My husband turned 36 this past weekend, and to celebrate I planned a date night full of fun for us. My mom and her boyfriend babysat our girls overnight so we could get a hotel downtown in Denver and make an evening of it, sans our ankle-biters and we had a blast!

I had heard from my friend Jen (who has lived here most of her life) that RiNo (River North, a suburb of Denver) had really turned around and was fun to check out. There is a hotel that recently opened there Vince and I kept hearing about called, The Ramble. It looked really cool online so I booked us a room so we could check it out for ourselves. We live in our little suburban bubble and don’t go downtown much even though it’s only 40 minutes away, so it was a good excuse to not act like a couple of geriatrics for the evening.

I was assuming Rino would be like another Denver neighborhood that has re-gentrified into a pretty fun place even though it used to be a shit hole, and that area is The Highlands. When my great aunts lived there when I was growing up, I hated to visit them because the area just felt unsafe and frankly, was pretty fucking disgusting. The houses were dilapidated, there was a fair amount of crime, and just a general feeling of “Ah hellllll no!” But alas, younger families and swinging singes have moved in the last decade or so, and with that brought trendy new bars and restaurants as well as nicer housing and more money. It’s one of my favorite areas to go out for a girl’s night out with my cousin, and I feel very safe now walking around at night. I was hoping to get that same vibe from Rino, but I think we are about 5-10 years out until it’s there. It is definitely nicer than it used to be but has some sketchy spots as it’s within just two blocks from where a lot of the homeless population in Denver lives. However, our hotel was definitely worth visiting.

The Ramble Hotel is supposed to look like French Salons did in the 17th Century. It has giant chandeliers, dark wood, leather furniture, and the lobby where you check in is also their main bar area. The bar is called Death & Co. and it is the second one of its kind, the first one is in New York. To me the vibe of the hotel was a mix of masculine, French, and gritty, but in a wonderful way. The staff was extremely friendly, and when I made the reservation and let them know it was for my husband’s birthday they threw in a free bottle of champagne in our room as a nice touch.

After picking up our kindergartner from school and getting her and our toddler settled in with my mom at our house, we high-tailed it in rush hour to the hotel. It will throw you for a loop when you first check in because the main entrance to the lobby is also the main entrance to the bar. So there’s a bouncer checking IDs and behind them is the check-in desk. Check-in was smooth though and they could tell when we strolled in with our overnight bags that were guests of the hotel and not just guests of the bar. After we checked in we had about five minutes flat to toss our bags in our room because we had dinner reservations and tickets to see Natasha Leggero perform at Comedy Works.

Dinner was casual but delicious food! We checked out a newer restaurant in Rino called, “The Preservery” and started out with buffalo cauliflower (my favorite) and cocktails followed by dinner. Dinner was good, drinks were strong, and the servers definitely gave me a Boulder hippie vibe and were very friendly. We then took an Uber to Comedy Works to see Natasha Leggero perform. If you ever watched “Chelsea Lately” with Chelsea Handler or have watched any of the celebrity roasts on Comedy Central, Leggero makes regular appearances. Her roast of Justin Beiber was one of the funniest things I’ve seen. She just had a baby so she was getting back into the groove of doing stand-up and it threw the audience off to see she read from notes a good chunk of the time. But her show was still entertaining and as I told Vince, “It’s always good to just sit and laugh!” We then took an Uber back to our hotel to check out the bar there. The guy at the door said he recommended we try Suite 6A, a more intimate bar on the second floor of the hotel, even though our reservations were for Death & Co. Always trusting the employees of any establishment we visit, we agreed and changed our 10 pm reservation to the smaller bar. It was a decision we did not regret!

The assistant general manager came and met us in the lobby and walked us behind the bar on the main level to a staircase I would have never even noticed was there, had we not been directed to it. One floor up, we were greeted by the bartender and server. We sat down at one of maybe 8 tables and were given a menu which changes every week! It had cocktails on it you could choose from, or you could just tell your server what hard alcohol you liked and if you wanted something sweet or refreshing and they’d concoct something for you. Vince and I chose to do that. I’m not big into the sugary mixed drinks and go for either wine or a light beer, so I asked for something with vodka or tequila and asked that it be refreshing and not sweet. They made a version of a skinny margarita with a ton of fresh lime and just a splash of grapefruit juice on top of some higher shelf silver tequila. It was fantastic! Vince has been on a big scotch kick so he got a very smoky strong cocktail. I thought it tasted like smoked asshole but he enjoyed it, and hey – he’s the birthday boy – he gets what he wants! We had a couple drinks there and when I went to use the restroom, the assistant general manager held the door for me and waited outside the bar for me to return, and as I did said, “Welcome back Susie!” They make it a point to learn your name and your drink right away and don’t miss a beat. If you ever check out The Ramble, bypass Death & Co. and go directly to Suite 6A. It’s fabulous for shooting the breeze with friends or loved ones without loud background noise and had impeccable service.

All in all we had a great time bringing in Vince’s birthday and while I think RiNo has a ways to go to get to the same vibe as The Highlands, it’s definitely improved from a few years ago. And cheers to Vince’s 36th birthday!