Deli in the Pines — Restaurant in Tuba City

This place is udderly inedible. The employees seems like they'd rather be anywhere else and the already limited food menu is even more limited by...the time of day? The whims of the employees? It was kind of unclear.

I did the rim-to-rim hike, which is not the typical experience for the person staying at this lodge. However, I think it should go without saying that, regardless of the journey to get there, a deli should serve, I don't know, its menu? I showed up at 7:30/8:00, which is actually quite late for the mostly damsel and sire population staying at the lodge, but I just wanted anything warm. The people in front of me ordered the last whole supreme pizza that would be ready for thirty minutes and I wasn't willing to wait that long for a single slice of pizza, leaving me with only a deli sandwich or a single slice of cheese pizza as viable options amongst the 12-16 options they had on their menu. That's completely unacceptable. So I got my sandwich and it didn't even have cheese on it, which I just laughed at and continued eating because I didn't have the energy to fight with these people after hiking 21+ miles.

A couple days later, before leaving the lodge, we had the misfortune of having to eat there again. I decided to get an impossible burger because their options that excluded red meat were...one? Two options? So I got the impossible burger, which the guy pulled already pre-wrapped from a hot box, which is a bad sign, and gave it to me. I opened it to find just the burger and a bun. I laughed out loud and without saying a word to my friends, walked back up to the counter. I asked the worker, "Hey, can you, ya know...make this a proper burger?" and showed him my topping-less burger. He apologized and fixed the situation (and gave me cheese, unlike his coworker two nights prior did), but I still just couldn't believe the incompetence of this establishment.

Also, my experience and the logistics of the work conditions aside, the food is trash. My deli sandwich that first night was garbage and the impossible burger during my second visit was nasty. Save yourself some money and eat at the saloon or in the dining hall in the lodge proper if you can. This place needs to be...

To be fair, this was their first full weekend being open and some of the food areas in the building were just becoming operational. The Deli is smack dab in the middle of grocery store shelves with drinks, snacks and fast food items. It seemed messy, crowded and sort of confusing before I took a moment to scope it out. So, I waited in a makeshift line at the deli counter and picked up some snacks for down the road. They had lots of amazing home baked cookies and pastries and the smell of fresh baked bread from their own in house bakery permeated the entire building. MMMmm so Good!

After the Deli counter there's a lunch counter where I ordered the worst chicken tenders I've ever had. They were served by two or three polite young men, who had just arrived there to work for the summer. They had no idea what they were doing yet, but they did whatever they could, willingly. They worked hard to please and after all, it was their first day so no harsh judgement here. By now they probably have the preparation of those chicken tenders down pat and that was really the only thing that seriously needed fixing. To be fair, I won't be figuring those chicken tenders into the final star score.

There is also a sit down cafe' in the building that we didn't try. I did, however, try the shopping, which was very fun with all sorts of beautiful hand made and Native American treasures. The prices were reasonable so I got some hand beaded 3 shield earrings. We also got gas here for a fair price. That's great since there's not many gas stations around and they could have easily gouged us... but...

I dont usually leave reviews but felt like I needed to share my experience. I recognize that resources are extremely limited in such a remote area, but good customer service should not be dependent on location. My husband and I ordered a pizza, which was as expected. We waited inside the deli as it was cooking. During this time I observed approximately 10 staff, some behind the deli counter and others who randomly walked in just to socialize and grab a free Monster drink. The staff were more concerned about socializing then taking paying customer’s orders. No exaggeration. There was only 1 male employee who was doing everthing. He would take orders, clean dining room, all without prompting while others had no interest. That is why good employees get burned out. He actually had work ethic. I overheard another male employee who was in the back,yell to the male employee who was talking w a customer. Totally rude. Also, I was prompted to pay a tip before I ever recd my pizza. What was I tipping, to have my order taken? Lastly, and this may be a generational thing, but take off your headphones when you are at work. If I ever go back to the Notth rim, I will pack a sandwich and recommend others...