The Centennial Tavern at Jonesy’s

Came here cause of the great reviews I read to find out The Centennial has Closed and was left was a bar serving horrible food. I stayed after I find out the Centennial closed to give it a try and I’m sorry I did. I order the poutine fries. What I got was some cold fries with cold gravy from the bottle not even house made and some sour probably spoiled cheese curds. I took a few bites and left. The staff looked like they didn’t want to be there. Don’t waste your time here! Wish I could give this place a 0!

Seemed cool, it was dead when I went. The drinks were alright, were didn’t order food. I felt like it was a bit run down, although my friend said it was new (sort of). I expected it to be at least kept up well, but there were broken chairs and wobbly tables, and it felt really dark during a bright sunshine.

I’ve recently visited Jonesy’s since they switched it to the Centennial Tavern at Jonesy’s. I really really miss the Mac n cheese on the old menu but I love that they now offer pizzas.
The surfs up pizza is delicious, definitely on the spicy side so beware. The Shanghai mule is AMAZING!!! I loved it, I could easily drink several in a sitting.
The best thing on the menu is definitely the fries, they are delicious all around. Get the truffalo combination, the truffle fries with buffalo fries, amazing!

Menu is not very big and even tho they have a great happy hour deal for beer we ended up ordering some of the regular menu because we didn’t know which was which. The staff was super nice tho and their fries are really good too.

Jonsey’s!!! This place brings back so many fond memories of moving to Denver and going out with girlfriends. I specifically think of Jonsey’s when it comes to truffle fries and wine! Brunching here is a good experience too.

I came here during happy hour to check out the fries since they’re ranked the best. I tried the bacon mac and cheese and the truffle fries. Though the toppings made the fries flavorful, I didn’t care much for the fries itself. They were a bit crispier than I care for my fries to be.

Really, really good. Their fries lived up to expectations. We got the bacon mac and cheese ones– they were awesome. As was our merguez sausage/​pretzel starter and our pizza (can’t remember what it was called but it had sausage and green onions). The pizza had an unusually sweet dough but we loved it. Our drinks were also really good (New Manhattan and Hibiscus Marg).
The only reason they’re getting 4 stars is because of the mussels. Half of ours weren’t open (not a great sign), and the ones that were really didn’t taste fresh. It was surprising given the deliciousness of the rest of our food. However, our waitress was absolutely awesome, totally understood our concern, and took the mussels off our bill as well as offering us a free round of drinks (we didn’t accept but it was a nice offer). All of the other staff were great as well.
We will definitely be back!

Beyond a name change /​rebranding on Jonesy’s part to now The Centennial Tavern, not much has changed. Most importantly, they still have those ridiculously glorious fries, and one of the best HH’s around (IMO). While I’m saddened that the «drinking vinegar» cocktails no longer appear on their drinks list, they still have a solid showing of mixed beverages, as well as varied beer list, and well spirits that are better than McCormick’s (that doesn’t mean much, but take my word you’ll be all set here).
The Dude and I came here on a Travel Zoo voucher that I gifted him for Christmas — a good excuse to get over to this side of town. As I said, one of Denver’s best HH to me, but coming from out west not always the most convenient. It runs from 3 – 7, not that one would need four solid hours of boozing with drinks like the Colorado Manhattan (bourbon) or the Gold Rush (more bourbon) making an appearance. But hey, if you overdo a little on the drink side, hop on over to the food side and order some fries!
Do they even serve anything else?
Actually yes, both for HH and for regular meal-​type foods. And those regular meal-​type foods are just as tasty as the fries. And because you can’t just drink bourbon and eat fries for dinner (have a little class, people), y’all should give some of those meal-​type foods a try. Last night we ordered the Meatless Loaf plate and the Salmon and Kale salad.
The fifth star is really for the meatless loaf, as I can’t tell you how happy it makes my heart when a place offers a solid vegetarian entrée that’s not a.) pizza b.) a veggie burger c.) a portabello sandwich d.) a veggie burger portabello pizza. Their loaf was a honker of a serving, complete with homestyle mashers, vegan gwavy (yes, gWavy), and mixed veggies on the side. And for the meat-​eaters out there, I say give it a try. No, it’s not meat (it’s a quinoa blend), but laws-​yes is it delicious.
The Dude’s salad looked equally tasty, and his reports were positive: a well-​seasoned salmon piece over fresh kale, with dried blueberries, pepitas, and goat cheese. Could it get more well-​rounded?
Bottom line: go for the fries, stay for the entrees, get the bonus of a tasty bev on top. If you can snag a patio table during nice weather, you’re in for the cherry on top of dogs walking by. So many dogs. And the staff at CT is apparently super dog friendly, handing out dog treats, so we saw several owners stop by just to grab a treat for their furry friends. Treats for dogs; treats for humans. Er’body wins.

We recently saw the fries at Centennial Tavern listed as some of the best in the US, and were even more pleased when a Travelzoo deal popped up. So we purchased away and made the trek to Uptown Saturday early afternoon.
Now I saw that weekend specials were brunch and so we figured they would be open late morning, through to the evening. Incorrect. They open at 3 and there are no times posted on the door. I had to call. Luckily there are plenty of other restaurants/​bars in the area to kill time at. We showed back up after three and were able to snag a nice table on the patio.
Service was friendly and prompt, even though we were outside. Note that their full food menu isn’t available until 5pm but you can order off their limited ‘happy hour’ menu and rates are much cheaper. We went for the fries a la beer cheese sauce and a cheese and bacon, and the spinach dip. The fries were very good. Nicely fried and seasoned. The cheese sauce wasn’t as spectacular and I had a hard time noticing it was there. The spinach dip was quite good and I really enjoyed the tortilla chips provided.
Drinks were my favorite part. I started with the hibiscus marg and it was ok. Tasted more like a paloma, which I love but wasn’t what I was expecting. I would highly recommend the african G&T as that blew my mind. No gin taste and rivals the $ 20 one I had in Vegas and thought was the best. Order that. Definitely order that. My husband and friend went for the trusty DryDock Apricot and were pleased as always.
For three people with ~3 drinks/​beer each and our ‘meals’, our bill was only $ 54. I would definitely return, esp to the patio!

Revisited around Christmas time — still delicious and fun, with great service and spectacular drinks. They do a nice Christmas Eve meal (aka pizza, fries, and drinks!)

The service was painfully slow unfortunately. The atmosphere is very cool and relaxing. We were hoping someone would notice our menus pushed to the side. The table across from us (who sat after us) got their fries before we even ordered. The sausage and pretzel plate was delicious and so was the draft beer.
We sat there for at least 15 minutes with empty drinks and empty plates. Three people walked by into the kitchen, glanced over and kept walking. I don’t like being that person that gets up or flags people down… I shouldn’t have to. But I did wave and say excuse me one time, but it wasn’t noticed. We stopped the food runner and got a dessert menu, but no one came to take our order… again. Lol really? We had dessert somewhere else.

Went here tonight to grab a late dinner. First and foremost, they don’t lie. The fries are amazing! We mixed the beer cheese and the green chili and while that sounds weird it actually tasted really good! We also ordered a sausage plate and the blue plate special. The pot roast was really good — a little too much gravy for my liking but I should have ordered it on the side.
The atmosphere is super laid back and they have a great screen to watch games if you’re into that. The service was fabulous. Everyone was super polite and our server gave us some great recommendations.
We will definitely be back — especially to try the late night happy hour.

A few days ago we thought we were going to have a nice dinner at Jonesy’s. Much to our surprise we walked into a madhouse in a good way.
It was the grand opening of The Centennial Tavern at Jonesy’s! It seems they have reinvented themselves but the ownership is the same. The new web site is up. There was tons of free food and tons of free drinks and a DJ was cooking and the place was utter madness!
Much of the menu is the same but there are changes as well. As an honest Unilocaler I feel it’s unfair to review the food in this kind of situation. I will say that my party of three ate very well and really enjoyed themselves. I look forward to returning

The fries were really good. Tried the Thai Ginger, Buffalo, Green Chili, and Bacon & Cheese fries. All delicious.
Also tried the Biscuits & Gravy off of the brunch menu. Skip those.
Even with the lackluster Biscuits and Gravy, they would have gotten more stars if the service wasn’t so horrible. We came in and the staff was too busy chatting (in the empty restaurant) to seat us. Once we were seated, we had to wait awhile until a seever came to take pur drink order. Had the place been even half full, the wait would have been understandable. Then our server brought the wrong drink, told us she was half asleep, and then had to come back to confirm our order as she’d already forgotten.

Read about this place on Zagat’s list of best fries in Denver.
I came for the happy hour special with friends and got to have a beer and fries for less than $ 10. The buffalo fries are a must, but I have to say the truffle fries and bacon mac and cheese fries are worth a try as well.
They also sell Sweet Action Ice Cream, which is so delicious.
And while you’re at it, the Turkey Hotshot sliders are 2/​$ 5 during happy hour and are perfect if you miss the tastes of Thanksgiving.

The fries here are AMAZING, guys! There isn’t any wonder why they’ve been featured on national stations when highlighting Denver’s food scene.
**Speaking of that, don’t forget to check in on Unilocal for a FREE order of these puppies**
My favorite kind are the truffle oil fries with the garlic aioli, although the bacon cheese fries are a close second.
I like to come for happy hour, because the drinks are slightly pricy for a graduate student when they’re full price (this is the only reason I’m docking them a star). They have a unique selection of beer on draft like green chili flavored, stouts, and IPA’s. The bartenders are always very cheery and friendly and service is always fast!
Great place for a meal before heading downtown! But seriously… don’t forget about the fries.

We went to a happy hour at Jonsey’s Eat Bar. We got street parking and walked through a small park where people were playing a good game of kickball in order to get there. Jonsey’s had a very good happy hour going on at the time. We could get much of the good quality craft beers on the menu for half off alongside their selection of fries for $ 5. I found this place after a tweet from Alton brown that had a link to the 30 greatest fries in America. Jonsey’s landed number 28 on that list. Knowing this I had to try them since I was conveniently in Denver at the time.
We ended up trying three different types of the fries, which was far more than enough food for two people. Yes I had dinner that day completely of French fries. The three varieties we went for where the Truffle, which were my favorite and had a truffle aioli and shaved parmesan. We also had the Green Chili, which was a requirement, being in Denver you have to get as much as you can with green chili and these fries were an example of how the mild flavor of that chili makes Denver’s love affair with the chili completely justified. Last up on the list were the Asian version that had a tangy sweet and sour sauce. Before trying them I wouldn’t think that this would work before I tried it, after the fact though the sweet and salty effect that you get with these fries really works.

If you’re looking for a great brunch or HH spot in Uptown, walk right on past Steuben’s and their 1-​hour wait. Don’t bother waiting in line for brunch at Snooze. Jonesy’s has much better food — at better prices and with no wait.
I’m almost hesitant to write this review, because I half-​expect the hoards of hipsters over at Steuben’s/Snooze to realize that Jonesy’s might be the best thing since skinny jeans. So here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen.
As per usual, here are some of my golden nuggets:
AMAZING FRIES
You can get «Bacon Mac & Cheese» fries; or «Buffalo» fries with wing sauce and blue cheese crumble; or «Thai Ginger» fries with ginger, lemongrass, and thai chili sauce; or «Green Chili» fries; or «Truffle» fries. Basically, you can get an entire meal on top of your fries — for $ 6 (or $ 5 during HH).
BEST BRUNCH EVER
First, $ 10 all-​you-​can-​drink Mimosas. Because it’s not brunch if you’re not drunk and convinced you’re being healthy because there’s OJ in there somewhere.
Also, DEFINITELY GO WITH THE CHICKEN FRIED PORK. Amazing, crunchy goodness with 2 poached eggs and sausage gravy — all on top of crispy fries. I should’ve probably only eaten about half of this considering it’s size relative to me, but it was just too good to stop (famous last words).
GREAT MUSSELS
For HH or dinner, you can also get a delicious bowl of mussels ($ 5 during HH) — French, Malaysian, or Pacific style.

Lunch! Jonesy’s now serves lunch! And part of that menu includes green chile fries. They.Are.Delicious.
You’ll see some old favorites on the menu along with new offerings and it’s all just as good as the dinner/​brunch/​happy hour you’re used to ordering.
I’m super happy to see one of my favorites available even more often. The only downside? I may never diet again…

Oh what a wonderful place! Numerous times I’ve been now to Jonesy’s and I just can’t get enough. It’s down to earth ambiance married with renowned innovative comfort food. Whether it’s the buffalo sauced fries or their decadent cocktails — it’s a winning experience every time. Pretty soon they will be serving lunch, so the goodness is even more available.
If it couldn’t get any more exciting about lunch, they have a brand spanking new menu item — green chili fries. Yes — that’s right — imagine the most delicious fries sans a topping. Now envision them topped with spicy green chili. Another wonderful appetizer feature are the risotto cakes: perfectly sized risotto cakes dressed with mushrooms sauteed in a delectable balsamic, red wine reduction. I would get that just for me entrée if I wasn’t enticed by everything else on the menu, like the Bacon Bleu Burger.

Like a moth to a flame, I am drawn to Jonesy’s fries. Get in my mouth you delicious mac + cheese fries! You, too, truffle fries!
Jonesy’s has become one of our go-​to spots for all sorts of occasions. Whether a friend from out of town is visiting and we need a well-​rounded drink and appetizer menu or maybe we just want dinner out without breaking the bank or, hell, I just want some meatloaf, Jonesy’s always seems to fit the bill.
Like its servers, Jonesy’s has quite a bit of personality. The atmosphere is fun and eclectic. The space seems intimate enough that it is well suited for a low-​key dinner date, but it is also big enough that they can host dinner (or brunch!) for a big group of folks.
For as long as comfort food keeps calling my name, I’m sure I’ll be back time and again.

Power lunch — Jonesy’s style.
That’s what I was craving after a long weekend morning slog in the office.
And not just any lunch, mind you. I was craving something greasy, comforting, and satisfying. That something was Jonesy’s famous lamb sliders.
I walked over at around 11:30am on a Sunday. It was brunchtime, and the place was abuzz with activity. Luckily, I was flying solo, and seating at the bar was abundant. The space is adorably retro and cozy, and it was easy to feel comfortable. The efficient, cheerful, and boisterous bar staff added to the appeal.
Deciding what to order was easy: a pair of lamb sliders and a side of truffle fries for $ 10. Seemed like a no-​brainer.
The lamb sliders are really as awesome as everyone says. Tender, savory, sweet — like mini sloppy joes but with ten times the flavor. I appreciated that they were well constructed and didn’t fall apart upon being picked up.
I wish I could have been equally enthusiastic about the truffle fries. I didn’t really care for them. The fries seemed undercooked, with barely any crunch on the outside and some off-​putting rawness on the inside. The abundant truffle oil, aioli, and parmesan cheese helped considerably, though.
That said, Jonesy’s is still a win, overall. I’d totally go back.

What a nice treat! Happy hour on a Sunday. It’s a funky little place, where the servers were all friendly and quirky (I like that!). We debated on cocktails versus beers for a while and seeing as it was such a nice day, we decided, what the hell?! And we had some cocktails. I had the shanghai mule (I think it was better than the scurvy punch). I already love ginger beer/​vodka combinations, so add some honey and lime and I had the perfect sunday afternoon drink that I was craving — refreshing and tangy.
We went for the world famous fries with the truffle parmesan topping, the lamb slider, and the blue cheese bacon slider. The fries– true to their name, were simply delicious. I may know a guy from Idaho who would argue with me that these are second best to some place in Boise. But second best in the U.S. is alright in my book. I like the flavor of truffle oil and you really taste it with each bite of those perfectly cooked fries (a little crunch, a little potato). And spare no expense on the parm! Powdered so each fry has the joy of being coated by cheese. At other places it’s a secret battle over the few and far between shavings of parmesan. Now I’m not saying there was any lack of fry scraping at the bottom of the plate, because we definitely soaked up every last bit of truffle oil, aioli, and parm… mmm…ok, sliders.
On to the sliders. I feel like I shouldn’t be so impressed by these sliders! But the last few times we’ve tried to order sliders, we’ve been so disappointed! Dry, cold, and flavorless, these sliders were not! I’m glad we found a place with unique and good sliders for happy hour!
Finally, it’s always embarrassing when your server comes over to your table to ask how everything was and you look at her sheepishly while she examines your clearly licked clean plates. At least it’s a good sign for them! And duh, we’ll be back! The mac and cheese WFFs are already calling us back. And I noticed some people working on their laptops, so maybe next time we will try happy hour and work… just to help get the creative juices flowing.

Denver needs more neighborhood places like Jonesy’s, namely places which possess a relaxed atmosphere, satisfying food, and are undeniably authentic. I like that Jonesy’s maintains its genuineness in this completely ruined neighborhood of recently constructed soulless apartments and Pilates studios.

Upon entering one can’t help but notice the long bar which occupies the front room; if you are a booth person, there are plenty of those too. Funky chandeliers hang from the tin ceiling, old fashioned tiles cover the floor, and dark red paint is used on the walls which are hung with an eclectic mix of posters, mirrors, and pictures. It works because it is not formulaic like your typical TGI Friday’s which you thought was ‘so neat’ 20 years ago (hey now, some of us were old enough to drink 20 years ago so shut it!).
I came here for brunch with a whole lot of Unilocalers which pretty much guarantees a good time, that is if you can get a word in on one of the three or four different simultaneous conversations… I didn’t have any problems doing so.
Brunch means Bloodies or at Jonesy’s $ 7.50 bottomless mimosas. What could be better at 10:30 on a Sunday morning? Well, maybe some grits. Specifically cheesy grits topped with Andouille sausage and two poached eggs.
Any time I see a menu which has grits on it anywhere north of the Santee River I optimistically order the dish in order to recapture memories of my South Carolina vacations. The grits at Jonesy’s were creamy, cheesy and very tasty. The Andouille sausage and the poached eggs… well I’ve had versions which I’ve enjoyed more. Specifically the sausage was not as spicy as I like it to be, but it was flavorful. Poached eggs in general are a P.I.T.A. to get perfect and unfortunately mine were overcooked; serving them atop the hot grits may have been their undoing.
The service was textbook perfect for handling a large group: keep the mimosas and coffee coming and you’ll win the crowd — the servers at Jonesy’s did just that. The food came out surprisingly quickly. The most challenging part of accommodating a large group in a restaurant is the request for separate checks and then the reconciliation and multiple methods of payment; our servers didn’t miss a beat, THANK YOU!
A little something from ‘My Cousin Vinny’:
Vinny Gambini: So obviously it takes you 5 minutes to cook your breakfast.
Mr. Tipton: That’s right.
Vinny Gambini: That’s right, so you knew that. You remember what you had?
Mr. Tipton: Eggs and grits.
Vinny Gambini: Eggs and grits. I like grits, too. How do you cook your grits? Do you like them regular, creamy or al dente?
Mr. Tipton: Just regular I guess.
Vinny Gambini: Regular. Instant grits?
Mr. Tipton: No self respectin’ Southerner uses instant grits. I take pride in my grits.
Vinny Gambini: So, Mr. Tipton, how could it take you 5 minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit eating world 20 minutes?
Mr. Tipton: I don’t know, I’m a fast cook I guess.
Vinny Gambini: I’m sorry I was all the way over here I couldn’t hear you did you say you were a fast cook, that’s it?
Mr. Tipton: Yeah.
Vinny Gambini: Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than anywhere else on the face of the earth?
Mr. Tipton: I don’t know.
Vinny Gambini: Perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?