Colorado Restaurant History: Where Were All the Lone Star Steakhouses?

There's something really enjoyable, if you're a meat eater, about grabbing a great steak. Colorado has tons of steakhouses, whether as part of a chain or independent. When you look back, Lone Star Steakhouse had a heck of ride, while it lasted.

When Did the Lone Star Steakhouses Begin Closing in Colorado?

Today, Loveland and other Colorado cities can only remember having a Lone Star; after being gone since 2017. Many have completely forgotten that they were even around, at all. At their height of popularity, there were nearly 270 locations across America. With Northern Colorado having had a couple, I got to wondering how many the state actually had.

READ MORE: Remember the "80 oz. Steak Challenge" in Fort Collins?

Years ago, my (at the time) girlfriend worked at the Fort Collins Lone Star. I really liked that place, like I did the one in Loveland; they just had a great laid-back "western" vibe about them. The food was good, the bar was comfortable to sit at and have a beer; maybe you'd have a bottle of Lone Star to make it "just right."

Fort Collins Lone Star Steakhouse Now Three Eateries

Like many businesses that close, once they're out of sight, they're out of mind; you just never really think of them again. Sure, you might drive by the Tokyo Joe's/TCBY/Garbanzo off of College and Troutman in Fort Collins and say, "that used to be Lone Star Steakhouse," but that gets rarer and rarer as the years go by.

Colorado Had at Least 7 Lone Star Steakhouses

I did some digging around the internet and came up with, what I believe, is the list of places in Colorado that at one time had a Lone Star Steakhouse. The thing is, there isn't a real list (aside from this one) so there may have been more, but the internet does not want to give up that information.

• Arvada: Off of Wadsworth and 52nd.
• Brighton: In the Brighton Pavilions shopping center.
• Fort Collins: Troutman Parkway and College Avenue.
• Lakewood: Off of Highway 6 and Simms.
• Littleton: Layton and Wadsworth - by Sam's Club.
• Loveland: Eisenhower and Rocky Mountain Avenue (north of the Visitors Center.)
• Thornton: I-25 and 120th.