Angelica Q.
Yelp
Great atmosphere; we were seated pretty quickly and this place was lively with live music, people chatting, and drinks being clinked together. Our taxi driver that dropped us off said that this was a local favorite and it's easy to see why.
The Wapiti (Elk Burger): patty is VERY soft and pillowy, leading to a different mouthfeel that you'd expect for a burger; I found it to be very pleasant and loved the taste of it! This was my boyfriend and my's first time having game meat in Canada and we are happy to say that this burger did a fantastic job of introducing us. There were some bits where the flavor was inconsistent (some parts more sweet than others, other times more peppery), but that didn't detract from the great overall taste of the burger!
The Kraken (Wolf Den Patty topped w Calamari): okay this was actually the BOMB DOT COM, there was a FLAVOR EXPLOSION that was so wild and new and delicious. There was a tanginess from the sauce, a refreshing soft / bouncy texture from calamari, the savoriness and juice from the burger patty itself. Wow. Great burger. I would highly recommend you have this.
So each burger included a set of sides, so I'll review those separately. There are sides that are included for free, or you could spend a little more for a substitution or upgrade.
-- Onion rings: probably the least best thing at dinner, but the entire dinner was great so I'm just nitpicking. The color and crunch and size of the rings were just right, but I think the taste could've been better. They were just too bland and plain compared to everything else on the table. I didn't finish these.
-- Sweet potato / yam fries: damn good, especially when hot. I wish more places would offer sweet potato fries as a substitution for normal potato / French fries because I personally think they're great tasting. Loved the crunch and color on the ones served at the Den, I wanted to get an order of just these fries to go to snack on but my boyfriend said I probably shouldn't ... I miss them already.
Moving onto dessert! We got the maple syrup pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, as recommended by our waitress. She said that this was "hands down" the best dessert they had to offer, and she was right. We were expecting the pie to be rather sweet thanks to the name, but were delighted to find that the sweetness was not overbearing in the slightest and almost savory. My boyfriend said it was probably the best thing we'd eaten in Canada so far during our trip, and he's not very big on sweet things. That's a huge compliment from him, so the Den's got this dessert thing on lock. Would definitely recommend you finish your meal with this delicious morsel.
The service was amaaaazing! Really wish we got the name of our waitress, she was super helpful and always checking in. (You were pretty tall and wore glasses??) The dessert recommendation was spot on, and the whole dining experience was super smooth and enjoyable.
As a whole, the Den is a local favorite that sports great eats for the traveler. I'd highly recommend stopping by here while you're in Golden. **As a note, they don't take American Express; if you plan on drinking, make sure you bring two pieces of photo ID with your birthdate on them.