The Cherry Tomato

This restaurant has the best Italian food, at fair prices. The kitchen line is open-​air so you can watch them cook your food. Amazing sauces, great salad, as much bread as you can eat, that can be dipped in balsamic and oil… it just keeps coming. Try the chocolate cake at the end. Serious comfort food heaven… A hidden gem. Love this place…

We had the worst dining experience I have ever had. We had a reservation made weeks ahead of time. We arrived, were seated, ordered drinks, drinks arrived and ordered food. A manager came over, told us we didn’t have a reservation, yelled at us that we were messing up the rest of his reservations, and continued to berate us. We finished the meal (waitress was awesome) and as we were leaving the busboy called my husband a liar. I have never been treated so badly in a restaurant and vow to tell everyone I know how horrible it was.

Amazing!!! The food was unbelievably tasty– our party of 8 all got different dishes and everyone practically licked their plate clean. Highly recommend the pasta carbonara and the pasta puttanesca. The service was friendly and very helpful.

The restaurant is always busy and I wish they accepted reservations however the food is good and reasonably priced. Nice neighborhood staple.

Good food. Quaint atmosphere. Portions are a bit small but I’m a pig lol We will definitely be back.

I’ve already had one bad experience here and was hoping to give this place a second chance. Last time while waiting 40 minutes for a table, another group was seated immediately because they knew the server. Not cool. Left afterwards.
This time it wasn’t quite as busy and my boss and I were seated rather quickly. Once seated, we waited… and waited… and waited… and waited for someone to talk to us. A young lad came by and started pouring water for us, no eye contact, no hello. Still continuing to wait.
Finally, just about as we decided to leave because there was no service for drinks or food, we are greeted by our waiter. Older guy, very friendly and enthusiastic. We had our orders placed.
The food was beyond great. Excellent dishes and great selection and recommendations for wine. Almost made up for the service, but not quite. If you go here, don’t expect to be wowed by the service.

We were just asked «if we were done?», because «we are on a wait». Essentially we were asked to free up the table. I literally have never had this happen. My friend still had a ¼ glass of wine. We had probably finished dessert 15 min earlier. We ordered two drinks, two salads, two entrees, and a shared dessert. We were not camping out. As a mom of twins I rarely get to spend time with girlfriends. I definitely have a sour taste in my mouth. I will not be returning.
Update: I appreciate that the owner and Chef addressed the issue. There can be staff issues anywhere. I’m glad he cares what his diners think.

Dear Cherry Tomato, say it ain’t so! You are the neighborhood solid. The spot everyone can bring visiting in laws, aging grandparents and work colleagues. Tonight was different. We spent too long waiting to be acknowledged at the door, and to order drinks, and then drinks weren’t refilled, no fresh parm offered when food delivered, plates were cleared by the bartender only after flagging him for drinks, no offer of dessert… need I say more? So uncharacteristic!
Please ensure this was just a fluke.
–your loyal Park Hill customer

Great atmosphere, great food, hostess gave bit of judgemental look I thought, at my girlfriends hoody lol, but great server. older guy who took great care of us and we will come back for sure.

Not impressed. It took over 45 minutes to receive our entrees. The restaurant was not busy when we arrived. The bread they served was cold. The pasta with clams and white wine sauce was topped with about 4 or 5 cloves of RAW minced garlic and only had 6 little clams, one of which was shriveled and dark. I’ve never had a wine sauce with raw garlic. It was awful. How lazy can you be to not even bother to sauté garlic.

Went on a Friday night (was there right at 5 and got a table). There were previous reviews about it being packed, and it was busy when we left but if you get there early you should be ok. I tried to call ahead for a reservation but was told that’s only for groups of six or more.
Anyways the meal, it was great! Had the carbonara and I liked that you could choose your pasta. The dinner was cooked perfectly. I loved the bread that they had while you were waiting for your meal as well.
They were very attentive and our water glasses never got low. They came around frequently to see if we were done (no joke from where I say I could see the woman doing laps around the restaurant to watch for empty plates/​people who had stopped eating). That was mildly annoying because I was catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while so we were pretty chatty and neglecting our meals. But when I saw her coming around I’d go back to my meal. Besides that it was a lovely night and a great dinner!

Make a reservation. You might think, hm it’s at 23^rd and Dexter — there’s nothing there. It should be pretty quiet. And you would be Wrong. We went on a weeknight and waited 35 minutes for a table for 4! They had cornhole outside so it was fine. And after having walked in and inhaling the heavenly aroma, we didn’t want to try to find another dinner spot. The hostess assured us it would be worth it and it was. I ordered the ravioli of the day — a pumpkin ricotta ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce. YUM. They were cooked to order and piping hot. My husband had the carbonara and it was delicious. So rich and velvety and garlicky. My friend ordered the steak which he said was underwhelming but still cooked well. I think he wasn’t a fan of the drizzle of balsamic over the steak. Understandable I think. If you get the steak, you might want to ask for it without the balsamic reduction. The plate came with a side of risotto and spaghetti squash and both were really good. It was a pretty plate. They have a decent wine list where none of the glasses are over $ 10 — so great. It’s a really nice neighborhood joint and I’m sure we’ll be back.

We recently moved to Park Hill so having a good restaurant within walking distance is fantastic. The service tempo was great. We were attended to without being rushed. one of the specials served that evening was ravioli stuffed with cheese and artichokes. I had it with the Alfredo sauce which was good and my wife had the Amatricana sauce and that was amazing. The only downside is the parking — you are limited to parking along 23^rd street.

A nice little spot for authentic italian food, so delicious and such a great atmosphere. Everyone was very professional and the place gave ‘italian food’ such an excellent name. Our food was so tasty and the portions were just enough. On top of it all, the service was very fast & efficient, no complaints. Would definitely recommend it to anyone in the Denver area. Would even go so far to say that you are missing out if you haven’t been here to try it yet.

I can’t believe I haven’t review them before!!! This is a wonderful restaurant with a fabulous staff and amazing food! I love little local gems that are tucked away and this is one of them. Makes for a great date night or just dinner with friends and family.
We started off with the Polenta Egglpant Napolean and it was gone in seconds I think? The flavor and lightness of this appetizer was just wonderful. We also got a Caesar salad and it is always very good!
I am not gonna lie, my go-​to here is the Carbonara! It is probably the best I have had in Denver — and that is not a exaggeration. One of the cool things about the Tomato is that you can pick your pasta and match it to one of their many sauces. One of my friend’s favorite dishes is the Bolognese. I have the gnocchi before paired with their Alfredo which was also fantastic. The lasagna also comes highly recommended from another friend of mine who gets it almost every time.
This is truly a great local restaurant and I highly recommend it!!!

The Cherry Tomato is usually a great local Italian restaurant in the parkhill neighborhood, dominated by classic, fresh, and authentic Italian dishes but this last dining experience had me saying no no instead of we we!
I was celebrating my buddies birthday and we did have a rather large group, somewhere around 18, but this had been called in over a week earlier so I would have expected the restaurant to be better organized and prepared! Although each staff member was very polite, most of them seemed very new and didn’t know what they were doing, which lead the manager to single handedly take care of our large party. Just a couple of the not-​top-​10 moments of the night:
— I wasn’t even asked for my drink order until about 30 minutes after I arrived. I asked multiple servers/​expos but no one could serve alcoholic beverages because they were under 18. My aggravation made me feel a little like an alcoholic Incredible Hulk waiting for my drink.
— Oil and vinegar were immediately put on the table for some bread dipping but apparently only to tease us because the bread didn’t come out for nearly 15 minutes after.
— I ordered a couple plates of calamari for the table to share. The order was forgotten and when it was finally brought out, they only brought out one.
Unfortunately, if not for the poor service my experience would have been a lot better because the food was all very on point! The calamari was the classic freshly grilled style and seasoned quite deliciously! And my Chicken Saltimbocca entrée was cooked exceptionally well, wrapped with some properly cured prosciutto on a bed of delicious fettuccini! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! The quality of food is clearly on top of the food chain when it comes to authentic Italian!
The high quality of food wasn’t enough to overcompensate for absolutely horrendous service. I am hoping this is not a common thing because their food should be shared with the world. I am gonna cut them some slack because of the size of the party I was with and how good the food was but next time I hope they can rise to the occasion and do a little better.

Great value for this local Italian venue. Casual, friendly ambiance with great food and reasonable prices.

A really good, filling and affordable Italian food. They will give you about for leftovers.

If you are looking for top-​notch Italian cuisine in NE Denver this is the place. I will admit I’m a little biased because I remember it as a drug store as a little boy with so many fond memories. It doesn’t feel like it but the CT has been a Park Hill staple for about 18 years now with consistent quality throughout.
I have never experienced the checkered service others have posted, super friendly staff — a real pleasure.

I’m reluctant to give this place a positive review because I’m afraid this hidden gem will get popular, and there will be lines out the door to get in. This is the piece of Italy I’ve been looking for here in Denver. The service, wine, food, and pace of the meal are all reminiscent of a Roman Café. The seafood was great, and the dessert, white chocolate cheesecake and Lemon Sorbet, was phenomenal. Our server, Amjad, was one of the best servers I’ve ever had, both cordial, attentive, and funny. Also, very reasonable pricing. A tip-​o-​the cap for the ambiance, service, food, and drinks.

A recent visit to Park Hill reminded me that I hadn’t been here in a long time, so I remedied that with a small group over the weekend. All four of us really enjoyed our meals, and I was reminded why this place has been so successful in this spot over the years. They do good Italian dishes at a very reasonable price, along with a couple of fancier specials each night, and the food’s exactly how I remember it from previous visits. Consistency counts for a lot in this business, and they get that. Bread is very good, there’s an ok wine list (not enough Italian wines and overall a bit high-​priced, but at least there are options all over the board depending on how much you want to spend), and the menu has plenty of great choices. It’s a smaller place, so you’ll probably have to wait if you go on a weekend evening, but they do take reservations for parties of 6 or more. That’s good to know because the place can’t really accommodate a ton of huge groups — it really is a simple neighborhood place where you can become a local and a regular pretty easily. Here’s to their continued success.

Cherry Tomato is a wonderful neighborhood restaurant serving Italian cuisine. I have been there multiple times over the years and the food, service and experience consistently remain excellent.
There is no parking lot but usually not hard to find street parking close by.
The best waiter is Ahmjad. He has been serving for years and takes great care of all diners.
All of the tables are covered in white butcher paper & crayons, which is great for kids and adults alike to create pictures and pass the time.
Bread with olive oil and vinegar is served immediately to munch on while waiting.
They have a full bar and offer a selection of red and white wines.
On my last visit I tried the beef carpacio appetizer, which had three or four thin slices of beef, capers, diced eggs, small pickles, onions and mustard. It was very tasty.
For my main course my favorite has been the fruitte de mar with Arabiatta (spicy marinara) sauce. The dish comes with your choice of pasta (I like penne), clams, mussels, shrimp and calamari. It is a huge portion.
If interested, there is a dessert tray with 4 – 6 options to choose from. The chocolate mousse cake is killer.
It’s definitely worth trying on any night and not nearly as expensive as other Italian restaurants.

We came here on the recommendation of a friend. We had the Chicken Parmesan and the Grilled Salmon which was on special, along with a glass of wine each.
The food was excellent, full of flavor and perfectly cooked. The pasta was cooked to a proper al dente, the sautéed spinach had the exact perfect texture as did the risotto. The marinara tasted fresh and crisp, and the salmon was grilled to perfection and glazed with the perfect balance of salmon and balsamic flavor. The wine was good too!
Our service here was excellent as well, and we were seated quickly even with a full house. I highly recommend this picturesque spot for all your Italian cuisine needs!

Our large party was seated fairly quickly. The server did his best to get all of his seated promptly. He might have been a little too aggressive by asking a table to finish sooner than later. It was sad to see that, BUT, he was definitely determined to get us seated. I’m not sure if that’s an added start or subtracted, but let’s just call it a wash…
Positive:
Good service, always asked how we were doing and water/​bread were constantly refilled.
All other dishes were excellent.
None of the kids at the table complained of their dishes
Negative:
The bread was a bit dry/​cold. Maybe that’s how they roll, but it’s nice to get some warm bread
The spaghetti seemed overcooked. I had the clam pasta, and it was just okay due to the softness of the spaghetti.
I would go back again for sure. Keep on trucking Mr aggressive waiter. You’re a determined man to keep the group happy!

I live in North City Park, and had never heard of Cherry Tomato until a week ago when I was looking for pizza places in the area. My boyfriend and I went this past Friday night, and it was wonderful!
We ordered the Insalata Caprese and Caesar Salad to share; both were wonderful. For an entrée, I ordered the Fruitte di Mare with fettuccine white wine sauce (it’s offered with choice of pasta, and choice of sauce: marinara, white wine or white cream sauce, also with arrabbiata). It was heavenly. Tons of shrimp, calamari, mussels and clams in a sauce that was perfectly seasoned but not overwhelmingly garlicky. He ordered the Eggplant Parmigiana which came with a side of spaghetti. I was so in love with my entrée that I forgot to taste his, but he said it was fantastic.
The meal also came with a fabulous crusty bread and olive oil and balsamic for dipping.
I’m not a huge dessert person, so I let my boyfriend decide. He got some kind of double-​chocolate cake which I did taste, and it was very chocolately. He loved it.
The staff was warm and friendly; I adored our server. We will DEFINITELY be going back soon!