Lost Lake sits on East Colfax Avenue in Denver, a dark cabin lounge and live music room tucked into a strip mall just west of Colorado Boulevard. Matt LaBarge, the former owner of hi-dive and Sputnik, took over the space in 2010 and turned it into one of the city's most dependable rooms for a proper drink and a loud local band.
Who would love it: a drinker who wants a cocktail made with care, no velvet rope, and a band ten feet away. Who would not: anyone after bottle service, a skyline view, or a quiet table for conversation.
The space carries history. It opened in the early 1940s as the Alamo, billed as Denver's first piano bar, before LaBarge reshaped it into a wood-lined lounge modeled on the older bars of Silver Lake in Los Angeles. Westword, in its profile of the overhaul, describes a low-key, log-cabin feel built around a small crescent bar up front and a stage room bolted to the back.
For a spirits drinker, Lost Lake reads as a dive that takes its bar program seriously. The cocktails are built properly rather than poured as an afterthought, and the beer list runs from cold cheap cans to local craft. The honest order is a well-made classic with a cold can back, the register that sits exactly between a craft cocktail bar and a neighborhood dive, which is the line LaBarge was aiming for.
Marcus Webb's read for cocktail drinkers: judge this room by the pour, not the price. A short list of properly stirred and shaken drinks in the low teens earns more trust than a forty-dollar menu padded with garnish, and Lost Lake holds that standard while keeping a stack of cheap cans for the band crowd. Skip the hunt for a deep whiskey flight here; this is a cocktail-and-a-can room, and it does that with no markup and no apology.
The back room is the reason most people come. It is a black-walled music box with a sound system that touring acts and regulars rate well above the venue's size, booking local and indie bills heavy on garage, punk and rock. Reviewers on Yelp and Tripadvisor return to the same praise: the room sounds far better than a bar this small has any right to.
The crowd shifts with the calendar. Early evenings pull Colfax regulars and a pre-show crowd; once the back room sells a ticket, the floor fills with whatever scene the band drew. The patio is the move in summer, and the staff pour without attitude, a note that recurs across review sites.
What regulars flag is consistent. The sound system, the cocktails and the unpretentious service draw the praise; the recurring caution is the obvious dive-bar one, that the back room gets tight and loud on a sold-out night. The fix is to arrive early, claim a spot at the crescent bar, and order before the doors crowd.
Best time to go: a weeknight with a local bill you half-recognize, cocktail in hand before the opener. The bar runs late to 1am on Friday and Saturday and stays closed Monday through Wednesday, so plan the visit across the Thursday-to-Sunday week.
It earns its place among the city's essential music rooms on the strength of the booking and the bar, not the decor. See where it sits among the best live music bars in Denver, and read our wider guide to the best bars in Denver for the full picture.
Pair this bar with
For LaBarge's other room and the obvious second stop, compare hi-dive Denver. For a larger stage on the same indie circuit, try Larimer Lounge Denver. And for a smaller Colfax dive with nightly live music, Lion's Lair Denver makes the natural nightcap.
Sources
Lost Lake official site · Denver Westword: Lost Lake overhaul · Yelp (n=98, accessed 2026-06) · Tripadvisor: Lost Lake Lounge
Reviewed by Marcus Webb, barsforKings. Published Jan 14, 2026. Last reviewed Apr 1, 2026.
