Sarah M.
Yelp
If I were to review Churchill's ten years ago they would've been rated four stars. Sadly, no longer. As CO loses more and more cigar bars there are more limited options and Churchill's is only one of two that are downtown. (That I know of, if anyone knows of any other than this and the other Than Delany's please let me know) because of the limited options, especially in the winter, we were on a quest to satisfy our cigar cravings. As always, we pack our own cigars because options are almost always limited in bars so I won't pretend to know much about the selection but it looked limited but on the higher end. It is a nice classic cigar bar lounge. i.e. Large sized leather lounge chairs and couches, dark wood, and more classic drinks such as scotch on the rock, whiskey and what not as opposed to the nouveau drinks you find otherwise. Obviously this makes sense with the ambience and the drinks are still very good. With that said, there is a fine line between a great comfortable leather chair that looks worn in, and a leather chair that is too worn in and is no longer comfortable. This is a bar designed to look "older" and I love that, but a well designed revamp would do wonders to update the classic look without looking "new" and modern. Some updated "man leather" furniture would still look classic and timeless but wouldn't actually be worn out. This would do wonders for the place, to update without looking updated.
Our waitress was ok. Mildly attentive and considering the bar wasn't empty but certainly not overly crowded the service was decent. Not paired with what I would expect for the price. At 11pm I'm sure they are tired and ready to go home but at least act like you are happy to be there. Watching all of the service members look depressed was a tad depressing. What bar has last call at 11:00 on a Saturday?
The demographic has also changed quite a bit and I love a great classic old style "Mad Men" bar. It used to look this way and ten years ago someone in a hoodie and baseball hat wouldn't come here but somewhere along the line in society this is somehow ok everywhere, apparently including a bar/lounge that used to cater to businessmen who dressed as such and women with heels and nice dresses, not like they accidentally stumbled in from two blocks down. This affected the ambience for me as well. I just don't understand why people do that.
Look, there is a place for everyone. If you prefer a more "hipster" place this isn't for you, if you want to impress people or like dressing up and are that kind of person, then go here. Not to be a self-fulfilling prophecy but if your outfit makes you feel uncomfortable here, then you probably should go somewhere else. This just isn't that kind of lounge. It's a quiet lounge that is obviously meant for older businessmen with money or at least like looking that way. If you roll in with an Affliction t shirt and see a man with his colleagues wearing cuff links, you aren't in the right bar anymore than he would feel comfortable at a place you liked so take it for what it is. That is honestly not meant to be an insult, it is just that kind of place. To each his own and if you aren't a fan of d-bags, you wouldn't like it anymore than a d-bag would like a more modern and hip place. I prefer quiet, businessmen d bags. I'm ok with that. I like to be in my element and if a place that caters to old snobbery isn't your jam, you won't like it much. But I'm not 22 anymore so I'm ok with not being cool. :)
Overall a nice classic cigar bar is always appreciated, but I miss the Churchill's that use to be, not the Churchill's of today aside from the good drinks and that they still fit the theme of the Brown Palace I miss the cigar lounge of yesterday.
If a person really wants a great cigar lounge and location doesn't matter, I would recommend Del Frisco on the south side of Denver in the tech center.