How do I choose a great place for lunch? It depends upon the day and my mood.  There are also a lot of times when I’m broke and need to find a place that costs as little as possible so each day is different.

That being said, one of my favorite things if I have the time is to people watch.  Especially on the 16th St Mall there are so many different types of people.  Everything from business tycoons to street people, secretaries to visitors to Denver.  Whenever there is a big convention at the Convention Center there are always a lot of visitors that crowd the mall and it’s fun to see what catches their eye.  Its sort of like seeing Denver through fresh eyes.

Being a small businessman myself, I always prefer to go to places that are owner operated rather than the big chains.  But I also want good value for my dollar and places like Tokyo Joes has that in spades.  Unless I am with someone else or having a late lunch I also tend to avoid the restaurants like Chili’s that get so crowded during the lunch hour.

But I also want to make sure that the places where I eat are clean.  Denver posts recent inspections online.  Take it with a grain of salt because any place can have a bad day but if you must have the information the link above is where to go. 

Still, by and large most restaurants are clean and try to give good value.  So there are a lot of great places to lunch in downtown Denver.