44th Ave Grill

Have you ever walked into a place, and it just felt like home?  Like everyone was warm and friendly, the food was outstanding, the staff helpful and family-like, you could tell it was someone's baby and every bit of decor reflected their passion...and you just knew you could just relax and be yourself in a warm hug of familiarity and hospitality?

This is not that place.

But in the weirdest way, I was really encouraged after my experience here.  I really CAN open a risky type of restaurant someday!  It turns out, you can have a restaurant in the heart of Wheat Ridge that is absolutely horrible and still stay in business!  You can have a menu that has nothing to do with your name!  

Lordy!  Oh my gosh this place is lackluster!  Why?  Why?  The font on the sign is so cool!  It's got such a great location!  Wheat Ridge and Lakewood are just aching for a great place to eat!  Even if you aren't going to grill anything (?), this state loves their Mexican food and EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THE POPULATION can make at least one decent Mexican dish!  You just can't go wrong, right?!  

right?

I swear to you that the salsa came out with Pace Picante sauce, right from the bottle.  It was that sweet and ketchupy and gross with little green squares of bell pepper.  The "sliders" were just ordinary squashy hamburger buns with a little sad puck of gray hamburger meat and some sort of nondescript relish, dry and completely seasoning free and requiring repeated dunks in ketchup to just make it swallow-able.  The guacamole was lightly salted mashed avocados, no more, it seemed.  Zero appeal.  Zero care put into making it.  Chili Rellenos had layers and layers of uncooked wonton wrapper to chew through like stretchy lasagna noodles.  The refried beans had that crusty weird topping that occurs when they're been in a steam table with the lid off.  Even the bean burrito had this crunchy layer involved, and the beans taste canned, at best.  Bland weird food, every single bite.  So disappointing.  We decided there was not a single thing we tasted that we would ever want to eat again.  And where are the "grill" items? Ugh!  

I hate spending money on bad meals!  

The service was odd and very unfriendly.  The bar kept to itself and I refilled our drinks by walking up and waiting...and waiting... we were there on a Tuesday night with very little dinner traffic.  So why the cold shoulder?  I smiled, I was patient, I didn't complain... waiting.... waiting...

Yep, there's racing memorabilia everywhere, which creates an odd contrast to to the leftover oriental-motif frosted glass windows.  Then, there's the booth upholstery that recalls the skating rinks of yesteryear.  And some sad leftovers from That Design Era Where Everyone Loved Cheap Southwestern Crap.  Add to that multicolored "icicle" Christmas lights around the bar, the garish neon wall jukebox and the assorted bar patrons, and you've got yourself quite an eyeful.

Whoa nellie, I didn't even think those hand dryers that are a giant rotating (damp) towel were still legal in restaurants, but there it was  in the Ladies Room -- the big subliminal message from those things has always been to me, 'share germs with everyone!'   There's also a shaky scary toilet whose lid has been glued together with (unfortunately tinted for bathroom usage) dark brown glue (by someone who uses their elbow to apply glue, it would seem) that may discourage you a little, as well.  

But there was a steady stream of persons who play pool enough to own their own pool cue, and several people at the bar who clearly spend a great deal of time there getting to know one another, including an exhausted looking woman who decided the entire bar might like to babysit her four year old while she kicked a couple back.  Mmmmmmmmkay.  Who am I to judge? These people keep this place running, and they're just fine without me and my snooty need to enjoy a meal, and that's just fine.

In the end, after vowing never to return, we mused on other utter stinker restaurants that kept their doors open (that awful Mickey's Bistro on 38th came to mind) and that maybe going out to dinner for some people isn't all about the food, or the service, the bar, the care put into pampering the patrons, the cleanliness of the bathrooms, or the decor and associated ambiance... there's just a special "it" factor for some restaurants that forgives being utterly rotten in all the other categories.

I just completely failed to recognize it here.

Always liked this place and now it serves Mexican food.  I like the chili rellenos or the bean burrito.  The chili isn't too hot and I like it that way.

They served  beer in a giant mason jar, which is a nice twist and gives the place a homey feel.

Lots of pool tables (3) and tons of racing memoribilia around if you are a racing fan.

It has gordos menu so it has excellent Mexican food!  Try it out!