Broome & Orchard — Restaurant in Sedona

My wife and I loved going to a restaurant called, "Sound Bites". The friendliness, welcoming atmosphere, phenomenal food, and great price point, had us hooked. So we were disappointed to find out that they had shut down permanently. We found a glimmer of hope though when we researched that they had been financially acquired and would be re-opening under the title, "Broom and Orchard".

Upon entering Broom and Orchard, it definitely was a difference of not only appearance, but atmosphere as well. It seemed to aim for a more "wealthy" or "classy" aesthetic than it's predecessor. Because it was their opening weekend, I did not pay much mind to the fact that it was a little chaotic in the front of house and around the bar. After being greeted by the front podium, we were shown to our table outside.

After the hostess had left, we had the chance to look around the restaurant and really take in all the changes that they had made. Though they had upgraded various sections and made improvements in other areas, it felt as if it almost lacked a heart. Yeah sure the place gave off that vibe of being exclusive or wealthy, there was not much past that aesthetic.

My wife and I had around ten minutes to look over the menu and decide what we were going to drink and to eat. The first thing that we both noticed was the size of the menu. It was considerably smaller than that of Sound Bites. The entire menu fit on the front and back of a single page. The second thing we noticed was the price of each item. Each appetizer averaged around $20, each drink averaged around $17, and other menu items seemed to be inflated in price.We justified the menu prices with the hopes that the drinks and food would be beyond delicious, but unfortunately we put our expectations too high.

My wife ordered a strawberry cocktail and I ordered an espresso martini. My wife's drink was made too strong, which is acceptable to some other people, but there was barely any strawberry syrup in the drink. My espresso martini was fine, but just that...fine. So far, there really was not much to write home about when it came to Broom and Orchard.

My wife ordered the steak frites and I ordered the lamb pops. Those were the most appealing items to us on the menu, even though they were $44 each. Once again, we were aiming high with our hopes that the great food would justify the $44 price point. And once again, we unfortunately were wrong. The small portion size of each meal was not a great start to our entrée experience. My lamb pops were medium size at best and the side of small potatoes that it came with contained around 8 halves of small potatoes. My wife's meal came with shoe string fries, and for those that do not know, shoe string fries are just very thinly and small cut fries; which might be part of the plan to make it look like the plate is more full than it truly is.

At this point, my wife and I agreed that one final hail Mary to save this meal and turn this experience into a positive one would be the taste of the food.

Sadly, the food was ok. The little amount of potatoes that I had acquired were actually good once paired with the ranch dipping sauce. Which they will charge you for any additional sauces or dressings that you ask for. The lamb pops were ok, but nothing to get excited about. And the same could be said for my wife's plate as well. Her caramelized onions however had been cooked a little too long and were a little black.

Maybe it was the hype that my wife and I put into this experience before even arriving at the Broom and Orchard or maybe it was the predecessor Sound Bites fault for being everything we could ask for and love about a restaurant, but this experience was not great. At least the restaurant was renamed so that way the perfect memory of Sound Bites will forever be ingrained into us. If you are looking for a restaurant that does not have an identity, a limited overpriced menu, mediocre food, and ok service, then Broom and...

First, the positives - the space and atmosphere are great, beautiful views from the patio, romantic interior. The service staff was also great - attentive and worked hard to smooth out the issues with our food. Appetizers for the most part were decent if in places "off" - mignonette with no shallots, sushi rolls with too much rice and spice (not marked spicy on the menu). This would all add up to an alright dinner in a pretty place, except for the fact that I think we got scammed with the ribeye. The ribeye on the menu is the "20oz 90-day Dry-Aged Ribeye" for $80. I've eaten a decent number of dry-aged steaks and wanted to introduce my wife to the weird goodness that it brings. However, what was brought out was an overcooked ribeye that was decidedly not dry-aged - there was no hint of the nutty umami flavor or the delicate texture that is unmistakable in a dry-aged steak, especially if it was aged for 90 days. This was just a regular ribeye that stayed on the flames a little too long so the taste of char gave it a bitter aftertaste. I let our server know that there was a mistake with the order, as the steak was not dry-aged however his response was, "I have heard this from other customers, but we just do our dry-aged steak differently." I think the only "differently" here is that you do not actually use dry-aged steaks. The server did apologize, gave us 1/2 off the steak and a free dessert, which was nice, however something wasn't right. What added to my confidence in that something deceptive was going on, was that when I checked out the online menu later, the "90-Day Dry Aged" is omitted from the electronic menu. So my theory is, when the menu was printed the steak was dry-aged, then they stopped using dry-aged steak, fixed the online menu, but didn't want to change all the paper menus. Now, they do regular steaks for $80 and count on the fact that many people don't know what an aged steak tastes like and for ones that do, they just give some money back. This is the only explanation that makes sense, and really doesn't make me want to come back to a restaurant that would do that. Maybe if you don't get the steak, you would have a decent meal with a nice view, but it's hard to trust an establishment after a...

Great service - great meal - great view!

We were in Sedona this month to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Our splurge dinner was eating dinner at Broome and Orchard on a Friday night.

As we had a reservation, we were seated right away. The hostess was quite pleasant. We asked to be seated at a 2-top out on the covered patio with a great view of rock formations.

We met our server, Susan V. She too was quite pleasant and most helpful. We planned to take the night slowly and let Susan know this. She gave us plenty of space, checking in with us infrequently and that worked out perfectly.

We began by ordering cocktails. We both had Old Fashioned’s and they were fabulous. While Susan was busy with other tables, we asked another server if he would take our picture with the rock formations as the backdrop. He did a great job.

Later, we ordered two appetizers: Pork Belly Bao Buns and Grill and Chill Shrimp. The Bao Buns were alright. The Pork Belly was real tasty. The buns themselves were a bit crumbly. The Grill and Chill Shrimp was very good. The Shrimp were colossal and they came with two dipping sauces.

Later, we ordered our meal. We shared a Wagyu Smash Burger and it came with a small salad. The Smash Burger was very good and cooked like we like it - about a medium rare.

For dessert, we each had a double Bourbon Cream on the rocks.

We really enjoyed our dinner experience at Broome and Orchard. And if the weather is right, we’d encourage others to eat out on the patio as well. Should we return to Sedona, we will also return to Broome...