Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails — Restaurant in Phoenix

Very poor experience at Blue Hound Kitchen. My husband and I were meeting friends for a 7 pm dinner reservation, but we decided to head to the restaurant early to spend time together and have a cocktail or two. Immediately we were greeted, the hostess asked if we wanted to be seated at our table early or if we would prefer to sit at the bar. We decided to sit at our table as there was not much room at the bar. The hostess said we were fine to be sat at our table even though we were 45 minutes early. Right away we were greeted by the server. We immediately indicated to the server that we were very early for our reservations and that the rest of the party would arrive at 7pm as scheduled; we just wanted a couple of drinks. He said, "no problem." We immediately had a look at the "new" cocktail menu, per suggestion of the manager. She immediately ran to our table to discuss the food & drink menu and was eager for us to try a cocktail from their menu which was rolled out the day before. I really liked the overall uniqueness of the flavors of cocktails, but was immediately taken aback by the price of their cocktails and the lack of range of liquor. The average price for a cocktail was $16 and mostly consisted of tequila or gin. I looked for alternatives, but even the wine was super expensive! My husband decided to go with a cocktail, but indicated the type of cocktail he would like, the manager suggested a cocktail based on the info he had given her, we ordered the drink, and it was nothing like what my husband asked for. We nicely let the server know it wasn't his taste. The server never offered to comp the drink, nor did the manager. I told my husband I would just drink it. My husband then ordered a lager. During our time before our guests arrived, the manager kept approaching us to suggest drinks, apps, and food. At first, this was nice, but whenever I looked at something on the menu and pointed it out to my husband, the manager would immediately run up to let us know about it. After about 20 minutes, the manager approached us, but this time was asking where the rest of our party was. She went on to explain that the restaurant gets very busy between 7 pm and 7:30 pm and she wouldn't want us waiting a long time for our food because our guests were late... My husband and I were completely puzzled. I let her know that our reservation was made by friends of ours for 7 pm and we came in to have a drink prior to, that we were early and our guests would arrive at the designated time. The manager said, "oh, that makes sense." Right after she walked away, I had a look at my watch then the restaurant. My watch read 6:40 pm and the restaurant was not full. We had several empty tables around us. First, why would you be so rude to patrons? Why did she not speak with the hostess or the server to get the 411 before rudely approaching us with some blanketed lame reason? Why did the server not communicate this to the manager? Is that why she was hovering over us the entire first 40 minutes we were there?! So ridiculous! She made us feel so super unwelcome in an instant. The manager never approached to back track or apologize. She never approached us again. As the evening went on, and as our guests arrived, we felt more and more rushed and less and less attended to. We were merely trying to enjoy a nice evening with friends, and the times we were actually approached by the server, we felt rushed. My friend, a bar manager, and myself, a past server for many years, and a manager, we could not believe what was happening here. The food was sub par, the portions very small, the overall taste of the food okay, the price of the drinks, food & apps, way too expensive! The quality vs price did not correlate. We spent $700 at the restaurant and it was not even worth it. We did not feel welcome. We felt rushed. We did not enjoy the food. All we could do was shake our heads in disappointment and laugh it off. Needless to say, we will never be eating at this...

The Blue Hound is located inside the Kimpton Palomar Hotel in downtown Phoenix. Aixa and I were celebrating our 34-year anniversary and decided to skip the Capital Grille and check out more of a local flavor in the city. Angelica who is the maitre d of the hotel secured our reservation for 8:30 p.m.

Take a look at the pictures we posted. Upon entering the restaurant you'll notice beautiful bookcases and an amazing bar shelf with the huge assortment of brands ranging from tequila to whiskey to vodka.

Our server Ambro did an amazing job taking care of our needs throughout the evening. She suggested that we start with the appetizer of either the bacon wrapped dates or the bruschetta shrimp so we decided to go with both of them. You can see here in some of the pictures.

Because we have been drinking a little bit earlier that evening we decided to skip alcohol and went right to the main course. Aixa got the prime rib dip which she told me was absolutely incredible! She recommends ordering it when you get there. I decided to go with the blue hound burger which sounds pretty basic but it was a whole another level. It had a slab of pork belly which may sound gross to some people but it's just a super thick slice of delicious bacon. It had an aioli sauce which was to die for and it was topped with some of the most indescribably delicious ground beef I've tasted. The arugula on top gave it the perfect combination of salty peppering and fresh.

I had the opportunity to meet the chef, and as those who follow me know that I'm a pretty big guy, chef Gilbert Laurie is even bigger. Full of life and excitement, he told me he's happy to be in Phoenix and excited to roll out his new menu.

We decided to go with the chocolate bread pudding, but as a nice gesture they compt us to celebrate our 34 year anniversary. If you ever decide to take the leap and visit Blue hound, tell them that Hank and the Cuban Queen AIXA suggested the place. If you enjoy it, post your review and share it with us. We love...

I'd like to leave a positive review based on the food, which was great the one time I've actually been able to eat here. But the customer service is absolutely horrendous. I have been here three times and only served one of those times. And my group was still treated rudely that one time.

The first time, I went here with my bosses and it took forever to be acknowledged by the hostess, who was then snarky and short with us. It seemed like she didn't even want to give us a table despite us having a reservation.

When I tried to eat here with my boyfriend the hostess didn't even acknowledge us despite us trying to get her attention. We stood there for twenty minutes, waiting to even be acknowledged, and eventually just gave up and went somewhere else.

The third and final time I attempted to eat here I was with my grandmother. The hostess was even rude to her! Who the hell is rude to some little old lady? It again took us forever to be acknowledged. We were then ignored for about ten minutes. Another group came in after us and were immediately greeted. When a table was available the hostess ignored us and offered to seat the second group. The second group had to remind the hostess that we had arrived first. At that point, we didn't even want to eat here anymore and left.

Your food is great but your customer service is the most horrible I've ever encountered in a restaurant. You act like you're too good for the dirty peasants who dare step foot in your fine establishment. I don't know what it would take to even be deemed worthy of being acknowledged by your hostess. I don't understand all the good reviews. This place is extremely snooty, and since you obviously don't think I'm worthy of eating here I'll do you a favor and take my...