Regular Joe's Guide

First visit: Jul 2023 (Colorado Springs) Other locations: The original is in Black Forest (opened in 2001) and the other is in Monument. All 3 are approximately equidistant from our house. Tried the meatball sub with a Caesar salad. Salad came out on a small pizza tray, was cold, crisp, and very good. The meatball sub wasn't toasted enough and the sauce was cool. I asked for it be heated some more, which they did, and it still wasn't hot enough. Sigh. So it was hard to gauge the flavor of the sauce, though my initial impression is it's a sweet pizza variety, which I quite like. The meatballs, however, seemed to come off of a truck versus homemade which is a bozo no-no. Definitely won't get that again, though I'm tempted to go back and try a pizza from them at some point. We'll see.  The Colorado Springs location sits in a large space inside of a strip mall. It was empty on this lunch visit, but I'm sure they do well during the evening.  7/30/23 (new entry)

Latest visit: Jun 2024 First visit: Feb 2019 Founded: 2011 I was in the Woodmoor area visiting their annual neighborhood garage sale when it was time for lunch. After viewing my options, I decided on Pikes Peak Brewery. I hadn't been to the brewery in a year - well really I haven't been to hardly any of the breweries lately. And I've never eaten here even though they have a nice bar menu. Nothing too fancy, and they don't sport a grill. But they do have a professional panini maker, so I went with their Italian beef sandwich. It was stacked high with excellent cooked roast beef, cheese, and loaded with hot giardiniera peppers. The bread was toasted perfectly, Mrs. RJG would have approved (though not the meat...). Came with a side of au jus and a bag of Boulder Canyon Potato Chips. Well worth an annual visit. Consider that task complete. ---original 7/29/23 review Pikes Peak Brewing is arguably the Colorado Springs metro area's most popular brewery, eclipsing Bristol....

First visit: Jul 2023 Breakfast, lunch kind of place. Lots of outdoor seating, not too much inside. Our favorite meal of the trip by far. Didn't expect to find a Cuban place in Leadville, what a pleasant surprise. Great sandwiches and coffee! 7/2/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jul 2023 Pleasant bar with plenty of seating. Decent selection of craft beers. Enjoyed the vibes, and they played neo psych music too. First time we've experienced that! Had my Sound Hound out and ready for new tips! On our annual visits to Leadville, it would seem this makes a regular nice stop as we walk back to the hotel. 7/1/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jul 2023 Nice location on the edge of town. Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Very good beers too! Denver is famous for being the Mile High city. Leadville is the Two Mile High city! This is the only brewery in Leadville, and we now plan on visiting annually, so it's looking good for regular revisits :-) 7/1/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jul 2023 Soothed our stomach nice after the lackluster House Rock Kitchen lunch. Nice outdoor seating with shade. They serve Liks Ice Cream from Denver, which is great. Would prefer locally made ice cream, but certainly this place is nice. We might go back when in town. 7/1/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jul 2023 Not coming back here. Too many other places to try. Should have been much better - and it's crowded too! If you like super rare hamburgers though... Mrs. RJG gives it a huge thumbs down. Falafel salad was horrid. 7/1/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jul 2023 Large space with plenty of indoor seating and a bar area. Good beers too with nice service. The only brewery in northwest Colorado Springs. 7/29/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jul 2023 Mar 2025 update: Yea, it didn't make it. I never saw any crowds and the reviews remained mediocre. Sometimes a place "just don't got it". Oh well, I wish them the best and hopefully they learned some lessons along the way. This is the old Billy Sims BBQ joint that closed down since the owner is in Kansas and it was hard to maintain this location. Sorry to say the new restaurant isn't up to snuff. The beef brisket sandwich is kind of fatty and a little tough, but not too bad. 7/29/23 (new entry)

First visit: Jun 2023 (Colorado Springs) The FNABQ's were in town, and their hotel was in the Powers nightmare corridor. They asked for a recommendation, but I'm really not that familiar with that part of town, and go to great lengths to avoid it. In doing some research Hops N Drops showed up, and we all like places like this, so let's try it.  Hops N Drops has the "feel of the 90s" when craft beer was just getting its sea legs. Some of you might remember a chain called Hops Grill and Brewery. Hops N Drops reminds me of that genre. Their beers (for this location anyway) are made by Odell, so they don't brew their own. The food is standard pub fare with sandwiches and burgers. They also offer up more interesting entrees, but I stuck with the cheeseburger. I seemed to enjoy myself more than the others, probably due to nostalgia. The restaurant was mostly empty. Too expensive and the idea is outdated. People prefer to go to the breweries and try whatever food tru...

Latest visit: Oct 2024 (Black Forest) First visit: Dec 2018 (Black Forest) It's a beautiful Sunday and we decided to take an impromptu hike at the Black Forest Regional Park. Afterwards, what better place to relax than at Black Forest Brewing just up the road a piece? We enjoyed one beer each as we watched the end of a couple of NFL contests and the start of the Broncos game. Perfect break before heading back home. ---7/29/23 review (Falcon) We followed Dr. Taco on this visit. Both locations have plenty of room inside, though the original Black Forest is in a better nature setting. Excellent traditional German beers too! Black Forest is probably the closest true microbrewery to our home (not counting corporate driven high-end brewpubs). Black Forest can be found in a beautiful setting deep in the woods northeast of Colorado Springs. They specialize in German beers, but experiment often beyond that. Walk in, check out the computer screen, order. Then sit in the spacious two room tap...