The Roadhouse Boulder Depot

My family and I had a perfect fun and delicious meal on Saturday night at the Roadhouse. We love to get out for good casual dinners but Boulder is severely lacking in this department. We avoid Pearl Street because it gets too crowded, touristy and the service can be abrupt. The Roadhouse is a new great option, we’re just worried that it will become so popular we can’t get in. The menu is super-​diverse, ranging from great salads, burgers, enchiladas, and apps. Everyone in our group ordered a different item and we were all ecstatic with the quality and quantity of the food. The service (Caleb was our server) was perfect, the food was served in timely fashion, and everything came out as ordered. We got a lot of attention from managers, which was much appreciated, since this is a newer spot and they clearly want to get it right. I would highly recommend this spot without qualification! Oh, and what a pleasure not to have to deal with downtown parking! We will be back soon and regularly.

I have been twice and won’t be back. As my wife says «its off the list». Let me go over why I rate it so low.
First, it is not a «small, locally owned business» It is a big corporation following the new corporate restaurant business model of trying to be pretend to be «local». This explains a lot of the issues with the place and why it has that heavy «chain» feel.
Lets start with drinks because a place that has great drinks can get by with so-​so food. I have tried three different drinks on the menu. The only two I can remember is the blood orange margarita and a bourbon old fashion. The blood orange margarita was undrinkable. You can get a better margarita at Wahoo Tacos and Wahoo Taco’s margaritas are beyond terrible (basically what you would expect if Taco Bell served margaritas). It didn’t taste anything like blood orange which has a very distinctive flavor. I suspect some sort of crappy mix. The bourbon old fashion is made with mottled orange and cherries. They don’t double strain the drink before filling the glass which is a big no-​no so you have a «chunky» drink. I think they only use 1.5oz of bourbon rather than the more typical 2oz. Maybe the bartender never actually worked as a bartender before or they just don’t care about making incredible drinks that helps the business. Also, all of their alcohol is from the big industrial distilleries (i.e. big corporation so no real tie to local, maximize profit by using bottom shelf spirits).
For the food, it is so-​so, sort of Chili’s quality at a West End Tavern price (note, West End is really local, food and drinks are 10x better and no I do not work for or have any association with West End other than as a customer).
Service is incredible slow so if you have to go, make sure you allow a lot of time because you could be in for a long wait.

I always enjoy new restaurants and think these non-​chain, trendy types are needed. Service was great, had a hard time deciding on what to order as so much sounded amazing, loved the inside so overall nice experience.
The parking is such a disappointment. Only option for parking is the garage. There’s no signage directing you to get out to the entrance of the restaurant, ended up walking out where I drove in which is at the back of the restaurant. It cost $ 6.25 for two of us to park for an hour and a half. The machine only takes credit cards which was a slow process. .
I imagine when the residences fill up, hotel guests are coming in and traffic increases, it won’t be pleasant.
Why aren’t these things thought out. Bad parking arrangement equals less customers :(

Meh. Was excited to try this place. But unfortunately it was Meh from start to finish. Ambiance is nice. Service was pretty bad. He checked back to see if we wanted more beer and wine but never refilled water glasses which all four were empty when he came by. Manager did a fly by to ask how food was but was gone before you could reply. Nice to ask but it was clear she was not actually checking in. Over priced for what you get. My husband had the Gorgonzola pear salad. It looked like they took lettuce from a Costco tub and dumped it on a plate. Could count how many cheese crumbles were on the salad. At least the pear was decent. Maybe worth $ 3 but not $ 11. Burger was okay but not great — also not worth $ 14. They either need to up quality and service to match their prices or lower their prices and be more of pub with mediocre food and mediocre service.
Not the restaurants fault but parking was annoying. You have to ask them for validation before paying your bill and they give you $ 1.25 off your bill. You think the waiter might want to mention that before you pay. Of course he didn’t so when we asked they explained they could refund our credit card and said that with a look of annoyance. seems silly at that point to do so but yet rubbed me wrong and finished the night on a not so positive note. $ 100 plus for four for poor service, meh food — I don’t feel the need to return.
Too many decent places in Boulder at the same price range — suggest save your money and give it a skip.

The service and ambiance is amazing. Everything I tried was tasty, but options were limited for my vegan diet. The kitchen was, however, very accommodating and makes everything from scratch. I haven’t tried a drink there yet, but I am looking forward to going back for happy hour in the near future.

The building is beautiful, but service was really slow. Don’t go for lunch for sure. Took 45 minutes to get a burger and order of fish and chips. Burger and sweet potato fries were decent. Fish was terrible, At least a day or 2 past being fresh.

Stopped in today to try something new. I hesitate to give any place a 1 star but this was pretty close. The server was pleasant enough but the service was crazy slow. We were some of the first people in and waited at least 20 minutes after ordering for our food. He had a burger that was very well done when he asked for medium rare. It certainly wasn’t a $ 16 burger experience when it was so clearly overcooked. Some of his fries were still a bit cold in the middle. I ordered the short rib enchiladas which arrived completely cold – the cheese inside wasn’t even soft. I usually don’t return anything but did ask them to fix this. Another 15 – 20 minutes later, the new dish came out and was warm, but definitely not hot-​hot. Meantime, my husband had finished his meal because it took so long. On the upside, the brussel sprouts were very tasty. The atmosphere is nice and the place filled up quickly, so I’m guessing we had an unusual experience, but I don’t think I’d go again based on today.

I’m still giving it some room for improvement.
The location is good as it’s a bit off the beaten path. Some may not like that as not many people would end up there by chance or just drop in because they happen to be walking by. The building is really pretty and the restaurant has some nice wood details however, it can also look a bit cheap as it feels like they tried too hard. Like a cheap Pottery Barn.
We first ordered drinks and my Canyon Road house wine was rancid. Ok, it’s Canyon Road, not Opus One but it should still come out tasting slightly drinkable. The others got flat beer on tap. The rest of the wines on the list are expensive for what they offer. For instance, Dreaming Tree Pinot Noir is $ 13 for a glass and a half. They should be offering that wine for $ 10 for a glass and a half. Isn’t Dreaming Tree on par with Yellowtail or Cupcake Wines?
The food. I would say bordered on meh to pretty bad. The turkey burger was good and juicy and the fries were ok as well. My sons mac and cheese tasted too funky, like mold even for me. I ordered the green chili and it came out gelatinized. The chili had a glossy look to it and after a few bites, I sent it back as it was oversalted. Like beyond over salted. I often enjoy over salted foods but this was unbearable. So then I got a vegetable soup with was completely unremarkable. One the side we got the brussel sprouts. Was pretty heavy on the mouth as I think they’re deep fried. Then for the rest of the evening I had a reminder of the brussel sprouts and the heavy oil. Bleh. The ahi tacos are just sweet and flimsy. No signs of ahi but many signs of the sweet mango salsa. Was there even ahi in there? We also had some chips and salsa. Nothing to write home about as it’s standard chips and salsa.
The menu has other offerings such as flatbread pizza and some main entrees. I’m not sure whether we just got food that they aren’t very good at executing or maybe it’s all kind of bad. But then again, the menu isn’t very big like BJ’s or Cheesecake Factory so I don’t see why they can’t focus on excelling on the few dishes they have to offer. Many say restaurants execute good appetizers and bomb on entrees. Maybe that’s the problem. We ordered mostly apps and perhaps their strong point is with entrees. Whatever the case is, they have some time to improve and I hope they do! Oh and the parking. You have to park in the RTD lot. Easy enough. However, the restaurant doesn’t really validate. They’ll only subtract $ 2.50 from your bill which I believe covers the first hour. Then when we left, we had to pay an additional $ 3.00 or so. Maybe it was more. We couldn’t have been there for more than 90 minutes as it was the three of us and didn’t eat multiple courses or had long conversations, with our young child. It’s not entirely their fault but on a Sunday night at 7pm with a mostly empty parking lot someone would at least throw you a bone. Even Pearl St. is free on the weekends for parking.

The location is great! I took the bus from Denver (the FF4) and even in traffic, I arrived at the door in 35 minutes or less. The building and atmosphere are great! It is lively and well decorated with an industrial /​classic railroad feel. The beer list is fine. The food, however, is really dismal. The caesar salad was a pile of overly-​diced romaine with a bit of parmesan and a plastic dish of mediocre dressing. The pizza was doughy and the spicy pizza (advertised as habanero-​centric) was instead made spicy via excessive red pepper. Like, it was swimming in red pepper. Even I don’t do that, and I love spice. Gross. Nobody at our table liked their dinner. The only thing that tasted good was the potato-​chip-​based nachos served on a tray. My take: come here for drinks and appetizers only. Save the dinner for a better-​experienced kitchen. Sorry Roadhouse, I really wanted to like you.
PS — they claimed they’d pay for our parking. So, they took $ 2.50 off our bill. When we got to the garage, the fee was $ 3.75 per-​car. So, $ 7.50. I guess they pay for the first hour. They don’t tell you that up-​front. Note that this didn’t play into my review, which was mainly about the dining. But FYI.

Giving it 3 stars because they are new. Lots of room for improvement. The depot vibe was boisterous and fun; obviously lots of the local Boulder crowd are trying this place. Management was good, but the actual food service was not. Our party of 6 arrived about 5:30 for dinner. It took WAY too long to get our food, and too long to «find» our waiter when we needed him (more than once). The brussel sprouts were very good (appetizer) but not as hot as they should have been. The pretzel bites looked a bit overdone/​burned. The guys enjoyed their beer choices. I had the fish and chips and while the fish was good, the homemade chips were «so so» disappointing. There are obviously problems in the kitchen getting food out hot and timely. We will probably try it again after it’s been open a while longer. If you’re just going in for happy hour drinks and an appetizer or two it may be fine. Oh, and the parking is terribly confusing. They should explain it in their marketing or sign it better when entering the area.
We were hoping for a better first experience.

Incredibly slow service. My friend ordered fish and chips (a fairly pedestrian order) that took an hour to come out. Everyone else in our party was finished before his meal came out. Food isn’t even that good. Waiters apologized for the meal not coming out but no one seemed to know when it would be ready. This is fish and chips we are talking about here.
Needless to say, I won’t be returning to this establishment and I would certainly not recommend it to a friend. (Tiernan enjoyed his though, as usual)

This place is great. Has to be the best happy hour in Boulder. Extensive selection, great food, beer and wine choices. The servings aren’t small, they are true regular serves at happy hour prices. Not just small plates at reduced prices. Called in here on a whim but will definitely be coming back to further explore. The setting inside is phenomenal with the use of old time pics and set in tile, along with the railroad theme and history. Awesome job keep it up.

The service staff was friendly (although I think they’re still working out kinks between the kitchen and the servers). However, my Zen Turkey burger was a true disappointment (especially for $ 14). The ingredients were fresh, but the bun was massive (it was tasty but huge), the goat cheese overwhelmed the taste of everything, the patty was very thin and had almost no flavor. I ordered the Apple-​Chipotle slaw as a side. It also had fresh ingredients, but unfortunately it also did not have much flavor to it. (But it certainly beats Sysco-​type slaw drowned in mayo). Nice service, Nice surroundings. Avoid the turkey burger.

We will definitely be back! Brussel sprout app, YUM! Steak and Frites, yum! Build your own burger, yum! Roadhouse sundae, yum! Our server was sweet and management also came by to see that we were happy… very nice touch.
The downside: they need longer straws (ha!), a revolving door or some sort of airlock would go a long way in keeping cold air from blasting in; pool tables (at least 2) downstairs would be awesome!

Food was actually good, drinks weren’t bad, the particular server was nice but service other was was terrible. My food came out before my drink. I was actually pissed when they didn’t validate parking. «It’s too difficult to reopen your tab and refund you». Sorry, that doesn’t fly.
Get chasers for for the parking garage like the Med does and don’t make my friend or me wait 20 minutes for a drink and I might come back.

I went here after work on a Thursday. The place was slammed, but our group of 5 was seated promptly. The service was a little slow/​disorganized, but that’s understandable for a new restaurant. The manager checked in with us a couple of times, which was really appreciated. I wouldn’t say the food was outstanding… kind of standard tavern fare. But I really liked the brussel sprouts appetizer and the baked brie.

Great atmosphere and great food/​drinks. They have a nice variety of beers on tap and the potato chip nachos are to die for. I also recommend the short rib enchiladas and the Brussels. Definitely going back here soon!

Four votes in for a happy happy hour (every day 3 – 6). Excellent beer selection with various sizes available, most 14 oz drafts are $ 3 and 60 oz pitchers $ 12. Good app selection with decent prices. Beef sliders with the house made potato chips were so delicious we had 2 orders. Edamame good as were the quinoa lettuce cups. Brussel sprouts also a good choice. Did not have any dinner items but imagine the burgers would be delicious. A tad pricey for dinner prices. $ 11 salads without add ons, $ 14 burgers and $ 24-​$ 32 for entrees.

Best new restaurant in Boulder! Great food, great service and the cocktails are delicious! Check it out!