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In recent years, the Mile High City has seen scant luxury restaurants offering only chef’s counter seating, usually for fewer than 20 guests per session. Beckon blazed the way in 2018 in RiNo, followed by LoDo’s Brutø in 2019; both have since earned Michelin stars. Ukiyo brought a chef’s counter to the space beneath Bao Brewhouse in Larimer Square in early 2024.
But this year has seen a wave of restaurants, from longtime Denver favorites to nationally recognized concepts, introduce this intimate, Japanese-style format. Here, three omakase chef’s counters new in 2025.
1. Sushi by Scratch Restaurants
- Location: 1441 Larimer St., Denver (LoDo)
- Price: $195 per person
Sushi by Scratch Restaurants blazed onto Larimer Square in January, officially kicking off Denver’s omakase movement. The restaurant—the 12th from Texas chef-owners Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee—has its own personality but the same rigorous quality standards that earned the Montecito, California, location a Michelin star in 2021 and 2022.
As such, the Denver outpost comes with a lot of hype, including a hidden entrance inside NADC Burger (head straight to the freight elevator and push the down button). But once you step inside the space and your eyes adjust to the warm glow, you’ll realize the experience isn’t puffery at all—it’s spectacular and, frankly, at $195 per person, well priced.
Ten seats (find your name on the place card) are arranged around a counter where 17 courses are created, narrated, and served by a small crew of chefs. The night’s menu is written on the wall (sea bream, scallop, wagyu, and other proteins) so you can follow along. When we visited, highlights included hamachi brushed with corn pudding and sprinkled with sourdough bread crumbs and cuttlefish drizzled with soy, cherry blossom-laced ponzu, and a tiny knob of real wasabi.
Be sure to arrive early: A complimentary welcome drink and canapés are offered 30 minutes before your reservation, adding four more bites to the experience. Count yourself lucky if the Canadian spot prawn with whipped tofu (trust us!), puffed rice, and shiso flowers are on the pre-menu that evening. —Amanda Faison
2. Kizaki
- Location: 1551 S. Pearl St., Denver (Platt Park)
- Price: $225 per person
If Sushi Den is at the center of Denver’s sushi universe, Kizaki, the recently debuted omakase concept down the block from the flagship, is its newest star. Its debut serves as both a celebration and a shift: Focusing on omakase is how Toshi Kizaki, who owns the Den empire with his brother Yasu, wants to spend his remaining time behind the sushi counter.
With two intimate seatings a night, Kizaki’s 20 masterful courses of raw, marinated, and dry-aged fish and other non-seafood bites are an exquisite and intellectual indoctrination into Edomae technique, which focuses on purity of the craft and a dedication to pristine fish. A printed menu outlines the evening’s offerings and each is narrated by sushi chef Kyle Kim. Along the way, learn why the restaurant uses giant ice blocks to keep the seafood prep area cool, score an overview on grating fresh wasabi root, and find out where the fish on your plate was caught.
It should come as no surprise that among the hot and cold dishes, the nigiri is the star; we hope that golden eye snapper is on the menu the night you visit, likewise the fatty tuna handroll with one end dipped in caviar. Another prize is the kohada, a silver fish that’s salted, marinated in vinegar, and dressed with sesame seeds.
As an added bonus, pop-up dining experience Margot, founded by chef Justin Fulton, now has a permanent home inside the same space as Kizaki. Fulton offers his own chef’s counter dining experience that covers a multitude of culinary styles for those looking to branch out from pure Japanese omakase. Reservations and pricing ($165 per person) are separate from Kizaki. —AF
Read More: The Rice Is Right at RiNo’s Temaki Den
3. The Counter at Odell’s Bagel
- Location: 3200 Irving St., Denver (West Highland)
- Price: $175 per person
A bagel shop is a very unlikely place to find traditional Japanese chef’s counter service, but every Thursday through Sunday, Odell’s Bagel transforms into a kaiseki-inspired dinner experience from chef-owner Miles Odell. An alum of New York City’s Nobu and Masa, he spent three years in Japan as a culinary ambassador before assembling a knowledgeable team at the Counter. There, they weave alternating elements of vegetable and protein, cold and hot, and raw and cooked into a multicourse menu that might include charcoal-seared mackerel, locally grown produce, or house-cured trout roe on any given night.
Kaiseki is one of Japan’s most structured forms of culinary service, balancing flavors, textures, temperatures, and other elements from plate to plate. Odell sticks with that philosophy while drawing from other international and Japanese influences. Your meal might start with a meatless assortment of raw vegetables and fresh-baked bread with compound butter and a petite bowl of chawanmushi (savory custard) followed by a gleaming scallop in Peruvian-style leche de tigre.
After several courses that feel almost like miniature entrées, Odell hits you with a series of impeccably sourced nigiri from the world’s most productive waters; our visit included itoyori (a type of bream) from Japan, black cod from Monterey Bay, and ocean trout from Tasmania. The sushi chefs are happy to explain every detail of each course, from the farm where the radishes were grown to the special vinegar used to season the sushi rice to the nori wrapping your final handroll. Meanwhile, the Counter’s sommelier, Paul Lysek, cruises the room to make sure you have the perfect pairing of wine, sake, or cocktail to go with the flavors in front of you. —Mark Antonation
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