There are few times that I've gone to a restaurant to where I felt like just getting up and leaving. Last night was one of those times. And despite going here multiple times in the past couple years, last night was probably my last.
Let's start from the top.
Hostess: We arrive around 6pm. Sun was kind of still out, but starting to get dark. It was lovely outside so we asked to be seated outside. We told hostess that we were a party of 7. There was a party behind us who were clearly not with us (would have made us a party of 12) and they just seemed kind of confused.
Seating: The weather was nice so we wanted to sit outside. It was starting to get dark and the lights on the patio were off. I get it if we were the first people out there but there was another table out there and it was getting dark. Wouldn't you notice that maybe you should turn on the lights? We were literally reading menus with the street light. We had to ask them to turn on the lights. Prior to the lighting fiasco there were all sorts of issues with the tables. One of our tables was wobbling like a top. Another table was seemingly unattached to the legs as the top flipped up like it wasn't attached to the legs. What is going on with the tables out there?
Attentiveness: We got seated and it took a long time for them to come and even take a drink order. Like 5mins. Then another 5-7mins for the beer to come. Then we had to ask if they still had complimentary chips. So we didn't really have chips and beers until 15mins after being seated. And throughout the experience it was just very sparse - like you'd order something and it would come 5mins later. At one point I told the adults that if we didn't have kids then I would have just stood up and bounced. And I say this as someone who is very laid back - I'll even eat food that was improperly made because why get upset about it? But in this case, I just felt like we were invisible and had to ask for everything.
Entertainment: This is nitpicking, but out of all the games on, not a single TV had the Diamondbacks on. Why?
Beer: No Coors on tap, fine. Got an Ultra. Beers take 5mins to come out. Come out in mugs that are basically room temperature. I don't require my mugs to have literal frost on them, but I do expect my mug to not be feeling like it is basically warm. To add to insult, the beer was also not very cold either. If either the beer or mug was frosty then I would have probably been fine because at least something was cold. I can say this... if they had served us Coors in the cans - the mountains would have NOT been blue for more than 2mins.
Food: We've been going to Salt for a while (multiple years, at least) and we feel like they've been constantly changing the menu. There used to be numerous [obviously] vegetarian options but this time all those were gone. The vegetarian tried to order a simple bean burrito and was told that the only bean burrito they make is on the kids menu. OK, so make a bigger one or something? Aside from that food overall was decent. One of the adults in our party felt that the meat was skimped on.
Conclusion: When we were deciding where to eat that night I suggested Salt and the other husband was all happy. Even his Mexican wife (who is picky about Mexican food) was amendable to Salt. Of all the times we've gone in the past as just my family it has been terrific - loved the chips, salsa, margarita flights, food, people watching, and atmosphere. The wife and I have done date nights here and gone with groups. And I hate to say it though, I probably will not be back again after last night's experience. And if you look at some of the more recent reviews... you'll notice multiple other people noticing a decline as well... read more