A Quick Guide To The Best Restaurants In The Denver International Airport

Whether it's arriving early for a flight or waiting through a layover, any traveler knows that they'll be spending time at the airport. Depending on the airport, that could mean killing time with a book or your phone — or actually finding something worthwhile to do. In the case of the Denver International Airport (DIA), you can track down the artwork that has spawned a variety of conspiracy theories, or you can sample some surprisingly good food.

Similar to airline food, airport dining has a bad rap for its limited, uninspiring options, featuring the same chain fast-food places everywhere you go. However, that doesn't apply to every Denver airport dining destination. There are over 100 different places to grab something to eat and drink at the Denver airport, and these five stand out from the rest.

Admittedly, you can likely find similar dishes for cheaper outside the airport — there's often no way around the higher prices for airport food. However, I've eaten at all of these places and return to them often for their high-quality offerings. Furthermore, each of these restaurants gets strong reviews from diners, averaging more than 4 stars on Yelp and Google. So if you need to get a bite to eat in the airport, one of these places is bound to hit the spot.

At the C Gates, Bar Dough is a top-rated option for Italian food. It has a location in Denver's Lower Highland (LoHi) neighborhood, as well as the airport spot, and the menu at the airport location has a mix of salads, pizza, pasta, and sandwiches. The Signore Bianco pizza is among the most distinctive options, with burrata, creamed leeks, olives, and fennel pollen. For breakfast, there are dishes like brioche French toast, frittata, and the lox flatbread, which has a dill mascarpone spread that I wish I could buy in bulk. You can get their signature meatballs and burrata whenever it's open, and for dessert, the tiramisu cup is a personal favorite.

Bar Dough has 4.7 stars on Google and 4.2 on Yelp. I've stuck with the pizzas or pastas when I visit, but I might need to broaden my horizons based on this Yelp review: "I had one of the most wonderful salads of my life at this rather unlikely restaurant next to my boarding gate. It was brussel sprouts and bacon with chick peas and figs and several other ingredients that I'm not sure of, combined with a heavenly dressing."

Restaurateur Justin Cucci opened Root Down in Denver in 2008 with a focus on "field-to-fork" dishes, according to Westword. It quickly became known for tasty, healthy food, and like the original, Root Down DIA focuses on using organic and locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. The airport location near the C Gates is colorful and modern, with a living moss wall, and it feels separated from the bustle of the airport. If you have a long layover, this is as nice a spot to linger as any.

The brunch menu has dishes like churro French toast, the lunch and dinner options include hot honey sweet potato fries and banh mi turkey burger, and all day you can get dishes like the green chile breakfast burrito and chocolate banana bread. There's also a range of beers and ciders — many of them local — and some creative cocktails. It's a good choice if you have dietary restrictions, as it has many vegan and gluten-free options. And if you don't have the time for a sit-down meal, there's a grab-and-go section.

I'm not the only one who loves this place; it has 4.4 stars on Google and 4.3 on Yelp. One Google reviewer noted: "Root Down DIA serves surprisingly excellent salmon... yes, at an airport, where culinary expectations usually go to die. I ordered the beet salad with added salmon, and they absolutely nailed it." Another reviewer said: "This is one of those places that actually makes a layover better instead of just tolerable."

Tocabe is an Indigenous-owned restaurant that serves Native American cuisine. Tocabe is the only restaurant of its kind in Denver, so it's exciting to see that, along with the standalone restaurant, they were also able to expand into the airport. The airport location is a grab-and-go spot at the A Gates. Like the original restaurant, the food here "combines traditional Osage family recipes with elements of modern American Indian fare," and a number of their ingredients, like the wild rice and bison, come from Indigenous and local farms.

You can build a full meal, choosing from a frybread taco, wild rice, quinoa and wheatberry, or nachos, and then adding on toppings like shredded bison, ground beef, grilled chicken, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and a housemade salsa. There are half a dozen salsa options, including Osage hominy and pumpkin with sunflower seeds and cranberries. And in winter, the bison chili really hits the spot. My personal favorite treat here is the frybread bites; they're topped with powdered sugar, so they can be a little messy, but they are delicious.

It has a 4.4-star rating on Google and a 4.5 on Yelp. One of the Google reviews raves, "Absolutely delicious and healthy! The elk sausage burrito is stellar. All of the fillings from the pinto to the hominy and salsa, all of these ingredients are so fresh."

Next to Tocabe at the A Gates, you'll see what looks like a bookstore. But when you give your name to the host outside, you'll be ushered into Williams & Graham, a speakeasy-style bar. The original Williams & Graham is in the edgy Lower Highlands (LoHi) neighborhood of Denver, and the Terminal A location opened in 2025. Like the LoHi location, it's more of a cocktail bar. However, it does serve food, and its unique vibe and tasty options meant it earned a place on our list of the best airport restaurants.

It's another of those places where you can take a moment away from the ongoing hubbub at DIA while enjoying some good food. It's got some creative dishes, and my go-to for a savory breakfast is the chilaquiles. For something sweet, I like the aloha French toast with coconut, pineapple, and hot honey. Later in the day, the deviled eggs are always good, as is the green chile gnocchi. I haven't tried the frog legs yet, but I might have to since one Google reviewer said: "The frog legs are out of this world, trust me!"

Williams & Graham at DIA has a 4.7 rating on Google and a 4.6 on Yelp. "Skip the other spots," one Yelp reviewer noted. "I'll walk terminals on terminals just to come back here. Absolute gem." And if you've ever walked through the Denver airport, you know just how high that praise is.

If you're looking for something quick, tasty, and portable, stop by Maria Empanada in the A Gates. It's one of the five Maria Empanada's in Denver, and the South Broadway location was featured on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It was founded by Lorena Cantarovici, who came from Argentina and wanted to focus on making classic Argentine empanadas.

At the airport location, you can get both sweet and savory empanadas. Of the savory offerings, I'm a fan of the sweet barbecue, which comes with pork, barbecue sauce, and cheddar cheese. And the sweet options include an empanada with pear cooked in Marsala wine, which is surprisingly yummy, as well as some alfajor sandwich cookie options. The empanadas are ready to go, and they can be heated up if you want. With their size and compactness, they're ideal for eating on the go or packing in your bag to eat on the flight. The shop also serves Queen City Collective Coffee, a Denver coffee roastery that opened in 2019.

It currently has a 4.2 rating on Google and 4.8 on Yelp. One Google reviewer posted: "Holy guacamole, what a spread of empanadas! From sweet treats to savory shocks and spicy surprises. It's a choose your flavor, no judgments, Latin American food fest in Denver's airport."

Some honorable mentions for good food at Denver International Airport include Voodoo Doughnut on the mezzanine at the B Gates, a Portland-based donut shop known for its inventive doughnuts. Elway's is a classic and high-quality Denver steakhouse, and there are two airport locations. Osteria Marco is an Italian restaurant that opened in August 2025 in the B Gates and has received positive early reviews.

When narrowing down the best five restaurants at the Denver International Airport, I made sure to choose at least one restaurant from each major concourse (A, B, and C). The list has a range of options, whether you're in a hurry or have the time for a sit-down dinner, and includes choices for those with more specialized dietary needs. Perhaps most importantly, all of these restaurants have consistently strong reviews on websites like Google and Yelp, and they're backed up by my own personal experience flying through DIA. Each of these restaurants offers a taste of Denver, so even if you're not going into the city, you're able to enjoy some of its flavors on your layover.