The Pioneer

The pioneer is always a good time. Friendly staff and atmosphere, cheap happy hour drinks.  Their sopapillas and $5 burrito specials are great.  The best thing is the chile relleno burrito though - a chile relleno stuffed into a burrito. What! Yeah, it's amazing

Love the Pioneer -- it's my neighborhood bar, a good place to grab a beer after work or good eats later. The food is surprisingly good, love the fish tacos, and the rest of the mexican food is above average and pretty original. Friends rate the burger and nachos highly. The atmosphere is pretty divey, and it can get way too busy when the undergrads are out in force or there's a hockey game at DU, but it's comfortable and works for me most of the time. The service is typical bar service, so sometimes you have to be a little proactive about grabbing someone, but usually it's good. Some interesting moments have happened there, so we'll always have some good stories about events at the Pio...

The first time I visited this place was decent. The second time; not so much. I had just finished a mid-term for graduate school and I had a friend in town from Wyoming. I live a few blocks from The Pioneer, so we walked over to have a few drinks and unwind. After waiting to be served, we ordered a couple beers. We were immediately answered with "Show me some ID." Rather blunt and direct, especially considering we are 30 and 28 years old, respectively. I moved here from Texas a month ago, so my Texas driver's license has a bunch of holes punched in it because that's what the Colorado DMV did to my license when I applied for a Colorado one. When the bartender saw my drivers license, he said "Show me some paperwork". I told him I leave it in my car, because it's big and bulky and the license, although expired, still shows I am 30 years old. I also have a Texas concealed handgun permit; he was not interested in that either, although it is a viable form of identification according to Colorado law. I guess the bartender did not remember that from his TIPS class. Whatever. So, I walked back home and got my temporary license, my passport, and a Transportation Workers Identification Card (issued by the Department of Homeland Security), and my university ID. I didn't want to there to be any confusion as to my identity or my age this time around. We went back to The Pioneer and I presented the bartender the various sorts of identification. For some reason, this irritated him and he very rudely shook his head, uttered some sarcastic comments and went on about how "it's the law" (which as I stated above, he was incorrect). Once again, he seemed to only be interested in my Texas driver's license and the Colorado temporary permit. He spent nearly 30 seconds meticulously checking every bit of the Colorado temporary permit. I asked him if everything was checking out okay and his reply was "No. Leave." We then went somewhere else, and didn't have a problem. I'm not sure what the business model The Pioneer follows, but it's rather short-sighted to harass customers instead of catering to their wants. It saddens me that I just moved here, and the closest place to have food and drinks employs this type of wait staff. It is hard to build a relationship with  potential long-run clients by acting rude about something so simple as age verification. I had planned on not visiting this place again, but after some reflection, I believe that the bartender in question was simply being a jerk. Maybe he had a bad day? Maybe was unable to significantly please his significant other because of inadequate sized genitalia; which gives him a prickly demeanor. Perhaps he was jealous of my charming personality and approachable good looks. I really don't know. I guess I will try this place again when I get a Colorado driver's license.In the mean time, I'll just find a server who isn't a jerk.