The Cork Tucson — Restaurant in Tucson

My SO & I visited on a Friday night and we were less than impressed. When we walked in the noise level was so bad we could hardly hear the hostess who wanted to seat us. Thank god she seated us in the back away from the noise otherwise I would have had to leave.

The menu was really quite confusing as they did not list the cut of meat. It was supposed to be prime rib but it did not state that. Anyway, we ordered the Bacon Shrimp as an appetizer and honestly it was a let down. The queso stuck to the bottom of the serving dish, the sauce had a peanut buttery texture & taste. My SO does not like peanut butter at all so this was just a total let down.

After our appetizer we were given bread & butter. It's nice to have bread & butter with your meal but the bread should be served warm and the butter should be spreadable. The bread was ice-box cold as was the butter. It was a good thing that they had the flame at the table because my SO used that to warm the butter for spreading on the cold bread. It was not even a house made bread. The bread looked & tasted like some sort of grocery store bread, kind of a mix of rye & wheat or something. Honestly, it was bad. Not even my carb loving cravings kicked in to want more of that.

For our entree we both ordered the lamb chops. I have to take a break here to let you know that before the chops arrived I experienced severe intestinal distress and had to go to the ladies room. Let me tell you how bad that experience was.First, I'm about 5'7" and 135, so not too large. I walked into the stall and literally had to straddle the toilet to be able to shut the stall door. When I sat down I thought my knees were going to be hitting the door, thankfully they did not. The stalls are so tiny I felt sorry for the larger women that I saw going in there. The ladies room was kind of clean, but they have this sink that may have looked really cool when it was new, but it did not age well. The hard water spots left it looking very dirty. The only saving grace I found in this little area, which I needed to visit a couple of times, was the fact that they left some air freshener on the counter.

Now, on to the entree. I ordered the rice with mine & my SO ordered the garlic potatoes. We both ordered our chops medium rare and we were told that they would take the temp to ensure the right cook. When they arrived, the plates looked good. 3 chops on each plate, veggies & potatoes or rice. Nice. However, upon cutting into the my lamb, I noticed that the cook was way over done. There was a pistachio crust & a creole mustard cream sauce but even with that the lamb was bland. It really had no flavor. I think they may have soaked the lamb in milk before cooking because there was no gaminess to it, not even a mild hint. My rice was really bad, it was wet and tasteless, but my SO loved the garlic potatoes.

I'm not inclined to eat here again. I'm not sure if the issues I experienced were just because it was a Friday night, or perhaps my taste was off due to not feeling well, but I'd rather spend my $100 that this meal cost at a restaurant that has...

Update 5/25/21: Decided to go eat in the dining room last night, and was looking forward to more of what we ate pre-COVID. The service was prompt and friendly. Unfortunately something has gone really, really wrong with the food. We really loved all the flavor in the dishes pre-COVID, but yesterday's visit left us disappointed and confused - the food just lacked flavor overall. The bread was just unremarkable (def need the flavored butter spread). The mushrooms were the closest to what we recalled, but my husband didn't think they tasted the same. The Caesar salad wasn't tossed (quite frankly I don't recall if was or wasn't tossed previously), but since the dressing seems to have lost all flavor (did not taste the anchovies) it REALLY needed to be tossed. My venison was very overcooked, and the sauces couldn't save it (one piece of venison wasn't as overcooked and when eaten with the sauce was definitely tastier). My husband's salmon special could have been from Luby's, it was that bland. I thought he was exaggerating and I tried a bite - nope, he was right. Hilariously, the waiter forgot to put in our to-go portion of the meal, for which we were thankful. We grabbed a burger at In-N-Out for our son, instead.

And as a warning for people with bare legs - there seems to be a chemical reaction between the varnish on the chairs and (probably) the COVID cleaning and disinfecting solution... the backs of my legs were SERIOUSLY stuck to the seat. Pretty sure I lost a layer or two, and backs of my legs were sticky after I got up.

COVID has been really hard on the restaurant business, and we're going to chalk the kitchen changes up to staff changes.... I sincerely hope the kitchen can recover. Jonathan's was a place we were really looking forward to after we could go out... the food seems to have taken that unfortunate turn to cater to people who are afraid of flavor in their food.

Ended up at Jonathan’s Cork on Friday night, looking for a place to land. Like everywhere else in Tucson during the gem show, it was packed. Lucked out and found a seat in the lounge area of the bar. Dark, dated and kinda divey.

Mushroom app was very flavorful - perfect bar food. The Caesar salad was one of the most flavorful I’ve had - I definitely appreciated the flavor compared to most Caesars. Crab cakes were also good, topped with a lemony sauce. Hubs had the southwest chicken, and was impressed with the seasoning (and for a guy who eats a lot of chicken that’s saying something). The Almond Joy cheesecake was a fun finish.

If you like flavorful food, definitely give it a try. We’ll go back, and are crossing our fingers the food stays consistent.

If we had any complaints it would be the bar floor. We listened to guests and employees stick and crunch through our entire meal. It’s been a while since we’ve stuck to a bar floor and took the sticky home with us, but their bar floor was actually...

It was my birthday celebration, and I wanted to honor one of my New Year's resolutions, so I chose to dine at The Cork with my two friends. We had made reservations and were seated quickly. The atmosphere was cozy, clean, and appeared casual, without anyone putting on airs.

We ordered drinks. I was the DD, so I ordered the Virgin Verde! It was amazing! It was light and citrus-like and had a jalapeno zing to it. It really woke up and refreshed those taste buds! Try it!!!The girls had an Old Fashioned and a margarita, which they loved and buzzed on.

Honoring another part of my New Year's resolutions, my friends and I decided to try unusual appetizers. We ordered the escargot and the wild meat trio, and we also ordered a basket of homemade bread (so we'd have something to nosh on in the event we panicked about the escargot).

The escargot came in a sauce and out of the shell, so it was easy to eat. It was more tasty than I had anticipated. The sauce was really good, and the snails themselves were cooked well and were firm but not hard and soft but not mushy. One of my friends just swallowed her escargot because she didn't like the texture on her first chew.

The wild meat trio came with venison, kangaroo, and bison, each with its own sauce. All three meats were very good, as were their sauces, and they were all tender and tasteful, and each had its own flavor. It seemed weird to be eating kangaroo, just the thought of it, but that did not stop us. I had heard that venison had a gamey flavor and was anticipating a bad taste, but I was pleasantly surprised that I could taste the gaminess, but it was a flavor change that was not offensive. We liked all three meats.

Our entrees consisted of the red snapper special and two filet mignon specials. I had the red snapper with grilled broccolini and roasted asparagus. The fish had crispy skin and was flaky, and the vegetables were fine, and it satisfied my resolution, but it wasn't "exciting" to me. I LOVE steak, but I had to be different tonight. It was not the food; it was the choices I made, that's all. Now, my friends filets mignons were super tender and seasoned well and what I should have ordered. They ate the heck outta those steaks, but delicately because it was a fancy night for us.

We ordered a macadamia nut tart for dessert, and it was amazing. The crust was firm but light, and the filling was all kinds of macadamia-y, crunchy and sweet! I was surprised by a birthday brownie, which we also tore into, and it was a sinful, chocolatey ending to our special night.

The service was really good from the moment we were greeted to dessert. Our first server was Skylar, who shortly after greeting us and taking our drink orders, informed us that he would not be our server, after which we met Peyton. She became our server for the evening, and she was attentive...