Illegal Pete's Lodo

In researching where to eat in Denver, this restaurant came up multiple times so I put it on the list of MUST VISIT places. When I arrived, I was very underwhelmed. Idk if it was just hyped up too much or what, but it felt like a regular chipotle, freebirds, etc. Nothing special about the place that I could tell. I got a burrito bowl and chips, which was good, but really messed my stomach up. I took home leftovers and ended up throwing them away because my stomach was so destroyed after my visit. The staff were great, the restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating, which was great, but it just seemed like an average place. Nothing great about it, nothing bad. Just a spot for lunch. 3.5 stars overall.

The bowl was pretty good, and I liked the burrito a lot. The green chili was good, and the queso was solid. I can't wait to go back and try a margarita.

The Baja fried fish quesadillas were perfect! It’s not on the menu, but they were kind enough to make it for me.

A great fast casual store: easy to get you burrito etc how you like it, and seating is plentiful while also clean. An upgrade over chipotle, glad to see there's other competitors in this space. Smothered carnitas burrito was what I got. It's filling and has as much flavor as you'd expect for the price point.

I had a smothered burrito. It was delicious and I liked it. The service was fast and the staff was friendly.

Great service and delicious fish tacos and house margarita! Great place to stop when you arrive from Union Station.

There was an intense smell of cooked/burnt food the minute we walked in. The food was decent for the price ($14 for a bowl). Didn’t look the most appetizing but it was fine for a quick lunch.

I specifically come to this location when traveling because it is conveniently located near union station, the food is always bomb, but the service at this location is exceptional. Pat, Ben, and Elliot are all very friendly and efficient with the service they provide. Shout to the staff that brings this customer coming back!!

The restaurant was in walking distance from the downtown hotel and convention center. I was impressed with the authentic tasting offerings . I had the chicken tacos with the crunchy corn shells. They even had a variety of authentic Mexican toppings and drinks. We stopped by to have a quick lunch and was able to order, eat and leave before the lunch hour is over. The restaurant is decorated with lots of Mexican themed decor.

Went there for a quick lunch. The line was longer and didn't move really fast so I spent about 15 mins in line. Their menu is nice and simple. I ordered the chicken bowl with guacamole. You get to choose all ur toppings. Lots of seating in and out on their patio but I had to get back for a meeting. The bowl was good but nothing more special than Chipotle. But Chipotle is faster and less expensive so I guess overall an average meal.

Illegal Pete's is the superior version of Chipotle. I got a kids' grilled chicken burrito for only $7.44, and it was FAT. I wanted something small, so I ordered a kids' size, but it honestly looked like an adult-sized portion to me. It was delicious, and the employees were extremely friendly.

We liked Illegal Pete's so much that we came here (LoDo location) twice during our recent visit to Denver! We especially loved the "big fish" burrito where we could add anything we want. Besides all the usual suspects (beans, rice, veggies), I also added vegan green chili to mine and it was delicious! On our second visit, we ordered an extra side of the green chili -- my husband liked it more there than at other places we went to on this trip (and he is a Denver native so he knows... ). The people working there were patient and efficient, and I like the "rocking" décor - I noticed "The Clash" printed on the clothing of someone in a painting. Also, when I looked at their website I was impressed to learn that they have a "Starving Artist" program which supports creatives (writers, artists, bands) that come through town! Per their site: "There's more to life than burritos. Like feeding bands, sponsoring artists, supporting comedians, and uplifting schools in our communities. You get the jist. We're not trying to save the world, but if we can make delicious food while giving back to our neighbors, that's the dream that started this whole thing." That's pretty cool!

Nice workers, great food, convenient location, comfy booths right in the window! I loved hanging out here having lunch and making art! A lot of good vibes from staff and customers even!

Wish I could give them 6 stars. Incredible service, probably the friendliest and happiest workers I've ever met. They really make the experience! On top of that the food is awesome! Super good, tasty chicken and they also had some grilled veggies that were great, absolute loved the chips and queso and the cookie was pretty good too. They also have drinks and their classic margarita was one of the best I've ever had. Seriously so impressed by this place and can't believe I hadn't been before. Indoor space is a little dark, definitely bar vibes and they had the football games playing. Nice outdoor space as well.

Work lunch. Long line. Answer? Mobile app. Ordered, waited 10 minutes, got hot fresh food. Good order choice - proteins, veggies, sides. Great hot sauce. Limited drink options. A place to go because it's unique or Denver? No. A place for a reliable, fresh, timely lunch? Yes.

We came here as a recommendation by a nearby store worker for a quick lunch, and we were thrilled with it! Super quick service and a delicious fast casual tex mex option. With $11 starting for steak, it's way better than any chain quick service restaurant! The guacamole is and perfectly spiced.

Beat the lines and order online during the busy work week lunch crowd. I can't say I love Illegal Pete's but I have been heading here vs. Chipotle recently so maybe I'm now converted?

Like chipotle but way better!! I got the bowl with the carnitas smothered in the Colorado style mix of queso and green chile pork. It was super tasty and very filling, with rice, beans, pico, salsa, and sour cream. Shout out to the cashier Elliot who was so incredibly friendly and kind. They have indoor and outdoor seating. The patio is nice but the misters were a little too intense imo. Would definitely recommend and return!

Illegal Pete's is always a solid place to eat or drink. The quality of the food is excellent. I always get a good amount and always leave feeling full. The service is really great with fun people and I always enjoy myself here! Crystal and I come all the time for tacos and burritos and drinks I usually get a margarita and Crystal is a vodka girl! We always bring our friends here when they come to visit and a great place to pop into in between different Denver events! We are also huge comedy fans and love how they are a part of Highplains Comedy Festival and we always enjoy that. It's definitely a staple here for us! - we enjoy that it's a place where everyone can feel safe and comfortable and accepted here! I hope that part especially always stays the same here at Illegal Pete's!

The Mexican coke carnitas are my favorite! Would love an addition of another sauce besides the Xxxtra hot. Good food and a great takeout option. Good takeout service!

Like a bunch of other reviews are saying, it's like Chipotle but better! Better choices, better quality, just better! The workers are super friendly, and I like that you get a choice between tortilla or tortilla chips. And despite looking like not that much food, it's actually so filling. I've also heard high praises for their pesto, so I'll have to try that next time!

The bowls here are always delicious. They always hook it up with good size portions and the vibe is right. They have a bar and a lot of tvs to watch. Free chips or tortilla with your bowl! So much better than chipotle! High quality service.

What a great filling meal, im a big eater and i took home 1/4 of my burrito and enough to make a great omlet the next morning. We also tried the rolled tacos that were very good but pretty thin in meat. Inside plenty of seatting and tv to see sports

I loveee the free drinks with avs tickets deal! They always have the dankest "fast" food and its a nice lil bar vibe. Ill come back.

Go for the food, avoid the bar. Loved the fish tacos, green chili with pork, guac and corn chips! Guys making food were friendly and helpful. Made the mistake of sitting on the bar side of restaurant where the music is way too loud, hard rock (and I like hard rock but this was painful) and the bartender is tending to all her sketchy hard rock buddies at the bar and will ignore everyone else. If I go back, I'll get take out.

Not sure if it was just an off day but got queso slop instead of reverse nachos. Definitely tasted good but was probably 75% queso and maybe 25% toppings after mixing it up. Expected more but oh well.

It had been years since I had been to an Illegal Pete's, and now I'm wondering why. The food was quite tasty, all the preparations & toppings you'd expect, made by very friendly folks, and enjoyed in a great space inside & out (with water misters going). The line did get a bit long at peak lunch rush, but it moves along.

Wow, this place was so much better than chipotle. I ordered the fish bowl and it was delicious! The fish is cooked fresh so you have to tell the staff that you want the fish. The sides were flavorful and I got the side of chips. Super tasty and super filling! You definitely get your money's worth here

i love this place, i will always advocate as they have the best margs ever but they need like a $4 marg monday deal like they do at the locations in arizona

This place is like Chipotle on steroids!!! Food is fantastic. You go to the counter and order just like Chipotle, but the food is so much better. The fajita veggies are actually cooked. The nachos are incredible, and the queso! Delish! If you are nearby and hungry, give this place a try!

This was our first stop on our Denver vacation and after a long day of travel this absolutely hit the spot! It's a build your own concept with some chef curated options and everything was tasty. We got the barbacoa nachos and fish tacos and for a land locked state the fish tacos for bonkers good. Being on 16th it's also a great and convenient spot to either catch the game or people watch. It was a great start to our vacation

The food here was delicious. The loaded nachos were totally loaded and everything tasted really fresh. They practically had to roll me out of there because I ate so much food. Highly recommend.

First time eating at Illegal Pete's and really loved it! Ordered a burrito bowl with chicken, black beans, pork green chile, cabbage, cilantro, tomatillo salsa & cheese with chips. All of the ingredients were fresh, cold when they should be and hot when they should be. I will absolutely walk the 8 blocks or so to eat here again! The staff was very friendly, ordering is really easy and the entire restaurant was clean.

Not from Denver and took a chance on this place. In my honest opinion - this place was alright. I expected more from it! I think there is better Mexican food options around. Overall, I think the food was a little disappointing for the price. The service & queso were good. This place would've been 3 stars for me food wise, but since they had rainbow flags I'm raising it to 4!!! ‍

Great mission burrito. The steak was fantastic. Loved the feel of the restaurant, and ate outside on the patio, made it even better. Quick service and good food for the price.

Love this place. Stopped in on a long layover. We travel alot and are always excited when we find the little hidden gems, and this place was one. The food was great and decently priced, the staff friendly, they let us stay extra long with our kiddos and even gave them a free cookie. We were so thankful to find such a great little place in Denver And will definitely be back. Thanks again

The type of place I enjoy food from- the place is unassuming with tables and booths for sitting as well as an outdoor area with misters. The decor is eclectic which makes it fun to look around. I have been in the area a year and finally found queso I enjoyed. I had a chicken burrito bowl which was filled with flavor. The chicken was freshly cooked with flavor. The veggies and other toppings were plentiful. The staff that filled our order was friendly. They did come around making sure all was Good. The chips are freshly made which is another huge bonus.

After going to a Rockies Game, my fiancé and I were hungry and came across this place. Loved how spacious it was and that there's outdoor seating! I got a custom bowl and he got the fish bowl. The service was fast and nice! We didn't get hard drinks but their bar looked stacked / seemed to have good options. If you're a fan of chipotle but looking for something more local, would recommend.

Bummer.... I love illegal Pete's but this location sucks! The workers literally move in slow motion and we were given COLD meat in our bowl because they didn't check the heaters. Won't be back to this location.

So I am torn on this review. The food is ALWAYS outstanding. Illegal Pete's is my default lunch spot. All the times I have been there, the service has been exceptional. Today when I ordered, they were out of chicken, the guy putting my add-ons onto my dish grabbed corn that fell to the side with his (gloved) hands and put dirty corn into my dish, when I asked him why he did that he ignored me and added things to my dish that I did not ask for. I still highly recommend this place to eat as the food is great but maybe a bit more food etiquette from that employee would be beneficial.

I absolutely love the burrito bowls here. It is so much better than chipotle or qdoba (granted a little more expensive) but would definitely recommend going here for something fast and delicious while you are in Denver. I got a burrito bowl and a chicken quesadilla and they were both delicious. Their pico is very good. Plenty of seating indoors and staff is all so nice. They have a large menu with vegetation options too!

Basically a local chipotle with better flavors and full bar, loved it. Will definitely be back when I'm back in DEN on business

Food is cheap and filling. We were stuffed and our bill was $23 and some change. I got a breakfast burrito smothered in pork green chili. My guy got a breakfast burrito with a medium bag of tortilla chips and a side of green chili. We both got a large foundation sodas too. I feel like most people must go here because they serve alcohol. The food was decent but not spectacular by any means. I was starving so it probably tasted better just because how hungry I was. I personally wouldn't go here again, but if your hungry and want to get very full for about $11 then this is the place for you!

Illegal Petes was our lunch pick after a long flight and train ride from airport. It was busy but line moved quickly. We ordered veggie quesadilla. I felt a bit rushed with options as this was my first time here. The veggies were good but I wished i had some hot sauce to go with it. We also had burritos with queso and chile sauce. This was yummy. The veggies were well seasoned and went well with the yummy sauces.

What happened? This used to be a cool place to hang out with great service and good vibes. It feels soulless now

Love love love this place! Consistently great service, staff is extremely friendly and check in on you even when waiting for an online order. Helpful to know on a Sunday - they have all the football games on! Finding the east coast games be tough - so that's exciting! I ordered online and walked over shortly after ordering - while fairly busy - I didn't have to wait more than 5 min for my order - and it was fun to watch the kitchen staff cooking the main ingredients (see the photo of the grilling chicken). I ordered a bowl with steak, rice, lettuce, corn, salsa cheese and sour cream - it was delicious and filling!

Chris Jenna Cooper Morgan Top four people that have made my night Food was great ; they were entertaining Reminded me of chipotle food and their bar was a bit of a divey one on the other side Xoxo would return if in the area

I don't get the hype I guess? The line was to the door so we had to wait 10+ minutes to order. For a chain restaurant the fish tacos were pretty good. I enjoyed the ranch and crisp cabbage topping. Fish was well fried. Nobody else at my table was raving about their meal. As people say, I think this is a place you go at the end of a night of drinking when you appreciate food more.

Nachos are bomb . Com!! All of the people are so nice and quick! The setting is so friendly and bubbly but it is very cold. Overall so good and one of my favorite places!

In this review the 1 Star should be for health violation. Apparently the old man doesn't understand his liability when hiring the unsavory. Had gone to the old location for years but the new spot lacks atmosphere and integrity. Pete's is making the effort to meet it's name sake Illegal. Contamination of service items is first degree assault. Follow by credit fraud. Not family friendly . Unsanitary staff. There is pork on the menu but beware the Cow ards or Chickens in the kitchen. Look at Chili's. Or the Rio is only 2 block s towards stadium.

Had a bad experience 2 weeks ago thought I would give this place another chance. Went last night and had yet another horrible experience. Salsa had a weird taste and lettuce was bad. Chips were stale and chicken was Burnt to the point were it was super hard and crunchy couldn't even eat had to spit it out. My first 2 times were amazing, don't understand why I had such horrible experience the last 2 times I came, maybe new crew idk I hope someone will get back to me so I can change this review and want to come back until then I recommend staying far from this place.

We stopped in on our way to the Nial Horan concert. Something was wrong with the AC and it was hot inside but the service was great and the food was as good as you could want. I had chicken nachos and the table also enjoyed chicken quesadillas and a Baja Fish bowl. Portions were big and Guacamole was fresh and delicious. Only regret was we could not eat it all and had not way to take home.

Ordered for delivery on DoorDash. I'm giving it 4 stars because my food was cold 10min after it was picked up. Otherwise, great choice selections for veggies and beans. It's nice I got to add guac for no extra charge unlike Chipotle (thumps down lol). I also really enjoyed the prices too. I will definitely dine here again, probably in person next time around :)

GUYS - THE MUSIC. Keep Pete's creative and original. Why are we listening to this derivative, elevator music?! Why can't the team choose their own dope jamz any longer?! If I want generic and mass consumption, I'll walk another block to the C-Word Burrito place. Keep it cool for Summer, Pete. Thanks!

Eh. Nothing amazing to me. I learned that Illegal Pete's was founded in Colorado, so I was slightly interested in trying this place since it was my first time in Denver, Colorado. Was looking for a breakfast place and Illegal Pete's was the only place open at that time. This place is similar to Chipotle and you just go down the line to pick your choice of meat, sauce, etc. We ordered the tacos (x3) and the chicken taquitos (x4). Tbh when I saw the tacos, I was like blehhhhh not good. When I picked up the tacos, it was falling apart. When I tasted it, I was even more blehhhh and ehhh. The chicken taquitos were alight. Tacos and taquitos were not amazing and I would not recommend, sorry. I had better tacos and taquitos in California. I guess the only plus side is that Illegal Pete's opens early and closes late, so it's perfect for those early birds and late-night people who needs fooood.

I have a boyfriend with a burrito addiction. He was spoiled by having Illegal Pete's as his go-to burrito spot in college and mentions them frequently when we eat burritos in Vegas- apparently their process of mixing up the burrito fillings before wrapping it shut is "life changing." When we came to town, I knew I had to find out for myself. Turns out, Chipotle is doing it all wrong. Mixing the ingredients is genius and eliminates that inevitable bite full of sour cream/corn salsa/other lesser ingredient because everything is combined and each bite has a bit of everything. More than that though, I love that IP offers crispy potatoes as a carb option instead of just rice! Oh, and they have green chili, and queso, in addition to several salsas (go medium or hotter, they trend mild). These guys really have their burritos down to a science- so much so that we actually visited twice during our trip. And now we'll both be waxing poetic about better burritos. PRO TIP: Sub potatoes for rice and add half-and-half green chili and queso. You're welcome.

I kept seeing people rave about this place when I was researching places to go while on my trip in Denver. I didn't add it to my list, as I thought it would just be your typical fast food Mexican joint that I could get anywhere. How did I end up here then? Well, we were out late drinking (you know how that story goes) and we were in search of dessert. We stumbled past Illegal Pete's and saw the long line and could smell the food from outside and we stopped dead in our tracks, looked at each other and said "Mexican food as our dessert!?" We both agreed and inside we went to wait in the line. The line moved fairly quickly. It is set up very similarly to Chipotle where you pick if you want tacos, burritos, a bowl, etc. and then you choose your toppings. We decided to split a quesadilla with carnitas with guacamole and chips and queso on the side. The carnitas were so good, packed full of flavor and tender. I really enjoyed the quesadilla. Although the medium salsa that came with is was very boring, my note here says it was "meh". So instead, I dipped the quesadilla into the guacamole. The chips and queso were sooooo good. The chips were hot, the queso was creamy and never congealed. It had an awesome flavor and slightly spicy. I could have eaten the whole thing by myself, but luckily I had someone helping me out (or maybe that's unlucky). I wish we had an Illegal Pete's in Orlando, FL....so if anyone of importance is reading this that can get one here...well....