One of Denver's Favorite Restaurants Was a Mortuary?!

When Jarrett Ross reached out to say he was coming to Denver, the restaurant question came up almost immediately. He wanted somewhere that felt like Denver — not a chain, not something you'd find in any other city. Linger came up within about thirty seconds. It comes up a lot when visitors are in town, and I'd been meaning to revisit it, so we made a reservation and headed over to LoHi on a weeknight.

The building used to be the Olinger Mortuary — the first building in the Rocky Mountain region purpose-built as a mortuary, back in 1908. Chef Justin Cucci, who also runs Root Down, converted it into a restaurant in 2011 and leaned hard into the history. The cocktail menu is printed on toe tags. Some tables are built from gurneys. Water comes in apothecary bottles. It sounds like a gimmick, and maybe it partially is, but the space itself is genuinely cool. The rooftop has views that remind you why people move to Denver in the first place, and the interior has this layered, slightly dark atmosphere that doesn't feel forced once you're sitting in it.

What We Ordered

Jarrett has a background in the restaurant industry, so I was curious how he'd read the place. We ordered a handful of dishes to share — the menu is set up for that, smaller plates and snacks that work well split between two or three people. The food is international in a way that's hard to pin down: Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian, American, with things like Korean-influenced bites sitting next to wood-fired flatbreads. I've seen menus like that fall apart in execution, where the range just means nothing is done particularly well. That's not really the case here. A few things we tried were genuinely good — not restaurant-week-special-occasion good, but solid and specific enough that you remember what you ate. The cocktails are strong and a little theatrical, which fits.

What Jarrett noticed first was the pacing. The staff knows the menu and can actually tell you what works together, which matters more than it sounds when the menu spans that many styles. His overall read was that it earns the reputation — not because it's doing anything revolutionary in 2024, but because the execution is consistent and the room makes the meal feel like an event without making it feel stuffy.

What to Know Before You Go

Parking in LoHi can be annoying depending on when you show up. We got lucky with street parking a couple blocks away, but I wouldn't count on that on a weekend. The rooftop fills up fast, especially in summer, and the views make it the obvious place to sit if the weather cooperates. Make a reservation — walk-ins work sometimes on slow nights, but this is one of those places that stays busy, and showing up without one on a Friday is a gamble I wouldn't take.

The price point is mid-to-upper range for Denver. A full dinner with drinks for two is going to run you real money. That's not a complaint, just worth knowing going in so you're not caught off guard when the check arrives.

The Bottom Line

If someone visiting Denver asks me where to go for a dinner that feels like the city — a little weird, genuinely good food, a room that has actual character — Linger is still one of the first places I mention. It's been around since 2011 and it hasn't coasted on the novelty. That's the harder thing to pull off, and they've done it. Worth the trip to LoHi.