LoHi is short for Lower Highlands, and it is the Denver neighbourhood that most reliably converts visitors into people who start looking at property listings. It sits just across Interstate 25 from downtown, close enough to walk, far enough to have its own character, and it packs a Michelin-starred restaurant, a pioneering food hall, a rooftop patio scene and a twenty-eight-foot milk can into a handful of blocks.

This guide covers where to eat and drink in LoHi, how to get there on foot from downtown, and what the neighbourhood is actually like. Everything named here has been checked as open and operating. For what is worth queueing for this week, ask the Denver neighbors who live in LoHi right now.

Walk there: the Highland Bridge

Start with the approach, because it is genuinely part of the experience. The Highland Bridge is a 325-foot pedestrian and bicycle span that crosses I-25 between Platte Street and Central Street, built as a continuation of the 16th Street corridor. It opened on 16 December 2006 and cost $5.2 million. Its white arch is a space-frame truss of three sixteen-inch pipes rising seventy-five feet above the interstate.

What it does in practice is turn a rideshare into a ten-minute walk from downtown, with panoramic views of the Denver skyline on the way across. If you are staying downtown and wondering whether LoHi is worth the trip, the honest answer is that the trip is part of why it is worth it.

Restaurants in LoHi, Denver

Alma Fonda Fina — the Michelin star

Alma Fonda Fina at 2556 15th Street is the reason LoHi appears in national dining conversations. It opened in December 2023 with twenty-eight seats, run by Johnny and Kasie Curiel, and earned one Michelin star in 2024, the first in Colorado. Chef Johnny Curiel also took the 2024 Michelin Guide Colorado Young Chef Award, and in 2025 the restaurant was ranked number 45 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

The cooking revisits the dishes Curiel grew up with in his family’s restaurant in Guadalajara, rebuilt with high-end technique. It is worth being clear about what this means for planning: twenty-eight seats and that level of recognition make walking in unrealistic. Book well ahead or plan around one of the alternatives below.

Linger — the former mortuary with the rooftop

Linger is the restaurant most associated with LoHi’s rise, and it occupies a former mortuary, which the name plays on with more wit than most restaurant puns manage. The menu draws from around the world, and the draw for most people is the rooftop patio and its view back across the city. It is a good answer when the party wants a view and cannot agree on a cuisine.

Root Down — farm-to-table in a converted gas station

Root Down comes from the same team as Linger and occupies a converted gas station. The food is farm-to-table American, and it is one of the few restaurants where the vegetable dishes genuinely stand up alongside the meat rather than being an afterthought. Its brunch has a substantial local reputation, which in practice means going early or waiting.

Avanti Food & Beverage — the food hall that started it

Avanti Food & Beverage is a collective of several distinct restaurant concepts, each operating out of a modified shipping container under one roof, with a rooftop and views. It was a pioneer of the format in Denver, and it remains the most efficient way to eat well in LoHi without committing to a single kitchen or a large bill. If your party wants a Michelin-level dinner and a cheap taco in the same building, this is the compromise that works.

Little Man Ice Cream — the milk can

Little Man Ice Cream is next door to Linger and is impossible to miss, because it is housed inside a twenty-eight-foot-tall milk can. It serves fresh homemade ice cream, the queue is a permanent feature in summer, and it has become one of the neighbourhood’s landmarks in its own right. It is also the most photographed object in LoHi by a considerable margin.

Drinking in LoHi

Denver Beer Co Platte Street at 1695 Platte Street is the anchor: the original taproom, opened in 2011, with the large outdoor patio that becomes one of the busiest pieces of real estate in Denver on the first warm Saturday of the year. It opens Monday to Thursday 11am to 10pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 11pm, and Sunday 11am to 9pm, and it serves craft cocktails and a full food menu alongside the beer.

Beyond that, LoHi’s drinking is rooftop-led. Linger and Avanti both have them, and the reason is straightforward: LoHi sits slightly above and across from downtown, so its roofs look back at the skyline rather than into it. That view is the neighbourhood’s single most reliable asset after the food. Our breweries in Denver and Denver bars guides cover the wider city.

LoHi, the Highlands and the naming confusion

One thing worth clearing up, because it trips people up constantly. LoHi stands for Lower Highlands, and it is the lower, more easterly part of a larger Highlands area that also includes Highland proper, the Berkeley neighbourhood and Sunnyside further north and west. The nickname is near-universal in speech but unofficial, so you will see the area written as LoHi, Lower Highlands and Lower Highland more or less interchangeably.

Practically, this matters when you are searching for an address or following directions. Something described as being “in the Highlands” may be a fifteen-minute walk further out than the LoHi restaurant blocks around 15th and Platte. If you are heading for the restaurants in this guide, you want the Lower Highlands end, closest to the Highland Bridge.

What LoHi is like as a neighbourhood

LoHi’s character comes from an unusual mix of old and new sitting side by side. Victorian and early-twentieth-century houses share blocks with sharply modern infill, and the neighbourhood has become one of the clearest illustrations of how quickly Denver has built in the past fifteen years. Some residents love the contrast, some do not, and both opinions are easy to find.

What is not in dispute is the walkability. The restaurant and bar cluster is genuinely compact, the Highland Bridge connects it to downtown on foot, and the streets are residential enough to be pleasant between destinations rather than merely functional. It is one of the few Denver neighbourhoods where an evening can be planned entirely without a car.

The trade-off is popularity. Summer evenings and weekend brunches are busy, patios and rooftops fill early, and the queue outside the milk can is not a myth. Weeknights are dramatically easier across every restaurant on this page. If you are weighing LoHi against other parts of the city to live in, our guides to the best Denver neighborhoods and moving to Denver cover the wider comparison.

How to spend an afternoon and evening in LoHi

A sequence that works, built entirely on places named above. Walk over the Highland Bridge from downtown in the late afternoon, stopping partway for the skyline view. Start with a beer on the patio at Denver Beer Co on Platte Street. Walk up into the restaurant blocks for early-evening drinks on a rooftop at Linger or Avanti, which is when the light on the downtown skyline is at its best. Eat wherever you booked: Alma Fonda Fina if you planned weeks ahead, Root Down or Avanti if you did not. Finish at Little Man Ice Cream, where the queue moves faster after dark than it does at three in the afternoon.

For brunch instead, reverse it: Root Down early, a walk through the neighbourhood, and the bridge back into downtown. Our breakfast and brunch in Denver guide covers the citywide options.

Frequently asked questions about LoHi, Denver

What does LoHi stand for?

Lower Highlands. It is the lower, more easterly part of a broader Highlands area that also takes in Highland proper, Berkeley and Sunnyside. The nickname is near-universal in conversation but unofficial, so you will also see it written as Lower Highlands or Lower Highland.

What are the best restaurants in LoHi?

Alma Fonda Fina at 2556 15th Street holds a Michelin star, awarded in 2024 and Colorado’s first, from chefs Johnny and Kasie Curiel, with twenty-eight seats. Linger occupies a former mortuary and has the well-known rooftop. Root Down, from the same team as Linger, serves farm-to-table American food in a converted gas station and has a strong brunch reputation. Avanti Food and Beverage houses several concepts in modified shipping containers under one roof.

How do I get to LoHi from downtown Denver?

Walk. The Highland Bridge is a 325-foot pedestrian and bicycle span crossing I-25 between Platte Street and Central Street as a continuation of the 16th Street corridor, and it puts you in LoHi in about ten minutes with skyline views on the way. It opened in December 2006.

What is the giant milk can in LoHi?

Little Man Ice Cream, next door to Linger, is housed inside a twenty-eight-foot-tall milk can and serves fresh homemade ice cream. Expect a queue in summer; it moves faster in the evening than in mid-afternoon.

Do I need a reservation in LoHi?

For Alma Fonda Fina, yes, well in advance, because it seats twenty-eight. Linger and Root Down are both busy at peak times, particularly weekend brunch. Avanti’s food-hall format is the reliable option when you have not booked anything.

Is LoHi walkable?

Yes, and it is one of the few Denver neighbourhoods where an entire evening can be done without a car. The restaurants and bars sit in a compact cluster, and the Highland Bridge links the neighbourhood directly to downtown on foot.