Badger's Den — Restaurant in Prescott

There were a lot of great reviews for this place on Nextdoor, so we thought we’d give it a try. We decided to go on my birthday. My husband made reservations at 5pm (old people’s early-bird special, LOL) because it was a Saturday night and we thought it might be crowded later.

We each started with a drink – I had the “Jayne Mansfield” (Cuban rum, simple syrup, strawberry liqueur, topped with champagne, $15) and he had a beer (Badger’s Brew, Beach Cruiser Mexican lager, $7). Both were delicious. (Fun fact: Our server told us that the man who built the place – she wasn’t sure when – was a big fan of Jayne Mansfield and pointed out that he had embedded her silhouette into the rock wall at the other end of the restaurant.)

We shared an appetizer – prosciutto-topped scallops, $19. They came with blistered shishito peppers, which we didn’t expect – those were listed as a separate shareable appetizer for $11. (For the record, we are gringos and don’t go for anything spicy at all, but I tried a bit of one of the peppers after looking them up on Google for the Scoville rating, and they were no hotter than bell peppers. They were very tasty.) The scallops were also very good, although since all of the appetizers are listed as “shareable,” I felt that there should have been four instead of three. Still, cutting one of them in half did the trick.

For dinner, I had one of the evening’s specials – grilled swordfish topped with mango-pico salsa, served with brown rice pilaf and asparagus ($37). It was perfect.

My husband had the pork chops with apricot glaze ($35). For sides, he chose brown rice pilaf and Boston clam chowder. Here’s where we had a bit of a hiccup. He cut into the first pork chop (and in fact, both chops were quite large and thick – this place does NOT skimp on portions!) and took a bite. He said it was tender and delicious, but I noticed right away that it was noticeably pink on the inside and pointed it out to him. His days of having an “iron stomach” being far behind him, we both thought it best if he sent it back to the kitchen to be cooked a bit more. Our server, Dawn, was happy to oblige.

Instead of just tossing those pork chops back on the grill (and to be fair, they were covered with apricot sauce, so that would have made quite a mess), the chef cooked up two entirely new chops, which took a while. Meanwhile, I continued with my dinner and we enjoyed a lively conversation. During this time, Dawn offered my husband another beer on the house (he thanked her and declined. Then the manager came over and was very apologetic, and she offered him an extra appetizer or soup (again, he thanked her and declined). His new plate (cooked perfectly to medium well this time) arrived just as I finished my meal, but that was all right – we weren’t in any hurry – and really, those pork chops were so large that one of them came home with us to be eaten for lunch the following day. So it was all fine.

The total with tax and tip came to $145. The atmosphere was very nice – not too loud, so you could have a conversation in a normal tone of voice without screaming to be heard. Also the temperature was comfortable – I was wearing a light jacket, but then I’m always cold. I’ve found many establishments here in town to be overly air conditioned. Our server, Dawn, was attentive but not intrusive. The manager was circulating among the tables to make sure everything was going smoothly. The food was excellent. The chef did an excellent job of adjusting the second set of pork chops to the requested level of doneness. We had a lovely...

I will start by saying we had NO idea this place was here. They quietly opened and it took word of mouth from a friend to find out about this place. I WISH we knew a year sooner- this is now my favorite place for a genuinely NICE dinner in prescott. When we arrived, we had shown up at a pretty bad time, they were slammed and made it very clear that we could sit but the kitchen was about an hour behind. No worries- we weren’t in a hurry. We were greeted by our lovely server Jennifer, who was so kind and apologetic. I think she must’ve had some grumpy people or been scared we might get impatient, and we couldn’t stress enough how much we really weren’t in a hurry. She brought our drinks promptly (excellent cosmos!) and took our orders. I started with clam chowder which was thick and delicious- on par with my favorite chowder ever- in Monterey, Ca. For dinner I had the Ribeye, cooked to a perfect mid-rare, with a green peppercorn demi glace, and when I tell you it’s now the best steak in Prescott, I well and truly mean it. Mom opted for their special of the evening, Swordfish with a mango salsa and it too was spectacular. Prescott suffers from a distinct lack of any good seafood options, to the point that I don’t trust Prescott seafood the way I don’t trust gas station sushi- but Badgers Den? They are the real deal. Probably the nicest sit down restaurant in town now (step aside Hassayampa!) To finish, we had Key Lime Pie and Tiramisu- both delectable and a great finish to the evening. Extra points for the owner making a point to compliment moms dress, and Jennifers willingness to go above and beyond to make sure we had a memorable night- when we really didn’t even need the special attention. Badgers Den is a winner- and I surely hope Jennifer sticks around for a while, because she helped make dinner so excellent. It can get to be noisy, so if that bothers you, either tough it up or stay clear, but I will say the food is well worth it if you can...

We wanted to take our friends out to a nice dinner and chose Badgers Den because of the great reviews. Sorry for the long review but I need to vent lol. Tried to call repeatedly but it kept going to voicemail. We finally drove to the restaurant to make a reservation. No explanation for phone issue. Arrived 6:15pm. Cozy, rustic atmosphere but noisy and hard to hear one another Ordered an appetizer…grilled artichokes for $15. Just so so in my opinion. Put in food order at 6:30pm. Still waiting at 7:45pm! Finally asked waitress and she said they were backed up in the kitchen due to a large party. Why didn’t she communicate that?!?! She was serving several tables and we sensed frustration all around. She finally said that we were next and asked if we wanted something while we waited. We got garlic bread… wouldn’t you expect that to be complimentary for the inconvenience. 🤔 The wait continued and we FINALLY got our food at 8:15pm…2 hours after arrival!!! The “out of this world” fish and chips were just ok. My friend and I ate half. Only the beef stroganoff was excellent. We were kind to the server because it wasn’t her fault but something was terribly wrong in the kitchen! My husband had to request a discount due to the inconvenience. She said she would ask her manager. What kind of manager doesn’t go around to the tables and apologize with an explanation?!?! We did get a 20% discount but I was shocked to see they charged us for the garlic bread!!!! We will never go there again due to our experience. I hope it was just an off night but they need to up their service. Thanks for...