Big Game Restaurant and Lounge

This review is for their lunch.
Sweet potato fries: nom nom. Chicken Sandwich: not so nom nom. Good apps, hot wings are spicy but not too hot, nachos are pretty tasty.

It gets too crowded for me at happy hour, but Saturday and Sunday mid-​day and brunch is my cup of tea.
the patio is pretty good, but more than 2 people and someone will be sitting in the sun — they need to move the umbrellas around!
Some interesting options on the menu that i hope to try soon — fried are pretty good (but I’m steering away from the port green chili — tummy didn’t like that) Sliders are ok but only the generic ones are worth the time and money. Lamb is just ok and the chicken parm is enh.
2 for 1 beers on Saturday and Sunday are great! Wonderful way to enjoy lunch!
Staff is mostly ok, no always the friendliest or most attentive, but they get the job done!

Nothing special, but nothing bad either.
Good food selection, good prices for happy hour.
Outdoor seating makes for good people watching on Rockies home games.
I had the pizza last time, and loved it. Might be my go to order now.

I have had nothing but great meals here. The food is phenomenal! So why only three stars you ask? Loud!
I went here on a date recently and the hockey game was on… and it was super loud… but there were only about 10 people in the place… no one watching the game. I asked the waitress to turn it down a bit but they couldn’t. That was disappointing. I understand finals and world seriesesess and Superbowl but if no one is in the place… why must it be so loud? So that is why you lost a star, BG!
On to the good stuff! The lamb burger, TO DIE FOR! The meat here is amazing and delish. I really enjoy it. Their fries are skinny and crispy and great. Drinks are pretty good (expensive but that is par for the course downtown).
I really do recommend this place… just don’t try to have an intimate conversation here…

I’ve been here several times. It is a decent meeting spot and I hear it is good on the weekends.
It seems, though, that I have not been there at their peak hours.
The concept is good as it is a sports bar/​restaurant without the budweiser signs and miller light posters. The food ranges from a burger to fancy steaks.
The bartenders and staff are friendly. I would love to review it on a big night, but destiny has not taken me there yet.
Dave

Roamed in with a friend one evening for a bite to eat.
The Big Game Burger was very tasty and cooked just perfect, med-​rare. My plate was covered in not-​so-​crunchy fries, just the way I like them. And, I got a bowl of ranch to dip them in. They had a good draft beer selection and served them in 16 or 22oz glasses. $ 60+ for a couple of burgers and a few beers was a bit much, but this is a nice restaurant.
But, I really could do without the walls of televisions. I mean, are you a sports bar, or a nice restaurant? The prices are way too steep for a sports bar and the walls of tvs are way too cheesy for a nice restaurant.

Their regular menu looked great. My husband is a vegetarian. or pescetarian if you will, so when we looked at menu we saw lots of fish in there and decided to go watch a game there. Their huge screens are awesome and all the NFL games were on so that was great. However, we didn’t know that there was a different menu for game day. This special menu is not vegetarian friendly. The only thing vegetarian was a pizza. I liked their variety of fries, and the crab fries seemed like a good idea. Well, not so much because they did not taste anything like crab. I’m not sure what the point of those fries was.
We probably won’t go back here. The only reason I would go to a place like this would be to watch a a game and well they seem to think vegetarians don’t like football.

We stopped in for a casual «get-​together» which turned into a bit of a party. This place consistently dropped the ball.
–1 Star: Cavernous with no people filling up the space. It was a FRIDAY night and it felt like a post-​apocalypse scene from a zombie movie.
–1 Star: Price of the drinks. Really? This is Denver, not Manhattan.
–1 Star: Oblivious bartender. Was befuddled by a simple order of a whiskey served «neat», had no clue what several common cocktails were, and had a bit of an attitude.
With that said, I did like the layout of the front bar area. It was intimate, had decent seating, and was great for people watching. Too bad there weren’t more people to look at.

Lot’s of exciting stuff to keep you coming back again and again.
We had the $ 35 Elk loin with mushroom sauce, it was just fantastic.
Lamb burger: you cannot believe how good lamb tastes in a burger with the fixings.
Mac-​n-​cheese and bacon: decadent treat. I’d like to make this at home.
DragonRoll: beautiful presentation of avocado-​wrapped shrimp tempura.
Graham cracker calamari: calamari was cooked and presented nicely, everyone enjoyed it, I could do without the graham cracker breading.
Mule and Saki-​tini were fun drinks that I would never turn away.
Please take me back many times to experience all of the fries on the menu!

First and foremost, the main dining area is HUGE. Their are some cool design aesthetics, like the mini booths with your own tv’s and of course the huge wall with three MASSIVE TV’s that can show games individually or all the same game. The ‘huge-​ness’ of this main room is also a downside. When I am at a sports bar, I like the feeling of being around a bunch of fans watching the big game… here, unless its packed, you won’t get that feeling.
On to the food — the menu looks amazing. A whole section devoted to different types of fries and a lot of premium bar food. Unfortunately, the food doesn’t deliver. The calamari was soggy and poorly battered and the Killer Fries only killed my stomach.
The place is also a bit pricey for a sports bar — but they have to pay for the overhead somehow.
Overall great TV’s and features, but a bit of a miss on the concept. Either be a sports bar or be a nice restaurant — don’t try both and miss a bit on both too…

Arrived at the Friday HH around 4:30 and the place was pretty dead. It was the first brush of cold weather in Denver so Big Game’s warm and toasty temperature was appealing although K classified it as hot. The interior has the standard upscale Lodo design feel except for the slightly creepy use of antlers framing the doorway between bar and dining areas.
There is a selection of $ 3 draft beers and $ 4 glasses of wine for HH. (Note to McCormick’s: Another example where pricing your HH beer to match your Lodo peers does not mean you should charge $ 5 for a Coors Light draft.) We sampled the California roll — six pieces of maki equal in the fresh quality to Whole Foods sushi which I think is the best supermarket sushi in Denver. We also had the margherita thin crust pizza served on a wooden board. Mozzarella was not fresh, but it met the usual pizza standards. We also sampled the chicken parm and the regular sliders. The chicken parmesan sliders were on the verge of burnt as if the salmander were on just a little too high or it was almost forgotten in the oven. Fortunately, the chicken didn’t taste burnt but the bite was a bit salty. K thought the beef slider was good.
Service was excellent. Friendly barkeep and food came out quickly. By the time we left around 5:30 or 6:00, the bar was filling up a bit more. If I actually stayed out late at night, I’d check out the late-​night HH which had an expanded food menu including loaded fries.

I have been to Big Game for cocktails on several occasions and decided it’s a horrible place for that. But the dinner I had was AWESOME.
I’ll start off with the ugly so that I can finish feeling good about my self by talking this place up.
The UGLY: I ordered a mimosa once and it came in a teeny weeny little glass that was gone after two sips. WTF? I paid $ 8 bucks for that! I forgot about this and ordered a champagne and St. Germain drink for my gf and as soon as they came around the corner with that teeny-​weeny glass dixie cup, I immediately kicked my self. And sure enough, the GF picked it up, looked at it, looked at me and whispered, «WHAT THE F*CK»??? How much did this cost???”.
Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me. Let me give you this one simple tip: Never… EVER… order one of their champagne drinks.
OK something positive: For an appetizer we ordered the grilled artichoke. Holy dang, that was THE BEST artichoke I have ever had. Didn’t even need the creamy butter sauce that you find at most weddings that they served it with.
We shared the iceburg wedge salad. BEST EVER.
For dinner, the lady ordered curry mussels and they were great. I went big and ordered the 14oz NY Strip, rare, of course! Here’s another tip: they put a big glob of butter on the steaks when cooking. After a lot of learning the hard way, I now know to ask for «no butter on the steaks» whenever I order one at a restaurant. I know this is personal preference, but to me, that’s just crazy. The steak is awesome on it’s own. Ask them to cook your steak with no butter. I just like a little salt and pepper. That’s it. It was a PERFECT steak. They also have «gourmet sauces» for your steak. Well if you don’t appreciate the taste of a nice steak on it’s own, you can cover it up with the flavor of a sauce. I passed on that.
I also had their smoked onion mashed potatoes which complimented my steak perfectly. But I wish they’d add a baked potato to their menu. Should be a no-​brainer for any steakhouse. Maybe they are just too hipster for that.
The ambiance is great. Love the way it smells inside.
So I say go, just don’t let them rape you on drinks.

Came for the Poutine, which is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy and sometimes additional ingredients.
The Poutine was great and if that is why you came here, I’m sure you already knew that.
I love the lounge feel and the open space inside.

First off, the only reason this place is not getting one star is because the food was actually pretty decent. We had the chili cheese fries which were above average, and the watermelon ceviche, which was not bad, despite the copious amounts of garlic. .. . too much for my taste.
The giant screens are cool, the prices are decent, here is where my experience at Big Game went bad: Sunday afternoon, enjoying football games, having some drinks. Then a family comes in with three kids, takes over an area up front and sets their kids up at one of the Wii Stations to play some kids game. The kids are typical. .. . noisy and annoying, they turn the volume up all the way on the tv. Which in my mind is inappropriate and distracting if you’re watching a football game. We asked the hostess to see if they could turn the volume down, she spoke to her manager but nothing happened. We decided to close out our tab and leave, enough was enough.
Here’s the twist: On our way out we spoke to the manager to convey our misgivings with the establishment. She informed us that these were the owners children, and not only was this a difficult position for her, but also that it was a noisy place anyways and we should just deal with it.
Pretty weak, for all parties involved. If I wanted kids and video games, I could have gone to Casa Bonita or Chucky Cheese. Instead I paid good money to deal with some owner’s brat kids. A shame too, cause I would have otherwise talked this place up. That said I will never return to this place, and will be sure to tell every person I know about my experience. I live/​work downtown, and there are plenty of other places to go. Highly unprofessional on the owners behalf. .. . new money?

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my, this a HUGE place!
To continue the party after the most recent elite event, me and a few other Unilocalers headed over to Big Game for some much needed liquor and discussion!
1^st impressions:
1. Liked the biiiiig room full of tables, chairs, fireplaces, tv’s and windows.
2. enjoyed the fresh night air with the windows open :)
3.The berry mojito. YUM-​O!
4. Wasn’t a fan of the waitress’s. very slow and kind of skanky!
5. miscommunication between staff and customers on happy hour times and specials (got drinks for $ 5 at the bar but sat down outside the bar and got them for $ 10…hmmm.)
overall, interesting to say the least and might venture back to try to food :)

Another Unilocaler given the boot from the last Unilocal Elite event here, not that I’m entirely complaining. I mean, sure, we didn’t get a full 5-​course meal, but we were introduced to this place. Square deal!
The Big Game itself seems to have an identity problem going on. Are they a swanky downtown nightclub/​sportsbar? A rustic game restaurant? Generic upscale food and drink spot? I certainly couldn’t tell, but hopefully they’ve overcome their identity crisis by my next visit. As for the food, I very much enjoyed it! The food here pretty much embodied all of the things I miss about living in the city. Good charcuterie, an OK raw bar, and hearty entrees. Not the best I’ve ever had, but the selection and quality came together very well. 4 stars!

I went to the big game the other day for UFC 116. It was a great fight. I was very excited to see that the Big Game had the fight on their 31 foot screen for free. I had some wings and they were pretty good. The on tap beer selection was mostly wheat beers, I do not like wheat beer so I was a little disappointed. I prefer beer on tap over a bottle.
I would highly recommend a reservation as the bar area is pretty small and the big TV is in the dinning area. The service was great and I like the game theme of the bar.
I will expand this review after I have had a full meal here.

Been here a few times now — once for a quick dinner, once for a few beers on the patio, and once to view the first USA game of the World Cup. So far I’ve enjoyed my experience each time I’ve been here and have had great service with Bryce as our server (all 3 times now).
Great selection of beer on tap — Rogue Dead Guy, Great Divide Espresso Yeti, among others. As far as food goes, I highly recommend the burgers and sweet potato fries. Stay clear of the fish and chips as they pretty much are undercooked and have zero flavor (ick).
Since this is a new establishment they do have some kinks to work out as a sports bar if they want to have a successful football season. When we came here for the USA game they were understaffed and ran out of one of our favorite beers on tap. It seems they do take reservations for events though, so thats something to keep in mind as they have a ton of screens to watch from.

The décor is gorgeous — def. amongst the classiest of sports bars. I was expecting the prices to be a lot higher considering the elegance and comfort of this cavernous bar /​restaurant /​lounge.
The happy hours (3−6pm and then 10pm — close) here are KILLER. Deliciously strong berry mojitos, margaritas, and moscow mules (ginger beer + vodka, served in copper cups) are only $ 5 each! Beers/​wine for $ 4, and delicious munchies from $ 2 — $ 5 (sliders, fries, wings, MASSIVE flatbreads (more like pizzas, really), fried pickles, etc.) We tried a diverse spread and were impressed with how delicious everything was
Also, waitstaff will ask you if you’d like free access to their PS3s or Wiis (just have to hand over your ID). SICK!
Stuff that can be improved: This place was pretty dead for ~11pm on a Sat night. They should transition from a sports bar to a «regular» super-​swank, upscale bar, maybe open the floor to dancing. It seems like they could do a ton with all the space — just turn off those gigantic TVs in the late night! On a return visit, the space up front was hoppin a hit with the late night happy hour but the main dining area again was dead (We pretty much had the place to ourselves). Yeah, the bathroom didn’t cause me to tear up in awe of its beauty. But it was clean. Such is life.

Too much to read? Here’s the quick and dirty:
You need to go here, NOW, for the incredible food as well as the amazing renovations that created the beautiful bar that will be the next best happy hour in Denver.
For those of you reading for more deets, eat your heart out:
You have two kinds of sports bars, one that thinks it is a sports bar because it has a TV in the middle of the bar, and the other that is the kind of place that encourages drinking as many beers as possible before running to the bathroom while 100 college freshmen cheer you on.
The Big Game is an entirely different animal. A friend and I were treated to a meal here after meeting one of the «big guys» at the Cruise Room. Never one to let my fellow Unilocalers out of a review, we took one for the team. We tried our best to not run them dry, but when we got there, met the staff and looked at the menu we knew we were goners.
Settling in for a long night is not a difficult task here. TVs line every wall, smaller plasma screens are available at booths, allowing you to choose the channel, XBOX and other games are available for friendly competition, you just can’t lose with this place. Sure to please both men and women, the place is both manly and intimate, seductive and sexy. An enormous fireplace lines one wall and the bar is in a separate room, allowing diners and bar goers two very different experiences.
The menu is another show stopper. It’s not just your usual burgers and beers… they have them, but man do you get one helluva choice. We tried the happy hour menu first, huge portions, great drink selections and each item under $ 6– I will be visiting again for happy hour, including the late night one from 10-​midnight.
The dinner menu was a thing of beauty; amazing flavors, succulent cuts of meat, perfect sauces, great portion sizes (not too big, not too small). I would recommend trying the hangar steak and the watermelon ahi ceviche. We did have the lamb chop but I wasn’t as thrilled with it as I was the steak. For the side: mac and cheese– which to my disappointment was not what I expected. Just a little bland and dull.
All in all, this is a place that I want to take my dad and brother as I know it is right up their alley. It is also the kind of place that I want my next girl’s night to be at as it is just swanky enough to warrant my favorite pair of heels but not too over the top to turn my comfy flip flops away.
I have no doubt that this will be one of the newer hot spots this summer, let’s just hope the «big guys» let us in past the line that is sure to be going around the building.
Why the four stars if I am enamored?
See the mac and cheese reference and the bathrooms are a huge let down. Might sound too harsh but you’ll know what I mean if you picture a lavish mansion where everything is perfect, relaxing and beautiful and you’re directed to the bathroom down the street at the local gas station.
I’ll overlook it all though, as I expect great things from this place!