Thirsty Lion — Restaurant in Tempe

Wow this place is big! Not only big, but comfortable, accommodating and enticing. Thirsty Lion appears to be the best hybrid of old verses new, old-school public house and new age sports bar, traditional eats and modernesque cuisine. Its selection of seating arrangements confounds to whether you wish traditional seating, high top, bar or just plain stand up! The quality and comfort is part of its glory! No matter how you look at it, this place is conducive to any eating spree, whether coming in luncheon, to dine, sneak in a happy hour, have a brunch or just about whatever – they’ve go an offering for you, your Buds and/or Fam! This is one of the few American Public House/Sports Bar we enjoy coming to. Concepts Entertainment is doing an excellent job of offering not just terrific food, excellent staff and management, but a conducive environment that appeals to almost every whim and taste. On our most recent foray here, we as usual enjoyed everything experienced… starting with my Better Half’s Kendall Jackson Chardonnay and my ice-cold 20oz Oak Creek Amber Ale. During this lunch break I was in the mood for some Que so tried and was super satisfied with the tender, juicy and unique taste of Thirsty’s Black Cherry BBQ Pork. My wife decided on (being a more traditionalist for) the Kung Pao Chicken – delectable. To bring in a little of the Public House aspect, I ordered an interesting yet tasty rendition of their Traditional Scotch Eggs – very, very good. At this sitting, we decided to share a fab Seared Shrimp & Butternut Squash Linguine, that I must say was close to perfection. Anyone, I mean anyone who loves Shrimp, Butternut Squash and Linguini, in any of its forms, will absolutely enjoy this incredible rendition of the dish! Needless to say, we weren’t going to leave out a desert, so we shared a fab Whiskey Apple Crumble. Even for someone like me with no sweet tooth, it was very, very good! Kudos to the Chefs behind the scenes, Erika S. our Server and General Manager Nick Chester for keeping a happy and professional crew and offering us the consistency we so well know is hard to do in such a difficult industry. These are only a few reasons we keep...

Everything that we had from the Happy Hour menu was fantastic, and our waiter Steve was great! We were there for the late night Happy "Hour" (which is from 9:30 pm until closing) on Saturday night. Sports and music videos played on the TVs around the bar, while a crowd of about 20 people sang along with "Don't Stop Believin'" (Journey) and a couple of other awesome songs. These are the apps and entrées that I recommend. From the "Happy Hour" menu: Creamy Queso Dip (looks tiny, but feeds about 3 as an app) -medium spicy mix of cheeses and bits of meat with a small dollop of spicy meat & salsa in the center. $4.95

Grilled Burger Sliders (which should be called cheeseburgers) 2 to a plate, excellent, filling, with lettuce, tomato, pickles and a special sauce made of ketchup, mayo and a hint of horseradish. $6.95

Spicy Fried Chicken Sliders (not too spicy) 2 to a plate, with chipotle slaw, marinated in jalapeño & buttermilk (which you can tell, not because it's spicy, but because the chicken is juicy and tender), the breading is a thin, mildly spicy crispy perfect breading. $6.95

From the "Late Night" menu: BBQ White Cheddar Burger, with Garlic Aioli (which was fantastic) with perfectly fried onion shoestrings. $13.95

Sonoran Chicken Enchilada Stack (huge) white corn tortillas filled with smoked shredded chicken mixed with creamy garlic aioli, cheeses...(it's filling and creamy). The plate comes with small sides of black beans and salsa. There's a fried jalapeño on the plate, as well, but none of tried it, haha. $16.95

Baja Fish Tacos - 3 soft white corn tortillas with sautéed cod or shrimp, cilantro lime slaw, pico, and Cotija cheese, with limes on top, and a side of Santa Fe bacon black beans (with a fried jalapeño) $15.95

If you don't read my reviews on Dining Grades, I'll just leave a quick note here that the restroom trashcans were overflowing. But, it was a Saturday night, and it would definitely not keep me from...

I would give this experience 3 stars just because everything was mediocre. We got here around 3 on a Saturday (happy hour deals hello) and there were a decent amount of people but there were still more empty tables than not empty. Happy hour prices on cocktails still aren't as good as they can be. I got the house margarita and the bestie got the moscow mule. She liked her drink but my drink was too strong and too salty. I joked that they must have missed the rim when salting it because only a quarter of my rim had salt... when the entire drink tasted like they dumped salt into it. I appreciate that it was strong but I honestly have enjoyed margs made from the margarita mixes you can get at the store more. Not to mention, both drinks took way too long to get to the table. For how dead it was, I expected better. Speaking of taking long, our food also took just as long if not longer to arrive. We ordered the pretzel and the california roll. I can see the california roll taking longer (if it actually was made fresh) but the pretzel should not have taken that long. We ordered two APPETIZERS and they still took too long to arrive. I've been at restaurants that have brought our main entrees quicker than this. My california roll was all right; it didn't have much flavor but everything was soft and tasted fresh. The sauce/jam on the side was really the show-stopper - elevated the entire roll! The bestie said she's had better pretzels at other places. She'd rate it 4/5.

It was fun to try their happy hour, but we don't think we'll...