Queen B Vinyl Café — Attraction in Cottonwood

Super cool place, 2 (multi) places in one really, a hybrid record shop/barber/venue right beside a coffee shop/cafe/bar.

This the current home of the relocated Puscifer store, originally up in Jerome AZ, and still the coolest spot owned by Cottonwood's own resident rock living legend. This is, in my opinion, the best of the many KeenanKompanies™ operating in the Verde Valley, even though they are all pretty spectacular. (You think you're busy? oof, this guy juggles businesses like it's going out of style, IN BETWEEN world tours)

On the cafe side, the coffee/espresso drinks are great and their beans (some roasted by 'nard himself) are outstanding, (I purchased a bag of the Mocha Jahova). The food is pretty good too but i've only had a breakfast sandwich when they first opened up, and i'm sure they have a lot more offerings now too. They also have wines and meads made locally by... yep, themselves!

The record store side has all the vinyl you could ask for, albums from the biggest bands around the world, to local indie rockers who even perform in the store, which features live acts, musical and otherwise, almost every night of the week! Plus tons of exclusive band merch and custom-printed-by-the-artist stuff you won't find anywhere else.

Long story short, this place is so cool that it has to be located far enough away from the larger population of Phoenix, because if it were down here, it would be overrun by mobs of fans 24/7, but located 90 miles away, in quaint downtown Cottonwood, that provides just enough geographical barrier that allows it to be plenty busy but with the advantage of that low key chill/charm. It's a family business, and Jen, the head honcho of the vinyl shop, is obviously a big fan of eclectic music, movies and entertainment, and that shows in the wide variety of performances and events they host, and MJK himself is verifiably very hands-on with all his businesses, making this spot a must-go spot for anyone interested in cool one-of-a-kind places.

Can't wait to return and grab a coffee and check out some LPs!

BONUS: If you find yourself in the Cottonwood area, after visiting here, don't miss the other sites: Four 8 Fried Chicken (a block away), Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room & Osteria (up on top of the hill across the street, also gelato at the bottom, take the neat tram) and up on Mingus Mountain, the og Caduceus Wine...

My family visited this morning for brunch and walked into an empty restaurant. We were excited as we are big fans of the owners. From the start it was bizarre, as we got a four top as a party of four plus a one year old. After standing with my baby for a bit, I asked if I could get a high chair. A short wait and we were brought said chair, and then was asked if I wanted the tray part of it - yes, we’d like the entire high chair.

The waitress walked away mid order to get something of hers, without saying anything, and came back to continue. We all said we’d wanted waters, got asked a few times if we all wanted water. Just bizarre. Then, our food took forever to come out. Again, we were the only table when we entered and at this point there was only one other table. The waitress came back to our table while we were waiting for our order to ask if we had ordered yet, good intention but again sort of weird because it wasn’t at all busy. We overheard the other table sharing discontent about waiting ~20mins just for their drinks.

We got our food, but somehow instead of a fruit cup for the baby we were given an order of fries. The baby’s food (one egg and the “fruit cup”) came way later, which was also annoying. After we were all almost done eating, another server came by with a chopped apple in a bowl - this was the fruit cup. Our whole table just laughed at the absurdity of it, that we waited the whole meal for the baby’s “fruit cup” and it’s one chopped apple which is a massive choking hazard for 1 year olds. We then almost did get charged for the fries we didn’t take.

In short, the food for the adults was great! The service was frankly strange (I’m leaving out some of the minor but bizarre interaction details) and disappointing given there were max 3 tables being served and 4-5 staff waiting on the place, some of whom were visibly just idling on their phones...

My wife and I live in the area and decided to give this place a try for breakfast on a Sunday. Our first impressions were good. We chose to dine inside, but there's also a front patio. The restaurant was clean and comfortable, and a friendly server greeted us promptly. We asked for two decaf coffees, but he suggested we look at the menu because they have a lot of specialized coffee drinks available. When he returned we both ordered what they call a "pour over". We also ordered food. A breakfast sandwich for my wife and a two egg breakfast, complete with sausage, potatoes, and toast. It came out quickly from the kitchen, and it was all delicious. But still no coffee. The portions are average sized, not large. We ate very, very slowly waiting for our drinks. After more than 20 minutes the server came over and apologized for not getting us our coffees. He asked if he could make us something else instead. My wife ordered an "americano", and I just asked for water. It took a few more minutes for those to arrive. The prices are reasonable, and the food was really tasty, but the drink service was abysmal. And I still don't know what happened to our original...