Acorn is at the top of many lists for best restaurants in Denver and a reservation is a definite must. The road outside the restaurant is under construction but to make up for the inconvenience they do free valet parking. The restaurant is in a big old brick warehouse where several other restaurants and shops also do business. We were taken to the 2nd floor and given a table in the middle of the small space. The menu has a section of small plates to share as well as a small section of very large courses to share. We decided on 7 dishes for our table of 4 people and this turned out to be perfect, and left a bit of room for dessert. During the meal our waiters were attentive and their movements seemed like a specially choreographed dance, clearing plates and silverware and bringing new along with the next delightful bit of our meal. The first dish was Pimento cheese and was my absolute favorite. It came with a small jar of pimento cheese topped with roasted anaheim pepper, bacon jam, and served with insanely delicious grilled bread. The combination of the perfectly toasted bread along with the cheese was heavenly.  The waiters were kind enough to bring more bread when they saw that we’d inhaled the bread yet still had more cheese with nowhere to spread it (perhaps they sensed that I was getting ready to slather it onto my plate and lick it off). The next course was coal roasted beets, basically a beet salad, that was surprisingly tasty, especially considering I’m not normally a fan of beets at all. It had goat cheese, arugula, carmelized dried dates, and radicchio.The dressing had just the right amount of tanginess and the veggies were shredded and curled (not sure how just know it gave it a nice texture and the taste was just right). The wood fired baby yams were not as fabulous as I’d hoped since I’m a huge fan of all things yam. This dish came with cashew, sesame, mandarin, sherry, and puréed yams. The meatballs were lackluster and tasted like, well, like meatballs. No pizazz, no umph, just meatballs. Pricey ones with uninspiring flavor. There was a clam course which I was not a fan of but then I don’t like clams so I’m not a good judge. My mother, whose birthday we were celebrating absolutely adored them but she is also very easily pleased (a WONDERFUL characteristic by the way when someone is just as thrilled to go to Red Lobster as they are to go to a Michelin star restaurant). There was a course that had kale and gnocchi  and other ingredients that I no longer remember but what I do remember is that we all gave it a thumbs up.
For dessert we ordered a chocolate semifreddo which had swiss meringue and graham cracker crust and it was okay but sadly not at all impressive. The waiter was kind enough to also bring deconstructed s’mores for her complete with birthday candles! These were pretty good but not phenomenal (how phenomenal can one make marshmallows, drizzled chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs taste though?). What I loved the most was the service. It was spot on and spectacular. This restaurant is a well-oiled machine with some very tasty dishes and others that may leave you unimpressed. The restaurant has a high open ceiling and is not at all cozy or romantic (it was a birthday dinner for my mom so definitely no problem with that, just wanted to let you know it’s not a romantic night out kind of place).