Fire Spice - Aurora

The bartender here rudely told me to eat my pasta (which in fairness I got from another restaurant) in the lobby, after I ordered over $100 worth of fish tacos from Fire and Spice. I understand eating outside food not in the restaurant, but she was very entitled and her words unnecessarily hostile. The food is also generally bad. Same with the Starbucks coffee. If you 're not staying at the hotel, there 's no reason to come here.

After my husband and I got settled into our hotel room, we both noticed ourselves feeling hungry, especially since we hadn 't had a proper meal since 4:00am that morning (and by proper, all we had was a small bite of Chick-fil-A at MSY Airport lol). Since we also had to use up our meal vouchers from United Airlines, we figured we would just head downstairs to Fire Spice to grab a bite to eat. Fire Spice is located on the ground floor of the Denver Airport Mariott at Gateway Park. It is located to the immediate left if you are entering from the hotel 's front entrance or to to the right/straight ahead if you are passing by the front desk. While I am not sure if it 's the norm, the little chalkboard sign posted at the front of the restaurant informed guests that they could just find a seat before being assisted, so we decided to grab a table in a quiet spot, and was promptly assisted by Eric, who brought us menus and some waters. We ultimately decided on splitting chicken wings and chips dip as well as individually ordering fish and chips and a turkey avocado sandwich. Since we weren 't sure what type of seasoning/sauce to pair with our chicken wings, we asked Eric who recommended the Nashville, which is essentially a dry rub version of a buffalo sauce but without the extra tang of vinegar. The food also came quickly because I swear we had only waited a couple of minutes before Eric came by first with our chips dip and then the Nashville chicken wings. The chips dip were probably the best I have ever had with freshly made tortilla chips and a dual option of queso and salsa. The queso was rich, gooey, and had a bit of bite to it probably from the different combination of cheeses, whereas the salsa was hearty and refreshing. The Nashville chicken wings were also amazing as the chicken wings were tender and juicy and the Nashville rub is something I still dream about to this day. In fact, if I ever get the option again, I would definitely pick the Nashville over Buffalo wings because it was the perfect balance between salt and spice. Similarly, my husband 's fish and chips and my turkey avocado sandwich were also amazing. My husband said that the fish and chips was also the best that he had and even better than the one he had while we were in NOLA (which is pretty legit considering their seafood is amazing). My turkey avocado sandwich was also hearty and filling, each of the ingredients fresh and just absolutely delightful. The fries that were also paired with my sandwich (and also paired with my husband 's fish) was also crazy good. The fries were crisp, well-seasoned, and only added to the overall delight of our meal. We were also fortunate to have Eric as our server as he helped lighten the mood and engage in conversation with us turning what initially started off as a horrible morning/afternoon to a delightful evening of rest, relaxation, and good food and conversation. Eric had even explained he was initially from NOLA, which was coincidentally where we had just come from, and we just all continued to converse about different topics such as questions he had about Hawaii, our experience in NOLA, and about a fear of spiders/bugs. We had such a wonderful dinner that when Eric had rang our meal vouchers up and came back to let us know we still had extra vouchers left, we told him that he could keep it as an extra tip, which he gratefully thanked us for before we headed back up to our room for the night. Overall, I would highly recommend Fire Spice if you happen to be in the area or staying at the Denver Airport Mariott at Gateway Park hotel. As Eric smartly pointed out, Fire Spice is a restaurant located at a hotel and not a hotel restaurant, meaning that the food found here is some of the best you will ever find at a hotel, something that I can 100% vouch for. Eric also made for great company as we ate dinner and had we had more time in Denver or even at the hotel, I definitely would have made more trips to Fire Spice to checkout more of their other menu options (and converse with Eric if he was on shift as he was a natural conversationalist). Prices are also very affordable for the amount and quality of food you 're given making it one of the best food options to have in a hotel setting.

I can't really comment on the food or drinks because we actually didn't stay. We just weren't feeling the love I guess and the restaurant was completely empty except for us, so a group decision was made to eat elsewhere. The only real thing I can comment on, is that the chairs are in need of replacement. The material is cracking and they have duct taped them up. Other than that, it's a nice, big, open space that I would have thought would've had more people. We were there for lunch, so maybe it's more of a dinner place?

I had the orange, glazed salmon, and it was delicious. Very nice staff as well! Definitely will be back!

The avocado toast for breakfast was so delicious! Hotel was not very busy and service was excellent.