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Arvada [Change Location]

Restaurant review: Red Tango

Article Contributed on: 4/11/2008 9:55:58 PM

April 11, 2008

Restaurant review: Red Tango

By Stan Dyer

This was my return visit to Red Tango, but I found little to alter my original opinion. I am aware that people love this place and many offer glowing reviews, but, frankly, I am not impressed. Yes, the food is good, but, for the most part, this restaurant seems very ordinary, and a bit pricey.

Located just east of Harlan on 38th Avenue, the building is very similar to every other building in the neighborhood. There is little to set it apart aside from its sign. Once inside, there is nothing about the restaurant to indicate that any time at all was spent designing a warm, inviting interior conducive to dining. Nonetheless, I know that outward appearance is not always indicative of the product inside, and the proof of the pudding is in the taste.

To begin our meal, I decided to start with one of the "featured" wines. Our waiter informed me that the "featured" wine we chose was not in stock. What? I find it peculiar to feature a wine that is not in stock. It seems to me a good wine menu should accurately reflect a restaurant's stock. Attempting to order a different bottle, I discovered that many of the wines listed were not available. Apparently, the restaurant is in the process of changing its selection of wines. Again, a good wine menu should accurately reflect a restaurant's stock, and not, "This is what we have. Take it or leave it."

While browsing the menu, I was pleased to discover that many of the entrees were offered "vegetarian." It turned out to be a ruse. Most of those items offering the vegetarian option were already vegetarian items with a slab of meat, a cut of fish, or some prawns thrown on top. To change it to the vegetarian option, the chef simply did not add the slab of meat, the cut of fish or the prawns, but the restaurant did not change the price. Does that seem right to you?

Just as before, I found the portion sizes to be small for the price charged. Most of the entrees were priced at $17 (actually $16.95), but a few, like the steak were a lot more. The steak (purchased by a companion), was $24.95, but it did come with tiger prawns, asparagus and choice of soup or salad. You can judge for yourself. Three of us had the Torta de Papa, which was like a potato pancake with vegetables and cheese sprinkled on top for $17. One had the Lomo Relleno ($17), one had the Relleno with Salmon ($17) and one had the aforementioned steak ($25). Check out the pictures that accompany this review to see what we got for our money.

As for the service, that did little to improve the situation. Granted, we did not all show up at the same time, and I can see how that can throw a waiter out of his rhythm, but enough is enough. Three times we asked for more bread. We are still waiting for that bread. I can understand service being slow on a busy Friday night, but it was not that busy for this guy to be so ridiculously slow. When it came time for the final tally, we waited patiently 20 minutes before asking the manager to produce our check. We left a nice tip, but I felt cheated all the way around. Will someone please tell me why people love this place so much? The food is good, but it is not that good.

Over all, I generously rate this restaurant a "B." I have to admit that the food is good. Other than that, I can think of nothing else special to say about the place. It is not particularly clean, the seats do not match, and our particular waiter treated us like an afterthought. I think I'll wait another year before I try Red Tango again.

Red Tango is located at 5807 W. 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge. The phone number is 303-420-2203. They are open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They open for dinner at 5 p.m. nightly and close at 9 p.m., except on Fridays and Saturdays when they stay open until 10 p.m. They are closed Sundays.

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Showing 1-10 of 13 comments
nerdmeier phurpourt wrote on 5/6/2008 @ 10:27:25 PM

Well here are some interesting developments! I just tried to use "Send me a message". In my first attempt I cut & pasted the email I asked Seth Davis to forward to you - I ran into the same 1,000 character limit I hit when I sent you my comments. Then I tried to send a simple, short message just to test the concept. I’m registered with YourHub and I was hoping you would see my email as a part of my message – without risking it “going public” – unfortunately I received the message "There was a problem sending your email. Please try again later" - so I've tried to send you a simple message multiple times “later” with no success. It appears YourHub won’t let us communicate except by comment. I know the email address I registered works because I got a canned welcoming message from Seth Davis when I registered. So now I’m wondering why “Send me a message” doesn’t work?
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Stan Dyer wrote on 5/6/2008 @ 7:45:03 AM

Hey,Nerdmeier! It just occurred to me that if you are so intent on preserving your identity and contacting me at the same time, why don't you create a temporary yahoo account and use that email address to relay your thoughts? I seriously want to hear what you have to say and understand your explanation of why people put up with treatment like that from any establishment ever. When you are done venting, you can just close the free account.
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Stan Dyer wrote on 5/6/2008 @ 7:21:02 AM

No, I'm sorry. Seth did not forward anything to me. I suppose he didn't think it was worth his time, or he wondered why you did not simply use the "Send me a message" link on this page. There is nothing really wrong with Red Tango, I just expect more from a restaurant, any restaurant, than you do. To better understand how I feel, please read my post of Monday, May 5. I think it is great that people have differing opinions. That is what makes us all special. Nonetheless, shouldn't there be at least some basis in fact or a viable explanation for those opinions? That's my opinion and I sure do not mind pointing a finger and saying, "The Emperor has no clothes!"
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nerdmeier phurpourt wrote on 5/4/2008 @ 12:15:37 AM

At your suggestion, I sent an email to Seth Davis, the web host for Arvada, on Monday, April, 28, asking him to forward it to you. I'm guessing by your 5/3 comment that you haven't received it. As far as "a good answer" is concerned - I don't think those of us who "love this place so much" (assuming that's the question you're referring to) will ever be able to explain it to you – at least not in a manner that you would accept as “a good answer”. I suspect that it is mightily troubling to you that we don’t see things your way. We simply have significantly different expectations than you do and we are not as offended at the things you find troubling with Red Tango. The folks that are willing to wait in line to get into Red Tango are different from you – perhaps we are less sophisticated than you. Somehow we manage to actually enjoy ourselves at Red Tango – perhaps it’s our lack of sophistication that allows us to enjoy ourselves – and hinders our ability to explain why to you.
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Stan Dyer wrote on 5/3/2008 @ 4:01:32 AM

I am still waiting for a good answer to my question. I guess there is none
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Stan Dyer wrote on 4/28/2008 @ 1:53:17 AM

I have to apologize. I thought certainly if you searched my name where it says "Search Your Hub", that something would come up, and whenever I open this page there is the area right below my picture that says "Send me a message". I was not aware that these features do not appear on your version of the website. We need to find out why your computer does not display the page correctly. You need to be able to freely search the website and contact all your favorite writers. We love the feedback! If you still do not understand my point of view and need further explanation, please send a message to the host of your particular hub and ask that it be forwarded to me. For obvious reasons, I cannot post any other email address on this site. I will gladly address all your inquiries and thank you for both your continued interest in my stories and your support.
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nerdmeier phurpourt wrote on 4/27/2008 @ 4:51:55 PM

Dear Mr. Dyer: I see your name and your picture but I can't find any access or reference to your email address. I searched for an email address when I first read your review. When I couldn't find one I resorted to using the comment section - then ran into the 1,000 character per comment limitation. I apologize for sending multiple comments. If you would like to continue this I would like to respond to your last comment - but it's probably not appropriate to use the comment area.
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Stan Dyer wrote on 4/26/2008 @ 9:06:28 AM

Dear Mr. phurpourt: You need not spend so much time writing comment after comment here. My name,my picture and my email address are all easily accessible. I respond to any and all who choose to write and I am not afraid to use my "real" name. I can rebut every one of your comments. I just wonder why you dislike Red Tango so much? Are you a competitor that would have people never go back because of a lone, bad experience? Despite what you and your friends believe, other establishments are concerned with how their customers see them and want all customers to return. Considering the competition in today's market, Red Tango should make the changes and thank me for helping them.
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nerdmeier phurpourt wrote on 4/22/2008 @ 10:20:34 AM

(Continued from previous message) “I doubt people prefer McDonald's over Briarwood” – actually, crazy as it sounds, we have a few friends that do. They find places like the Briarwood pretentious and can’t imagine why anyone would spend that kind of money on food – they think we’re nutz! One in particular was a prominent man in the local schools and had to go to the Briarwood for various functions – he always came home privately grumbling about how stupid it was to pay good money for such fluff. His daughter’s wedding reception was in a local hall – he hired a full band but the eats were cold-cuts and cheese with white bread and marble rye. He and his wife liked to go on cruises – his wife told us that at meals he would put a couple pieces of white bread on a plate and ask the roast guy to put a few slices on the bread with some juice – he was in hog heaven with his roast beef sandwich. Hope you can get over your issues with Red Tango. Thanks for lettin’ me ramble!
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nerdmeier phurpourt wrote on 4/22/2008 @ 10:20:14 AM

(Continued from previous message) “should I be required to take the jazz?” You aren’t required to even be there. We’ve been to MANY popular restaurants that we’re not goin’ back to because they’re not a ‘fit’ to our desires – a small number of other restaurants feel very comfortable to us – that doesn’t make the former ‘bad’ – it just means we don’t fit in with the expectations of their loyal clientele – and thus we wish their loyal clientele “happy dining”. “but don't you think they deserve better value for their dollars?” – value is in the eye of the beholder. The loyal customers that are standing in line to get in obviously feel they are getting great value – otherwise they would be standing in line somewhere else – you have every right to your opinion (and we share some of your opinions and disagree with others) – but your opinion doesn’t make them or the restaurant wrong – it just means you don’t like the place – many others do like the place (continued)
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Showing 1-10 of 13 comments
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