• Mercury Cafe

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  • White Veg-options
Lacto
Ovo
American
Organic
Delivery
Non-veg

Serves meat, vegan options available. Organic food restaurant. Has some vege dishes. Eclectic atmosphere with live music some nights and swing dance on Sunday. Most of their food is local as possible. Open Tue-Thu 5:30pm-1:00am, Fri 5:30pm-2:00am, Sat 9:00am-2:00am, Sun 9:00am-1:00am.


Venue map for Mercury Cafe
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12 Reviews

First Review by flamekat

EllenMJ

Points +36

Vegan
20 Jun 2019

Organic vegan options, funky vibe

The couple of times we’ve been the food was very fresh and flavorful! Everything is organic. Brunch was fantastic - the enchiladas and anything smothered in green chile is a winner!

Pros: Multiple vegan options , Colorful, bohemian vibe, Event space for vegan catered events!

Cons: A bit pricey (but it’s organic so...), Cash and check only, ATM on-site

Luderpierce

Points +50

Vegan
27 Mar 2018

Never again

This place is repeatedly so disappointing. I've been to the Mercury several times within 15 years and 2 things don't change - inattentive wait staff and less than mediocre food. Mushy noodles (and they only serve gluten free pasta for some reason), few vegetables, few pieces of tofu, and with scant flavor. And that cost me $18! Also, the first baskets of bread we got our table was calling hockey pucks. My borscht was the worst "soup" I have ever had - no flavor. I can not fathom how they have stayed in business. The food is not good. We had a group of 10 and nobody was happy with their meal. Also, our friend was performing in the lower room yet a loud band was playing upstairs at the same time, so it was hard to hear her performance.

DebDewberry

Points +171

Vegan
21 Feb 2018

ok place

I was excited to visit this place for dinner after reading their website. Unfortunately we ended up disappointed when our waitress was inattentive once we got our food, and wrote down the wrong dish for my husband: the more expensive special instead of a salad. When he inquired what dish he had, she double checked, realized, but still charged us for the special. Seems over priced for what you get. The food tasted ok, nothing awesome.

Pros: multiple vegan options, lots of gluten-free option

Cons: over priced, inattentive staff

Kevbromley

Points +578

Vegan
20 Dec 2017

Quirky cafe

Some nice vegan options here.

renpigott

Points +107

Vegan
24 May 2016

worth a visit

The atmosphere of the Mercury Café is what really sells it. It has such an ethereal vibe which is just lovely to escape bustling downtown Denver a few blocks away. The food is a bit mediocre with the vegan options lacking a bit in flavor. However, it is still good and most everything is local and organic - a big plus!

m@earthville

Points +9685

Vegan
29 Dec 2015

A longstanding local favorite hangout

The Merc offers atmosphere above all else — good vibes, good music, good teas, and food too, including some vegan options. If it were 100% vegetarian we'd go more often.

Pros: Good vibes

Cons: Not veg

nsonnesyn

Points +138

Herbivore
21 Dec 2015

Great for Veg and Non-Veg Friends and Family

I really like the atmosphere here. Very unique, crazy cool, interesting decor, live music, poetry reading. I love that it is mostly organic and local. That is hard to find in a restaurant! There are lots of vegan friendly options, you can even get daiya cheese. My boyfriend and I like to go here when we have to cater to our non-veg friends and family since there are meat options as well, and our out of town guests find it to be quite the sight.
Updated from previous review on Monday December 21, 2015

Pros: Cool Atmosphere, Vegan Friendly, Live Entertainment

Cons: Parking

natvv

Points +329

Vegan
12 Oct 2015

beautiful place

I had such a lovely dinner here. The place is lit up by fairy lights... it's so beautiful and such a nice atmosphere in here. There's live music, swing dancing, and sometimes even open mic.

I had some delicious vegan tofu scrambles and tea, with vegan chocolate cake for dessert. Yum.

Pros: beautiful, nice atmosphere

maliciouskami

Points +188

Vegan
13 Jan 2009

Come for the food, stay for the atmosphere

This is absolutely the most eccentric place I've ever eaten. It was totally wild. There was a guy playing a piano in one corner, and a guy dressed as a wizard doing tarot readings in the other. Upstairs, swing dancing was going on. The crowd ranged from hipsters to older folks. This place is just plain entertaining. There were quite a few vegan options (namely tofu, tempeh, or Mexican), though you had to sift through menu items heavy on chicken, fish, and ELK. Pretty gross. The bread they give you as an appetizer is not vegan--or so the waitress guessed (for a place trying to cater to vegans, I was kind of annoyed they weren't more clear or helpful in that regard). I ended up with a battered tofu meal a la carte (as I didn't see any point to buying a vegan dinner which came with more non-vegan bread). It came with generous portions--lots of interesting vegetables (we were drawing guesses as to what all of them were). It was very filling. The quinoa had zero flavor, though, and that seemed to come with almost everything on their menu. They had three different vegan items for desert. I went with the vegan cake sweetened with maple syrup. It was okay--but I've had better. It was a huge slice and I ended up sharing it with my friends.

Will be returning soon to enjoy the atmosphere!

Pros: Atmosphere, Entertainment, Vegan options

Cons: Waitstaff unsure of what was vegan, Vegan options limited

kindlizard

Points +1131

Vegan
16 Sep 2008

one of the worst meals, inedible

This was a disaster. It was even more confusing since they had all the signs pointing to a nice evening, ambience-wise, and such. Nothing anyone had was good. The desserts were awful, flour unmixed in the heart of the cake, like biting into flour or someone throwing a sandbag in your mouth. No amount of water can fix that. They did take it off the bill. Dinner also took about 45 minutes to come. I guess if we were full, it'd not have been a problem, but the plates were inedible, and we all left hungry.

I suggest a serious reevaluation of the menu/cooking. Obviously, I would take all the dead things off the menu, then I would learn how to properly cook veggies and knock the price down. I think they are going for the so-you-want-to-look-cool-while-drinking-a-$12-drink crowd, some of whom may eat veg. Don't waste your time, it is awful.

Look at the menu, it is bad, and what sounds good isn't.

Pros: they claim to use OG veg, but can't cook it well at all

Cons: inedible food, elk & turkey, unmixed flour in cake

Deano

Points +123

Vegan
15 Oct 2007

Wasted journey

Please be warned that this place is NOT a vegetarian/vegan cafe. We walked 25 minutes to get there and then took five minutes to find the eating area - we must have been confused by the jive dance class and a rally for a presidential election hopeful. When we found it, the cafe looked cool - until we saw the meat on the menu. We drank the water that had arrived on our table and quickly made our excuses to leave.

Cons: serves meat

flamekat

Points +397

Vegan
18 Sep 2006

Well, I liked it

I haven't been here in well over a year, but I've always enjoyed my meals here, although my parents couldn't say the same. The tempeh with black bean sauce is awesome, and the vegan specials are good. My family likes the enchiladas. Step-dad suggests staying away from anything creamy. There's a good range of desserts, with lots of vegan and gluten free options. They lean to the healthier side of vegan baking, but still nice. The atmosphere is funky and eccentric, so not for everyone, but it feels comfortable and homey to me.

Pros: Good food, Funky atmosphere

Cons: Bad service, Overpriced

flamekat

22 Feb 2013

So, I'm in Denver and made my first visit to the Mercury Cafe since summer 2005. My mom and I were having trouble deciding where to eat that night, and surprisingly, she suggested this. In the past, my family has only eaten here when I visit to give me a treat. Well, maybe the chef has changed, cause things were definitely better. We both had the tempeh with black bean sauce, which was even better than I remember, plus the dish now includes quinoa, as do many other dishes on the menu. Unfortunately, they've added a lot of elk to the menu. Ew. And it seemed like there weren't as many vegan options as before. Neither of the specials that night had a vegan option. For dessert, I had the chocolate cake with maple cocoa icing which is their standard vegan chocolate cake. It would be nice if they changed things up a bit. However, the cake recipe has definitely improved! I've had this cake maybe 6 or 7 times before and remember it as decent, nicely presented on a syrup drizzled and garnished plate, but fairly dry and healthy tasting. This time around it was on a small plain plate, but very moist, and my non-veg mom thought it was great. Final verdict: the quality of the food (and service) has improved, but unfortunately, the menu options for vegans seems to have decreased.




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