Culinary Dropout — Restaurant in Tucson

Context for review: It was Mother's Day

Service: I will give some grace for the day being a holiday, and there were a lot of people wanting to go out. But It felt as though my table was specially selected to not receive our food for almost 2 hours. We arrived at 11 am, were seated right away, everyone ordered as soon as we could. Yet, it took 20 minutes for water and almost 2 hrs for food. There were people coming and going all around us. No other tables appeared to be sitting as long as us. A manager came out after an hr and apologized for the delay and gave us a gift card for $25. This was the first time anyone had communicated with us about a dely with the order. The manager never explained why we were being delayed separately from all the other guests who appeared to still be getting their food and leaving in a timely fashion. He was polite enough, but we would have understood more had it been clear why our table was not getting food yet the table next to us was and even appeared to have the same meals.

The only difference that we could determine was that many of the other parties were large families, with small children and seniors. Our party was exclusively visibly 5 BIPOC, Alternative, disabled, Queer, and millennials. We did not appear to be in a hurry and enjoyed talking to each other as we were friends. What we did not enjoy was feeling "othered" in a place that had felt very accommodating originally.

Atmosphere/Service: Okay and cool enough, but need more water and continually had to beg for it. We sat on the "enclosed" patio, as we had 2 dogs with us. They were very well mannered the entire 2 plus hrs we were there. But at no point were we offered a water dish. This is Arizona, it is hot, give water immediately to everyone... especially animals.

Food: We had brunch, ok basic and bland. I got the 2 eggs and potatoes, and the potatoes had nothing but light salt. I was expecting a seasoning or some kind of flavor somewhere, the potatoes were nicely cooked, just lacking in the taste department. The toast was more of a crouton, not really enough to eat my eggs with. Rather disappointing after 2 hrs waiting.

My friend got her order after the long wait and found in the first bite that there were items included that were not listed on the original menu. Due to her allergies, she could not eat most of her meal. The manager was able to come bad and have another version mad in less than 15 minutes. But it was still a disappointing experience for her to have to continue to wait and watch us eat. She was also late to work as she had to be at work at 1:30 pm and due to the issue with her order, the original 2 hour delay, then when it can time to pay we had to pay with credit card and the server was no where in sight. We had to flag down the manager again to get the order paid and sorted. My friend ended up using the gift card we were given earlier to pay for her meal since she did not enjoy the experience and was made to wait the longest.

If I ever return, I will not take my dogs, nor visit on a holiday, nor expect to leave before 2 hrs and I will bring some season to add some flavor to those potatoes.

Note: I don't place blame for poor service on the server. It was a stressful day and there appeared to be a lot going on in the back of the house, but communicating with guests keeps everyone comfortable and happy. Just let us know what is happening, that is the main...

I've eaten here twice with a group and been disappointed both times. The first time I had the prime rib sandwich which was nothing special, not as good as French dip sandwiches at much less expensive places. The second time was disaster after disaster. After seating our group which had a reservation, they had us move to accommodate another group that never materialized. They did bring out 2 free orders of pretzel bites and cheese fondue which were delicious. If that had been the end of it, we would have all been happy, but it was another 30+ minutes before our orders were taken. Our server was stretched too thin. Other establishments will limit the number of tables seated when this short staffed, but not here. She was doing the best she could under the circumstances. It took quite a while to get any of the entrees. probably also due to short staffing. The staff bringing out the food had no idea who got what and with several burgers ordered with various sides and degrees of doneness, didn't attempt to distinguish among them. There were 14 of us, so it was no surprise that the first flurry of deliveries did not include mine or the meal across from me. After a few minutes though, we were trying to catch the attention of anyone working there as we had still not received our meals (a breakfast burrito and one of the pub burgers ordered), all three whose sides were French fries had cold fries and one of the pub burgers that was ordered medium well done was served very rare. The server summoned the manager who, after a wait, brought out warm, not hot fries. Still no food for two of us and the person who was served the rare burger asked for chilli instead, thinking that might be quicker. She was served her lukewarm, mediocre chilli as our friends were mostly done with their meals. Two of us were still waiting to be served our entrees. Our friends were completely finished with their meals before we were served. I had ordered the potatoes on the side instead of in the burrito, but, of course, they were inside. This was the driest, least flavorful burrito of any sort that I have ever had. 90% of it was potatoes and tortilla. The three meals were comped, but we all agreed that we would not schedule any...

So, a friend from Phoenix, her mom, and cousin came down this weekend to visit Tucson. She asked to go to Culinary Dropout for brunch. I’m just going to get to the point of the review. The food was pretty terrible. My male friend got a meat and cheese plate, and the toasted sourdough with a balsamic glaze on it was incredibly salty that came with it. More to the point that it was inedible. I then ordered a cocktail that was $15. Imagine my surprise when I find out it’s basically pineapple juice and a High Noon Pineapple hard seltzer. Oh, and candied mango. Maybe that’s where the majority of that $15 goes too. It just seemed incredible overpriced for it. Finally, I ordered the Two Eggs Any Style (scrambled). The amount of time from ordering to receiving the dish was short, which is always nice. Upon receiving the dish, I ate the eggs first only to find that they too were incredibly salty. The breakfast potatoes that came with it are those fried frozen potatoes you can buy at Fry's or Safeway. But you might want to follow the instructions for frying, as these were overcooked. To the point where I could only eat a few. There are rocks in my driveway that are softer than these were. To add to the insult, they were also overly salted! I’m not sure if this place is owned by a salt mine somewhere, but a little goes a long way with salt. Just because the name is Culinary Dropout it doesn’t have to taste like that is the truth. I know that I wasn’t the only one who did not enjoy the food. As we all spoke about it afterwards. It is surprising that food that bad came in at $380 for the eight of us. This should not be the case at all. The wait staff was absolutely excellent, and the bean bag toss game was also fun. Not to mention table tennis. My buddy offered to pick up the check beforehand, so I did not complain then. None of us did. That being said, we will not be going back...