I wasn’t overly impressed with the Elephant Bar Restaurant.
With that confession out of the way, here’s another: It’s likely I’ll go back sometime.
The Elephant Bar is one of those places that falls somewhere between fun and tacky. It’s a little bit TGI Friday’s and a little bit Rain Forest Café. In the dim light of happy hour, it’s probably a hoot. For lunch, the glare of daylight makes everything a tad jungle-glam gauche.
We dined in the bar area, which was much quieter than the regular dining room.
My ever-dieting friend ordered the Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls ($6.95) off the appetizer menu, four delicate wraps filled sparingly with shrimp, rice noodles and shredded vegetables, served over Asian cole slaw. It comes with two sauces, a tamarind macadamia nut sauce and a standard Thai peanut sauce. My dining companion said the spring rolls were great; I thought they were skimpy and needed more flavor than the dips afforded.
We ordered the Crispy Honey Orange Shrimp ($10.95), and the Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya ($13.95). The citrus honey sauce on the orange shrimp was cloyingly sweet, and the steamed white rice dry and bland. The jambalaya sauce was too “tomatoey” and had no real Cajun zing, but the portion was quite large and came with buttery garlic bread.
In the dining area, a group of elegant “mature” women declared the low-carb Lemon-Herb Chicken ($11.95) with sautéed spinach, a grilled Parmesan tomato and whole sautéed mushrooms scrumptious. The women also gave good grades to their appetizer, a Shrimp Adventure Platter ($13.95), a combination of coconut-fried, teriyaki-glazed and traditional breaded and deep-fried shrimp.
While opinions of the Elephant Bar are likely to vary wildly, the one constant seems to be the service: The waiters and waitresses are attentive, friendly and efficient.
The Elephant Bar Restaurant may not bring customers back because of an exceptionally memorable dish, but it will get return visits because of its location (near a shopping center) and the variety of dishes. They also offer lunch specials ($5.50 to $8.95), low-carb dishes and a kid’s menu.
You can likely get better Thai, better Cajun, better Chinese, barbecue and even better burgers. But at the Elephant Bar, you can certainly find something for everyone. And in the jungle, sometimes that’s all that matters.
Barbara Ellis can be reached at bellis@denverpost.com or 303-954-1751.
Elephant Bar Restaurant
International, bar food|7111 W. Alaska Drive (Belmar Center), Lakewood 303-922-7907|
$2.95 to $16.95; fresh fish dishes based on market prices, usually $12.95-$15.95|Two
other Colorado locations for the California-based chain: Greenwood Village and Colorado Springs; dining 11 a.m. 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; bar service 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday; Visa, Mastercard, Diner’s Club, Discover and American Express
Front burner: Friendly and efficient waitstaff
Back burner: VERY noisy
