Fireside

It's the holiday season & we had the chance to preview Hilton Denver Inverness' Blazing Bright pop-up experience. This cozy & oh-what-fun limited time Christmas experience is open to the public from November 25th to December 31st (Tuesday-Saturday). Reservations are recommended.We arrived at Hilton Denver Inverness & valeted our car. We headed inside the hotel and made our way to the Fireside Bar & Lounge on the first floor (this is where the Blazing Bright pop-up is being held). Oversized ornaments, wreaths & festive décor were donned throughout the space making it the perfect place for a holiday gathering. We were seated on a sofa & lounge chairs by the fire. It was snowing outside and the setting couldn't have been cozier. We got comfortable & began enjoying all that Blazing Bright has to offer. I'm talking sleigh shots, holiday inspired cocktails, decked-out charcuterie boards & light bites.The Fireside Bar & Lounge/Inverness staff were everything during our visit. The valet staff were friendly and quick on their feet. Our server, Danielle was the brightest light & made us feel that true holiday spirit of positivity & kindness throughout our visit. Hotel & Restaurant managers, Tammie, Stevie & Kyle were actively assisting all pop-up patrons with big smiles & helping hands. We were so impressed with this staff in their entirety.We started our night with Bad Santa Spritzers. The Bad Santa Spritzers were made with Titos cranberry & tarragon infused vodka, house grenadine & ginger, lime & La Marca. The tangy cranberry and herbal pine of the tarragon infused vodka went nicely with the effervescence of the La Marca prosecco.The Holiday Charcuterie Board was made with sopressala salami, Boar's Head salchichon, prosciutto, grana Padano, manchego, grapes, berries & dried fruit. The charcuterie board was great for sharing. The traditionally seasoned dry cured meats were salty, the hard cheeses mild yet savory & the fruits sweet.The "Bah Humbug Hot Cocoa" bar featured boozy holiday delights and more toppings & trimmings than one could imagine. This was our favorite feature of the night! The hot chocolate bar included numerous, festively rimmed mugs to choose from (chocolate, peppermint or nuts). We selected peppermint mugs and filled them to the brim with piping hot, hot cocoa. The hot cocoa topping options included house made marshmallows, donut holes, whipped cream, caramel sauce, holiday sprinkles, coconut shavings, chocolate shavings, crushed peppermint, gold croquant, silver croquant & chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. We had the choice to add alcohol to our hot chocolate and those choices included Titos ginger & mint infused vodka, Reposado tequila, Breckenridge Spiced Rum, Amaretto or Rumplemintz.The Nightmare Before Christmas Margarita was made with Suerte Reposado, J.M. Shrubb, acidulated blood orange juice & saffron simple. This cocktail was too cute. We poured the drink from the Jack Skellington ornament into the art-deco coup glass & enjoyed.The Angry Elf Peppermint Martini was made with Cruzan, heavy cream, Crème de Menthe, egg, brown sugar simple & cacao bitters. This cocktail had a strong cooling peppermint finish & was velvety on the tongue - it reminded me of an Andes Chocolate Mint.For bites we had the Duo of French Fries & Angus Beef Sliders and the Spicy Tuna Tartare.The Duo of French Fries & Angus Beef Sliders were made with parmesan truffle and rosemary garlic fries, aged cheddar, bacon & onion jam, house sauce and Irisee' (this can be made into a vegetarian/vegan option). The sliders were great bites of savory angus beef on slightly sweet buns.The Spicy Tuna Tartare was made with unagi, Sriracha aioli, jalapeno, ginger & cilantro. The tuna tartare was fresh and a unique blend of Asian flavors. The pieces of tuna were generously coated in Sriracha aioli which made for subtle spicy bites with underlying notes of umami.The Salted Caramel Brownie Trifle was made with dark chocolate mousse, salted caramel, brownie bits & gold croquant. Yum - this sweet and salty dessert was an elegant mini serving of fudgy brownies & fluffy mousse.The Seasonal Crème Brulée was made with eggnog crème brülée & ginger molasses cookieThe Santa's Sleigh Shots were made with peppermint paddy. This was a minty, cooling Christmas shot to finish our meal.

So we weren't sure that we were at the correct place. We had made our reservation on Yelp, and didn't realize that it was inside a hotel. There is no signage for the restaurant outside, so just be aware.Once inside, we fell in love. They had decked the area out for the holidays. It was beautiful and welcoming. They had a hot chocolate bar, which was fun. I recommend ordering some Irish Creme to add. The waitstaff was friendly, although once we were served, we had to hunt our waitress down to get the bill.The food was delicious and the ambience was so relaxing. We will be back.

Mediocre food. Service was ok. if you're buying cocktails and food, and they charge extra for soda water in lieu of plain water. The chocolate cake was dry and disappointing. Would not recommend for the price point.

FYI there are 2 business listings for Fireside...Fireside, what happened?! I've been here a few times before and everything was fantastic, but this week the food and service were a big disappointment. Was it an off day? Was there a change in kitchen staff or management? Was it the change in ownership of the hotel to Hilton? Not sure, but I won't be spending my money here again.I was excited to have the Wagyu burger again for a delicious lunch, as I remember it being so flavorful and juicy - comparable to some of the best steakhouses in town. I ordered it medium with a sub order of onion rings instead of fries. The burger came closer to medium well or well done and was in desperate need of seasoning, and I was served fries and my onion rings were forgotten. I called the server over and reminder her what I ordered. She ran to put in the order for onion rings. They finally came out while close to the last few bites of my burger and as the rest of the table was nearly done eating as well - sadly they were terribly overdone and closed to being burned. They were virtually inedible. Thankfully they were not on my bill because I was not given time to eat them, nor would I have been able. Others seemed to enjoy their meal but the portion sizes were small for the prices charged ($14 for burger, $13 for chicken salad on croissant, $16 for Cobb salad).We had a party of 8 and we split the bill, which did, understandably, take our server a while to run 6 cards. But the upsetting part was that a couple of us didn't realize til a few others had left that there was an auto-gray on each bill - and it wasn't clearly shown or explained. I understand that for a party of 8 (7+1child to be exact) that it might be included, but in that case, the server should just mention it.

Cool spot for drinks while at our marriage retreat though the service is lacking and quite slow. My husband finally went and and grabbed a both of nuts for us and our neighbors after sitting there for almost 15 minutes.A bit pricey for mediocre service

Came in 10/12 and sadly it was terrible. We made reservation for 6 PM for the "Fall event" and there was nowhere to check in... they told us to just sit anywhere.We sat and the tables were dirty and it took about 10 mins for somebody to bring us water. We ordered pork belly and the chicken sandwich came instead and we didn't say anything and ate and we were charged for the pork belly.. I'll be calling tomorrow to chat with somebody but this wasn't ok. Why charge us for something we didn't eat? I was very disappointed. We will not be returning. Very understaffed and the woman who served us was very unprofessional.

Am staying at the Denver Inverness Hilton and have had a few meals and drinks at the Fireside Grill. From service to food, it has been excellent. Chatting with Cathy or Toni at the bar. Or receiving great food service from Danielle, the team is making my stay enjoyable. The chicken saltimboca was fantastic, I love the sauce. Tonight was sliders with onion bacon jam and you have to try the homemade pickles. Calamari and shrimp appetizer was well prepared and a very ample portion. And you have to love the Hilton room!Great view from room of snow covered mountains in distance.

We came for the Christmas PopUp & it was Wonderful!!!! Mostly thanks to Danielle. The food was amazing, drinks were fun & yummy and Danielle was a delight. Dinner is always better with an attentive & kind server. Run, don't walk.

Came in yesterday with my wife to have dinner and had an absolutely fantastic experience. The tuna carpaccio is to die for and the burger was juicy and delicious along with Bradley's recommendation of laws rye whiskey, old fashion. Such a wonderful experience will definitely be returning next time. We are in town.

Not at all the holiday special event we were expecting from the pictures...We were sat at a table away from any decorations, no holiday music playing, and the drinks were nothing special. Super disappointed. Glad we had great friends with us that are laid back to enjoy the evening anyway but seriously, this is not worth making plans for.