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This place is JUST outstanding. I know everyone says it, but when you pull up, your heart just sinks. A busy strip mall and ticky-tacky exterior... but you get inside and it's like you're visiting your wonderful Italian grandmother. Your kind, loving, incredibly skilled Italian grandmother. The gnocchi is incredible; little cloud-like puffs of potato-y goodness. The eggplant. The pesto. The marinara. But my favorite, hands down, is 'Bob's Favorite' which involves a silky creamy cheese sauce, a perfectly cooked chicken breast, and asparagus. Be still my heart! I am usually here with co-workers but if I were alone, I would eat two plates of this and not even flinch.
I would eat my last meal here, if asked. :)
I have to tell you first that after living for 3 years in Naples, Italy that I am a huge Italian food snob... to say the least. You can imagine that when we pulled into a strip mall I was at best sceptical. It was 5:20 and there was already a 35 minute wait which for me says maybe there is something good enough to wait for.
We got seated and I was thrilled to find out that the owner of Cafe Jordano is from Naples!
We ordered the caprese salad which normally is nearly inedible for me because American Mozzarella taste nothing like Italian Buffalo Mozzarella. Anyway, it was the best version I have had since my return to the US.
I then ordered the soup of the day (Artichoke Soup) and it was to die for! I couldn't believe that a soup had so much flavor.
Then onto my entree: gnocchi. Gnocchi if it is fresh is the greatest food on the planet; however, if it has been premade by a big company and frozen dry you can tell. Now I don't know if it was premade or fresh but I do know that it didn't taste like it had been packaged and that is just fine by me! My bf's entree was Buffalo alla Cacciatore; it was so delicious that he almost ate until he was sick. He said that he had never had herbs that tasted the way they did in his entree and that it was amazing.
Desert was an espresso and tiramisu (my favorite!). The tiramisu: the lady fingers were still slightly hard so that the desert didn't feel soggy or slimy, the cream was unreasonably good, and the espresso was just right.
I will go back here... hopefully soon!
This is another time I wish I could give 4.5 stars--4 is too little, but it's not quite a 5. Nevertheless...
The best cream sauce in Denver? I think it might be.
I'd read Lacey and her husband's reviews and I knew I needed to come here at some point. It finally happened when some friends suggested we meet them here for dinner (one told me he dreams of the cream sauce). It's a bit out of our way, but I was familiar with the great Yelp reviews so I accepted. It is unassuming and you could easily pass it by since it's just in a normal strip mall. But, DON'T MISS IT!
The inside is decorated nicely for what it is. The waitstaff was really friendly and kind the night we were there, but even my friends (non-yelpers) mentioned that the service can be hit or miss. It was a Saturday night at 7:45 but we were still seated right away.
Like some other reviewers said, I could close my eyes and point at something on the menu and not be disappointed. But I was trying to eat relatively healthy...so no cream sauce dish for me. I ordered the Shrimp in the tomato sauce with basil and wide noodles. It was really really good and I didn't have too much food envy watching all my friends clog their hearts with cream sauce. (just kidding). A few of us started with salads and only two ordered the soup. I should have read other reviews more carefully. ORDER THE SOUP. The salad was just boring.
I did get to sample nearly every dish on the table and I do have to say, the next time I want to throw caution to the wind (or if I've just run a marathon) I'll go back and order the Pollo Bolognese (or the chicken with asparagus or the seafood ravioli). WOW! It's funny because even though all my friends had a creamy sauce on their dish, each one tasted slightly different and had a different texture. I like that! I appreciate that they don't just slather every dish with the same old sauce.
I almost forgot to mention, we started with the mussels as an appetizer. It was a relatively small portion (I was thinking Le Central here) but they were cooked perfectly and had a nice broth to dip the garlic bread in. We also had two bottles of the DaVinci Chianti--the wine list wasn't spectacular, but who cares.
For dessert the table shared the tiramisu. Other reviewers are right--this is obviously homemade and delicious. Not too syrupy or heavy, a perfect ending to a great meal!
For six people, one appetizer for the table, two bottles of wine and one dessert the total bill was $150.00. WHAT? That's wild. But true if you choose to dine at Cafe Jordano.
ive been goin to this place just about since it first open. not that i was really old enough to actually eat anything, but still worth sayin. i dont even think ive had better italian food in new york- and thats hard to beat. love love love the chicken alfredo (extra chickin) but u cant really go wrong with anyone there. service is so so- seems they like u a lot better if they remember the good tip u left them the time before.
Best Italian food in Denver, no doubt! You may be skeptical of the strip mall setting but don't let that fool you. If you want fresh authentic Italian....this is your spot. The pollo elegante is my favorite dish, chicken in a white cream sauce with cognac....absolutely amazing! I've never had a bad dish here and the take out is always fast and convienant. EAT here asap! Mmmmm, so yummy!
This place is awesome. Excellent food. Decent service.
Haven't gone in a couple years as I now live across town from Jordano's, but back when I lived in Lakewood, it was far and away my favorite Italian restaurant.
Some family friends introduced me to the place - namely, because they needed a few more heads to make eight in their party so that they could make reservations. Good thing.... if you try to walk in during the dinner rush, you'll likely have to wait an hour or longer!
The prices are very reasonable and all of the entrees come with choice of soup (which is homemade every day and always yummy) or salad (which is just an iceberg/veggie salad - meh).
I highly recommend the gnocchi cream (the cream sauce is a bit runny but BIG on flavor) or the sicilian lasagna (eggplant parmigian replaces the meat and comes with a truly tasy mix of marinara+cream sauce). Try the tiramisu for dessert.... the only thing better is the white chocolate/raspberry tiramisu, but I've only seen that there once.
Not sure why this place is loved so much, but it wasn't half bad.
Food: I went out on a limb and sprung for the buffalo royal which was basically strips of buffalo meat in a special creamy sauce (http://www.yelp.com/bi...). I asked for some veggies to go along with the dish because I need a balanced diet and they catered to my desire. Yay! The entree also came with spaghetti (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and complimentary bread. I have to say that while there was a lot of food on that plate, it was a bit bland. The spaghetti sauce was tangy and yummy, but not super special in my book. I'd stay away from the buffalo dishes due to the price and the fact that buffalo meat isn't much different from beef. Also, the tiramisu here is amazing.
Service: Kind of curt, but they'll zip your food right to you.
Atmosphere: Judging from the number of heads in here, this place is super popular. It's tucked away in a strip mall with ample parking, so it has that going for it.
Synopsis: Not my favorite spot for Italian, but they do serve a killer tiramisu.
Cafe Jordano is far from classy, lurking deep within a strip mall and sporting those awful suspended ceiling tiles you used to flick pencils up into during study hall. It took every last shred of restraint to keep me from tossing my fork up there during dinner. Probably wouldn't have stuck anyhow. Forks are heavier than pencils, and my skillz are doubtlessly way rusty at this point.
However, what it lacks in ambiance, Cafe Jordano makes up for in... cream sauce. Dudes, you have no idea. A couple members of our crew ordered the Chicken Bolognese and it was MINDBLOWING the amount of gloopy, creamy, cheesy stuff covering those pieces of meat. I took photos with my phone, but they didn't come out well enough to post here. Suffice it to say, the fork stood up. No, I'm not even kidding. I wish I was. I thought it looked utterly disgusting, but apparently it's the favorite dish of of more than a few of my friends. To each his own.
They'll give you the standard "soup or salad?" choice and for all that is sane and holy, CHOOSE THE SOUP. In our party of twenty or so, only two of us opted for the salad instead of the creamy asparagus, potato, and red pepper soup and boy did we regret it. That soup was DA' BOMB. Lucky for us, our server was kind enough to bring us the very last cup they had left, so we could share in the deliciousness. Bonus points for that!
Other bonus points for allowing me to substitute gnocchi for pasta in one of the dishes. I can't recall the name, but it's the one with garlic, olive oil, olives, roasted red peppers, and feta. It was THE YUM... but I'm 90% sure the gnocchi were packaged and not made from scratch. I say this because I make packaged gnocchi all the time at home, and these little dudes were identical. Not that it's bad... it's just not great. Still though, all those toppings were perfect and garlicky and delish, more than making up for any prefab gnocchage.
Cafe Jordano is all over the board when it comes to ratings, but I'm content to offer up four stars because it really IS worth checking out:
5 stars for the fried calamari app (drooooool)
5 stars for the soup
5 stars for bringing us a cup to share when we were bummed that we chose the salad
1 star for the salad
4 stars for allowing substitutions (they do charge extra, though)
2 stars for prefab gnocchi
2 stars for ambiance and pencil-tossing memories
4 stars for that olive/red pepper/garlic/feta sauce
2 stars for the heart-attack-on-a-plate that is the Chicken Bolognese
And finally...
...3 weirdo stars for the women's bathroom. They've got two toilets right there, side by side in one room, with not so much as a curtain to divide them. You know, just in case you and your BFF want to play an impromptu game of battleshits.
This is THE BEST spot in Lakewood! I swear by this place, and we don't go nearly enough. My husband and I talk about this place when we go out to eat at other places... seriously! Cafe Jordano truly has it all! The food is good home cooked Italian and truly offers the comfort the way it is suppose to. They have a parmesan cream sauce with gnocci that I tell my friends about. They paid attention to all the classics of Italian food, and added their own ideas as well. The service, superb. And I am talking busy... this place is always packed on the weekends, you always have to wait to get a table, and you always enjoy both the wait and the experience that comes after. The hostess is an owner (I am pretty sure for she really runs the show around there) and she knows EVERYONE. She treats everyone like family and always has a positive outlook. I swear I'd lose my hair dealing with that many people every night. The servers are all also like light fixtures on the wall, they stick around for long term employment and therefor, are really crucial to this place's success. The menu is "cheap" and I hate to use that word for what it might entail... but this is not "cheap" food. I just mean that the prices are so reasonable it is worth calling more than just reasonable. My husband and I always get a bottle of wine at this place because the mark up isn't what it could be. In fact, I think this place is just as nice as some of the downtown Denver spots that are twice the price. In all, I can't say enough good things about Cafe Jordano for it is a perfect spot to us. We absolutely love it.
IT TRULY IS THE BEST PLACE AROUND!
My wife (Lacey M.) sent me a message on Wednesday... There was a little Italian place near our house that received good Yelp! reviews that we had to try soon.
Well, I ended up not having to work, so off we went. Located in a Safeway strip mall, Cafe Jordano is very unassuming. Since Lacey and I have become avid fans of Yelp! we sit there and write our reviews in our head while we wait. Occasionally asking, "How many stars, so far?"
Cafe Jordano started off poorly in my eyes. A gossipy inattentive hostess (I think she's the boss) and the food runners were actually running. Hectic, hurried and more concerned with not running into chairs than delivering the food with a touch of patience and grace. Given, we were waiting at what is probably the height of their business. (Here's a hint, if you were open a little more than 4 hours you might not need to run as much)
The place is cute, for a strip mall Italian place. The colors are nice and the photos on the wall are well done. Some care was given to appearance.
We were then seated at the end of a 6 top, where two other people were finishing up on the other end. Not ideal seating. Plus the table only had one set of everything and no wine menu. We had to continually interrupt the other people to ask for things like pepper or red pepper flakes. Annoying. To both us and them.
The water glasses are beat up plastic mugs, the napkins are paper and the seats aren't the most comfortable. So far this place has disappointed me from top to bottom, and then the food came out.
Before the meal came out they give you choice of soup or salad. Lacey got the cream of spinach soup which sounded a little strange to me, but was great. I got a salad with (read, doused) Italian dressing. The dressing wasn't bad, and next time I know to ask for it on the side.
I got the special, Lobster Ravioli with grilled shrimp in a cream sauce with asparagus. It was effin incredible. Their cream sauce is amazing. I'm certain I took 3 years off of my life by eating it, but it was worth every second. The garlic bread is complimentary.
We ended the night with one of my favorite desserts, Tiramisu. It's light and good and obviously home made. A great portion for $5.
If it were simply the food, this place would be 5 stars - no question. If you follow the advice of other Yelpers and arrive close to when they open or close, you can likely avoid most of the things I felt were negative about Cafe Jordano. The food is incredible and a serious value. $11.50 for most of their top dishes and that includes soup or salad and garlic bread. Hard to argue with that.
I love Italian food. I think its my favorite cuisine to eat, cook, and smell. When I saw several good reviews for Cafe Jordano I had to go that night.
Now this place did not start out at 5 stars by any means. My husband I went on a Wednesday night around 7:00pm. As a previous review stated, it is best to go around 8:00pm or right at 5:00pm. There was a wait (which didn't take too long) but there aren't chairs at the bar, which kept us from ordering a glass of wine while we waited. So we sat in a couple of chairs facing the dining room, to observe the scene. One word: chaotic. The servers, food runners, and table busers were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. As my husband put it, it was very distracting and turned us off immediately. Maybe they were trying to turn the tables quickly...get people in and out. But did they really have to run everywhere they went?
However, things quickly turned once we were seated. The prices are very reasonable, and every meal comes with soup or salad and garlic bread. My husband got the salad, which was just simply lettuce doused in dressing...nothing spectacular (tip: order the dressing on the side). I got the soup: cream of spinach with pasta, potatoes, and sausage. It was very delicious.
I ordered the Pollo Alla Romana. Chicken with prosciutto, roasted red peppers, artichokes hearts, melted mozzarella, with bucatini pasta in a creamy alfredo sauce. The sauce was absolutely amazing...and surprisingly light for a cream sacuce. The chicken was sliced thin and very juicy. The dish was one of the best cream sauce chicken dishes I have ever had. My husband ordered the special: lobster ravioli with shrimp and asparagus, in a cream sauce (slightly different than the sauce mine came with)...and loved it. The never ending garlic bread was one of my favorites. After we ate our meal we tried a side of spaghetti with marinara. It was just okay. The sauce was a little bland and slightly watery. Stick with the cream sauce dishes.
We ended our dinner with the tiramisu. It was light and fluffy like a heavenly rum soaked cloud. Absolutely divine.
We will defnitely be back to Cafe Jordano. Amazing food at a great price. We'll just be sure to go around 8:00pm, when the restaurant (and the employees) slow down.
I was really impressed with this unimposing little restaurant. I would never ever have gone in the door if I had not read the reviews here though, since there are so many little restaurants in strip malls.
So we started with mussels in a wine and butter sauce which were very good, with good garlic bread. Then we chose the soup du jour which was a sun-dried tomato with artichokes and it was out of this world. For dinner he ordered a dish with chicken and asparagus with a white white cream sauce and I ordered a chicken dish with a tomato cream sauce. Mine was very good and his was even better (I kept stealing bites of his :) ). One thing to mention is that everything we ordered was really, really rich, there may be lighter things on the menu but we didn't try any of them.
The food was very fresh, with fresh herbs and was cooked perfectly. We had very attentive service. The food was better than Olive Garden or the other usual chains and priced very comparably. I was really torn between 4 and 5 stars on this one. I know where we will be going for Italian food from here on out! I highly recommend trying this place out.
I've been going to Cafe Jordano for 10+ years. They always deliver a quality meal at a great value. The wine list is not extensive, but like the dinner menu offers up some great values. For me Jordano is truly one of those places that you close your eyes swirl your finger around and what ever it lands on is what I'm ordering. I really haven't had a bad meal here. It's not the most refined Italian food, but the food always feels casual, comforting, and always hits the spot.
Eh, from the review my friend gave me about this place... I wasn't really impressed. The food is okay, but a bit pricey in my opinion for the amount that you get. The staff isn't overly friendly and only came back to our table once. While the restaurant was busy, I expect good service for what I'm paying for.
This place is pretty awesome. Listen to Lacey & her hubby, go after 8pm! Holy cow everyone clearly loves this place because their little bar area gets packed quick. The service is really snappy (clearly they want to turn around tables quickly) and the Cannelloni/sauce is delish! My only complaint was the salad that comes with your meal is lettuce/dressing and 1 piece of cucumber and 1 piece of tomato, but other than that, we will definitely return when we get the Italian food bug again.
Wow, I felt rrreeeaaalllyyy unwanted at Cafe Jordano. My friend, her two kids, and I went for lunch and did not receive a warm welcome, no instead we walked in and just stood up front being ignored. When the female employee finally decided to acknowledge our existance by say hhhha (that is a big sigh), 4, she then raced to the back of the restaurant, with us 20 paces behind, threw menus on the table and disappeared. Well, remember I mentioned we were dining with 2 kids, yeah, an offer to get us a highchair and booster seat would have been helpful. Luckily my friend noticed the highchairs and boosters in the back, after waiting a few seconds to see if an employee would help us, she just got her own. I figured no big deal it is a family run Italian joint we'll have a great waitperson and the food will be awesome. Then this little grandmotherly gal shows up and I think right on. Sadly, I was wrong. We were not told the specials, soup of the day, no hello, how's it going, nope, we got, hhh (that's another sigh), are you ready to order? Seriously, WTF did we do to you people? Why do you hate us, we are clean, well dressed, friendly, respectful, paying customers come on! So, we order, and wait, I really want the iced tea I ordered...but no luck...Here's the other gripe, the same waitress that is treating us like dirt is practically licking the asses of all her other customers. We don't see the waitress again until my friend flags her down to ask for the bill. No how are things, can I get you anything else, none, not for us. I have to say though my food was pretty good, definitely not the best Italian food I have ever had.
Here's the breakdown:
dinner salad = 3 stars
gnocchi with marinara and mozzarella = 4 stars
bread = 2 stars
service = 1 star
Decent Italian place despite being in a strip mall in Lakewood.
On the outside, it is just another restaurant in a strip mall. Inside, there seems to always be a crowd of people (as some friends that are regulars told me) and the place has a weird kind of charm to it. You can get a glass of wine at the front while you wait for your table.
You get seated and, again, it has a weird charm. The tables aren't fancy, you get paper napkins and the water glasses are plastic mugs. If this is your idea of a nice Italian place then don't ever leave Lakewood because you'll experience culture shock if you do. However, the decor and setup is not indicative of the quality of the food.
All entrees, and pasta dishes, come with a cup of soup or a salad. I ordered a chicken and pasta dish (the Romana) and it was very tasty. Relatively thick noodles, with roasted red peppers, prosciutto, and chicken in a white creamy sauce. Very good and recommendable. Same goes for Barb's Favorite and Bob's favorite (subtitles for two dishes on the menu). There is also garlic bread on the table with your meal.
If you live out there in Lakewood, then check this place out. It is good. If you live in Denver, I would say the only reason to go there is if you know someone that works there or someone that LIVES in Lakewood. There are too many great Italian places in Denver to skip out on just to go out to a strip mall. Although, I will admit that the prices are fairly reasonable...$47 for the 4 of us, not including drinks.
15OCT2004 Tracie and I had a great lunch today. The sauce on my Pollo Elegante was a perfect blend of cream, Marsala, Cognac.
01JAN2008
We have always had good service at Cafe Jordano, but we only go for a late lunch and we always have a bottle of wine. It helps to be mellow as CJ is a very popular place, as it should be.
The food is very good to excellent. Just know that your arteries will start to harden as you walk in the door.
Inexpensive, delicious Italian food within 10 minutes of my door? Have I died and gone to pasta lovers' heaven? I would never have guessed that this strip mall restaurant hid such charming staff and great Italian food had I not seen it for myself. It may not have much curb appeal, but get inside and take your first bite, and all your worries will melt away.
I love to see bison on a menu, and though I didn't order it, I was pleased to notice the inclusion. I opted for a chicken and pasta dish with mushrooms, and was rewarded with a creamy, buttery sauce, chicken that was perfect, not too dry, not too mushy, and best of all- mushrooms that were delightful without being rubbery. It's so hard to find good mushrooms, and I hate rubbery mushrooms.
Though my yummy noodles left me too full for dessert, the choices looked tasty enough that I'll likely be tempted back another day to try those after a smaller entree.
Fugedaboudit!
My husband is from New Jersey. And say what you will about Jerz (believe me, I've said plenty), but those goombahs know their Italian food. I've eaten in about a million NJ Italian joints, from 5 star to hole-in-the-wall, and Cafe Jordano can hold its own with the best of them. Cafe Jordano has great homemade sauces. Their marinara sauce is excellent--lots of garlic, but not so much that you lose the flavor of everything else. Their Marsala sauce is out of this world and their Alfredo sauce is creamy and gorgeous. Even though the location is far from authentic (last time I checked the Cosa Nostra didn't hang out at at Safeway in Lakewood), the interior of Cafe Jordano is charmingly decorated with photographs from the owner's family in the Old Country. The waitstaff is efficient and timely and wine list is adequate. If you're looking for neighborhood Italian, you won't find it much better than this.
This was excellent food! Again, thank you Yelp! It was everything you said it was. Cute little place, friendly staff and great food at reasonable prices. I couldn't eat here a whole lot though because the portions are large, the food is rich and I would slowly grow larger and larger. But then again, that isn't their fault but my own. Why would anyone go to a chain Italian place when Cafe Jordano exists? YUM!
Best Italian restaurant in town. I continue to try new places but none come close to the value or quality of Cafe Jordano. In a little strip mall I was a little skeptical but it is amazing.
If you're pining for Italy -- the romantic language, the dark, handsome and flirtatious waiters, the rustic countryside, the extraordinary cuisine -- you can either proceed directly through the hassles of security or save the lira (and having to remove your shoes, belts, and underwires) and the jet lag and take the journey to Cafe Jordano. This irresistably charming Italian food temple, located in a Lakewood strip mall, dishes up authentic, flavor-punched and abundant portions of pasta, pollo, seafood and even bison. The minestrone soup is heaven in a bowl, hearty and brimming with fresh vegetables and beans.
Hands down my favorite Italian restaurant. I have gone to this restaurant for over 12 years and never miss it while I am in Denver.
It takes us an hour to get across town in rush hour traffic & then we ave to wait a half hour on o Tues nite, but it is so worth it!!! The food is out of this world!! The atmoshere is so fun too. It's not what you would expect from some strip mall joint. I don't even know where to start about the food other than it is the best Italian I've ever had. You must check it out. They are closed on Sun though!!
Very good and budget friendly Italian restaurant in Lakewood. My only complaint is the service, it doesn't exist! I live 5 minutes away so I'd eat here more often but the service just makes me want to avoid this place unless I have a hankering for Italian.
Golden, CO
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