Audubon Bar & Patio

Excellent service, fun and inventive menu. Great atmosphere for conversation and camaraderie.

Stayed at the hotel for a long weekend. Restaurants had a great atmosphere, both inside and outside. Bar service in the afternoon/evenings was excellent. Food was problematic. Breakfast burrito on my first day was fine. Not great, but tolerable. However, this morning the over medium eggs I was served were not done well, with some of the white part still clear and watery and the yolk not cooked at all. Worse were the hash browns which were basically raw potatoes with a strong hint of oil. Bacon was actually great and sourdough toast was also good. Also ate in the main dining room one night and it was overall horrible. French onion soup was very good. But for my main my scallops were gritty and overly salty, Worst was the risotto which was cold and completely mush. You couldn’t see the individual rice grains at all. I wouldn’t take the chance to eat at either restaurant again.

Excellent upscale restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. Traditional breakfast favorites plus several unique creations. Nice ambiance. Slower pace so don't be in a hurry.

In my first, ever, visit to Arizona Inn’s ‘bar’, I was impressed; and I wish the Arizona Inn wasn’t so far (20 miles) from my home, or I’d go there regularly. The food was (almost) uniformly superb and generous of helpings, the waiter was friendly and helpful, and the ‘bar’ was a nicely decorated, light and airy, and fine place to dine with a friend and her companion for her birthday (they treated us!). So, not wanting to ‘look a gift horse in the mouth’ … as some of us used to say … allow me to caution you on a couple of things about the Arizona Inn … at least its Bar and Patio. Basically, the ‘caution’ is one thing: The Arizona Inn tends to, in my view, under-season their food. Maybe this is because they are catering to their client’s health awareness. But, for whatever reason, the three dishes which ‘suffered’ most from this were the reuben, the vichyssoise, and the potato salad. The potato salad simply did not have enough salt. Maybe this was because the people who go there, most often, are watching their salt. But, a properly seasoned food shouldn’t need added salt. Picky, yes, I know. The vichyssoise was, to my taste, to be avoided. It lacked flavor of any kind, not salt, not leeks, it did not even taste like potatoes and, whatever the green liquid on top was, it had no taste. It did have a nice, pleasing, remarkably smooth consistency, so it was pleasing on the palate. But no taste. The reuben was, for what it was (which is not a reuben) one of the tastiest sandwiches I’ve had in a long time, perfectly toasted, and tasty. But, it lacked sour kraut (or at least enough that I could taste it), it lacked thousand island dressing (or at least enough that i could taste it) and the ‘rye’ bread had almost no discernible rye taste. To me. My wife said she loved it, however. And, I did enjoy it very much too. But, it’s like the time I ordered “crème brûlée” in a restaurant in Pasadena … when it was served, it was made with CHOCOLATE pudding! I asked, and the man said “That’s the way we make it.”. As if that was a reason to omit the description ‘chocolate’ before ‘crème brulee’. Anyway, the reuben was worth eating, and very much so. It just wasn’t what most people will think of as a reuben. ‘I highly recommend the Audubon Bar & Patio. Just avoid the vichyssoise, and get more sour kraut for the Reuben. :-)

I'm not sure who these folks are with these horrible experiences lately? Our server was a top-notch professional! The cocktails were delicious. My burger was perfection. The Paperadelle pasta was flavorful. The piano player set a great mood in the bar. I'm not sure how the experience could have been better. So glad I ignored the recent reviews and went there to check it out for myself.