Salty Rita’s, a stylish Mexican restaurant and bar in the heart of east Denver’s Lowry development, offers a tight, salsa-smart menu and a decor as warm as its made-on-site tortilla chips.
With deep cherrywood booths and stacked-stone walls, the place – one of nine Denver eateries under the same ownership – is a happy alternative to the typical cheesy Mexican joint with sombreros hung on cactus and strings of chile lights along the bar.
With five TV sets, Salty Rita’s might pass for a sports bar, but on the night we visited, they were kept turned town, muting that effect. Better yet, the service was unusually prompt – our waitress had to come back twice before we were ready to order.
The food, mostly standard Mexican, is prepared with both flavor and flair. In addition, the drinks that give Rita’s its name come in full- sized pint glasses and go for just three bucks apiece during happy hours – which run from 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 p.m. to midnight seven days a week, nicely overlapping the dinner hour.
The appetizers sounded enticing, especially two with an Asian-fusion spin: the taco lettuce wrap (Southwest chicken, rice and beans in an iceberg shell) and the buffalo prawns (jumbo shrimp tempura in a chile-honey sauce). Hmm: Tokyo meets Tijuana?
But we skipped right to the main menu, which features a solid selection of tacos, burritos and enchiladas, mostly in the $8 to $10 range. (The special, we discovered too late, was chimichangas, for $9.25.)
Among the entrees we sampled, the best were probably the chile relleno, a big, plump pod fried in an excellent batter and smothered in a zesty green chile; and the fajita wrap, a pair of fist-sized packets of chipotle-flavored tortilla, stuffed with steak, peppers, onions and cheese, with a delicious, citrus-flavored avocado-cucumber salad on the side.
The chile verde, full of pork chunks and visible shards of chile skin, was good and spicy, but turned out to be so eye-watering it needed to be quieted with an extra tortilla. The enchiladas also were excellent, though the red sauce was so pronounced it almost overpowered the meat and cheese.
A better choice might have been the fish tacos, a blend of cod, cabbage and pico de gallo that tasted great on an earlier visit, when we watched the sunset from the outdoor patio.
On this winter evening, the dessert menu looked sweet, offering sopapillas and flash-fried ice cream, among other treats. But with other commitments on our agenda, we decided to go for a walk and let the main meal marinate in our memories.
Staff writer Jack Cox can be reached at 303-954-1785 or jcox@denverpost.com.
Salty Rita’s
Mexican|200 Quebec St. in Lowry Town Center; 303-344-4404 |$4-$10.75|11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. or later Monday-Friday; 10 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. or later Saturday and Sunday|Major credit cards but not Diner’s Club.
Front burner: Solid menu, excellent service, $3 margaritas five hours a night.
Back burner: Sparse wine selection and limited space for large parties except on the enclosed patio.
