Is RiNo the best neighborhood for restaurants in Denver?
By count, yes. RiNo has ten restaurants in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide, more than any other Denver neighborhood, including two one-star restaurants, Beckon and Milpero. Neighboring Five Points added two Bib Gourmands in 2026, Pig and Tiger and Rougarou.
The River North Art District grew out of rail yards and warehouses along the South Platte. It is now where Denver's restaurant guide is densest, and its southern neighbor Five Points is where it grew most this year.
RiNo runs roughly along Larimer Street, Walnut Street and Brighton Boulevard, northeast of downtown. It is walkable within itself and about a mile from Union Station, so most visitors take a short rideshare or the light rail and then walk. Five Points begins just south and east, around the five-way intersection where Welton Street meets 26th Street, 27th Avenue and Washington Street.
How we picked these
We grouped the restaurants by where they sit, starting with the Larimer Street spine, then the Brighton Boulevard blocks, then Five Points. Within each group, Michelin stars come first, then Bib Gourmands, then recommended restaurants. The order is ours and is not a score; nobody paid to be included.
Larimer Street
The original spine
Larimer is where RiNo's restaurant reputation started, and it still holds four of the neighborhood's ten listings within a few blocks of each other.
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One Michelin Star
Beckon
Chef Duncan Holmes's eighteen-seat chef's counter has been on Larimer since 2018 and has held a Michelin star since the first Colorado selection. Diners sit around a U-shaped counter, and vegetarian and pescatarian menus can be arranged in advance.
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Bib Gourmand
Hop Alley
Chef Tommy Lee's modern Chinese restaurant occupies a building that was once a soy sauce factory. Its name is a deliberate reference to Hop Alley, the nickname for Denver's original Chinatown in what is now LoDo, which was destroyed in an anti-Chinese riot in 1880. Bar director Dustin Lawlor won Michelin's 2025 Exceptional Cocktails Award for Colorado.
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Bib Gourmand
Mister Oso
Pan-Latin cooking on Larimer, opened in 2019 and a Bib Gourmand. Good for a group that wants to share plates without committing to a long tasting menu.
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Recommended
Dio Mio
A counter-service handmade-pasta restaurant from chefs Spencer White and Alex Figura, who brought fine-dining backgrounds to a deliberately relaxed format. Recommended by Michelin.
Brighton Boulevard and beyond
Beyond Larimer: a hotel food hall and a new star
Off Larimer, and especially along Brighton Boulevard, RiNo has filled with new buildings. The Source hotel complex alone holds three recognized restaurants, and the 2026 guide added three more names nearby.
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One Michelin Star New 2026
Milpero
Johnny Curiel's tasting-menu restaurant on Ringsby Court, starred in 2026: the only new Michelin star anywhere in Colorado this year. Curiel's other two starred restaurants are in LoHi.
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Recommended New 2026
Heretík
Theo Adley's Denver restaurant on 26th Street, new to the guide in 2026, with a menu previewed as Basque and French in influence. Its wine program won Michelin's 2026 Sommelier Award for Adley and Jenessa Reiman. Some listings place it in Five Points; most coverage calls it RiNo.
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Recommended New 2026
Dear Emilia
Emilia-Romagna cooking inside The Current building on Delgany Street, from the Restaurant Olivia team. It opened in January 2026 and joined the guide eight months later.
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Recommended
Safta
Chef Alon Shaya's modern Israeli restaurant inside The Source hotel, known for hummus and pita from a wood-burning oven. It was Shaya's first restaurant outside Louisiana.
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Recommended
Smok
Counter-service barbecue from chef Bill Espiricueta in The Source. Reservations have not been taken here, per 5280; treat it as a walk-in lunch or early dinner.
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Recommended
Temaki Den
A hand-roll bar from the Sushi Den family in The Source Hotel and Market Hall, with flame-seared aburi nigiri alongside the temaki.
Five Points
Welton Street's new Bib Gourmands
Five Points was the center of Black life in Denver in the first half of the twentieth century; by 1929 most of the city's Black residents lived here, and Welton Street was lined with Black-owned businesses. Its jazz clubs, above all the lounge at the Rossonian Hotel, drew touring musicians who were refused rooms downtown, which is why the neighborhood came to be called the Harlem of the West. Plans to restore the Rossonian were approved in 2024.
Until this year Five Points had no Michelin-recognized restaurant. It now has two Bib Gourmands.
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Bib Gourmand New 2026
Rougarou
Southern cooking on Welton Street, a new Bib Gourmand in 2026.
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Bib Gourmand New 2026
Pig and Tiger
Taiwanese-inspired cooking from chefs Darren Chang and Travis Masar on California Street, a new Bib Gourmand in 2026.
Next door: Ballpark
Between RiNo and LoDo, the Ballpark blocks near Coors Field hold two more recognized rooms: La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal at 2233 Larimer, a Bib Gourmand, and Marco's Coal Fired at 2129 Larimer, recommended. Both are covered in our Mexican and Italian guides. Expect crowds on game nights.
Planning the night
How to eat your way through RiNo
- Pick an anchor. Book the hardest table first, Beckon or Milpero, and build the evening around it. Both are small counters that release seats on a schedule.
- Use The Source for flexibility. Three recognized restaurants under one roof make it the best fallback if your first choice is full.
- Walk Larimer early. Arriving at opening is the best chance at a walk-in table on Larimer Street, especially at the bar.
- Getting there. RiNo is about a mile from Union Station. Light rail and rideshare both work; parking on busy weekend nights is limited.
- Check before you go. We do not publish hours. Every restaurant above links to its official site or Michelin listing.
Common questions
Questions, Answered
How many MICHELIN restaurants are in RiNo?
Ten in the 2026 selection: Beckon and Milpero (one star), Hop Alley and Mister Oso (Bib Gourmand), and Dear Emilia, Dio Mio, Heretík, Safta, Smok and Temaki Den (recommended).
Are there MICHELIN restaurants in Five Points?
Yes, since 2026. Rougarou on Welton Street and Pig and Tiger on California Street both earned Bib Gourmands in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Colorado.
Why is Hop Alley called Hop Alley?
The name refers to Hop Alley, the nickname for Denver's original Chinatown in what is now LoDo, which was attacked and largely destroyed in an anti-Chinese riot on October 31, 1880.
Can you walk from Union Station to RiNo?
Yes, but it is about a mile. Many people take a short rideshare or the light rail and then walk between restaurants within RiNo.
Sources
Where These Facts Come From
Awards and addresses are checked against the sources below. We do not publish hours or prices; confirm details with each restaurant before you go. Spotted an error? Tell us.
- KDVR: 2026 MICHELIN Guide, all recognized restaurants in Colorado
- Visit Denver: Denver welcomes year four of MICHELIN Guide Colorado awards
- MICHELIN Guide: Colorado restaurants
- Denver Public Library: Rossonian Hotel history
- Molly Brown House Museum: Denver's Hop Alley and Chinatown
- Colorado Public Radio: the 1880 anti-Chinese riot in Denver
- 5280: Beckon
- 5280: Smok
- RiNo Art District: Dio Mio
- Westword: Michelin Guide reveals 2026 Colorado statewide awards
Keep exploring
More Denver Guides
What changed in Denver's 2026 MICHELIN Guide
Milpero's star, three new Bib Gourmands, four new names and one departure.
LoHi, Sunnyside, Berkeley and West Highland
Northwest Denver: the two-star, two Curiel stars and four neighborhood rooms.
South Pearl, Wash Park and Cherry Creek
Two stars in one building, a supper club, Barolo Grill and Baker's Bib.
Mexican restaurants in Denver
Three Curiel stars, pozole in Ballpark, Cherry Creek's Alteño and more.
Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese in Denver
Kizaki, Hop Alley, MAKfam, Pig and Tiger, and Federal Boulevard's Little Saigon.
Italian restaurants in Denver
Tavernetta, Barolo Grill, Olivia, Dear Emilia, Florence Supper Club and Dio Mio.
Tasting menus and chef's counters
How Denver's counter restaurants book, what they cost in time, and how to choose.