Black Pearl Restaurant

Don’t bother going to the Black Pearl. The food is awful and service is barely at par. Avoid disappointment and go somewhere else.
The spring lettuce salad tasted of unwashed grit and the lettuce was a day or two past its prime. The mussels and frites tasted fishy to the point that someone at the table said «i hope we don’t get sick from that dish».
Um…not exactly the reaction you hope for when dining out!
The bread was the crumbly, flavorless cheap loaf that tastes like nothing that you find in the Kroger bakery aisle.
Management responded with a shrug when we politely flagged them on the low quality of the food.

Me n bf went to black pearl for brunch last Sunday. It was the worst brunch experience for us, service was good, however, the food was awful. I ordered the kp skillet and my bf ordered the burrito. The kp skillet was really oily and no taste. Burrito was not oily but no taste. It isn’t worth the money. Will never come back.

I’m giving four stars because of the service and how we were treated. Management was AWESOME! My meal wasn’t to my liking, not because it tasted bad, just not what I intended. I ate about a fourth. Was going to pay for it and not send it back. I ordered it, right? Like I said, It wasn’t bad, I just didn’t like the taste. My friend had an amazing fish dish, she highly recommends. Anyway, the staff noticed I didn’t eat much and Manager was right out to see what was wrong. I explained that it wasn’t the food, just my taste. She offered to give me a new meal, I declined. Bought me a drink with apologies. End of the day, Service Rocked!!!, Will go back, Thank you for a great experience:)

This was our first time trying the restaurant — and the experience was not a good one.
Out of the four of us, three had issues with the food.
The «extra cost» green chili for the burrito was pretty much water with a green color and some pork pieces.
The BP skillet was delivered to the table and the eggs had a hard dry film on them (see the video) and the skillet itself was dry. It was like it had been under a heat lamp way too long and should have never left the kitchen — especially since it was visibly disgusting.
The oatmeal came out without the fruit or maple syrup — we had to point out several times that it came with those items before they were delivered.
We had ordered the frites as an appetizer — the garlic aioli sounded good — but had to request the aioli as it was not delivered with the frites. The frites were ok, but there seemed to be a large amount of them that were in the ¹⁄₈ inch length range (as if they had been chopped up) — not a good length for dipping.
The manager did comp our meal and apologized profusely. The person sitting close to me (not in our party) had the BP skillet and it looked much better. But from the experience, it will not be a place we visit for brunch again with so many places that have great food and service in the area.

UGGGHHH! I booked a reservation on Open Table months before my husband’s 40^th birthday. We arrived yesterday to start the celebration and the restaurant was closed. WTFudge??? It just so happened that a manger was sitting at the bar and saw us standing outside looking perplexed. He opened the door and started a conversation with us. After I literally showed him our reservation on Open Table’s phone app, he tells me that they have been closed for months on Mondays and Tuesdays so he wasn’t sure how the reservation got made in the system. He did offer to buy us a glass of wine but it was 715pm and we were starving so we left. I have a 50.00 dining credit with open table for the black pearl. I believe someone is going to bet that for a gift because I won’t be going back.

We are the proud owners of the Denver Passport book and Black Pearl is one of the restaurants featured in there. We ventured to Black Pearl for brunch last Sunday and dooood… it was good!
Black Pearl is right on South Pearl street so it is a perfect Sunday brunch spot if you are venturing to the farmers market! It wasn’t all that busy we got there so we found seats at the bar right away. The bar is large and kind of funky shaped. It takes up one whole room (my kind of place!).
There is a decent sized patio and an adjacent dining room. The place felt open and bright because the entryway to the patio was wide open.
The bartenders were really nice. They filled our bottomless mimosas right away and made sure it lived up to it’s name! They also told us that they have a brand new executive chef so their menu has recently changed.
Their menu selection is small but creative. Really who needs a 7 page menu? I like the idea of a small selection because then they are focusing on the quality of the dishes and not the sheer quantity.
Jeff had the biscuits and gravy and of course a side of sausage. The sausage is house made, always a a plus, and link style. It was scrumptious. Paired with the gravy and cheddar biscuits, I had a little food envy going on. It was a big portion and Jeff wasn’t able to finish it off.
I had the omelet of the day because a girl needs her eggs. It was spinach, feta and tomato. The first thing I noticed when the meal came out was the actual normal portion size of the food. The omelet was not as big as my arm, the potatoes were the amount a normal person would eat and there was a slice of of toast.
Please don’t take this as complaining. I was thrilled with the normal portion! Growing up in my family the clean plate club was a very real thing and as an adult it’s a hard habit to break. Most restaurants plate enough to feed a small country and I always feel obliged to try and clean my plate. I love the fact that I had a great breakfast and wasn’t ready to roll into the corner in a food coma afterwards.
The omelet tasted very fresh, the potatoes were crisp and the bread fresh and warm. Good stuffs.
We were really impressed with the food and service and made an immediate plan to come back for dinner some night very soon

The chefs omelet was small and cold, with maybe ½ cup of hash browns. No option for wheat toast either. The presentation on the plate for the omelet and the burrito were below average. Very empty. And the staff seems sleepy — they don’t want to be here. Finally, it was over priced. Id recommend a different brunch joint.

Stopped in on Sunday for dinner and happy hour. The happy hour drinks were a great deal, as they are all half off, but the limited happy hour food, of only oysters, was a little disappointing. Our visit was colored by a distracted/​careless waitress, and a 40 min wait for our food. We were there at 5pm and the wait should not have been that long. For dinner, I got the Strip Steak and my fiancé got the lamb. Once the food arrived, we both felt the food was so-​so. For a $ 31 steak, I thought it should have at least come with a green veggie.
Overall, not a bad experience, but certainly not a great one. With so many options in Denver, we won’t rush to come back.

I and my friends needed a break! So hungry that time so we brainstormed the place to where we’re going to eat. We drove along, still undecided, cuz no one gave a suggestive place to dine. It took a while till Mica turned the car and stopped here at Black Pearl Restaurant. Heard this place but never dined here! Classical brick-​walls structure, plain chairs and tables design and elegant spacing and attractive interior facility motif.
A bit busy at that time since it’s busy hour. We took a seat and a serviceman approached us, greeted us and asked us our order. We gave the dished we wanted and then he proceeded.
We talked to kill the time and hide our hunger tummies! We waited actually for about 20 minutes until our food arrived.
Steak salad with onions, tomatoes, and leafy salad meaty lamb with cheese burger and long cut fries! Melted mac ‘n cheese for my dessert! It was a perfect meal to suffice and satisfy my hunger!
It’s exceptional place here! Never have to regret! Very Suggestive!

We stopped in during restaurant week in Denver. We had a new server and he was still learning the ropes. Food had good flavor and I had heard great things from friends who knew the chef.

Super disappointed. We came here with friends for Denver restaurant week, and after paying $ 100 each including drinks, we were still hungry! We went to sexy pizza down the road for some real food.
What we had was delicious, but you sure didn’t get much of it! I think my dessert was bigger than my entrée. I understand that Denver restaurant week is meant to be a sample of some of Denver’s finer restaurants — and a sample is exactly what we got. But to leave people hungry is a poor effort on their part. The overhead on food in general is ridiculous, black pearl could have really afforded to serve more. This attempt to bring people back failed, we won’t be back.
Service: good, friendly, quick to refill our water. Although when clearing plates had no shame asking me to pass mine over so they didn’t have to try and squeeze between tables (I’m no snob but when you charge silly amounts for food I want meticulous service) and after losing our knives to our appetisers, had to ask for some with our entrees.
Food: for appetisers I had the lamb arancini, it was nice, not much lamb in it, hard as rock carrot slivers on the side and just 1 arancini ball. My hubby got the vegetable napolean, said it was very good too.
For entrée I got the squid ink pasta with lobster emulsion. No lobster taste whatsoever but was nice otherwise. My hubby got the lamb t-​bone. It was delicious! The Yorkshire pudding was missing gravy though. One of our friends had the malfatti, she said delicious but tiny.
Dessert was the choice between and orange chocolate blondie and a pear caramel pistachio tarte tatin. The were both great and larger than expected after the first two courses.

Black Pearl is an ideal place for weekend brunch, perhaps after a stroll in Washington Park?! They were fairly busy when we walked in but everybody that worked there was very accommodating, you could not have asked for more friendly staff. If they were annoyed by our photo taking (it was our group get together occasion and we were excited!) they surely did not show and were all smiles when they accidentally photobombed, lol.
The food is exactly what you would expect from a place like this. I adored my Tortilla Espanola (Spanish Tortilla, kind of like a crustless quiche, so good!) and thought it was the best looking dish of the table! :-) Hubby’s Duck Rueben sounded really special but I tried a bite and the duck meat was overly salty. Our friends all seemed to enjoy their dishes!
Parking shouldn’t be a problem, we easily found a spot on the street. The place is kinda chic with a little upstairs area, and the restroom was clean. 3.5 stars (closer to 4!)

Nice place for brunch in the heart of Wash Park — cozy, intimate, nicely lit… and bottomless mimosas :) Recommend the «Tomatillo Bennedict» …really unique benedict; chili hollandaise, perfectly poached egg, all atop roasted tomatillos… super tasty and served with a side of home fries…
Only issue with all of our plates ordered: presentation — while we all enjoyed our food, the presentation lacked anything special — garnishes, color, anything… other than that, we all had a great experience… wasn’t very busy, probably due to being 10am Saturday after holiday parties on a Friday night?
Service was commendable, and I’d like to come back some time and try their other menus…

I introduced my wife to Black Pearl a few years ago… she has been in love with this place ever since! Great food, service, hospitality etc! Owner, chef and staff are amazing.
#CFITS

After buying a heft portion of veggies from the Pearl St Farmer’s Market, my wife, buddy and I stumbled into Black Pearl for some brunch action. The wait was about 15 mins which was not terrible considering the crowds at the market. Given that is was pretty darn hot, it felt great to sit inside at the bar that still offers some fresh air. We decided to indulge in the $ 10 bottomless brunch (with purchase of an entrée). They even let us use our 241 entrée deal from our passport.
I had the farmer’s breakfast that features some exotic looking and colored carrots and beets paired with the best breakfast potatoes I have had in a while. Generally, I am not a big fan of home fries or big chunks of not crispy or inconsistently cooked taters. These were all nice crunchy crispy cubes that paired perfectly with the my eggs and the other veggies. I had a side of their house made ketchup which was also delicious. They didn’t try to do anything fancy with the condiment, which I greatly appreciated. Service was 3 star, fine but nothing special. We will be back!
Pictured is my wife’s chilaquiles. That was incredible. It was very rich however. I think I enjoyed it more since I just had a few bites. She said it was too «one note» and could benefit from a side salad or something with acid or citrus to balance the flavors out

We ordered the square breakfast and the scrap burger with orange juice. Both dishes were very average. The bacon had a sweetness to it and a great texture… crispy on the outside with a meaty bite to it. The orange juice was ok… it was Tropicana brand. I prefer fresh-​squeezed orange juice at a restaurant like this.
We sat at the bar and our server was great, very friendly, attentive, and social.
Also, the ambiance was great! The restaurant is very hip, clean, fresh with an open feel to it as the inside expands out to a nice outdoor patio.
Note that the menu is not gluten-​free friendly at all! I had to break my gluten-​free diet here a bit, because there were NO options… bummer :/

Went for dinner with my sister since I had a voucher that was going to expire. Made reservation on OpenTable and were immediately seated when we arrived. More people started showing up about 45 minutes later, so they place was pretty full.
We started off with the calamari appetizer (tossed with sweet soy toasted garlic sauce,
scallions and pistachios). This was my favorite. Am used to having calamari in rings but this was much better because it used the meatier portion of the squid.
We then ordered the Alamosa Striped Bass (pineapple miso consommé, fiddlehead ferns, wild mushrooms), and the Scallops Special. Both were very tasty and a very good portion.
We ended the meal with their special dessert of the day, but it wasn’t as tasty as it looked.
Street parking was plentiful that day and its located in a nice neighborhood.

This place has a great bar and bar menu. I came with the Denver passport and ordered the manhattan and aviation with some popcorn. The popcorn of the day was bacon and chive, fresh chives. We just chilled at the bar and the bartender was attentive and nice and not overbearing. It wasn’t that busy and wasn’t very loud. The manhattan was pretty strong. The aviation was really good, it was my first one and I love the crème de violette in the cocktail, makes it look so pretty. The lighting makes this a nice place for a date, a first date would even work here. They have a fire pit out in the front too.
I would like to try their brunch as well. Adding this place to my list for when I need a drink.

This would probably be 3.5 in my book. The food was all well plated and beautiful but overall the flavors just weren’t there.
We got the Brussel sprouts, which are fantastic, highly recommend these. They are spicy and sweet and ultra crunchy. We ordered a boring salad and the winter salad, both seemed extremely salty (or overly bitter for arugula). Next we ordered the churrasco steak, nothing fancy and the chimichurri sauce was lacking in flavor. The flat iron steak was a little tough. We also ordered the venison and while the flavors were good the meat was tough and extremely fatty. There were maybe collard greens on the plate (not sure what they were) but it was so overly salted to the point of being inedible.
I’ve read a lot of great reviews for this restaurant but for brunch, I will be giving that a shot. The atmosphere and design of black pearl are all on point, it’s just the food that is lacking.

Simply average with some execution issues.
I choose the Black Pearl out of all the restaurants for Denver Restaurant week because of their creative menu and the fact that they had Paella on the menu (one of my all time favorite dishes that is often hard to find). Sadly, I was disappointed with my experience.
Restaurants that participate in restaurant week should use it as an opportunity to showcase how amazing they are, convincing me to return. After my experience I feel as though it would have been wiser to order from the regular menu.
I hate to give poor reviews of local restaurants, but I hope the chefs and managers take the time to read reviews and suggestions so they can improve and succeed (we don’t need another chain restaurant on the block).
Formaggio Salad: loved the concept with the four types of cheeses served with micro greens and a raspberry vinaigrette. The salad portion was quite skimpy, however, and it needed salt to make the cheese shine.
Paella: flavor was good and ample portion of sausage and rock shrimp. I chose this restaurant for this dish and although the flavor was good (for a stew) it was not a paella. It was more of a broth soup with items added, not the traditional paella that is creamy, crispy, and bursting with flavor. The one clam in the bowl was fishy, the rice was undercooked, and the potatoes were hard and stale. It wasn’t terrible but I longed for a real paella.
My husband enjoyed his Beef Medallions. Cooked perfectly. The green beans also cooked well and the potatoes croquettes were creative (saffron flavor wasn’t needed/didn’t mesh with the beef though, he said).
Coconut Cream Cake: honestly not good at all. The «espresso» cake had absolutely no flavor and was dry, with no hint of espresso whatsoever. The coconut custard on top was soft and creamy but also had virtually no flavor. We only had a few bites.
Vanilla Gelato BonBon: well done on this dessert, simple but tasty. It seemed like the gelato was rolled in a type of nut (chopped hazelnuts, perhaps) before being dipped in chocolate. Paired well with the white chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis.
I enjoyed the ambiance at sitting on the patio next to the fire pit. The wine by the glass list, for red wine, left much to be desired but the generous pour size was appreciated for the $ 10 price. They also had many creative, tasty looking cocktails.