I was visiting the Sedona area for my 40th birthday and Cottonwood was my home base.

For my last night in Cottonwood, I decided to have dinner at Nic's.

Let's start with the food. I had the eggplant parm that came with a side of spaghetti. The meal was FANTASTIC!!!! Great flavor and great price for the portion and it came with a nicely sized salad and bread.

Moving on to service. Sorry, this is going to be long. I had arrived at 7:30pm on a Saturday night and it was JAMMED packed. Being a party of 1, the hostess recommended I check out the bar for an empty seat while I wait for a table. I thought it was weird that the hostess sat a party of 2 at a 6 top so there was wasted space. It seems that getting a table was going to take a bit. So I asked the couple if they would mind sharing their table with a party of 1 and they were happy to share. So I went back to the hostess and asked her if that was okay and she said sure, but let me check with the manager and then was given the OK. The guy at the table even said, that he thought it was weird for them to be at a large table and figured they would seat another party as well. The server was waiting on the couple at the same time and the couple and I explained that I'm just a party of 1 splitting the table. And the waitress said "Oh okay! I didn't know if this was going to be a party of 3 or not". Then she ignored me, never asked if I wanted anything to drink and what not. So while I scoped out the menu (which my table mates gladly shared with me - since I was never given one) I also kept an eye on the bar for an empty seat. Then as soon as I saw a couple leave, I went to the bar but didn't sit down because the empty plates was still sitting there and the bartenders didn't clear it. I finally just sat down and maybe the bartenders would see me and clear it. The female bartender (didn't ask for her name) saw me sitting down at the dirty section and promptly came over and cleared only the plates leaving the cloth napkins, glasses, and silverware and said, "I'll get this cleared for you in a minute". It took a while before she came back to grab the rest of the rest of the dirty dishes. When she did, she didn't really wipe the section down with a clean towel, she used the napkin from the previous guest to wipe down the area. Then she set up a new setting for me along with a menu and never came back. A 4 top came in and sat down at a table behind me and she promptly took care of them (welcomed them, introduced herself and asked for their drink orders) and never coming back to me. The other bartender, Seth, was pouring a draft beer and saw me waiting and asked if the other bartender has started my drink order and I said no and from then on he gave EXCELLENT/ATTENTIVE service.

What really bothered me was that every single customer that came after me and sat at the bar got quick service from the female bartender while she completely ignored me. I wonder if she saw me as a solo diner that maybe I would be a bad tipper or a rude/difficult customer? Who knows?

Due to her service, I knocked it down one star.