The Park Tavern Restaurant and Bar at 247 Elkhorn Ave. opened in mid-2025, but it is new again this summer with refreshed food and cocktail menus, a new patio look, fresh paint, furniture, and decor, and even a menu for dogs.
Interviewing diners, I discovered two groups who had eaten here two days in a row. Why? “Because it’s really good food,” said one.
One gentleman, in a party of eight visiting from Rogers, Ark., returned to the eatery because his three children had eaten well here the night before.
A seven-year-old in the group gave the grilled cheese ($13) a high-five. “It doesn’t look pretty because the cheese is sticking out, but it is so good.”
The ravenous visitor devoured her kid-sized sandwich and fries, just like the night before. The first night, she said she also ordered a slice of chocolate cake and pronounced it “the best cake I ever had.”
Her four-year-old brother recommends this restaurant for kids, specifically “the mac and cheese, the fries, and ketchup.”
Two visitors from the Quad Cities were also back for day two, citing outstanding service and nodding toward the bartender who was nearby.
Describing their lunch as “the bomb diggity,” the Midwesterners enjoyed jerk chicken lollipops ($17), beef and potato tostones ($15), and blackened salmon piccata ($27) served on a bed of linguini with capers, shallots, and lemon butter and garnished with Pecorino Romano and truffle oil. The dish is one of the tavern’s most popular.
An Estes Park diner who ordered the blistered shishito peppers with truffle oil and garlic aioli ($14) offered a warning with a grin.
“They’re really good, and they’re not hot,” he said, rolling his eyes before adding, “except they are.” While shishito peppers are typically mild, roughly one in 10 packs a surprising burst of heat. This particular pepper delivered.
“I cried a little from the heat,” he admitted.
Some of the entrees on the updated menu are hearty, including a 12-ounce choice Black Angus rib-eye with potatoes and vegetables ($46), a pork chop with wild rice and asparagus ($31), sweet potato gnocchi primavera ($25), and slow-braised bison ragu ($29). Several vegetarian and gluten-free dishes are also available.
The restaurant offers three beef burgers and one bison burger ($18 to $22), with fries, or choose another side for an additional $2.
Four recent high school graduates on a road trip from Bedford, Ind., said they were intimidated when they walked in.
“We thought it looked classy, the lighting and everything, so we thought it was expensive, but the pricing was not jacked up,” one of the young men explained.
All four agreed that their burgers were cooked as ordered, service was fast, and prices were reasonable.
Two customers from San Francisco, a city renowned for its dining and culinary scene and celebrated as the birthplace of California’s farm-to-table movement, recommended the fig and jalapeño burger ($19) and the jalapeño mango chicken sandwich ($19), both served with fries.
One Estes resident said, “I love this place and the salmon sandwich, which comes with a great slaw in the sandwich.”
The Pet Bites menu offers a bison or beef patty ($11) and sausage pieces ($2). Bluey would probably be impressed, but I did not see any pets on the dog-friendly patio during my several visits, so I brought my own two pups over for some canine reviews.
I ordered a well-done beef patty, which was cooked perfectly, and they devoured it, giving a paws-up rating for sure.
A new craft cocktail menu is still in development, and later this summer, new patio lights will shine under a canvas awning after the floor has been leveled following the removal of a 7-foot-by-6-foot-by-5-foot granite rock. The tavern’s owners estimate the construction — or destruction — will be finished next month.
Sujib Timilsina is a co-owner of Park Tavern with Bipul Uprety. Timilsina runs the bar, along with Bishwa Lama, the only Certified Whiskey Ambassador in Estes Park, according to Timilsina, and Viktoryia Smatrytskaya as the sommelier. Uprety is the executive chef.
Timilsina is a popular fixture on the bar scene in Estes Park and has worked as a consultant for new bars opening in town. He creates original cocktails with flair, focusing on presentation and elevating old classics.
“The Park’s old-fashioned ($16) is a riff on a classic cocktail. It’s a fusion of something from the 1600s and the 1970s,” said Timilsina, whose goal is to make the Park Tavern the cocktail capital of Estes Park with more than 38 fresh, elevated, and reimagined adult beverage offerings, including an elderflower, lychee, and rose-infused sangria called Summer in a Glass.
Currently waiting for various ingredients to arrive, Timilsina expects to launch the new menu within weeks.
Bartender Cam Witherell says the Killer Bee, a gin-based cocktail with lavender and chili ($16), is this summer’s most popular selection, and several customers have called the espresso martini ($18) the best cocktail they’ve ever had.
The Park Tavern’s beer menu is also extensive, including lagers, porters, pilsners, stouts, Kölsch, ales, and IPAs. Colorado draft beers from Lumpy Ridge Brewing, Rock Cut Brewing, and Durango’s Ska Brewing are on tap.
Timilsina envisions the bar as more than just a place to grab a drink. His goal is to create a gathering spot where locals and visitors mingle over craft cocktails, building connections that extend beyond a single evening. By fostering a welcoming atmosphere, he hopes even first-time visitors to Estes Park will feel less like tourists and more like members of the community.
Uprety and Timilsina both said they are influenced by customer input through face-to-face interactions and Google reviews. Their new menu was constructed by trying out various specials, gathering customer feedback and data about each dish, and selecting the best for the everyday menu.
Both Timilsina and Uprety are originally from Nepal but chose Estes Park as their home. “We believe in working hard,” said Timilsina. “We care, and we are focused. We are our own competition. Success is driving us.”
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