Any good restaurants in/near DIA? (Denver, Aurora: salon, home, school)

[mczabe]

Picking up a good friend from DIA around lunch tomorrow. She's diabetic and will need to eat soon after landing, but I'd rather steer clear of straight airport fast food. Are there any decent restaurants in the non-secure areas of the airport...or nearby places you might recommend?

Doesn't need to be award-winning...just hoping for something up from MickieD's.

TIA!

[flyers29]

FlyDenver.com | Shops & Restaurants | Food & Drinks

[excid182]

OLD SCHOOL BURGERS Home Page

[2bindenver]

Ted's Montana Grill?

or

Sonic

[TexaCo Mom]

There's actually several decent restaurants near DIA if you choose to get out of the hustle and bustle of the airport. At Tower Rd. there is Village Inn, Ruby Tuesday, DiCicco's Italian and the Moonlight Diner. Further out on 40th as someone mentioned there is Ted's Montana Grill as well as Uno Chicago Grill, Outback Steakhouse and Applebee's.

[mczabe]

Thanks for all the info. One of these options will definitely work!

(2b - couldn't give you any more reps right now sorry!)

[the3Ds]

Originally Posted by mczabe

Thanks for all the info. One of these options will definitely work!

(2b - couldn't give you any more reps right now sorry!)

Don't know if you've been to DIA before, but it is out in the middle of nowhere. Even the "nearest" restaurant is a good 10 minute car ride away.

Denver is not a small airport. While there is the standard as fare as far as airport food goes (Burger King, McDonalds), there are also a few decent places to eat. You'll just have to get on the train to go to various concourses, but it will save you a lot of time and aggravation compared to getting out of the airport property.

They just opened Denver ChopHouse and Brewery on Concourse A, Wolfgang Pucks is at concourse B and the most popular place for airport employees to eat is the tamale place on concourse C. Also, they have a Paradise Bakery on concourse B & C. Before I moved here, I got stuck at the airport during a snowstorm and was delayed by 6 hours. I found lots of things to do (not just eating, but they have a massage place, a gym, a beauty salon and even a walking tour of the art on display. Don't be in a hurry to get out of the airport only because it's a way out of the city and what's immediately outside (Unos, Outback Steakhouse, Applebees, even Ted's) isn't necessarily worth the effort.

[HighlandsGal]

Yeah but if you don't have a ticket the3Ds, you can't access the concourses!! The OP is picking up her friend, not flying anywhere herself.

[tfox]

There has been an effort of late to put some more "local" oriented restaurants in DIA rather than just the same chains. They still have a long ways to go on that. Co On Concourse C, for example, I just noticed that they put in "Tamales by La Casita", which is apparently a second branch of the fabulous little place on Tennyson Street in North Denver/Berkeley area. This, however, is behind security.

In front of security, unfortunately, I think you'll have to settle for Panda Express, Burger King, Taco Bell, Domino's, TCBY yogurt, that sort of thing. I know -- probably not what you were hoping for.

Other than that, there are a few places at the Tower Road exit off of Pena, but nothing great -- unless you find Village Inn or Ruby Tuesday "great." Options are a little better on 40th Ave in Aurora, the last exit before you get off of Pena on I-70 -- you have quite a few quick-service kinds of places like Anthony's, Einstein's, etc, there. Nothing spectacular of course.

Definitely DIA needs to work harder on getting some decent places to eat in the Terminal, as opposed to the concourses.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by HighlandsGal

Yeah but if you don't have a ticket the3Ds, you can't access the concourses!! The OP is picking up her friend, not flying anywhere herself.

I found out a little secret - if you get there a little early and go to the airline desk for the person you're picking up and tell them the person you're picking up requires assistance, they'll give you a pass to go out into the councourses. You still have to go through security, but you can meet the person at their gate. I did it twice recently to pick up people who were in wheelchairs.