Generros

Generros old neon sign from 1950 remains a visual landmark on South Broadway that makes you long for the stylized days of the midcentury times. With its glowing martini glass and blue letters spelling ‘lounge’, it just shouts out “Great place to drink”. A step inside feels almost like an anachronistic time warp, and the center bar ‘in the round’ is immediately inviting.

Drinkability:

This is a beer bar for sure. Over a dozen beers on tap, mostly from the Deschutes brewery in Oregon, in fact they boast the largest Deschutes selection outside of Bend Oregon. For the hard stuff, it’s a mixed bag. Lots of weird flavored vodkas (e.g. froot loop, mountain dew, s’more, etc…) as well as the usual obligatory typical bar features. They do have a custom drink menu, most of which sound kind of yucky, but who am I to judge. Actually, I am quite the judge… most looked gross, but they also feature some classic cocktails on the drink menu to harken to the days of their origins. The bartenders were very friendly and helpful and we had Moscow Mules. To be honest its hard to mess up Moscow Mules, but everything was well measured and served in an obligatory copper plated mug. Prices were very reasonable.

Bar Ambiance:

This place got it right. From the excellent neon sign out front to the center bar design to the red vinyl booths to the checker board floor to the glowing red lights above the bar, almost perfect old timey ambiance. If not for the people and LCD TVs, you’d think you went back in time. Music isn’t too obtrusive and the place smelled great.

Patrons:

On this particular night, it was late and there wasn’t many people left in the bar, but on most nights its fair sized crowd with a good gender split. People are generally friendly, but there was a jackass trying to start trouble with other patrons. Very neighborhoody place and with the Broadway and Yale neighborhood to draw from, generally good people are there. I am told that on Saturday nights with live shows the place can become lousy with hipsters, which… whatever, you know what you get. Ages of the patrons are all over the map, some early 20s and some in their 50s. Again, very much a neighborhood place.

Entertainment:

No games, but most nights have some sort of entertainment: Karaoke on Mondays, trivia Wednesdays, drag queen bingo (!) Thursdays, live music Saturdays. So there is no lacking for things to do while allowing inebriation to set in. Decent internet connected juke box too.

Intangibles:

They have a decent parking lot and a great patio which is where the smokers will often hang out so if you want to eat outside, you’ll deal with that. Speaking of eating, they offer a full Italian menu with decent pizza being the star of the show. They also have typical fare like chicken parmesan, lasagna, etc… But the best part is the fact that they have great appetizers to go with your booze consumption with highlights being Meaty knots (garlic knots stuffed with meat) and Roman fries (steak fries slathered in meat sauce). Food is served until 1:00 AM too which is outstanding. If Italian isn’t your thing, there is a Sonic (!!) across the street. Awesome. Bathrooms are horrible, hardly any room to take care of your business, but not gross or anything.

Overall: Generros does it right it almost every way. Trying to identify its shortcomings are pretty simple: lack of “specialty” liquor which can make even some basic classic drinks tough to come by, and not a lot of great “on the rocks” options, also they refer to the lounge on their website as “the G spot”. The G Spot… Fucking really? But that aside it’s a fabulous place to drink and get a little something to eat especially if the Deschutes beers are of interest to you. One thing I didn’t mention is that the specials are pretty awesome, every night features something different and they’re all pretty good deals. Arguably the best place to drink on the Englewood part of South Broadway.

http://www.bestitalianrestaurantindenver.com and http://www.denvergspot.net/