Arizona Steakhouse — Restaurant in Four Corners States

Not sure why this restaurant has received high ratings. I had a very disappointing experience. I had read many positive reviews about this steakhouse so decided to make a reservation a month in advance due it being New Year’s weekend. So my Husband and I walked into the restaurant, and our first impression of the restaurant decor seemed out of place with the whole rustic vibe going on throughout the other restaurants in the park. It had more of an urban feel with white walls and contemporary furniture, not much character. We order drinks first. Our waiter came to our table to inform us that they had a very limited menu due to running out of almost every steak except the New York Steak. It was only 7:00 pm. What kind of steakhouse runs out of meat on a holiday weekend? They were also out the Lamb Chops and the Salmon. We found out from another table that this was the restaurant’s last day before they closed for the season. It would been nice if our waiter told have us that. So we order the New York steak (medium rare) that came with mash potatoes and “rustic” vegetables. We also ordered a Southwestern Caesar salad. We get or drinks and they had an odd iodine taste to them. Not sure what caused it maybe the ice or bad tonic water? We get our salads which were good with black beans, corn, cojita cheese and shredded tortillas. Good flavor. Then we get out entrées. Our steaks were overcooked to medium well, salty, and there was a lot of grizzle. The meat was tough. I could not eat it. When the waiter came by to ask how we were doing, I could barely get a word out before he turned away. I raised my voice to stop him. I let him now my disappointment and would like a new steak. He said ok, then told me to eat the sides while I was waiting. The sides were mashed potatoes and rustic Brussels sprout. They were very good. Kudos to the sous chef. I received the replacement and it was cooked correctly. The steak itself had a lot of fatty grizzle which when I cut off, didn’t leave me with much left. Overall the quality of the meat was subpar. I ate it, but I was full but not satisfied. While we were waiting for our check we started talking to other tables.They all agreed the service and quality of food was not good. I was expecting an amazing quality of meat for $46.00 per entree. We don’t eat a lot of beef, so this was a treat for us. We understand that the restaurant was closing for the season, but they should of had more choices of steak being a “Steakhouse”. We had dinner the night before at the El Tovar which was outstanding, so we thought the Arizona Steakhouse would have the same caliber. It was a big disappointment. I don’t recommend this...

My sister, Mother, and I all ordered 8 dollar bowls of soup. It was comparable with Campbell’s soup, which costs about a dollar per can. I would have ordered another item, however, half of the menu was unavailable due to mysterious reasons they were unable to enlighten us with. Several people left the restaurant before ordering because of the option shortage. For desert, the other members of my family ordered ice cream while I ordered pie. My pie was excellent. It was warm, and the crust was delightful. Although, the ice cream was severely lacking. Each order was 5 dollars and consisted of two scoops of Dreyer’s ice cream. A quart of Dreyer’s ice cream can be purchased at your local grocery store for roughly 5 dollars. This would be bad I’m and of itself, however, the peanut butter chocolate ice cream my family ordered had spots of red in it. This leads me to believe they did not wash their ice cream scoop between serving different flavors. I would like to say that our very expensive meal was excellent, or at least satisfactory, but sadly, it was not. This restaurant was dubious, depressing, and downright dissatisfactory, despite my delightful dose of pie. Although the restaurant was severely lacking, our server James was outstanding. He dealt with the shortage of food very well, and maintained his positivity throughout the meal. He was very funny, polite, and helpful. He outshone the establishment where he is employed at and clearly demonstrated he should be working at a much finer restaurant. If I could leave a review of just James it would be 5 stars. The food was priced well above its quality however. If you want a better meal, please make yourself a nice sandwich and...

If you want to have food at this restaurant, I would give it a 1 star. If you feel fine about showing up to the restaurant and being told that they are out of food, then I would give it a better rating.

I visited the restaurant at around 1:30 PM wondering if they have open reservations for the evening. They didn't, but the host told me to come in around 7:30 because it's after their busy time and they accept walk-ins. It was clear that they were not promising that we could get a table at 7:30, but that it would be likely that we could be seated.

When I got back to my hotel (El Tovar) a couple of hours later, I called again and the hostess (different than the person I talked to before) said the same thing... come in around 7:30 and it's likely but not guaranteed that you will be able to get a table.

My family of 5 and I got to the restaurant right before 7:30 PM. We got to the doors, and they were locked. We were able to get in a few minutes later when a family was leaving and opened the door. When we walked in, the host told us, "we are closed because we ran out of food. We ran out of food."

Granted, we didn't have a reservation. But the family right behind us entering the restaurant, did! They told the host, "but we have a reservation!" The host told this family that had a reservation that they could not be seated because the restaurant ran out of food.

My opinion is that if you are a restaurant which relies heavily on reservations, you cannot leave your clientele high and dry and not offer food. I honestly believe that is cruel.

This place has some significant kinks...