40 editor picks in Fort Collins.
40 mid-range places in Fort Collins, editor-picked. the comfortable everyday-good restaurants in Fort Collins, with real cooking and no surprise on the bill. All Fort Collins food.
Odell Brewing has anchored Fort Collins beer since 1989; 90 Shilling and Lagerado pour at the Lincoln Avenue taproom with live music every Wednesday.
TipThe OBC Wine Project shares a patio at 824 East Lincoln; run club meets there Tuesdays before discounted pints.
New Belgium Brewing pours Fat Tire and La Folie at its Linden Street mothership in Fort Collins, with tours, food trucks and the Tour de Fat bike parade.
TipBook the 90-minute brewery tour ahead; it ends in the foeder hall where the sour programme lives. Tour de Fat returns 29 August 2026.
Silver Grill Cafe has fried breakfast on Walnut Street in Fort Collins since 1933, and its giant cinnamon roll is the single most famous dish in the city.
OrderThe giant cinnamon roll, grilled, with a side of crispy bacon
TipOrder the giant cinnamon roll grilled with butter; the Roll of the Month (August is Peaches and Cream) rewards repeat visits.
Ginger and Baker fills the restored Feed and Grain building on Linden Street in Fort Collins with a pie-first bakery, market, cafe and teaching kitchen.
TipThe phone number spells PIES for a reason: buy a whole pie from the market counter even if you only came for coffee.
Purpose Brewing and Cellars is Peter Bouckaert's tiny Fort Collins taproom on South Mason Street: four or five new beers a weekend, barrels and sours first.
TipBouckaert spent 21 years as New Belgium's brewmaster; whatever barrel-aged beer is on this weekend is the order. Closed Monday to Wednesday.
Purpose Brewing and Cellars is Peter Bouckaert's tiny Fort Collins taproom on South Mason Street: four or five new beers a weekend, barrels and sours first.
TipBouckaert spent 21 years as New Belgium's brewmaster; whatever barrel-aged beer is on this weekend is the order. Closed Monday to Wednesday.
Silver Grill Cafe has fried breakfast on Walnut Street in Fort Collins since 1933, and its giant cinnamon roll is the single most famous dish in the city.
TipOrder the giant cinnamon roll grilled with butter; the Roll of the Month (August is Peaches and Cream) rewards repeat visits.
Silver Grill Cafe has fried breakfast on Walnut Street in Fort Collins since 1933, and its giant cinnamon roll is the single most famous dish in the city.
OrderThe giant cinnamon roll, grilled, with crispy bacon
TipOrder the giant cinnamon roll grilled with butter; the Roll of the Month (August is Peaches and Cream) rewards repeat visits.
Ginger and Baker fills the restored Feed and Grain building on Linden Street in Fort Collins with a pie-first bakery, market, cafe and teaching kitchen.
OrderA slice of pie, whatever the season says
TipThe phone number spells PIES for a reason: buy a whole pie from the market counter even if you only came for coffee.
The Regional runs a from-scratch American kitchen on Mason Street in Fort Collins: half-shell oysters, lamb merguez meatballs and gluten-free fried chicken.
OrderThe Wednesday gluten-free fried chicken with house hot sauce
TipThe gluten-free fried chicken is a Wednesday special; weekend brunch runs 09:30 to 14:00 and books out on Resy.
Tasty Harmony has run Fort Collins' plant-based kitchen on Oak Street since 2009, an organic scratch menu locals order without missing the meat.
OrderWhichever mock-meat comfort special is on the board
TipClosed Mondays. The dessert case is the sleeper hit; expect a wait at weekend lunch.
Lucile's Creole Cafe serves beignets, Eggs New Orleans and homemade gumbo out of a creaky house on Meldrum Street in Fort Collins, mornings only.
OrderBeignets first, then Eggs New Orleans with grits
TipStart with an order of hot beignets for the table; the Pain Perdu is the sweet main worth the queue.
Social pours an award-winning seasonal cocktail list in a Prohibition-styled cellar beneath Old Town Square in Fort Collins, open daily from 16:00.
TipLook for the stairs off the square; the Great Gatsby anniversary party lands 10 September 2026 and sells out.
Lucile's Creole Cafe serves beignets, Eggs New Orleans and homemade gumbo out of a creaky house on Meldrum Street in Fort Collins, mornings only.
OrderBeignets, then Eggs New Orleans
TipStart with an order of hot beignets for the table; the Pain Perdu is the sweet main worth the queue.
The Regional runs a from-scratch American kitchen on Mason Street in Fort Collins: half-shell oysters, lamb merguez meatballs and gluten-free fried chicken.
OrderShrimp and grits with an oyster starter
TipThe gluten-free fried chicken is a Wednesday special; weekend brunch runs 09:30 to 14:00 and books out on Resy.
Cafe Vino pairs bacon-wrapped dates, burrata and a wagyu burger with a walk-in cellar of over 200 wines on South College Avenue in midtown Fort Collins.
OrderBacon-wrapped dates with a glass picked from the cellar
TipA Best of NoCo Style 2025 winner; wine dinners like the Kermit Lynch importer night sell through, so book those early.
Ace Gillett's mixes cocktails in the basement lounge of Fort Collins' Armstrong Hotel, a supper-club room under College Avenue since the hotel's revival.
TipHappy hour runs 17:00-18:30; the street-level Ace Cafe upstairs handles daytime service.
Tap and Handle keeps 74 rotating handles across three floors on College Avenue in Fort Collins, a national Top 100 beer bar with a real kitchen.
TipWednesday's Smasher burger deal is dine-in only; the fire-pit patio stays welcoming well into the cooler months.
The Whisk(e)y lines up more than 2,800 whiskies behind its College Avenue bar in Fort Collins, one of the largest whiskey selections in Colorado.
TipHappy hour runs all day Sunday and Monday; ask the staff to steer a flight, the list is genuinely unnavigable alone.
Cafe Vino pairs bacon-wrapped dates, burrata and a wagyu burger with a walk-in cellar of over 200 wines on South College Avenue in midtown Fort Collins.
TipA Best of NoCo Style 2025 winner; wine dinners like the Kermit Lynch importer night sell through, so book those early.
The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop cuts over 50 European and Colorado cheeses on Walnut Street in Fort Collins, with monger-built boards and wine flights.
TipAsk the mongers for samples before you commit; boards and wine flights make it a quiet pre-dinner stop.
The Whisk(e)y lines up more than 2,800 whiskies behind its College Avenue bar in Fort Collins, one of the largest whiskey selections in Colorado.
OrderA late flight from the whisky wall
TipHappy hour runs all day Sunday and Monday; ask the staff to steer a flight, the list is genuinely unnavigable alone.
Tap and Handle keeps 74 rotating handles across three floors on College Avenue in Fort Collins, a national Top 100 beer bar with a real kitchen.
OrderThe Smasher double burger
TipWednesday's Smasher burger deal is dine-in only; the fire-pit patio stays welcoming well into the cooler months.
The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop cuts over 50 European and Colorado cheeses on Walnut Street in Fort Collins, with monger-built boards and wine flights.
TipAsk the mongers for samples before you commit; boards and wine flights make it a quiet pre-dinner stop.
Music City Hot Chicken fries Nashville-style birds on Prospect Road in Fort Collins across a ladder of heat levels, from Southern to the Flammable Solid dare.
OrderHalf chicken at Nashville Hot with white bread and pickles
TipVegans get crispy fried tempeh in any heat level; weekend brunch adds chicken and waffles plus a Monte Cristo.
Cafe de Bangkok cooks khao soi, drunken noodles and Massaman curry on West Elizabeth Street in Fort Collins, with a deep vegetarian and vegan list.
OrderKhao soi, medium heat, with a Thai iced tea
TipClosed Tuesdays and the kitchen breaks between lunch and dinner; parking sits right out front in the Campus West strip.
Himalayan Bistro brings Dawa and Tashi Sherpa's Nepali, Tibetan and Indian cooking to Council Tree Avenue in Fort Collins, est. 2016 at Front Range Village.
OrderA plate of momos, then a Sherpa-spiced curry
TipThe owners come from Nepal's Solukhumbu Valley and also founded Mt Everest Cafe in 2004; order momos before anything else.
CooperSmith's Pub and Brewing opened on Old Town Square in 1989 as Fort Collins' first brewpub, pouring Punjabi Pale Ale beside its own billiards hall.
OrderA house ale with the daily-made pub plate
TipThe billiards room at 7 Old Town Square reopened in March 2026 with its own taps; pub food runs until close on the main side.
Music City Hot Chicken fries Nashville-style birds on Prospect Road in Fort Collins across a ladder of heat levels, from Southern to the Flammable Solid dare.
OrderHalf chicken at Nashville Hot with white bread and pickles
TipVegans get crispy fried tempeh in any heat level; weekend brunch adds chicken and waffles plus a Monte Cristo.
Cafe de Bangkok cooks khao soi, drunken noodles and Massaman curry on West Elizabeth Street in Fort Collins, with a deep vegetarian and vegan list.
OrderKhao soi, medium heat, with a Thai iced tea
TipClosed Tuesdays and the kitchen breaks between lunch and dinner; parking sits right out front in the Campus West strip.
Himalayan Bistro brings Dawa and Tashi Sherpa's Nepali, Tibetan and Indian cooking to Council Tree Avenue in Fort Collins, est. 2016 at Front Range Village.
OrderA plate of momos, then a Sherpa-spiced curry
TipThe owners come from Nepal's Solukhumbu Valley and also founded Mt Everest Cafe in 2004; order momos before anything else.
The Mayor of Old Town runs 100 taps on Mason Street in Fort Collins, the deepest draught wall in Northern Colorado with pub food to anchor it.
TipThe 100-tap wall rotates constantly, so ask for the fresh-on list; despite the name it sits on Mason near Laurel, not the square.
William Oliver's Publick House stocks over 400 world whiskies at its Timberline and Drake pub in Fort Collins, the original room it opened back in 2013.
TipThere is no phone on principle; walk in or email. Ask for the Snug, a semi-private nook for groups of six to eight.
Magic Rat books free live music four nights a week off Firehouse Alley in Fort Collins, the Elizabeth Hotel's gritty indoor-outdoor stage and bar.
TipNo cover, ever; the calendar posts on the hotel site week by week. Enter through the hotel or the alley.
The OBC Wine Project is Odell Brewing's urban winery on Lincoln Avenue in Fort Collins, its 2023 Colorado Red a Governor's Cup winner on tap.
TipIt shares a patio with the Odell taproom, so a flight of Colorado wine and a 90 Shilling can happen in one sitting.
CooperSmith's Pub and Brewing opened on Old Town Square in 1989 as Fort Collins' first brewpub, pouring Punjabi Pale Ale beside its own billiards hall.
TipThe billiards room at 7 Old Town Square reopened in March 2026 with its own taps; pub food runs until close on the main side.
The OBC Wine Project is Odell Brewing's urban winery on Lincoln Avenue in Fort Collins, its 2023 Colorado Red a Governor's Cup winner on tap.
TipIt shares a patio with the Odell taproom, so a flight of Colorado wine and a 90 Shilling can happen in one sitting.
Music City Hot Chicken fries Nashville-style birds on Prospect Road in Fort Collins across a ladder of heat levels, from Southern to the Flammable Solid dare.
TipVegans get crispy fried tempeh in any heat level; weekend brunch adds chicken and waffles plus a Monte Cristo.
Music City Hot Chicken fries Nashville-style birds on Prospect Road in Fort Collins across a ladder of heat levels, from Southern to the Flammable Solid dare.
OrderChicken and waffles at Southern heat
TipVegans get crispy fried tempeh in any heat level; weekend brunch adds chicken and waffles plus a Monte Cristo.
Blue Agave Grill cooks Southwestern Mexican on College Avenue in Fort Collins: shrimp and lobster enchiladas, coconut shrimp tacos and margarita flights.
OrderShrimp and lobster enchiladas with a margarita flight
TipComplimentary chips and salsa land at the table; the margarita list is the draw, so come at happy hour.
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