BackBurner Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Prescott Valley

Went in on a crazy busy day today, father's day. Jenn's was closed so came here which made it busier. We got there just right after 8am. Was told by the little blonde girl the wait was 10-20 min for 2 people. My dad told me to ask for the patio so I went right back in and told her. This was just seconds after I put in our wait. I asked her if it would change our wait time and she said maybe 5-10 min. So we were looking at a 30 min wait... ok no problem. We went outside and sat on the bench in the corner by the patio door. After 30 min I went to check. The blonde girl told me it would be might be 10 more minutes. Ok.. they are busy.. I told her we are outside in the corner. We waited another 10 minutes and I went back in and was rudely told by a brunette girl that I was called and did not answer so we'd have to wait more. Well... they have this magic thing that they supposedly use that also text when your table is ready. Did they use it??? No. Did they walk out more than one step to call out names?? No. Did they attempt to call out more than just once?? No. I asked and told them that they were in the wrong. They didn't call, or we didn't hear them, and it was ridiculous that when they have so many people that they didn't put a tad more effort in calling names. Step outside and call name louder than your soft indoor voice. It's loud inside and loud outside. It's only common sense. They then seated us then in less than 5 minutes. So now after over an hour wait we get to place our order. The waitress was friendly and pretty fast on getting us coffee and our orders. She was pretty good. Refilled our coffee and checked on us well. The food... well... I had a waffle and strawberries with scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. Everything but the strawberries was good. The strawberries were warmed up canned bits of mashed pink things floating in red syrup that tasted like metal. So nasty. My dad had their confused breakfast with gravy that looked good but the gravy was runny and looked like it was canned. At this point we ate because we were hungry and it was there. Not necessarily good but not necessarily bad. I wouldn't go out of my way to go back here. The service was good. The food was ok. The hostesses, well, the brunette needs an attitude adjustment and they both need to be trained how to deal with it being busy. I have worked with the public in this type of business and understand the pressure. They really need to train the girls in the front better. Better attitude and multitasking is key. And.. please don't use canned strawberries, canned...

Oh holy moly, this place is awesome! The service is some of the best I have ever experience, the manager stops by to inquire how your meal was, the ambiance is family-oriented. I will definitely return the next time I hike in the area.

The only negative: parking, lack of it, that is. But, it was Father's Day so it was very busy which could explain it.

The positives vastly overshadow the parking. After doing a 6-mile hike in the area, we were famished and decided to give BackBurner a try. We had to wait 40 minutes, but I would happily wait 40 minutes on our next visit. Well worth the wait, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Our server, Nikala, was fantastic. In fact, every staff member we encountered was wonderful and smiling. Nikala was on the ball with everything, drinks, appetizers (hello cinnamon rolls!), the meal, extra water. The staff does not waste any time bussing tables. We saw a few parties leave and staff was right there cleaning up tables for the next party -- and no, it was not a "hurry up and get out so we can clean your table" situation. It was a "so glad you enjoyed yourself, please come again!" situation.

The cinnamon rolls came out hot and damn, my mouth is watering just thinking about them. Even later that evening my other half was still good! My croissant egg sandwich was just the perfect size, and my friend's small biscuits and gravy she devoured.

We brought our own take-home containers and as we were packing up our leftovers, the manager stopped by to chat. He was very polite and immediately saw our take-home containers, which started a conversation about saving the planet, avoiding plastic, etc etc. Great guy (sorry I cannot remember his name).

BackBurner was tucked a little bit away from our route back to Phoenix but we both were ecstatic with the service and food, the few extra minutes / miles did not matter one whit.

If you have not tried BackBurner, you are missing...

Because I'm weird, I just took a comprehensive look at many of the reviews (not all 1,000+, but SO MANY reviews) and I noticed that many of the bad reviews were unfounded (as the restaurant was inspected by the Yavapai Health Department and those claims were found to be untrue). In fact, they earned a golden plate recently, which is given to the cleanest restaurants, so I think it's safe to say that this is a VERY clean establishment.

I also found that many of the complaints were about the noise level in the restaurant. I thought it sort of strange, as 1. A noisy restaurant usually means people are having a great time and are happy to be there, and 2. Restaurant owners cannot control the noise level of their patrons (and if they tried to, wouldn't that be totally absurd/rude?). I thought that the reply one of the owners gave in response to this complaint was very sweet. He said, "We are thankful for the sounds of families and friends enjoying a great meal together." I mean, isn't that what it's all about? :)

I have been to the Backburner several times and I freakin' love this place. The staff are always very friendly and the food is always amazing. I get the "Confused in Prescott Valley" because both the title and the dish seem to have been made for me. My kids love the pancakes and the prickly pear tea is sooo yummy.

I have an odd dream of going in there and having people yell "NORM!" when I come in, like I'm at Cheers. I'll have to visit more often for that to happen though, haha. My daughter really wants to work there when she's a teenager and she said she'll try to get her friends to do it when I come in. We may be a couple of weirdos but we know good food when we have it, and this is...