Rita's Cantina & Bar — Restaurant in Paradise Valley

The experience was far below expectations — especially for a JW Marriott restaurant. The food quality was poor, the chef’s attitude was terrible, the dining area was unclean, and the restaurant was clearly short-staffed. I honestly couldn’t believe I was dining at a JW Marriott.

When I called the day before to make a reservation, I was told that the buffet was served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so we booked for 10:30. On Sunday, we arrived at 10:40. There was only one host at the front desk, and since she was on the phone with another guest, we waited about five minutes to be seated. During that time, she completely ignored us — no greeting, no acknowledgment, not even eye contact. That set the tone for the rest of the meal: the entire staff, including the chefs, gave off an “I don’t care” attitude.

The restaurant was less than a quarter full, yet the floor had crumbs and bits of food scattered around, and the tables still had bread pieces from previous guests. Some of the buffet trays were already empty, and no one was refilling them. Since this was supposed to be a buffet, I expected the food to be replenished — but it never was. We had to go directly to the only chef on duty to ask for food, but he looked upset, expressionless, and indifferent. I even saw him scrape food waste off the grill into a trash can, and when some missed and fell onto the floor, he simply ignored it.

When I asked if there were gluten-free waffles, the chef said yes but that I had to order through my server. Finding a server was another challenge. When I finally found ours and asked for a gluten-free waffle, she told me to ask the chef. After I explained that the chef had told me to ask her, she reluctantly placed the order. When the waffle finally arrived, I wanted some honey, but again, I couldn’t find any server. I could only reach our server about once every ten minutes.

During the meal, two or three flies kept hovering around our table, occasionally landing on our food. I had to keep waving them away while trying to flag down a server. My two kids stopped eating after just a few bites. We were all still hungry but just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Even paying the bill took forever because we couldn’t find anyone to help.

There seemed to be only one host, one server taking orders, and two people delivering food. None of them worked as a team. No one cleared dishes, cleaned tables, or swept up the food on the floor. Several empty tables were littered with bread crumbs, fruit pieces, and other leftovers — especially under tables where families with small children had been seated. From the time we arrived until the time we left, no one ever cleaned the floors.

Ten years ago, when my wife and I lived in Phoenix, we often went to JW Marriott’s Rita’s Kitchen for their legendary Sunday brunch buffet. We loved the relaxing atmosphere, endless champagne, crab legs, seafood, carved prime rib, made-to-order crepes, omelets, waffles, fresh fruit, and strawberry chocolate fondue. We have many wonderful memories from those visits.

Now, ten years later, we returned to Arizona and were so excited to bring our kids to experience the same Sunday brunch we had always talked about. We even called on Saturday to confirm that Rita’s Kitchen still had a Sunday brunch buffet. The person on the phone enthusiastically said yes — that the “Sunday brunch and buffet” were back — so we made a reservation immediately and drove an hour the next morning.

But what a shock. Maybe there was a misunderstanding — perhaps the “buffet” she mentioned was just a breakfast buffet, and the “Sunday brunch” was something else entirely. Still, if the buffet ended at 10:30 or 11:00, when I arrived at 10:45 and told the host that we weren’t hotel guests but wanted to pay $41 per person for the buffet, shouldn’t she at least have informed me that the buffet was already over?

Although I already felt unwelcome when we entered the restaurant, I still naïvely believed in the JW Marriott brand. This visit was completely...

To each their own as I read these reviews but for us, Ritas was really disappointing. The atmosphere (outside) is more provided by the resort than the restaurant itself in the sense of flowers and water and light displays. Otherwise indoors is nothing more than ordinary. The chicken was well cooked for the burrito bowl and the steak looked great but was incredibly chewy. The cut was strip steak for the steak frites. We were also sat with no napkins or silverware and it some time after we were almost done with our appetizer for our server to come back around to where we could catch someone to request them. Additionally - coming from other states with fantastic food, Phoenix in general has really been a disappointment. Rita’s take traditional mexican and turns it…well VERY American, and yes, street tacos will ALWAYS taste better than Ritas. Putting an arugula salad with cherry tomatoes and vinaigrette makes some people think this place is fancy. Ps. If you like arugula youre weird because it tastes like dirt! Lol. I regret staying and ordering to be honest. As soon as I saw that an 6oz margarita was $16 ($2+ for specialty) I was annoyed. It amazes me that people pay this much for food and drinks and it ain’t even excellent food. Your money is WELL spent elsewhere with the SAME “ambiance”. Our entire order consisted of queso ($20 for a 4oz) Steak Frites for him ($38) (chewy with a side of dirt leaves and sweet potato fries) and for myself, the burrito bowl with chicken ($28), a jalapeño margarita (naturally) and churros ($16) for dessert. The margarita was good but BJs Brewhouse does it better, the bowl was good but i picked around the “pico” and ate the beans and chicken and guac. My fiancé ate a bite or two of his steak and called it a day. The churros, we took 2 bites; one w chocolate and caramel - not great. Cute because it’s in a heart shape but otherwise we didnt eat the rest. Rita’s offered nothing that makes us want to return. If you know of a better spot in the area that has good food that you like, go there instead. You won’t be...

Really disappointed in our experience here after hearing so many recommendations for it. We did a dinner and a breakfast here, and The food was all very good and the enchiladas were some of the best we’ve had, as we had been told would be the case. The setting and ambiance is exactly what you want in a rustic, outdoor Arizona setting. Beautiful place. The service is where things fall apart here, unfortunately. At dinner, We waited an hour and a half after ordering our main course meals before they finally arrived. It was an hour before the server even acknowledged there was an issue and even then played it off as a minor setback while our two young kids were starting to squirm. The manager came over to apologize to the table next to us for the same issue but had been seated twenty minutes after us. We received no such accommodation, probably bc the restaurant clearly prioritizes the business traveler guests of the hotel over families. We had a similar experience at breakfast. The first question the server asked was whether we had any vouchers or discounts on the breakfast and then dispersed the entirety of the meal until we asked for the bill, which she got wrong and was angry about being proven so. Also, the man who worked the omelette and waffle griddle station was so unfriendly that two of my kids refused to go order for themselves. We’ve eaten out hundreds of times and have never had that happen before. A shame for any restaurant to have this kind of experience, even more so with one a connected to a hospitality experience like the JW is...