SaltRock Kitchen — Restaurant in Sedona

4 1/2 stars

This was SO close to perfect. SaltRock had been on our radar the whole time we were in Sedona, largely because of a very legit cocktail menu, specifically the margaritas (which my top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality is a noble connoisseur of). On our final night, we spent an insane amount of time pondering our options - we'd had some pretty meh meals up until then and wanted to go out with a bang and not mess it up. Ultimately, we settled on SaltRock, which was probably the right decision since it ended up being our best meal here.

The biggest annoyance about SaltRock is its location. It's not on that main drag in Sedona so to actually get to it on foot, you have to awkwardly walk down a steep driveway past two or three levels of parking garages down to the Amara Resort & Spa, where it's located off their lobby. Honestly, if I hadn't done my research and really studied the maps, I don't think the signage for this place was good enough to find it, especially given that there isn't a sidewalk to access this from the road. And this is quite literally a two-way street, so once you'd had your fill of food and drink, guess what? You have to walk back up to the downtown area. Not the best, and I'd probably recommend driving at least partway down to negate some of that.

The star of the show was unsurprisingly a cocktail. I was intrigued by the description of the Cactus Bird Clarified ($21), which referenced a milk punch. Figured it was worth gambling on, and I was right. This was an all-timer for me. The waitress mentioned that the clarification process was something that was utilized decades if not centuries earlier, where milk was basically poured through the cocktail to soften up some of the stronger tastes (hopefully that makes sense and is close to being correct with respect to mixology terminology), and the result was amazing. It makes the beverage smoother, so it's sort of like the Evian of cocktails. Just delicious, and despite a pretty obscene price tag, I ordered a second one.

The food was great too. We split two apps - the ahi tuna tostadas and the guac. I was a little nervous about getting seafood in a landbound state, but the tuna was super fresh and tasty. The guac, as you can see in the accompanying picture, is an insanely large serving with three heaping scoops, and that was really good too. I don't like crunchy/chunky guac, and this was right on the line for me but didn't go over. For my entree, I opted for the Roasted Chicken, which hit the spot. The chicken was juicy, tender and flavorful, and the accompanying sides - for me, notably the chipotle sauce - were perfect complements.

We had a fantastic waitress, honestly one of the best I've had in recent memory. She had a great personality, authentic opinions about the menu (I always give points when a waitress immediately admits that she hasn't tried a dish or doesn't care for it) and regularly visited. She was a huge reason this was a very positive experience.

So why can't I go a full five stars here? Beyond the awkward location and atmosphere (and I'm not sure they can do a lot about that without removing themselves from the resort), we largely decided to come here ahead of a few other intriguing restaurants because the dessert menu looked really good. The online menu boasted (and still does) a red wine chocolate spice cake that sounded incredible. But when we got to the dessert portion of the meal? Our waitress admitted it wasn't on the menu anymore. In 2024 when a lot of potential customers are going to make a decision off of the online menu - keep in mind this again is not on the main road where you have the luxury of casually eyeing the menu on the sidewalk - there's just no excuse for not updating the website. Huge miss in my view.

This is still a really good restaurant and IS worth the walk...

Was waiting a bit to see how management handled this businesses disappointing response in the middle of the issue and was truly hopeful they would have provided a remedy that genuinely made my group want to return as I am a firm believer in second chances but unfortunately this was not the case for SaltRock.

If you go here, please don’t expect anything more than a basic hotel lobby for the inside seating, don’t expect acknowledgement of any celebration and definitely, don’t use their valet.

When we arrived to dinner we were very excited after looking at SO MANY restaurants for THE bachelorette to have a nice dinner out. Our group was a quiet one just looking for a relaxing weekend to spoil our amazing friend and if you are looking for a fine dining experience then SaltRock is not the place for you. We requested to sit outside on our reservation made weeks prior and when we were escorted to our indoor table, we asked if there was any way we could sit outside. Unfortunately the host replied quite rudely that we would have needed to request it beforehand which we did but that’s ok. They then told us we would sit and wait for another table to leave but it was a busy Saturday night and we were happy to try the food so sat indoors. Our server checked on us a total of four times throughout the meal and the food was subpar at best. The best interaction we had was with the bussers who continued to fill our water glasses and even offered to take our photo and were the only ones who said anything to our bride-to-be. My tacos were burnt, everyone who had salad had horrible lettuce leafs and as soon as we finished eating, our plates disappeared before we even had our final bites. We weren’t offered appetizers, a second round of drinks, dessert or anything. We would have been such an easy group to talk into dessert or anything! And I know it’s silly but even a small congratulations verbally to our bride would have been sweet. We were not expecting anything free but an acknowledgment would have been kind. Then at the end of the meal we are informed that they hit the car while parking in valet at the BEGINNING of our meal. Ok. Accidents happen, no one was hurt. Generally speaking, yes, it was a minor accident that damaged mirror but did render the car un-drivable at night so it ended our night early. My issue comes with this companies handling on the issue. They refused to provide their insurance information and insisted on only taking ours which made us very uncomfortable. The manager stood behind the assistant manager and did not introduce herself or put time in to explain the situation and put her assistant manager in an uncomfortable situation and just glared at us. It was embarrassing for our group and made us feel as though we had done something wrong. We left feeling taken advantage of and as though they saw us as a group of young women who did not know any better. I wish they would have taken a step back the following day and tried to step up and make things right even if they felt like we were upset, I believe we had every right to be upset about how this...

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! We came here for dinner back in April for my bachelorette party and had the worst possible experience and had our weekend ruined completely. We got there for dinner, we had made the reservation in advance and asked for outside seating. When we got there, they were unable to accommodate, fine we understood. Then we noticed our service was very rushed. We weren’t offered any refills for our drinks or asked to order dessert. We thought it was very weird but we figured maybe they were busy or it was a new server. When we finished with our rushed meal and paid, two managers came out to our table and told us there were some damages to our car in the valet. To clarify, I understand accidents happen, but it’s the way we were treated and the situation was handled that prompted me to share my experience. They said the damages were very minor and we could totally drive the car and they will pay for any repairs. That’s when we realized, and they confirmed, the accidents had happened right when we got there which now explains the rushed and terrible service. They offered to cover 50% of our meal and we argued and had them cover 100% since the service was terrible anyways. The valet didn’t even bring the car around (because of the damages) so we had to walk to the car and my side mirror was hanging on by a thread. There was absolutely no way I’d drive at night with a full car without a side mirror, absolutely dangerous! It was definitely not a minor damage. They didn’t even bother to tape the mirror to make it safe for us, we had to go find them and ask for tape ourselves. This was so f ehh straying and all our plans for that night and the next day had to be cancelled because we didn’t want to drive anywhere with the car like that and we were all shaken. We just decided to go back home and end the trip early the next day and on our way we stopped by the hotel to express our frustration. The assistant manager said she would offer us a complimentary stay to makeup for the trip they ruined and she said I could email them asking for what I felt was reasonable. After I sent the email, the manager emailed back saying they are not able to offer anything to makeup for everything and only pay to get the car fixed. This was so frustrating and we all felt so mistreated by the way this situation was handled from getting terrible service to them changing their minds. This is not accounting the time I spent trying to get my car fixed and having to get time off from work/school to makeup for something they did. Even if we were offered the complementary stay, I wouldn’t have stepped foot in that place again because of the awful treatment and experience we had but it would’ve been nice to see they are trying their best to make it right. But the manager did not seem to care at all and was the rudest person I’ve ever encountered. If you’re thinking of going to this place, think twice. There’s lots of other beautiful resorts in Sedona who don’t have racist, unethical,...