Turquoise Room — Restaurant in Winslow

If you really, really want to have the best in Modern Southwestern Cuisine in Arizona, then you really, really have no choice but to take a trip to Winslow, AZ where you will find this gem of a restaurant and the former Chef, John Sharpe who left a legacy of the extraordinaire before leaving not too long ago. It's magnificent. Whether you are there for Breakfast, lunch or dinner, you’ll be simply amazed at the not just the incredible food, but the nostalgic southwestern ambience, design, spaciousness, railroad station eatery & décor brought to us by Fred Harvey’s dreamchild, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, its renowned architect, as well as Allan Affeldt its current owner. No wonder its rated a Top 5 hotel restaurants in NA by Conde Nast. We had the pleasure of enjoying both their breakfast and dinner menus recently while visiting. During our stay at La Posada, where the restaurant is located, we wandered about through its expansive property filled with sitting areas, patios, greens and gardens – to which you can actually take your meal out to. And we were amazed to see where much of what we would be eating was actually from their very own beautifully laid out vegetable garden. On our first morning there, we stopped in for breakfast before hitting the road to see the nearby Homolovi ruins, Petrified Forest and Petroglyphs. The service was wonderful and professional, the atmosphere relaxing, but the breakfast was different – it was magnificent! Although their menu is not extensive, what they offer is fantastic. My wife decided on the ‘Union Station’ which incorporates a good-sized slice of ham, two eggs scrambled, with an incredible to die for Hatch green-chile potatoes. I went for ‘Chef Jesus’ Authentic Huevos Rancheros’ with super micro-thin sheets of tortillas, their fab ranchero beans, two perfectly fried eggs, a delectable, mildly spicy & smooth ranchera sauce, and jalapeno pepper jack cheese, & then overlaid with an outstanding corn salsa, crema fresca, perfectly ripe sliced avocado & Hatch green-chile potatoes. The best Huevos Rancheros I’ve had in Arizona to date! After visiting nearby 200-million-year-old Petrified Forest and its Petroglyphs near Holbrook, we headed back that late afternoon for a relaxing cocktail and dinner, this too was awesome. We started with my wife’s very, very good glass of Aqui Di Venus Rose Wine and my Route 66 Margarita – perfect, excellent (I wish I kept track of the ingredients). We began with an appetizer of tender Calamari with a mildly seasoned flour with delish chipotle aioli sauce, scrumptious. For the mains, my wife went for their exceptionally tender and tasty Free Range Bison Short Ribs that appeared to be prepared in its own au jus along with carrots, baby greens and some incredible seasonings. My selection blew me away! It was the Churro Lamb Sampler. You gotta have this! The dish offers a set of four distinctly different items which collectively create a uniquely marvelously delicious taste combination. The sampler brings you a heaping cup of a magnificent, out of this world, local Navajo free-range lamb stew with hominy and corn, a succulent, perfectly rendered lamb shoulder in green chili over tantalizing bacon, with a dash of mint and garlic au jus, and a tamale in a sweet corn sauce so incredible its beyond description and along came a side of home-grown vegies. Wow! We finished by sharing a Five Layer Chocolate cake with a marvelous drizzle of raspberry coming with a side of perfect sorbet. We wrapped up our exquisite dinner by ordering a Graham Six Grapes Port and a Landy Cognac VSOP, taking it outside to relax, sip and enjoy with the backdrop of a water fountain and natural garden in the patio. My understanding is that although Chef Sharpe has gone, his incredible staff remained to continue his incredible legacy. And somehow, something tells me, that the new Chef’s name may be Jesus? I’d love to know who cooks up such wonderful cuisine and thank him or her for it. The Turquoise Room is fine dining...

The menu descriptions are fancy but the meal was okay. The decorations are southwestern beautiful but the tables are close together in one large room, not at all intimate or romantic. The music belongs in an elevator.

I was disappointed by my visit to the Turquoise Room. Given the needed reservations, the pricy menu, full wine list, the suit jacket our server was wearing and the obvious attempt at fine dining I was excited for an upscale meal.

The meal began with the Clear Creek Calamari. I was happy to find the fried squid wasn't chewy or over cooked, but the chipotle aioli was a miss, it lacked the spiciness and smokiness I enjoy when ordering chipotle. It was sweeter than I would have expected for a chipotle sauce. Based on the white swirl of color, it looked to be freshly mixed seasoning and mayo, but not thoroughly mixed before it was put in the serving cup. The garnish was a shake of paprika, pretty, but why not use chipotle, since that was the flavor mentioned in the description.

I ordered the chicken mole, I can get a good steak at many places, but good mole is something special. When it came to my table the pickled onions on top were obviously not fresh and lost their crispness and their color had bled. The lack of detail to the garnish was carried throughout the meal. The tamale was nothing special and the chayote squash was boring. The chicken was cooked quite nicely and was not dry, but it was labeled an airline cut, yet the skin was still on the bone. The mole was solid and had excellent flavor. I enjoyed the plate and the chicken mole itself was worth five stars, the price and okay sides along with the limp, pink onions brought down the rating.

My wife had the pork, cooked medium rare, like the chicken the temperature was spot on. The polenta was okay, not bad by any means, but just okay. The broccolini was cooked al dente and had good flavor and seasoning.

The music and atmosphere were not great. We could have easily been given a table with more privacy but we were seated right in between two other tables. The music was boring elevator music and didn't seem to have a native, or southwestern feel to it. Blah.

The server was nice, but not friendly or prompt. He was dressed very well, but was not welcoming.

The restaurant is intended to be fine dining, their menu and appearance reflect that. But, I found the details to be missed. I tend to judge restaurants like this with a touch more scrutiny than the roadside beer and burger stand. If you charge the five star price and have the fancy menu, I expect impeccable attention to detail and that is where the Turquoise Room missed the mark. Everything there was good and showed sophistication, culture and history but it felt like a facade...

I can't say I've ever become angry over a meal before, but after bringing a group of 8 here because they had vegan options, ordering the $28 veggie platter, and receiving what could be given no more gracious of a description than "unseasoned grilled veggies," many undercooked, I was embarrassed... both for everyone at our table that ordered this (not all vegans) and the owner/chef that let four separate plates leave the kitchen. I was even more embarrassed to have to bring this up to the server and manager, who likely have no say in the menu.

Here is what we were served:

One baked potato, plain and unseasoned One undercooked piece of broccoli, unseasoned Two well cooked pieces of asparagus, unseasoned One tamale, dry and bland Two or three long sliced half undercooked carrots, unseasoned Two half's of a single Brussels sprout, basically out of the fridge. Could barely bite into it Half an ear of grilled corn, it was fine A single grilled pepper.... It was a grilled pepper

When I expressed our disappointment with the food (something I've never done) I was told this dish gets "very good reviews." I asked if he would eat this dish, he said "well, I'm not vegan." He offered to comp the meal and give us a free dessert, I said I'd be happy to pay for a dessert, but inquired what vegan desserts they had. He, appearing to have realized there weren't any, said he would go back and check. He then disappeared, never to return, and our waiter came and took all our uneaten plates away, brought us the bill, and that was that. Half the group, non vegans, were happy with their meal, but everyone agreed our plates were extremely underwhelming. Even the person who ordered the vegetarian version of this platter only ate the tamale.

My guess is for their vegetarian dishes they rely heavily on cheese for flavor, and for vegans they just omit all dairy with no substitutes, which leaves lightly grilled veggies on the plate.

I've never had a worse meal in any restaurant at any price point. We were polite, and tipped based on the original price of the meal, even though service was just ok. They ended up getting $45 from us for two drinks and an uneaten plate of mostly inedible cheap vegetables. Painful.

We drove the hour back to flagstaff and had leftover cheap pizza for dinner... it was 10x better than what we were served at The...