Sedona Taphouse — Restaurant in Cliffside Park

Came here for a Saturday lunch/brunch with my family. It’s the day before Father’s Day, so I came as soon as they opened in order to ensure a table. Because they do not take reservations. Wasn’t busy at all. Server was great and friendly. Menu is priced very fairly. Ordered the ahi tuna, Thai chili shrimp, Gorgonzola salad and Sedona salad as appetizers. These were great, the tuna was just okay though. But both the salads were most definitely on point. Tasty and balanced. For my main entre I got the crab Benedict. This wasn’t great. Egg was overcooked and yolk didn’t pop. Crab cake had an unpleasant sweetness to it. also Hollandaise sauce was forgotten on the plate but our kind server brought me some. Hollandaise sauce was actually tasty, and was able to hide some of the not so good tastes. Side of asparagus was limp, soggy, and entirely unpleasant. Potatoes were decent (thank god). Additionally, my parents got the bottomless mimosa for 12$ which is a nice touch, although the taste was not great (very acidic) Desserts, caramel cheese cake and creme brulee, were enjoyed. I got my server to put a candle on it, and I sincerely appreciate the effort. The factory that made the desserts did a good job. Also, it was about 90 degrees and I understand my table was one of only few that were in the restaurant at the time, but it is just much too hot to not have the air conditioning on. I mean honestly, we had to complain twice for the owner to turn it on (not up, but ON. It was never even on). I would understand if it was 75 degree weather. I get that there’s a lot of foot traffic in and out the doors. But it is 90 degrees with the sun beaming down. Even if not for the customers, at least for your workers. Do you want them sweating on your customers or something? Think of the sweat and bacteria getting trapped on their face from the masks. They work hard for you. It is the very least you can do to make the environment more comfortable for them. Maybe I’m picky, but all my complaints are valid. The food was mediocre at best. Great service though, it was not busy but I had full attention of my server at all times and he really went out of his way to make sure we had a good experience. 2 star food, but to be honest 5 star service. You are appreciated Brandon! Completely saved my experience from being...

I unfortunately have now had two not great experiences at Sedona. On a Thursday afternoon I came to eat and asked for a table for two. The host brought us to a table that was squeezed into an corner where there’s a lot of foot traffic and would be overall uncomfortable. I saw an open booth and asked her if we could sit there instead. She stated that the booths were available for parties of 4. I’d understand that however there were about 3 or 4 booths with only 2 people in them, so that didn’t make much sense. She then went on to say “you could sit at the bar then if you want”, so it just seemed as though she gave up on us and wasn’t looking to help us find a better table.

We ended up going to sit at the bar, however after about 10-15 min we hadn’t been approached by any bartenders, so we ended up leaving. We decided it may have just been an off day and actually went back that Saturday afternoon.

Again, that same hostess was working and actually brought us over to that same table she originally tried to sit us that, when there were so many empty tables all around. I asked for a different table again and she finally brought us to a more comfortable place. Unfortunately the experience didn’t get much better.

We waited 15-20 minutes for someone to approach our table, even though plenty of employees saw us, made eye contact, and were aware we were waiting. Finally our server Antonio noticed us in his section, came up to us, and with a smirk/chuckle said “I didn’t realize you guys were here”. I understand if it was busy however as mentioned, there were plenty of empty tables so it didn’t seem like it was.

He took our orders, food generally came out at a decent time, however he never came back to our table to check in on us once we were eating, as we had to flag him down for more water/drinks. Finally when it came time to me asking for the check, with a serious face he placed it on the table, took my card, came back with it and said nothing - no thank you, have a great day, nothing, no apology for the initial delay, nothing.

Really disappointing as I’ve been here plenty of times, but after this will...

First I want to say that my other experiences at this location have been great but I do not know what was going on with todays service/food because it really ruined my dinner experience.

My experience: I was seated quickly so that was great. I did wait about 10 minutes before having to get up to ask hostess who was going to attend us. After notifying them, my waitress did come promptly and took my order. While waiting for our food I observed that they were hosting a party in one section of the restaurant. I believe this party had children and the children kept running around the rows coughing and riding a little children's car making it a bit uncomfortable for the waiters/waitresses and people around the area (the table next to me kept saying who are these kids parents). This continued throughout almost my entire dinner.

Appetizers came out on time; they were great. Then comes the incorrect dish for my child (this was fixed later) and my dish. I took a bite of my dish and noticed a strand of hair-which assuming it was either a beard or short hair. Not even on top of my salad but mixed. I quietly went to the waitress and showed her. She apologized and asked if I wanted a new dish. I told her yes as I was hungry. She kept saying sorry for the mistakes on the dishes we are busy.

I typically wouldn't write a bad review but this is why I am here: not only did they charge me for the wrong children's dish (they charged me for 3 dishes instead of 2-but it was fixed) but i wasn't even comp my dish that had hair in it. I didn't bother asking for this because usually restaurants would do this automatically for an error like this. I did not get a manager either because again I would think this would have been communicated with the manager who usually would either come to table or have waitress/waiter comp the dish.

Perhaps them being busy was the reason but still ruined my experience. I really used to enjoy coming to this restaurant as it was one of my favorites in this area but I don't think I want to relive this again. I gave a two because the appetizers and drinks came out fast...