Our last meal in Colorado was a pleasant surprise. We were staying one night in Stapleton before a morning flight the following day. After searching for nearby restaurants that are good with kids, we settled on Next Door Eatery.

Inside

Our arrival before six was great as the restaurant was nearly empty and it also happened to be happy hour! The inside was very clean and still looked new for the most part. The house made fried pickles and pepperoncinis were a great start to our meal ($4 during happy hour, $5.95 otherwise). I’m a huge fan of fried pickles but I don’t recall having fried pepperoncinis before. I really enjoyed the addition of these. Neither of them begged for the dipping sauce that was provided as they had a great flavor on their own.

Pickles & Pepperoncinis

For dinner I went with Merlin’s Carolina pork with mustard BBQ, cole slaw, crispy onions, and house pickles ($11.95). The sandwich was piled high with well flavored pork. It was very filling and came with a side of chips and simple salad.

Merlin’s Carolina Pork

As good as my dinner was I was pretty jealous of my wife’s order of the ancho chile chicken bowl with brown rice, black beans, corn, fresh pico de gallo, tortilla strips, lime creama, and cilantro ($13.95). The flavor combination in this bowl was outstanding, similar to a taco style bowl from other places, but the ingredients were fresher and the serving size was huge.

Ancho Chile Chicken Bowl

Our kids enjoyed the cheeseburger slider and the kids bowl, though my son really wanted fries with his burger, which are not available. Next time I would try to talk him into trying the crispy smashers. Overall we really enjoyed the food, service, and quality from Next Door Eatery and would definitely visit again.