I’m still hearing more complaints about the nastiness to be found behind the name of the Donkey Den, a newish bar in the Golden Triangle, and many of the menu items there. I read an interesting post about it last week, and it’s grown from there. In fact, when I went down last Friday to check it out firsthand, I was handed a flyer by a group of protesters outside the front door who were encouraging Denverites to boycott the spot. It reads:

“Going to the Donkey Den? … read this: Definition: Donkey Den: Tijuana brothel where girls (as young as eight) are sold into sex slave industries where in some cases girls are tied down against their will and penetrated by barn yard animals.”

And that’s just the beginning. The flyer continues, explaining in detail what the other offensive menu references mean. They even take issue with the naming of the bathroom doors — “Heads” for mean and “Tails” for women.

There is no particular group listed on the flyer, but I did find an entire website dedicated to spreading the word about the place: www.boycottdonkeyden.org

Seems that plenty of area women are right properly peeved at the joint.

I have to agree about the offensiveness of the terms Donkey Den and Donkey Punch. It’s totally gross, rude, and pointless to me, especially since in the case of the “donkey punch” at least, it’s considered by some to be more of an urban sex legend born of adolescent bragging than anything based in reality. (If it does happen in reality, it is a truly disgusting and violent act, but I’ll spare you the gory details.) My point is that either way, it’s just unecessarily offensive.

However. I do have to say, the place itself is just as normal as any other downtown bar. The drinks are okay – not great, just okay – same with the food. The staff seemed helpful enough and the crowd was completely average in every way when I went down last Friday. That said, is there absolutely any good reason to name an otherwise unoffensive food item a Donkey Punch burger, knowing what that term means?

I think the managment might need to do some serious thinking about the marketing strategy here.