Durango doesn’t always get credit for being a casual town, but Derailed Pour House near Main Avenue and West Eighth Street recently received a “Best of the Best” Traveler’s Choice Award on Tripadvisor, ranking among the Top-25 best casual dining locations in the United States this year.
The location’s evolving visuals and atmosphere continue to cater to an ever-developing customer base thanks to proprietor Lisa Gibson and her sense of style and business acumen.
Walking into Derailed’s current rendition can feel like stepping into a fairy tale with gently lit trees, casting a glow onto the tables below and detached doors creating cozy booths.
A newly finished back porch is accented by a wall of artificial sunflowers. It’s all part of a carefully curated ambience that earned the “Casual Dining” award for the local eatery. But a sense of style alone isn’t the only consideration for a Best of the Best award.
Tripadvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to account for multiple factors, including review motive, how recent a review was made and volume of reviews. Altogether, the system appears to be a quality meter on various businesses in the user’s area, as well as places they may visit as a guide in patronage choices.
Taking more than just positive and negative reviews into account, users can take a more nuanced approach to where they decide to go. That said, Derailed understands the nature of the business.
“We try our best to, of course, accommodate every single person that walks in the store and make every single person feel comfortable and make sure that all their food is perfect and all their drinks are perfect,” said general manager Grant Gibson. “But unfortunately, no matter where you go whether it's a restaurant, a store on the street or the grocery store or wherever it is, we’re all human so mistakes happen, nobody's perfect.”
On Tripadvisor, Derailed carried a perfect rating as the top dining location in Durango out of 121 website-listed restaurants in town.
Derailed Pour House placed 12th in the United States for casual dining, boasting 2,600 reviews. The restaurant’s most prominent attributes mentioned in reviews include live music, a wood-burning fireplace and signature cocktails.
Patrons of the restaurant most often list pulled pork tacos, burgers and wings as their favorite menu items in their reviews.
The wings and pork for the tacos are smoked on site, and the pork gets 13 hours in the smoker before it sees a plate. The wings, another popular menu item, get further attention after being brought in and getting flash-fried for a crispy exterior. One reviewer lauded the pulled pork tacos among the best they had ever eaten.
“I think our menu is so diverse because we have so many different options, our bartenders love the trends that are happening, and we always look for new things, and we're always, innovative with it,” said manager and bartender Morgan Kirkpatrick.
And that attention is not lost on the reviewers. A man from Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, highlighted the beverages in his 2023 review, saying Derailed Pour House is “one of the finest establishments for craft cocktails and high quality food” he had ever visited.
There are plenty of craft-style options and even a special section dedicated to Alice in Wonderland, with drinks dedicated to and named for plot points in the work of fiction. The story may also have served as inspiration for some of the design choices in the establishment.
Reviews cover more than just the menu. Ambience and service also received high marks. The word used to describe the surroundings in the generated comprehensive review description was “eclectic,” highlighted by “cozy alcoves, and a mix of decor that enhances the dining experience.”
The term “great server” was also commonly mentioned among the reviews with many diners giving laurels to the staff.
“I have a saying that I've gone by back before I owned the restaurant and I worked in corporate: it is ‘you're only as good as your people,’” Lisa said. “If you surround yourself with good people, then you're going to do well. And I have made it a point over the years to build my company and this restaurant with good people.”
Derailed was the lone restaurant in Durango to be elevated to ‘Best of the Best’. Though other restaurants in town did take home Traveler’s Choice awards, including Carver Brewing Co., Steamworks Brewing Co. and Diamond Belle Saloon.
sjiron@durangoherald.com
