Shorty Lu’s

Stopped by here for the first time recently. This is a place which definitely has a small group of locals who are there regularly. The older gentlemen (think war vets) said hello and tried to talk to my young kids, but my kids were too interested in the painted walls to form a coherent reply.
We sat down and ordered. The food came out in a reasonable amount of time. It was cooked just fine. My french toast was just that, and neither outstanding or bad. My dad’s smother breakfast burrito looked and smelled good. My kids seemed to enjoy their chicken fingers and fries. The prices were just right. This is a place where you come a few times and they’ll get to know you pretty quickly, as they’re friendly.

I have to agree with other reviewers who say that the décor at Shorty Lu’s is atrocious. The walls are covered with painted ‘prayer candles’, crazy bright colours, and ‘inspirational’ words. I don’t doubt that this is very meaningful to somebody, which is great, but it struck me as very peculiar.
On the bright side, the décor was really my only real complaint. The prices were right inline with other greasy spoons, and the food was, generally, pretty good. At our table we did have under-​cooked eggs, and over-​cooked steak, but neither of those are particularly unusual for this sort of breakfast joint. In addition to reasonably good food, the other most important part of my breakfast was a never-​ending supply of warm, drinkable, coffee. Shorty Lu’s really nailed that.

Good simple food!!! Nice, laid-​back place for some good and quick eats. I read a bunch of reviews that said the food and décor was questionable… So i was a little leary going… But was completely happy that i did! It’s a great place for someone who enjoys local hangouts and shuns the chain restaurants. It was fun and inspiring to read all the tributes painted on the walls and definitely gives this place an original vibe. Food was good — not bland as some stated — but cooked well and you can salt/​pepper to your liking… Unlike the chain diner tradition of loading everything with 500% of your daily sodium intake. Very nice staff. Family friendly. Overall very satisfied… Just disappointed that others gave it such bad reviews just because it’s different. It really was an enjoyable place.

I’m going to start this review by saying that I love greasy spoons and I usually seek them out because I love the food and the service. I expect tasty, homemade food from dinners and prices that are very reasonable for the quality of the food delivered. Shorty Lu’s does not meet these expectations at all.
I went on a Sunday morning to have a breakfast because it came recommended by some of my friends, so I went it with an optimistic view of the place. First impression was that this was a regular-​dominated establishment and I felt very awkward as a fresh face walking in. The décor is very creepy and is dominated by a wall of painted prayer candles that made me feel very uncomfortable. The staff, however, was friendly and I put the first impression aside for the moment.
There was a decent amount of selection on the menu and they had everything that I would expect from a breakfast place. It took a while for us to order, because some of the wait staff were socializing with the regulars at an adjacent table. Thankfully, Once ordered our food came reasonably quickly. The food was horrible and tasteless. The eggs were bland and flat, the pancakes were burnt on one side and the bacon was burnt to a crisp despite my request for rarer strips. The prices were higher than what I expect from a diner with each entrée costing $ 7 – 9. Next time you feel like going out to breakfast, either go somewhere else or make it yourself, it will surely be better and cheaper than going to Shorty Lu’s.

I’m giving this place 4 stars because 1.) you get what you pay for and 2.) you get what you’d expect.
Let me explain. You can tell from the outside that this place isn’t going to be fancy. It looks like a dive diner, and that’s pretty much what it is. The décor inside is atrocious, the wait staff wear whatever the hell they want, and the tables and chairs look like they were purchased in the thrift store.
HOWEVER, while the food isn’t the highest quality, it is priced for what it is. I don’t go to little, hole-​in-​the-​wall diners for great food, I go for diner food. And this place delivers. Try the breakfast burrito the next time you’re hung over. You’ll never know how you survived a hang over without one!
Additionally, the wait staff are friendly and nice, and they do their job well. Sure, I’ve been in there when they were training the new girl and she didn’t do a stellar job, but the large majority of the time I get what I want when I want it. Additionally, there is a kind old woman there who is the worlds best waitress. You may not get her on your visit, but she is there (still, I hope!), and she is incredible.
So, in summary: This place offers a legitimate greasy spoon diner experience. There are no frills, but you get what you pay for. The food is of «diner» quality and the service is all you could ever want.

There really should be some sort of standards for calling oneself the best restaurant in town etc. because everyone says it but nobody delivers. My husband and I went here first thing on a Sunday morning. The coffee was mediocre, my breakfast burrito was nothing to write home about, as was the french toast. It wasn’t necessarily «bad» but it certainly wasn’t something that I would come back to. All that said, I haven’t been able to find a good breakfast joint in Golden since Hits the Spot moved to Lakewood and Shorty Lu’s is not the worst place in Golden.

Shorty Lu’s is, on one hand, a super awesome true greasy spoon, where the waitress will call you Hon and have your home address by the time you pay the bill so she can send you a hand-​knitted scarf. It’s a dream come true for a hangover breakfast, when really you just need grease in some form in your system, STAT. On the other hand… it’s pretty questionable food, and I don’t think cleanliness is high up on the priority list.
That being said, it gets the job done. I had the most expensive thing on the menu, a veggie omelet, and I think it was about $ 6. You can get outta there for $ 4 – 5 bucks, easy. Most of our table ordered biscuits and gravy, which was clearly from a powdered mix, definitely not a morsel of sausage to be found. And I’m familiar with that powdered mix, too– it’s 99% chemicals and 1% water, so devoid of any actual food ingredients, that shit’s probably vegan. But if you’ve only got three bucks… you see what I’m saying.
Sodas come in a can. Coffee tastes like dirt. No one’s cleaned out the catchup squeeze bottles in months. There’s an overflowing basket of grape jelly on every table. The girl next to me had a shirt on that said, «Southern Bitch», with a Confederate flag emblazoned across a sparkling rose. Awesome.
Closest restaurant to the correctional facility on Old Golden Road? Sign me up.
Service is a hoot– you will be offered numerous services including hypnosis (see photo), and the blue-​haired cashier insisted I take a punch card (buy 9 meals, 10^th is free) even though I swore to her up and down that I don’t even live in CO. She said, «you’ll be back». She’s probably right, let’s be honest.

Let’s see, which rip do i want to sit on?
This tiny G-​spoon looks on the inside just as you’d imagine it would from looking at it from the outside. More than a little worn but with character and a constant stream of customers and cars in it’s lot. rachel d. double dog dared me to check the joint out and I take triple d’s cereally so I snuck in for a quick late breakfast and snagged a breakfast burrito. My coffee cup was never allowed to get anywhere near empty and I was checked on at least three times for my twenty minute burrito slam. It was a good burrito with a tasty g-​spoon green chile slathered on top. I should have skipped the salsa addition on top because it was obviously from a jar and screwed with the nicely flavored green (what the hell was I thinking?) .
Really nice people, good food, and obviously a place a lot of folk like to call themselves regulars of. This be another good g-​spoon. Thanks rachel d. Now I double dog dare you to try Javier C’s in the old Elitch neighborhood. Tag, you’re it!

this is the mother of all greasy spoon diners. i love it. there breakfast burrito puts all others to shame. for real. you also have got to love the cinder block ambiance, the riped red pleather booths, the super friendly staff. i dare you to leave denver and check out this hangover breakfast. i like to call this my rat-​rod breakfast joint.