the restaurant doesn't give you good options for parking. But if you get here when it isn't so busy you will have luck finding decent parking. Once you come in, you will be immediately greeted by the host/hostess. The lady that greeted was really nice and we were able to be seated by the bar right away. Ambiance of the place is pretty upbeat. Lighting is bright and noise level is probably a medium. For drinks we ordered the Ube Snack, Old Fashioned, High Expectations Low Morals, and Ube Colada. All the drinks were made really well. Bartenders were on point with the drinks. My favorite was probably the Ube Snack. For food, we ordered Kinilaw w/caviar, Pandesal, Sisig, mom's crab fat noodles, garlic fried rice, Lechon Liempo, and Inasal. This is where it starts to go downhill for us. First the good part: The Kinilaw and the noodles were the dishes of the bunch. The Kinilaw and the caviar paired well together along with the vinegar. The squid ink noodles were cooked perfectly and the crab fat flavors went perefectly with the noodles. These 2 dishes I highly recommend getting. But other dishes just missed the mark in so many different ways. The pandesal by themselves were good but the butters that came with the pandesal didn't deliver the flavors that were expected. The bulalo butter tasted more of salted chives than bone marrow. The chamoy guava butter just tasted sour, and no guava flavor in sight. I assumed that the high cost of this side was because of the butters, and they weren't worth it. The sisig dish was so overcooked, that the meat was hard to chew, and all you can taste is the chili. It was a little too spicy for the wife and normally I don't spice, but if that's all you taste then this dish has failed. Next is the Lechon Liempo.... Meat was dry, the skin was kinda crispy but also rubbery. Then the Mang Tomas sauce was weird like it was pureed and made the sauce smoother. Taste and color was off. The Inasal was probably the worse dish of the evening. They first brought it out to us raw, with blood still coming out of the meat. We addressed this to our server and several of them responded by saying it wasn't raw that it was just the anato oil that it was marinated in... They did take it back and "reheated it" which looked a lot better. But reheating after they tried to tell us it wasn't raw is definitely not a fine dining way of solving this complaint. On top of that the taste of the chicken was just plain. Like it was just marinated in soy sauce and then grilled. I don't see how this dish can cost $39 for 3 plain chicken pieces. The prices of these dishes are very high and I was hoping that the experience would convince me that they would be worth it. But unfortunately it didn't Also automatically adding 20% gratuity also should command a better experience. To me, this also lessens the chance that the staff will get tipped more. There are better Filipino food served in Food trucks around town and down in Colorado Springs, for more than half the price. read more

See all

Dined in for the first time before a show at Mission. Love that it's walking distance to the venue. We ordered a few dishes and drinks from both the generous happy hour and regular menus. Drea was our server. She was kind and thoughtfully guided us through menu options. The pace was natural and I was left feeling like I could have hung out there for an inappropriate amount of time. They have many Filipino favorites on the menu plus skewers and vegetable options that make for a really well-rounded menu. The food....really well seasoned, some unexpected flavors and major craveability. Some of our favorites were the Sisig fried rice, Lumpia and Lengua skewers. We left happy and eager to return to try more. read more

Weekend Brunch menu - Silog Longanisa, Silog Tocino, and Pancit. Steve our waiter was amazing! The food was amazing. This was our first time there and decided to go for the weekend brunch. We definitely will be back for Happy Hour and Dinner. read more

See all

The food and atmosphere were AMAZING! They have a great (and filling) HH menu, everything reasonably priced. We stopped in yesterday after seeing a feature on the news this week, will definitely be back! read more

We visited again last Saturday. We had our favorite drinks again: Ube Snack & Ube Colada. Yum. Pancit Bihon was delicious!! I would order it again on my next visit. Bistek was miss. We were unable to taste calamansi / soy marinated in the meat. However, bone marrow is good. Chicken Skewer Manok is good too. Sisig is not bad. I had better sisig elsewhere in the past. The service was great as always. The atmosphere was energetic & busy. Finally we had the dessert we've been waiting for: Pandan Cheesecake. It was great cuz we LOVE PANDAN. Thank you. read more

See all

We were excited to try out this Filipino Restaurant because Denver lacks a lot of Cultural and Diverse restaurants besides if you want Mexican. The restaurant inside and outside is beautiful. There is little to no parking though. Very limited and I hate that about Denver. Walking in the restaurant felt upscale. The vibe was kinda bougie walking in. Which is fine. I like those types of vibes. The Food- I would suggest keeping many things on the menu as it was great to see an elevated Filipino dish. I'm also open to Filipino dishes with a contemporary type of twist. However.... You should also put in some traditional food in there. Maybe like a classic area of the menu. Here add classic - chicken adobo, palabok, pancit, bangus.... they don't even have halo halo for dessert. Maybe add halo halo and if you want to twist it throw in some boba at the bottom smh ‍ The menu now caters to a specific crowd and to me it doesn't cater to the huge Filipino Family with kids that wants to have a great meal that is not overpriced. There were lots of overpriced menu items. But the one I'm dissatisfied and disappointed about is the fact that we ordered a featured item which was pancit and then we added on chicken wings to it. The pancit was a big portion and we shared it with three. The chicken wings were yummy but it only came with 5. We even ordered skewers (eggplant and scallops) which were mini pieces. We also ordered a side of garlic rice (which was yummy). However we had leftover rice and pancit and we just asked if we could have another order of fried chicken to finish off our rice and pancit and the waitress said NO. Apparently in order to order chicken wings you have to order pancit again. That was the when I definitely realized that this place was too greedy and overpriced. I love the ambition and the concept of the restaurant. I would come back now for a Pandesal (the dips are yummy) and some cocktails. The Ukoy salad (prawns) was good but it was $27. So go for it if you want to splurge. This Filipina will come back when the menu and changes bit. read more

See all

I'm giving this place 2 stars, and to be honest, I feel like I'm being generous. As someone who is Filipino and recently moved to Denver, I was so excited and really anticipating this place to open and try it out. When I found out it was going to open around the time my parents were coming to visit, I made reservations so that we could all check it out. But we were so disappointed- 1) When you say you recommend family style, then there is an expectation that the food is enough to share. This was not the case. There was 5 total in our party and when we ordered the Lechon liempo, the plate had 5 slices ... one for each person at the table! And for $32??? You have got to be kidding me. Not to mention, the meat was dry and it was hard to chew. The rice was good enough for 2 people, maybe even 1 if you're really hungry. All in all, if you're recommending family style, make sure the portion size is bigger especially if you're charging a lot per each dish. 2) Bagoong fried rice did not taste like bagoong. It was good and flavorful but didn't taste like bagoong so it felt like false advertising. 3) Drinks were not well-balanced. I got the yuzu drink but it tasted super sweet that it overpowered any other components of the cocktail. Overall, we left that place still hungry. While the place has a good atmosphere, the food is mediocre, overpriced, and lacking some authenticity. It almost felt like they were trying too hard that to me, it missed the mark. There's not a lot of Filipino spots out here and I get they want to make an impression, but I don't think this is a good way for non-Filipinos to be introduced to this cuisine. read more

Service was good, food was way overpriced and just decent. Probably won't be back due to the drive.

Went back for a second trip after enjoying it so much the first time and once again the food was so amazing this time I tried some new dishes out of all of them. My new favorite one is the Wagyu steak tartar. It is amazing and almost like just putting butter on a cracker. It was so good. read more

See all

I love that there is more Filipino food coming to Denver. It's a fancier/nicer restaurant so it's a bit pricey. The dishes are family style and they recommend ordering several to share. The food was really good and I enjoyed the cocktails too! I'd come back again for a special occasion or for a nicer dinner. The service was excellent! Most of the menu is gluten free and the server was very knowledgeable about which options were not gluten free. I'm celiac and felt like there were plenty of options and didn't feel sick afterwards :) read more

This place is a must-try! The food was delicious, great atmosphere, and our server (Kaylin) was incredible.

The service was amazing, everyone was super friendly, and the ambiance was great. Unfortunately the food was shockingly bad. We did the tasting menu and it felt like we were given all the things no one else ordered for the night. I would not recommend going here for the food and definitely don't do the tasting menu. But may be fun for drinks! read more

Went for a birthday dinner and was impressed. Wasn't busy for a Saturday, so the kitchen was very speedy. The space is gorgeous and the ambiance was really fun. Standouts were the bread service, chicken skewers, lumpia, and the steak. Cocktails were so gorgeous and very well balanced, and the pandan cheesecake was also great. A little pricey for what you get but would definitely go back for a special occasion read more

Food and service. Staff is friendly and solicitous without hovering. I appreciate the effort to pronounce the menu items accordingly. Food is good and elevated but some Filipino dishes could use less elevating and just bringing comfort. The bistek, in particular, was more disappointing with the use of Wagyu. We enjoyed the pancit, lumpia, and the drinks were nice too. read more

We were seated in the back room, and if they try to put you there, I'd recommend saying no! The acoustics were pretty bad, making it quite loud. It was hard to hear each other. That said, the service was great, and a 20% gratuity was automatically added to the bill. As for the food, it was good but not particularly memorable maybe the ambiance affected the experience. read more

The service was phenomenal and everyone was so nice and attentive. As a Filipina, I loved how their Chef de Cuisine elevated the flavors I grew up with by combining them with lovely additions and notes that I never even thought of doing. Run, don't walk, to this restaurant. It is a worthy sister to their original Magna Kusina location in Portland, OR read more

See all

First Filipino restaurant we've been here in Denver since we just moved here 2weeks ago and we were not disappointed!Good ambiance and good food. went there for my birthday and gave me a little cake to blow. Service was great as well. read more

A little pricey for the food that is a twist to authentic Fil dishes. Quite a wait for food, ambience is ok. Server was friendly though the other staff not as... read more

I have mixed emotions on this one. Our waiter was nice and the bread and lumpia we had was very good. However, I was put off by the 20% gratuity already added to the check. I also wasn't a fan of being told at check-in that we could only have a table for an hour due to reservations, even though their website says walk-ins welcome. Didn't get to order a full dinner in that time. read more

The intention to bring Filipino culture to Denver is a great idea, but the food is not authentic as it is very westernized. Of the items we ordered, the lumpia Shanghai and the lechon liempo were the most authentic. The presentation was very nice, but with it came a steep price for the small portions (6 lumpia for $15 and 6 lechon pieces for $32). The mocktails ($10-12) are unique. The restaurant is spacious and nicely decorated, and the staff friendly and professional. Go for the experience, but expect expensive food "with a twist." read more

Magna Kainan - Lechon liempo $32 - Filipino Near Me - Denver, Colorado

I'm sad to write a bad review, but here it goes. We were really excited to try a new Filipino restaurant in Denver (since there aren't that many). The ambiance and service were great. Unfortunately, we did not like the food. Most were salty and quite pricey for the amount of food that you get (on top of the 20% gratuity they include in the bill). We ordered: - Sisig (this is supposed to be crispy, but for some reason it was soggy, watery, and salty), - Laing (this one's not bad) - Pandesal (definitely not a traditional pandesal, but more like a dinner roll), - Liempo/Pork Belly (sadly the only dish that was not seasoned so it was bland). The dishes also did not come with rice, so you'll have to order that separately. We had high hopes for this restaurant since we love Filipino food, but unfortunately it did not deliver for us. read more

I will start with the good points I guess... the ambiance was nice and the staff friendly and knowledgeable. I am half Filipino and brought a friend to have an authentic Filipino experience. Unfortunately we didn't get any of that. I was so disappointed and embarrassed since I said "you will absolutely love the food of my country". It did not taste like Filipino food and was extremely Americanized. To make matters worse, my friend who offered to pay the very pricey bill was told the tip was already added for a party of 2!! Enough said..... read more

This meal was pretty disappointing. The garlic rice and biko were massively undercooked, which for an Asian restaurant is pretty concerning. Please figure out how to cook your rice properly. We ordered the sisig which was not crispy and oddly lacked salt. The lechon was pretty average. The only highlights of the meal were the lumpia and the bread service. For dessert, we got the biko (discussed already) and the pandan cheesecake. Skip both. The pandan cheesecake, despite being an off-putting neon green (pandan extract), lacked the quintessential pandan flavor one would expect. read more

The food here is delicious and authentic with a modern spin. Had a fantastic dinner with friends here. The service is friendly and everyone is welcome and attentive. Love how nice it is inside with classy yet relaxed vibes. Huge fan of the cocktail and mocktail menu. The dessert was heavenly, especially the pandan cheesecake and ube biko. They even have classic Filipino beer! All around great experience and strongly recommend. read more

First let me start off by saying I'm a native Filipina visiting from L.A. My boyfriend is white but he's also had his share of Filipino food. Given that this is one of the few Filipino eateries in the area we walked in with managed expectations. Right off the bat there's a coat check and the host lets us know there's a 20% service fee/surcharge automatically applied to the bill. No problem, I thought. A lot of restaurants do that. Below are my honest opinions of our overall experience. Ambience: Very thoughtful. I thought the décor was tasteful and had tropical pottery barn vibes without there being any hint of misappropriation. Service: Kat was our server and she was great. Our pandesal came out very late and she was very apologetic. Her wonderful demeanor and the quality of the drinks were the only reason I did not rate this place 1 star. Drinks: Ube Colada: good flavor and balance between the ube, coconut, vanilla and calamansi We had another cocktail that was on the Specials list and that tasted good as well, no complaints. Food: Talong (Eggplant skewer): I honestly couldn't tell what this was at first. It tasted tough, dry and lukewarm and I thought they had mistakenly brought us meat. Kapis (Diver Scallops): I thought this was mid. Not good, not bad. The tamarind flavor from the sinigang was there, but it could have done with some richness to offset the tang. Lumpia Shanghai: Also mid. The filling inside honestly could have been less dry but my boyfriend said it's the best he's had. I've had better. Sinangag: Good flavor but I like my garlic fried rice very garlicky. This one I will chalk up to a difference in personal taste. My boyfriend liked it. Adobo Fried Rice: This one was the worst of all. The chicken was dry, the rice had a little flavor but my boyfriend and I agreed that the fact the plate was very hot and the food was tough meant it had been sitting under a warmer too long and was not fresh. Pandesal: this was my favorite. The top was a browned crust but I like the contrast of a crispier exterior to a softer interior. The bone marrow and chamoy guava butter were excellent. Leche flan: Mid. Slightly oversteamed but okay caramel flavor. Overall this place was massively disappointing. Filipino cuisine is one of my favorites and I think a lot of folks in here were first-timers who hadn't had the fare before. It was a poor showing of how exceptional Filipino food could be. Typically, the notes are tangy, savory, a little sweet and full of flavor. It breaks my heart a little that this was probably the first exposure to Filipino food a lot of the diners had because the culture and cuisine deserves better. Most of the food was overpriced with small portions. So not only was the food not great, we felt like it was a bit of a rip-off. Nothing tasted amazingly fresh. I expect a lot of growing pains with new restaurants but the first thing this place needs to do is get rid of the assembly line/warming lamp thing. For the love of God, ADD CHICKEN ADOBO TO YOUR MENU!! It is the NATIONAL dish of the Philippines and if you don't have at least that on your menu, well. I'll end it there and you can fill in the rest. I believe this place has a lot of potential but they have a long way to go. Get rid of the fast-casual business model and start braising some darn Chicken Adobo. Make your food to order and only have a few selections per section, not six. That way you can prioritize making a few things well and not make a bunch of things poorly. Have only some of your seats available for reservations and have the rest be walk-ins. That way you can have some expectation of the amount of influx as well as what works on the menu and what doesn't and the amount of people waiting outside gives others the impression your restaurant is the new hot ticket in town. I believe that once the restaurant has changed the menu and how the food is cooked it has the potential to stay open for 10+ years rather than two when the TikTok hype dies down. read more

Great new restaurant! Absolutely loved the ambiance and music they played. Got the egg rolls and soba noodles, which I highly recommend. The octopus was a little over charred but we did enjoy the other flavors with it. Definitely get the cheesecake to end your meal! read more

See all

Let's start with the good. Space was clean and very bright. Drinks were aesthetic and tasty but seemed low octane. The bad: everything we ordered. The muscle dish was awful. Smelled like the pachyderm exhibit at the zoo and the taste followed. The prawns in the dish had large heads and a tiny body. Crab noodles were meh, had a very fishy taste but nothing else. The biggest turnoff is the auto 20% service fee..I would say if you need to add a service fee up front then roll it into the cost of the dish...but they already did that because it was way overpriced for the quality. read more

We enjoyed the food and drinks especially under the tamarind tree. The lumpia, pandesal, lamb skewers, Lechon Liempo (pork) and adobo rice were great. Our server was wonderful, understanding when half of our party of four were late due to a misunderstanding. My only real complaint was the volume of the music; it was hard to hear our companions across the table. read more

Magna Kainan - Takes Two to Mango cocktail - Filipino Near Me - Denver, Colorado

See all

We absolutely love this restaurant! The rooftop bar was great, the food was perfection, and the staff was outstanding! Our server, Jeff, was super friendly, attentive, and enhanced our entire dining experience. We will certainly be back! read more

The interior is very appealing. A real cool vibe. The music is far too loud. It should be in the back ground, but it was so loud that we had to raise our voices to have a conversation. It was absolutely intrusive and might give us pause to return. The food and service were outstanding. Different takes on familiar dishes. The pancit and lumpia were exactly what I was hoping they would be, taking me back to family meals as a kid. The Lechon was delicious. Chicken skewered were grilled to perfection. Tried all three desserts, they were good, but not truly memorable. Turn the music down, and get another star. read more

Had an amazing time, all of our dishes were great, the service was amazing (although 20% auto tip was strange just raise your prices and get rid of tipping), and the place is very cute inside. read more

Every dish was DELICIOUS and the service and ambiance were great too! So excited to see Filipino cuisine done so well in Denver and can't wait to go back. Highly recommend pairing the Sisig and Adobo fried rice!! 10/10 read more

Loved all the dishes we ordered. The vegan tofu dish was great. Drinks were delicious. Our server was friendly and knowledgeable. Great overall experience. read more

Really good food. Service was great. Nice vibe. Loved the music and lay out. Open cooking. Great flavors. Fine dinning experience. The lumpia was delicious. Overall great experience. read more

11/10 experience! Food was incredible space was so inviting and our server Jeff was TOP NOTCH. so happy to have this gem in our neighborhood! read more