Asian in Denver

501 E. 17th Ave., Denver Capitol Hill/Uptown/City Park

303-800-7705

Asian, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Slideshow, Readers' Choice, Essentials

Ace owners Josh and Jen Wolkon, who also run Steuben’s, had a fast hit on their hands when they opened their ping-pong hall and pan-Asian eatery in 2012. The menu at Ace Eat Serve has just gotten better over the years, and in 2024, it continued its evolution under new executive chef Khamla Vongsakoun. While he kept some staples, like the crispy beef and broccoli, Peking duck carved tableside and the spot’s popular wings, he’s also leaned more into snackable, shareable dim sum-style fare such as pork hot and sour xiao long bao and Sichuan lamb dumplings.

113 articles

Aoba

1520 Blake St. Downtown Denver

Asian, Restaurants

7 articles

The Asian Cajun

2400 W. Alameda Ave. Southwest Denver

303-922-0699

Cajun, Asian, Best Of, Menu

If you were asked to seamlessly blend East and West, Asian and Cajun probably wouldn't be the first combination to come to mind – but that element of surprise is exactly what makes this oddball fusion cuisine so great. The Asian Cajun is really two restaurants in one: It offers year-round seafood boils and Cajun favorites like fried frog legs alongside delicious, sizzling Lao lemongrass sausage and Korean barbecue. Throw in a few hybrid creations — try the étouffée dip served with wonton chips — and your biggest challenge at Asian Cajun will be narrowing down your choices (hint: Bring friends).

7 articles

Banh & Butter Bakery Cafe

9935 E. Colfax Ave. Aurora

720-512-3895

Bakery, Sandwiches, Asian, French, Vietnamese, Best Of

Pastry chef Thoa Nguyen dreamed of running her own Parisian-style Asian-fusion bakery for years. One of the daughters of the former owners of New Saigon, she grew up in the restaurant business. Now she’s running the show at this spot, which excels not only in sweets such as crepe cakes and croissants, but savory options like banh mi and classic Parisian-style ham and butter sandwiches.

2 articles

BD's Mongolian Barbeque

1620 Wazee St. Downtown Denver

303-571-1824

Asian, Barbecue, Mongolian

Diners call the shots at BD's Mongolian Barbeque, a bustling, decade-old LoDo spot that puts a modern spin on the traditional Mongolian feast. Build a stir-fry bowl from an assembly-line-style selection of meats, vegetables, starches and sauces, which are grilled on the spot by knife-wielding chefs. The possible combinations are infinite, from seafood-centric to meaty, mild to super-hot, and light to hearty: Customers control both portion size and caloric content. BD's also offers a variety of dishes for the less adventurous, including traditional pad Thai, fajitas, teriyaki and the original house combination. Beer and wine are also available in this interactive eatery.

4 articles

Bisque

224 Union Blvd., Lakewood West Denver Suburbs

303-985-4151

American, Asian, Breakfast/Brunch, Brunch, Continental, French, Fusion, New American, Recommended, Menu

3 articles

Casian Seafood

211 N. Public Rd. Lafayette

720-216-5704

Seafood, Asian, Cajun

You don’t think of crawfish when you think of Colorado, and you probably don’t think of Lafayette when you think of James Beard Award-nominated restaurants. But you’ll find both in one appealing package at Lafayette’s Casian Seafood, which was nominated for Best New Restaurant in the Mountain region in 2022. It didn't take home the prize, but you’ll feel like a blue-ribbon recipient digging into a seafood boil at the Cajun-Asian spot (get it seasoned with regular or spicy ginger, lemon and garlic; lemon butter; or the house “spicy Casian”). You can also go straight-up Cajun with jambalaya and fried oysters or Hmong-influenced with lemongrass sausage or ceviche-shrimp larb.

Chilgogi Korean BBQ

9666 E. Arapahoe Rd. Greenwood Village

720-750-7856

Asian, Barbecue, Korean, Menu

ChoLon Modern Asian

1555 Blake St. Downtown Denver

303-353-5223

Asian, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Slideshow, Readers' Choice

Chef Lon Symensma moved to Denver from New York City to unveil ChoLon in 2010. It wasn’t long before every soul in town had tried — and swooned over — Symensma’s French onion soup dumplings and kaya toast with coconut jam and egg cloud. ChoLon gave Denver something new: a menu that balanced the exotic with the familiar in dishes built for sharing. After more than a decade, the restaurant feels like a mainstay of the Denver dining scene, and now there’s a second location with a family-friendly menu in Central Park, too.

61 articles

Chuey Fu's Latin-Asian Grub

2205 E. Colfax Ave., Denver Capitol Hill/Uptown/City Park

720-941-5555

Latin, Asian

Chuey Fu's started as a food truck; it now has two Denver locations where diners can find a mash-up of Latin and Asian flavors. While the menu boasts straightforward dishes like guacamole and pho, we prefer tacos topped with ancho-chile chicken with sesame-peanut sauce, seared ahi tuna or Korean-style beef. Its most famous offering: A pho burrito, stuffed with rice noodles, Thai basil, cilantro, sriracha and hoisin sauce.

Chuey Fu's Latin-Asian Grub

1131 Santa Fe Dr. Central Denver

303-484-1681

Latin, Asian

Chuey Fu's started as a food truck; it now has two Denver locations where diners can find a mash-up of Latin and Asian flavors. While the menu boasts straightforward dishes like guacamole and pho, we prefer tacos topped with ancho-chile chicken with sesame-peanut sauce, seared ahi tuna or Korean-style beef. Its most famous offering: A pho burrito, stuffed with rice noodles, Thai basil, cilantro, Sriracha and hoisin sauce.

4 articles

Conu's Corner

4400 W. 29th Ave., Denver Highland/Lower Highland

Vietnamese, Asian, Best Of

In 2019, Thuc-Nhu “Nhu” Hoang and her husband, Huy Pham, signed a lease for a space near Sloan’s Lake that they dreamed of turning into a coffee and sandwich shop. When delays pushed back the construction of the kitchen for four years, the couple ran the shop as a convenience store. In 2023, though, they finally debuted the food menu, dishing up Vietnamese comfort food, including banh mi using bread, mayo and pickled veggies all made in-house, while still offering the neighborhood everything from ice cream and soda to household supplies and lottery tickets.

2 articles

Cork House Broker Restaurant

4900 E. Colfax Ave. East Denver

303-355-4488

American, Asian, German/Eastern European, Fusion, Recommended, Menu

After three decades of good work, Tante Louise finally faded from the Denver restaurant scene a few years ago. Enter uncle Ed Novak (from the Broker restaurants group), who renamed the place the Cork House after longtime owner Corky Douglass and turned the former classical Euro-French palace of haute into a comfortable, casual wine bar and restaurant with one of the best patios around. The happy hour deals are excellent, the dinner menu easily navigable, and the wine list interesting.

5 articles

Denver Poke Company

1550 Platte St. Downtown Denver

303-955-1687

Asian, Menu

Die Die Must Try

250 Steele St., Denver Cherry Creek

Tea, Asian

2 articles

Dragon Cafe

2700 E. 6th Ave. Central Denver

303-333-8880

Asian, Chinese, Coffeehouse, Mongolian, Tea, Thai, Vietnamese, Coffee Shops, Menu

Dragonfly Noodle

1350 16th Street Mall Downtown Denver

720-543-8000

Pan-Asian, Ramen, Asian, Best Of

In need of a fresh start after the pandemic, chef Edwin Zoe rebranded his Boulder eatery Chimera as Dragonfly Noodle in 2022, adding a second location on Denver's 16th Street Mall later that year. This sister concept to his casual Chinese restaurant, Zoe Ma Ma, boasts noodle dishes that span Asia, from Japan to Singapore to Vietnam to Taiwan. Zoe's ramen noodles are still made in-house — a real rarity in Colorado — and deeply flavored broths illustrate a dedication to traditional ingredients and methods, with just enough experimentation to set the eatery apart.

1 article

The Dumpling Factory

4660 S. Yosemite St. Greenwood Village

720-420-9461

Asian

East China

15510 E. Centretech Parkway Aurora

303-363-6689

Asian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Best Of

Looking for good Chinese takeout? Then look no further than this small, family-owned Aurora restaurant, which offers dine-in, takeout and delivery service within a five-mile radius. There really is nothing better than settling in for a Netflix marathon with waxy white boxes filled with fried rice and crab-cheese wontons. East China has an impressively large menu featuring appetizers ? yes, there is a pu-pu platter ? soups, and entrees made with chicken, pork, beef, seafood, duck or vegetables, as well as a smattering of Thai dishes and a couple of Vietnamese noodle bowls. The weekday lunch specials are cost-effective, the level of spiciness can be adjusted between warm and searing-hot, and East China has those crispy almond cookies that provide a happy ending to any meal.

1 article

Epernay

1080 14th St. Downtown Denver

303-573-5000

Asian, French, New American, Slideshow

Epernay opened in early 2013 right in front of the Denver Performing Arts Complex, a place that can certainly use spots that serve stylish, quick snacks before and after shows. And Epernay definitely has the stylish down: The dining room features frosted glass, a bamboo divider and a wall-sized underwater photo that makes you feel like you've jumped into a four-star aquarium. But the servers frequently seem to be underwater, too. Sushi is a mainstay on this menu, but it also features New American dishes and French accents. After all, Epernay is the champagne capital of France, and the restaurant serves what's billed as the largest selection of sparkling wine in the city.

19 articles

Far East Center

333 W. Federal Blvd. Southwest Denver

Asian, Restaurants, Retail, Best Of, Slideshow

East meets West at the Far East Center, an exotic shopping area in a very unexotic stretch of Federal Boulevard right off Alameda Avenue. If you’re looking for a great Asian meal – or the ingredients to make your own great Asian meal – the many restaurants and shops in the Far East Center should have just what you’re looking for. And if you’re also looking for a manicure, a new cell phone, tax preparation and translation services, you’ll find that at the Far East Center, too.

4 articles

Fire Bowl Cafe

11435 E. Briarwood Ave., #900, Englewood Southeast Denver Suburbs

303-799-1690

Asian, Restaurants, Menu

Based in Austin, Fire Bowl Cafe hasn’t expanded its reach too far beyond Texas – but Colorado has a single location, in Centennial, that fills up quickly with cubicle warriors during weekday lunches. And it’s easy to see why: The primary feature at Fire Bowl is a build-your-own-stir-fry concept, which lets you pick your protein, vegetable mix, sauce (from a dozen or so options) and type of rice or noodle base to create the stir fry of your dreams. If you’d rather have the eatery do the brainwork for you, that’s okay, too; there are a number of pre-mixed dishes you can select instead. Fire Bowl also offers kids’ meals and side dishes if your stomach isn’t quite up to a full meal, and everything is made fresh and served up quickly so you can get back to your life in no time flat.

1 article

The Ginger Pig

4262 Lowell Blvd., Denver Berkeley/Sunnyside

720-324-8416

Asian, Chinese, Best Of, Essentials

Former hockey player and lawyer Natascha Hess spent time living in China when she was younger and fell in love with the food. She started the Ginger Pig as a food truck specializing in Asian fare, and in 2020, she debuted her first brick-and-mortar, adding a second takeout spot in Boulder in 2023. Now with a solid team in place, she’s been able to continue to travel back to Asia in order to continue learning — and adding new items to this spot’s lineup of street-food-inspired hits.

2 articles

Great Wall Chinese Food

440 E. Colfax Ave. Central Denver

303-832-6611

American, Asian, Chinese

1 article

Happy Go Lucky @ Ace Eat Serve

501 E. 17th Ave. Central Denver

720-897-8002

Asian

Happy Noodle House

835 Walnut St. Boulder

303-442-3050

Asian, Restaurants, Recommended

Another good, if sometimes uneven, place from Dave Query's Big Red F restaurant group, Happy Noodle House is Boulder's entry into the noodle-shop fad -- a place where classical noodle dishes are given a light-handed fusion treatment, prettied up for company and served by a liveried staff in a room that is among the most beautiful in the city

6 articles

Japango

1136 Pearl St. Boulder

303-225-7344

Japanese, Sushi, Asian, Best Of, Menu

Japango flies in fish daily to ensure that your meal includes the freshest catch available. The gorgeously decorated, lush interior and rich, delicious food are reflected in the price tag -- but all things considered, you get what you pay for at Japango. The wine and sake lists are dynamic and affordable (and the sake is available in flights, rated for your consuming pleasure); daily specials offer plenty of options for seafood lovers (and even vegetarians, who can order a fish-free sushi plate at dinner); and the reasonably priced Bento boxes are an excellent way to enjoy an upscale dining experience at lunch without breaking the bank.

3 articles

Jason's Thai Asian Bistro

2022 S. University Blvd. South Denver

303-777-8388

Asian, Japanese, Seafood, Sushi, Best Of, Menu

Jason’s Thai Asian Bistro is a clean, updated space in an otherwise seedy South University strip mall. The comprehensive eatery offers dine-in, carry-out and delivery service, beer and wine, and an Asian fusion menu of dishes from Thailand, Japan, China and Vietnam. Starters include summer rolls and edamame, seaweed salad and miso soup, while entrees like spicy stir-fried chicken and jalapeños and sriracha beef share space with vegetarian items made with tofu and eggplant. The culinary geography changes up with tempura, lo mein and udon noodles, classics dishes like drunken noodles and pad Thai, and more Thai curries than you can shake a pair of chopsticks at.

2 articles

JJ Chinese Seafood Restaurant

2500 W. Alameda Ave. Southwest Denver

303-934-8888

Asian, Chinese, Seafood, Menu

Fish tanks flank the walls of this Alameda joint, from which the kitchen plucks specimens -- like lobster -- to turn into dinner. And to be sure, JJ's turns out some excellent seafood dishes, employing jellyfish, razor clams, squid, shrimp and scallops, all specialties of the Cantonese chef. But the massive menu at JJ's goes beyond ocean life, too, covering everything from pedestrian sesame chicken to crispy pig's intestine to duck tongue with basil in XO sauce.

10 articles

John Holly's Asian Bistro

2422 S. Downing St. South Denver

303-722-8686

Asian, Asian Fusion, Bistro, Chinese, French, Sushi, Thai, Menu

1 article

John Holly's Asian Bistro

1028 S. Gaylord St. South Denver

303-942-0158

Asian, Japanese, Sushi, Thai, Menu

3 articles

Ling & Louie's Asian Bar and Grill

8354 Northfield Blvd. East Denver

303-371-4644

Asian, Fusion, Recommended, Menu

The Denver outpost in this small chain aims squarely at the middle range of foodies, relatively adventurous eaters who want something better than Happy Meals and cheeseburgers when the family eats out. And Ling & Louie's delivers with a hip dining room and decent food that includes Americanized versions of Thai, Japanese, Cantonese, Shanghainese and even Malaysian and Vietnamese classics. Still, the kid's meal bento boxes are the coolest things on the menu.

5 articles

Little Dragon

1305 Krameria St., Unit G East Denver

303-322-2128

Asian, Chinese, Vegetarian

2 articles

Asian in Denver

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