Arugula Bar E Ristorante

I’ve been here for lunch a few times. Meals are well presented and portions are fair. Service is quite good. It’s a smidge on the pricey side, especially for a restaurant in a strip center. However, it’s nice to find a place in Boulder that focuses on serving great healthy and tasty meals, instead of being tragically hip. This will continue to be my go-​to lunch place for special occasions.

Refreshing to find a place in Boulder these days that is not pretentious, super friendly staff, great food, at reasonable prices.
Butternut Squash Gnocchi alone is worth the visit. Their Kale salad was nice and fresh.
Overall a great option for dinner in Boulder with easy parking to boot!

Overall a great experience. The tomato soup, butternut squash soup, fish stew, and pork tenderloin were all tasty. The only downside was the poor presentation of the tenderloin but didn’t detract from the taste.

Several things we appreciate about this place.
They have a lot of gluten free options. Even though they are not known locally to be a gluten free Resturant.
In addition, gluten free is clearly noted on the menu. Nice touch.
However, the big draw for me is the coconut cake with buttercream frosting. OMG. I’m not a big dessert eater, but I would go back just for that.
And finally the servers are very knowledgable about each dish. Every server we’ve had knew their product.
One final thing is their music isn’t too loud like most places so you can still have a conversation.

My family and I enjoyed a delicious meal here midweek on our vacation.
We showed up early for our reservation and they promptly sat us. Water was poured and refilled often. While it took a while for our waiter to greet our table and take our drink orders, our fold arrived quickly and was scrumptious.
I ordered the gnocchi with pork cheeks and it was delicious, albeit a little on the salty side.
Everyone else at my table fully enjoyed their meal and there subsequent desserts.
The meal and experience was great and o would recommend this restaurant to anyone who asks.

Had a horrible dining experience here last night. We waited over half an hour just to get some attention from our waitress and get a basket of bread (they forgot the olive oil for another 10 minutes). Our meal wasn’t served to us for over an hour. The food itself was horrible. We ordered the fettucine with roasted tomatoes in an herb broth. Every single noodle was broken into tiny pieces, as if they were leftovers (like the pieces you throw out). And the sauce itself was so tart, it made us pucker up. Seemed like something was wrong with the recipe. Really a bad meal. When we complained to the waitress about how long we’d been waiting she said to just sit enjoy the beautiful evening! She was very snarky and I didn’t appreciate her attitude. Next time we’ll go to Murphy’s!

I’m glad I waiting a few years to write my review for Arugula because the wait was worth it! I’ve been to Arugula twice before in the past and both times were not very memorable. I went last night and was blown away! Everything was amazing! My mixed green salad tasted like it was picked from someone’s garden and then put directly on my plate. It was so delicious. I had the duck confit which was also great. The tiramisu and coconut cake were to die for! And, I had to order some coffee with dessert because other folks were ordering the coffee and it smelled heavenly. The coffee was amazing. I’m not sure which coffee they serve, but it was divine.
So glad I gave Arugula another chance because it was well worth it!

Exquisitely balanced meals have I had here. I don’t usually talk about food at dinner but here I was engrossed in tasting and talking about the depth and balance of the flavors and textures. The smoked trout salad and the key lime cheese cake were wow.

We were there for a private party. The food was excellent, and the service attentive and friendly. They cheerfully accommodated some special dietary needs. Will definitely return for dinner!

This is an expensive restaurant. All I could taste was salt. Over salted asparagus, over salted salad (how did that happen?) And then black licorice flavored quinoa… that should have a warning… not everyone likes licorice flavored meals.

I seriously do not get why people seem to like this place. Its sister restaurant is Tangerine which I love, but Arugula has been a flop on all 4 occasions. I’m never going back — it’s just a waste of money.
Food on the menu is frequently not available as they’ve sold out already. Which then means you have to pick from incredibly unappetizing dishes like sturgeon and fig, which was just as disgusting as it sounds and cold.
Dishes are not filling or worth the price tag.
Servers were pretentious to the point of not being helpful. I’ve sat there waiting to order, waiting to get more water, waiting and waiting for the check even after flagging them down… & watch out if they sell out of things they’ll recommend the least popular item on the menu.
They even messed up a gift certificate someone gave us to go there, so we had to go there again just to use it. Ugh.

Out of the 3 or 4 times my wife and I have been to Arugula we’ve never had a bad experience but last night was probably one of the best ever.
The food (gnocchi, tagliatelle, soup and calamari) was excellent. From their good selection of favorably priced wines we found a good bottle. And we had a great server who was always there right when needed and never when not.
We will definitely be back.

Lovely way to spend a Monday evening. Pleasant ambience. View of The Flatirons. Without hesitation, our server brought me complimentary champagne that was quite good, and I’ve tasted very few I’ve liked. Delicious mushroom* appetizer that I could have eaten as my main course. Delightful fresh mixed green salad with white balsamic vinaigrette. Incredible roasted vegetables and stuffed pepper. In a word: delicious. Would enjoy this kind of food almost every night. Fine wine. Attentive service, especially considering we had a table of seven. Very kind and warm-​hearted server who was patient with children. Didn’t seem to mind that three of us had been in Rocky Mountain National Park. Needless to say, we had wind-​blown hair and were dressed casually.
*They regularly buy from local purveyors, and you know I love that.

Went for a private party.
I have no idea what food and wine cost.
The food and service were excellent.

I ate here the other night and let me tell you that it was delicious food.
Even though it is located in a small strip shopping center, a hidden gem, when you do find it you will keep going back.
They do have outside seating but it is a long the parking lot but you really don’t notice because it is very Italian style with lots of potted plants hiding the parking lot. The service and food is so good you won’t even care.
The corn chowder soup is out-​of-​this world. We asked the waiter for two quart size to take home and at the end of the night after leaving the restaurant we realized we didn’t receive the soup to go. Well, we think the waiter thought we were joking about the take away soup…:(We’ll just have to go back to get more.
My entrée was a lamb belly. I have never had lamb belly but it looked so good I had to order it. I was not disappointed. Just beware if you don’t like pork belly you won’t care for the lamb belly. I say this because it is the same texture and fatty as pork belly but was nice and crispy. No it’s not like pork rinds it is prepared just like a nice pork belly.
To complete the night I ordered the gluten free coconut cake. OMG… it too was excellent.
Overall, the entire evening was great and I will make this place one of my regular places to dine when in Boulder.
Oh…almost forgot… they also have a great wine list.

Food was very good. Some very innovative tasty specials. Unfortunately the service was horrible.
We arrived early in the evening and there was one other couple seated. We were promptly given a table and it took a few minutes for our server to come over. We ordered drinks… and waited close to 10 minutes for them. We watched the bartender chatting with others… but not making our drinks. When we finally got them we placed out order.
The food came out in a reasonable time. And was delicious. As we ate a few more people came in. As more tables were filled service got increasingly spotty. Quite some time after we finished entrees a bus boy finally showed up and cleared plates and asked of we wanted dessert menus. We heard good things about dessert and said we like see menus. He never came back. Our server was at wait stand… talking, and putting stuff in computer. Over 10 minutes later she came to us with dessert menus. We declined and got the check.
We don’t mind slower service when a place is busy. But when staff talk instead of work, or disappear… it’s just irritating and puts a damper on the dinner.
We’d love to go back as we enjoyed the food… just not sure if we’d put up with the service again…

First time I’ve been here and I was not disappointed. I was able to go try many things because I came with a large group of colleagues, and just about everything was spectacular down to the wine!
We had the mushrooms, mozzarella, beet carpaccio, and olives to start. Mushrooms were my jam, but the beets were out of this world. For secondi, a brilliantly constructed gnocchi with perfect duck confit. Others at the table ordered the Colorado lamb, the pork chop and the steak. All looked and tasted incredible.
The one thing I thought could use a bit of work was the dessert menu. Although my flour less chocolate cake did have the perfect blend of flavors, 9 dollars was a bit unreasonable.
Just great overall service as well. Professional wait staff that really deserved a hearty thank you by the end of it.

I really enjoyed eating at Arugula but expected just a bit more than I got.
Service is top attentive while the ambiance is casually inviting.
The menu is a creative mix of healthy Italian options.
The app was a tasty mozzarella/​basil dish that warmed me up for the entrée.
I had a fantastic shrimp pasta dish that was cooked perfectly and oh so luscious.
Overall a quality dining experience but I never had my «wow» moment for anything in particular.
I am however excited to go back and see if i get my «wow» moment.

There are so many things that were SO GOOD about this place and definitely a few more that just missed the mark. I’d say 3 stars is fair.
Our waiter was very friendly and attentive, bordering on maybe a little TOO attentive. I’d rather have that than the waiter that disappears for an hour but we were there celebrating my birthday and if they weren’t filling up our ¾ full waters (whyyyyyyy?), they were checking in every 4 minutes about ordering/how’s the food/​can I get you anything else. It was a bit much. Didn’t allow for a nice, relaxing conversation is all I’m saying. Pick your battles, I guess.
Décor — they have some really fun and quirky art pieces on the walls made mostly with wine accessories (corkscrews and whatnot). The only thing it was missing was some of those acoustic boards. You can kind of hear E-​V-​E-​R-​Y-​T-​H-​I-​N-​G everyone is saying since there’s really nothing to absorb some of that sound.
The food though! Oh my gosh. So we started off with the soup special of the day which was corn butternut squash bisque topped with a nice aioli. Good heavens! We shared the bowl and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish we would have gotten our own. Yowza. We also got the mozzarella heirloom tomato appetizer. It came with a little bit of fresh basil and charred toast — TO DIE FOR. Those tomatoes… I’ll dream about them forever. For an entrée I got the handmade potato gnocchi with pears, gorgonzola and almonds and I added sausage. The sausage I didn’t care for — I think it had fennel seeds and I can’t stand them — but I won’t count it against the dish as a whole. The original dish by itself without the sausage was divine. The gnocchi was the perfect texture; just soft and chewy enough without being mushy and falling apart. I just really really liked it. The boyfriend got the seafood stew — a bouillabasse. The flavor was good but there were a few things that just weren’t…great. The mussels were grainy and very tough, and the scallops were a bit rubbery. Obviously stewed seafood is going to be different than a seared scallop but it was a little off-​putting.
Lastly — and this is the thing that really burst my bubble — was that when I asked for a box for the ½ of my meal that I couldn’t finish, they took my plate away (I assumed to box it up in the back) BUT THEY NEVER BROUGHT IT BACK. We didn’t realize until we were half way home. Oh come on. We’re not the only ones ever to have forgotten our leftovers, right?! But seriously! That was a $ 21 meal that I wasn’t able to finish because no one ever came back. GAAAAHHHH. I probably should have called but I felt dumb for not remembering to ask before we left. Either way, that was a real disappointment and I’m still a little mad about it a week later…

My honey surprised me by taking me out to Arugula’s last night on a beautiful evening for a drive to Boulder. And what a treat it was.
Interesting takes on healthy, creative, and delicious new Italian cuisine.
Sweet and efficient server made some excellent suggestions (the mushrooms with peppers and truffled ricotta was an amazing first course, and the salad of arugula, strawberries, goat cheese and hazelnuts was absolutely delightful). Had the duck three ways for my entrée and it was spectacular, as were my baby’s lamb chops. Finished the meal off with their flourless chocolate cake. A great decision.
All in all, the meal could not have been better (and the ’09 bottle of Boroli Nebbiolo and Barbera blend was a fine deal at under $ 45/​btl, and went perfectly with our food).
So dear Boulder, while it isn’t frequently that we get a visa to travel to your lovely country, the next time we’re into making the trip to the Land of Oz for delicious eats, we’ll be hitting up Arugula’s again.