A little shady if you ask me...

A Restaurant Review....

Lechuga's Italian Restaurant

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Type: Half is Casual Sit Down and Half is a Bar
Location: 3609 Tejon St, Denver, CO 80211 / Phone 303-455-1502
Price: $5 and up
Recommendation: My son loves it! I'm kinda over it... but if you haven't yet, you should give it a try.

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Occasion: After a movie downtown, my brother and his family, my brother Mondo, me and my son went to grab a quick bite for dinner at Lechuga's. It's a favorite of his family and also of my son's, but since it's so far from us, we usually only go there when we're doing something else close by.

Order: Me and Mondo ordered a big square combo-pizza to share and a side-salad each. My nephew ordered a whole big square pepperoni for himself. The rest of the family ordered sausage and meatball canolis - some smothered with cheese and sauce, some stuffed with jalapenos and some with SOS (sauce on the side).

My family loves the canolis - and they are a pretty good value. Monstrous portions at about $3.75 each, $4.75 smothered with cheese and sauce. Tonight the sausage ones were as good as always, but the meatball that my niece ordered looked dried up. She doused it in sauce, but still hardly ate any at all. Not very appetizing.

My salad was swimming in ranch dressing. I'm used to that, but I still order them there because they cover them with mozzarella and pepperoni and I like 'em. However, I didn't like the pizza at all. The crust tasted too much like a Jiffy mix and was really thick. I'm sure it's the last time I will ever order one there. Mondo and my nephew didn't like it either - but my nephew did mention that their individual rounds are usually much better.

I guess this happens from time to time, but the soda mix was off that night too and everyone who ordered a cola thought they tasted like diet... and they didn't order diet.

Atmosphere: There wasn't enough room for our group of 8 to eat in the dining room, so we were directed to the bar area. It's an older establishment that has seen a recent update on the dining side, but is quite aged on the bar side. The room was dark and we sat against a wall sharing 4 tiny bar tables.

Service: I'm sure this lady is the owner or at least the manager - but she came over to our table, standing right next to the two youngest in the group, 10 & 12 - and seeing our tables only half set up yells "What kind of shit is this? Where's your silverware!?" Her call was aimed at the waitress of course and me and Mondo could barely hold in a laugh, hardly believing what just happened.

I feel like I've been getting duped on bills lately, so I took the liberty of itemizing out our order (me and Mondo got separate checks from JJ & his family). We were overcharged a whole $1.00 for a smothered item, that we didn't get smothered. Even taking that into consideration, our total was still off. Turns out tip was added. I know - it's usual for a tip to be added when there is a party of 8 or more..... but usually it's noted on the receipt and if not, the server usually mentions it! A little shady if you ask me...

Conclusion: Although I feel like I'm over it... I used to like going there every once in a while. It was a great place to grab some take out on the way to a Rockies Game! But, my son loves it - so chances are we will be back every now and then.

If you haven't had one - and your near the area - you really should stop by and grab a "Super" - or a "Devil" if you're daring

I'm not a professional anything - it's just my opinion, and that's what ya get for reading my blog. Cheers!