Canyon Kitchen — Restaurant in Highlands

Let me start off that I have never written a review before for anything. However, I have never experienced such poor customer service or been treated so poorly in my life. Hence, the below review.

We had guests in town on Friday and wanted to share a beautiful view with a great (expensive) cocktail with close friends. We arrived and attempted to order cocktails and stand at a high top. Upon arrival, we were met by the unbelievably rude hostess/ manager and were told that there was no capacity for us to have just one cocktail. Mind you we were not looking for seats or a table for dinner. We just wanted to have a cocktail and walk around the grounds to show our friends who had never been before. The explanation was that they were expecting a total of 30 people for dinner that evening and those 30 people "may" want to have a cocktail outside prior to sitting down for dinner. Half of the inside tables were empty and there was no one ordering drinks at the outside bar. I inquired a second time as it did not make any logical sense to me. The same rude hostess/manager immediately dismissed me and turned her back on me. We left scratching our heads in disbelief as we would probably have spent well over $100 plus the automatic 20% gratuity for 4 cocktails. We then proceeded to our country club, Country Club of Sapphire Valley, where we were greeted with smiles and open arms. We sat on the back porch and looked at the beautiful view overlooking the gorgeous golf course and mountains .As it ended up we spent over $200 on cocktails.

I have been to Canyon Kitchen for dinner at least 5 times before and the food /menu is less than mediocre. Not to mention that the prices are very expensive and definitely not worth it. The only reason to go to this restaurant is for the view. There are much better restaurants in the area such as The Orchard, Library, and Osteria to name a few.

Needless to say, I will never go back to this place. Given the opportunity, I will take pleasure in sharing my recent experiences/opinions on the quality of their food and their lack of...

Unfortunately I didn’t realize this was not a public restaurant but rather a country club restaurant where members are supporting the club. I have eaten at many like this and while some are extraordinary many leave much to be desired. Weather was poor which no one could have done anything about. We arrived precisely at our reservation time and rather than be seated at our table we were told to go to the bar for a drink ( realize that we were the second group there for dinner at our 5:45 reservation which was the only one we could get. There wasn’t a single table seated at this time). We did, ordered a drink, and stood for 15 minutes (no place to sit… not because there were other people present… there were literally no seats. One lady beside me asked the bartender So are we just supposed to stand and drink and he said yes). So eventually we were seated at our table. Our waitress was nice. It was very windy and rainy. They had their plastic down to keep the weather outside but they didn’t fasten it in place. So every wind gust would blow the plastic in my wife’s lap. Multiple times staff would walk by looking at the blowing plastic but no one offered to fasten it down. Finally I asked someone to do it which they did on my wife’s side but not on mine. So I did it for my side. The food was maybe a bit above average. Certainly nothing that I would return for. For desert I ordered the “warm pound cake” with peaches and…. Blah blah blah…. And my wife laughed when she saw a cook (not a chef) literally bringing down Sara Lee pound cake from the stairs. My wife ordered the lava cake and it was just as good as the lava cake from dominos pizza, so it was pretty good. Never did the manager stop by and ask how our dinner was. Please please please go somewhere...

This was our second time dining at Canyon Kitchen and we had a absolutely great evening. I had called late into our trip to the Sapphire Valley area and was able to get a late reservation on Sunday @ 7:30. I called earlier that day and was able to take advantage of a cancellation for a 6:00 reservation after a call back from their very thoughtful manager Robie. He went out of his way to make our visit special once again. It's always a great idea to show up at least 30 min early in time to view the sunset on the lawn. The views with a cocktail in hand while strolling on the lawn, lounging in an Adirondack chair, or standing at a high top bar table is surely a special experience. It's always a friendly crowd in a great mood if you want to meet some new folks having a good time. The outside bar is well equipped and serves up craft cocktails, beer and wine. The bartenders seemed to be quite disinterested in the same high level of customer service that the servers have. I suppose the automatic 20% gratuity, which I'm never a fan of, and normally exceed, don't provide much incentive which was a bit obvious. Our dinner server Sarah however was amazing and brought things back to our amazing experience at this gem. She recommended the MS Catfish which was crispy and delicious. My wife had the Cheerwine short ribs and they also were good. We spit a Romain wedge and it was just the right amount. Broccoli au Gratin as our shared side was also very good. We love the Canyon Kitchen and it's a must do spot in the area for a great fine...