The Canyon Star Restaurant and Saloon
The Grand Hotel,149 State Rt 64, Grand Canyon, AZ, 86023
The Canyon Star Restaurant and Saloon Menu
Sorry, We are updating this restaurant menu details.
Visit below restaurant in Grand Canyon for healthy meals suggestion.
Visit below restaurant in Grand Canyon for healthy meals suggestion.
Visit below restaurant in Grand Canyon for healthy meals suggestion.
Sorry, we don't have Q&A for this restaurant.
Sorry, No Coupons available for this restaurant.
-
Address :
The Grand Hotel,149 State Rt 64
Grand Canyon, AZ, 86023 - Phone (928) 638-3333
- Website https://www.grandcanyongrandhotel.com
- Click To Get Directions
Opening Hours
- Mon :11:00 am - 11
Specialities
- Takes Reservations : Yes
Delivery : No
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Dinner
Parking : Private Lot
Bike Parking : Yes
Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Touristy
Noise Level : Average
Music : Live
Good For Dancing : No
Alcohol : Full Bar
Happy Hour : Yes
Coat Check : No
Smoking : No
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : Free
Has TV : Yes
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : No
WE SERVE THE FOLLOWING STATES
Looky Weed - Buy Marijuana Online
Looky Weed is here to help you navigate the maze of legalized marijuana. We provide you with a complete dispensary directory.
Lauren S.
Food and service was great and live music was a nice bonus. My party's order included ribeye, filet, salmon and uno wahoo and all was cooked perfectly. Nice end to a day at the Grand Canyon.
(4)Ian M.
My expectations going here were not that high but since the quality of the hotel was good I expected more. Before even being seated we had questions on gluten free and vegetarian options. The manager did not know what gluten was and we had to explain it. Finally he said that they could make a baked potato. As for vegetarian options there was few but this is to be expected at a steak house. As we sat down they served us bread and butter. The bread was literally as hard as a rock. Not even joking it could have been sold at a rock store. It was so hard that my cousin even ended up drawing on it. We then ordered and we asked for one cup of ice. The waitress moaned and said it was "not her job." After about 45 minutes we got our food. The sandwich was bland and the burger was barely acceptable. I ordered pizza and the sauce was extremely sugary. Also there was a layer of flour at the bottom that was like dust. All in all it costed over $90 Mc Donald's would have been better
(1)Morgan L.
I would give this place zero stars, if I could. This review is for the bar portion only (we didn't eat in the actual restaurant). I've never experienced such a rude bartender. After wait nearly 15 minutes at a nearby table, I finally went up to the bar to order waters, our drinks and our food orders. The bartender acted surprised that I was even there. When he finally brought us the food (which was actually decent, by the way), he said "we're really busy" and there are probably 10 empty tables in the place. What's worse is when I went to ask the manager where I was supposed to order while we were waiting, he told me to "wait for the bartender to come to my table." Long story short, if you can't accommodate table seating at the bar, don't offer it. Horrible experience.
(1)L P.
Only bad experience on our Grand Canyon Trip. After a long hike on the Bright Angle trail we were starving. We were staying at the Grand Hotel , so we took a quick shower and headed downstairs to the onsite restaurant "The Canyon Star Restaurant and Saloon". It was 7:30pm and they asked if we had reservations, we didn't and they said the next seating was 8:15pm. Normally not an issue, except the restaurant was half empty. So we went to plan B and sat at the bar area. The waitress stopped by once and disappeared for 20 minutes never to check on us and several other guests. Unacceptable. Maybe the customer service is so poor because there are so few dining choices in the Tusayan or maybe they were understaffed that night. We enjoyed the hotel and service was excellent the polar opposite of the restaurant. First impressions are everything and the greeters and waitstaff failed miserably. We did thoroughly enjoy the service and food at the Plaza Bonita and will be going back there tonight.
(1)Austin P.
I sat down at the Canyon Star with the desperate hope that all the Yelp reviews were wrong. However, my laziness of not wanting to leave my hotel forced me to test that thought. Our waiter Kevin was the one bright spot of the evening, he was attentive and courteous. The overpriced steaks weren't anywhere close to the $30 and up price tag attached. The steaks were poorly seasoned, tough, and overall sub-par quality . My mother got the roasted chicken and the breast meat was so dry that she likened it to the nearby desert. Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone who cares about money or quality.
(2)Drew H.
Went for happy hour. Our bartender was rude, slow, and unwelcoming. The drinks sucked too. Not as bad as a 1 star, but pretty darn close. Don't waste your time or money here.
(2)Mary B.
We were starving after catching the sunset at the GC. This was one of the only places open in town where we stayed. The food was pretty good, a bit pricey though. Friendly service.
(5)Christian P.
All I can say about this place is that it feels like eating at a defunct Wild West-themed cafeteria in the Twilight Zone. The servers are dispassionate, awkward, unfriendly and generally make you feel uncomfortable, as if you walked into their quiet, creepy home unannounced and demanded food. Our guy asked us where we were from and then walked away immediately before we even had time to answer. The food is horrendous- which is probably why it was close to dead empty (lending to the eerie vibe). I wasn't expecting 5-star fare, but I was kind of hoping not to have violent diarrhea the next day hiking down into the canyon. Their "famous" pork skewers are, I believe, just grilled rubber on a stick with black pepper. My well-done burger was half rare and half well done, however the hell that is possible. We heard our waiter tell the only other couple in the place which dish NOT to order because it "gets sent back all the time." My question is, how did he choose just one? They could all seemingly be candidates for this dubious distinction. The desserts were freshly thawed from the freezer. Mine only partially... We were so incredibly disappointed by the restaurant (and the hotel in general) that we cut our stay short and headed back to Sedona. Oh- and if you don't heed rational advice and eat here anyway, get your wallet warmed up. This is the priciest disappointing culinary experience you'll likely see for quite some time.
(1)Amelia R.
Ambiance is upscale cowboy!! They had live music which was really fun. Service is good. Bread was ok. I had buffalo brisket with red skinned mashed 5.0, my daughter had baby backs with Spanish rice 3.0, my husband the chicken with baked potato 4.0 and my son had the burger 4.0.
(4)Venita J.
Good food with live entertainment, a quiet atmosphere, and attentive staff. I will return with my grandchildren ~
(5)Kris M.
Better than what I expected. After reading the other reviews, I was expecting the worst, but all in all it wasn't bad. We ate in the saloon, our server was attentive and accommodating. Service was average for us, no long waits, but it wasn't very busy. Food was pretty good. The BBQ wings were good and my tortilla soup was delicious, but didn't have much kick and a cup was plenty. My husband enjoyed his chili which also had no kick, but was still good and filling. Prices were a bit high, but not extreme. Maybe we just got lucky, but I would go back.
(4)Steven G.
I'm giving it one star because the guy playing the banjo and singing on stage was decent....otherwise I promise you without going rip city in detail-don't waste your time or money.
(1)Mark K.
Food was good, in particular the salads. Service was slow. The reception was not very welcoming.
(3)Thomas L.
If you read this review and still decide to eat there, well...You are a moron. Please take that as future advice, not trying to be mean, but being brutally honest..... Where do I start. My girlfriend and I checked in at their hotel, asked the front desk, should I make a reservation, and he said...No, need the restaurant shouldn't be that busy tonight. We went to our room showered and relaxed a bit. Then we headed downstairs for dinner. As we approached the EMPTY restaurant the host, said it's going to be a 20 to 30 minute wait. I thought I was in the twlight zone as I looked at the restaurant and saw maybe 5 tables that had people eating, and the rest empty. I then told the host, forget it then, we'll eat somewhere else, then he said, sorry I can seat you right away. Probably one of the strangest feelings I ever gotten from this place. Food- Absolutely terrible. We ordered some queso, that was neon orange and had some weird chunks of meat in it. Terrible. We couldn't eat it. It was awful. My lady ordered a steak and I ordered the Jambayla. Both were a disgrace to the food it was trying to represent. The steak was GREY. I have never seen anything like it before. My dish was a joke. Zero flavor, and all you could taste was the red onion in the dish. Seriously I rather eaten Hamburger helper that the crap we eat at this establishment. I forgot to mention that I ordered a coke and it was served warm with 3 tiny pieces of ice. I asked the waitress for more ice. I also forgot to mentioned the busboy (an old man) Came up to our table and noticed I was wearing a Chicago Bears shirt. He said wow, I love that team, they had a great year, can't wait to see them play. Then he asked where I was from, before I could answer, he walked away....Seriously I was constantly shaking my head in complete disbelief of this place. Our check was about 60 bucks. I felt I was completely robbed considering I barely ask any of the sh*t that we ordered...by the way an hour later I drove to Wendy's and had the best meal of the day there. Unreal. So if you decide to read this review and still eat at this place....All I can say is...To each it's own and good luck.
(1)Gabe R.
Disclaimer: I only ate in the saloon part which is connected to the restaurant itself but with a smaller menu. After hiking the canyon and driving around the entire day, I didn't want to get dressed up for a meal and I didn't want Wendy's or McDonald's like my kiddos so I came into check this place out. The 1st thing I noticed was about 20 beers on tap, I had me a Hefeweissen which was perfect on a hot day. Aaaah I can still taste it. I then ordered a cup of chicken tortilla soup and some pork tenderloin skewers. The tortilla soup came out 1st. It had an ample amount of chicken, celery, carrots, tomatoes, onion and the perfect amount of pepper. The bartender asked if it was spicy and I told him a little peppery but not spicy. He said sometimes it's really spicy and then gave me a lemon wedge to squeeze in it. He said it really adds something to it. So I added it and it was interesting but I'm not sure if it was better at that point. The pork tenderloin skewers were smokey, slightly charred and covered (but not smothered) with their blackberry BBQ sauce. It was sweet but not too sweet. These were great. Add in another Hefe and I was 1 happy dude. The saloon allows kids as long as they sit at the tables and not the bar itself. They also have burgers and sandwiches plus a few salads, 2 soups and a handful of apps. The bartender was attentive and friendly. If I ever make it back to the Grand Canyon, this will be my go to spot.
(4)Mark G.
Very bad experience in this restaurant. Would like to echo someone saying it was a creepy vibe throughout. With the vast emptiness of the room, the banjo playing cowboy singing softly (though he was good), and the odd wait staff providing poor service, it felt like I was in a long single shot of a Kubrick film. As for the food I'll say that the bread was very bland. It was warm, though I don't know if it was freshly baked or freshly heat up on the oven. Either way somebody needs to put salt in that recipe because it tasted like little yeast bombs. I had the jambalaya, and the flavor of which was decent, to a point. And that point came to a head at the red onions. Of course recipes and foods are always free to interpretation, so if they want some red onion in their jambalaya, then so be it. Find that balance and try and make it work. But WOW, there was a LOT of red onion in this thing. It quickly began to overpower the dish and make it so every bite my taste buds had to dance around the onions looking for other flavors, even the high spice level took a back seat to it. Once I finished the andouille in the dish it was all that I could taste. At the end we through a little caution to the wind and got two desserts even though they were big because, well, vacation. Tiramisu and fried ice cream. Tiramisu was fresh out of the box from the freezer and hard. Fried ice cream was the same, a pre packaged mess. Both were boring and incredibly disappointing. The drinks we had were average at best. Decently strong but odd ratios. Hard to mess up a long island, but it happened. Just avoid this place and save yourself the terrible experience.
(1)CB C.
The Canyon Star Steakhouse is a joke. The blatant cynicism of ripping off tourists is nowhere more evident this place. The food is just plain awful.. worse than Denny's but for twice the price. Service was surly at best and nearly non-existent. They wouldn't refill our water glasses. They murdered my porkchop.. it was dried to jerky and slathered in some kind of vile food service bbq sauce. The baked potato came with.... butter. No chives, no sour cream, no bacon bits, no nothing! All for $22.95. The Cheeseburger arrived devoid of condiments. It took 10 minutes for a bottle of ketchup to arrive.. and in a nearly empty dining room at that. The $5 glass of lemonade was nothing but powdered drink mix. The meal could have been free and we still would have felt ripped off. The place is not worthy of its proximity to the international attraction that is the Grand Canyon, and is an extremely poor representative of American hospitality.
(1)Denny L.
There were NO reasonable priced places to eat near the South Rim but this was the worst and most pricey place to eat. The steak was though and unreasonably priced for the quality. Most of the food we had would rank as poor at best. NEVER want to eat there again!
(1)Doug B.
All of the restaurants in town are on the bad side, but this is one of the better ones. Don't misunderstand me. This place wouldn't survive in a non tourist town. The food was OK, but pricey. $35 for a steak that is Golden Coral level for example. We had potato skins, cheeseburger, small salad, ribs, and steak. All were OK,but nothing great. Beer list was surprisingly long. Banjo player was excellent.
(3)ps z.
Solid 3 stars for this place... We were a little hesitant about eating here after all the less than positive reviews, but figured it was convenient after a long day of hiking and it was steps away from our room at The Grand Hotel. We were pretty pleasantly surprised by the food and the cost. We both ordered cups of soup (chicken tortilla & chili) as well as the grilles chicken sandwich. The price for the entrees are a bit on the high side for the location, but you can't really expect anything else when there are not many options. The prices are normal for a "tourist" place. The grilles chicken sandwiches we ordered each came with 2 pieces of chicken, and wasn't over cooked. It was decent food starting at $12.95 for the sandwiches. Cheese as extras like mushrooms or bacon are all add-one fr $1-2 more. Jamie was our server and he was a very friendly local kid working for the summer or extra money. He was friendly and quick to get us everything we asked for. Don't have high expectations when going to any of the places in town is the best advice I would give. It's a little town just outside of the Grand Canyon with limited options for quality food.
(3)Sydney M.
Eh. This place was a bit of a bust. My party had to wait forever for a table, even though the restaurant was enormous (and nearly empty). We figured they made us wait for so long so that we would spend time in their adjacent gift shop and buy crappy trinkets. Then, our server was super-slow, not very personable, and unapologetic about it all. The live music was nice, however, which is the only reason I'm giving this place two stars* -- great banjo playing! Also, the bread rolls and butter were fairly tasty (interesting that so many people gave poor reviews for the rolls). There was not a steak under $30.00 and the pasta dishes were $17.00 -- a bit steep, I'd say. I think there were two veggie options on the whole menu, also a bit disappointing. I wish we had tried the other steak house down the street. *I changed my mind -- this place gets one.
(1)Su L.
In my opinion, this is the nicest restaurant in the Grand Canyon Village. It is pricey, especially you go for a steak dinner, but food was decent and the atmosphere was great. There was live music! We ordered chilli, steak and ribs. Everything was decent - not amazing - but you'll still have a great time especially if you order some cocktail (not on menu so you have to ask for it)!
(3)Danielle K.
**Review only for the Saloon** **5 stars for the bartender** **3.5 stars for food** **2 stars for management** We stayed at The Grand Hotel for 2 nights while visiting the Grand Canyon. I'm not sure what kind of monopoly the large chain of hotels here have, but I was shocked at the lack of food choices even in the area surrounding the park. So... you're looking at dinner choices with lots of 2-star steak houses popping up on yelp. Bummer! Since this place was right downstairs and had mediocre vs terrible reviews, we grabbed a table at the saloon both nights. I honestly don't think we could have found better dinner with 50 miles. Great beer selection including at least 4 local brews with lots of TVs playing sports. The bartender here is AMAZING. I know some other reviews have said she was short with them and the wait was long.... and yes, you'll need more 30min for a meal here. The bar that serves the saloon and the entire restaurant employs ONE person. ONE person for serving, seating, and clearing about 10 tables, the bar seating, and pouring drinks for the entire steakhouse attached. How she keeps her head on straight, I'm not sure. We had a bunch of appetizers, chili, burgers and many beers in the 2 nights here. Food is pretty good. My burger was cooked to order with lots of fun add-ons, fries were crispy and hot. Chili was homemade and plenty satisfying and the potato skins were downright amazing and a great deal. Four huge boats of cheesy, potato yumminess. Yes its a little pricey, but considering there isn't anything else around, I guess the existing restaurants can charge what they want. Assume you're basically at a ski resort. With all this tourist profit, I expect a little more from management. Maybe eventually the hotel can get rid of Monday night banjo music and hire a few more servers to accommodate the large tourist groups who wind up 'waiting' for a table even though there are plenty of empty tables in the restaurant, but they don't have the staff to seat them. That restaurant waitlist then files into the bar creating a mess for the server trying to take care of the costumers actually patronizing the saloon.
(4)Rachel E.
I can't even believe this place is in operation. Let me start by saying do not eat here... Just don't.... So you're staying in the hotel? There's a Wendy's next door which I could have gone to and come back and still not had my food here. We waited over 45 minutes for calamari and chicken wings. In all honesty it was probably closer to over an hour but I was keeping my hangry boyfriend calm through most of it. It's just ridiculous that management cares so little. Yes I spoke to a manager, no she never cared to check with us after leaving to 'find our food'... were they catching those free range Grand Canyon chickens to order and fishing the squid out of the Colorado river? Who knows she never came back. Whatever the case may be, those poor chickens were burnt rubbery shells of their former delicious selves... and calamari was cold. Another yelper said it best... you're a moron to eat here after this review. We are those morons, save yourselves...
(1)Darlene P.
We just checked in and went to the bar for happy hour the potato skins were excellent and the service was superb
(5)Suzi G.
Since there are slim pickings in this area, I opted for convenience and didn't expect much. There was a wait for a table (even though the restaurant looked empty) so I went to the saloon where as others have mentioned, the bartender serves the saloon and restaurant, but does everything for the saloon (orders, table service, food). Although the saloon was also pretty empty, there was a significant wait for service due to the severe understaffing. I ordered salad, chicken tortilla soup (very good) and bacon wrapped shrimp (overcooked and sad). I gave away the shrimp to a group of guys that came to watch baseball and couldn't finish the bowl of soup (substantial size and totally worth ordering). Intrigued by the Grand Canyon wine, I ordered a glass despite the overpricing. It tasted fine, but definitely overpriced. Nice beer selection also. The best thing about this bar is the random saddle bar stools interspersed with normal chairs. I would have sat in one if I wasn't wearing a skirt.
(3)Steve S.
A GREAT Ribeye with Peppercorn Bleu Cheese butter & a tangy Chipotle Caesar Salad was perfect after a long day at the Canyon. It was late & we weren't too hungry so the waitress split both plates without an additional charge & surely with more sides for each half of the steak than would've been if served as a single portion. The Merlot she recommened was very smooth & went perfectly with the Ribeye, grilled perfectly to the Rare side of Medium-Rare. The bread served prior was tasty with an essence of rosemary, and the local IPA was a nice thirst quencher. Lastly, the guitarist playing selections of Johnny Cash and other old greats through dinner was nice as well.
(4)Justice S.
Oddly slow service considering we're far from a populated area. Sitting at the bar and folks keep coming up to repeatedly request their checks. Apparently no one wants to bring checks and people are begging to leave. We ordered a "quick" appetizer of tortilla chips and queso. Took three inquiries and 40 keep minutes and when it arrived it had a thick skin of, I guess, Velveeta microwaved congeal. Sent it back. On a positive note, Long Island iced teas were on point. The 2 stars are strictly for the drinks.
(1)Tara T.
We stayed at the holiday Inn express a couple nights ago and asked the hotel staff about the steakhouse up the road and we were referred to Canyon Star, right across the street. Upon arrival, the only host was outside the front door smoking a cigarette and followed us inside smelling of cigarettes to seat us. This could have been looked over had the service not been so slow. We were served stale old hard bread and we're seated for a good 10-15 minutes to place a drink and dinner order. We ordered a burger and we're told it could not be served medium due to an e-coli scare so we opted for the only other option-medium well. The burger came out tougher than usual as if it had been cooked first thing in the morning along with the bread and re-heated upon our ordering. The tomatoes were soft and old along with the pickle that appeared to have been sitting out for days. The only saving grace was the 16oz blue moon I ordered. The live banjo player was kinda neat too. I'm pretty sure hotel staff get referral points for referring people to this restaurant. The host took down our name and room number and hotel we were staying at.
(1)Jamie L.
This review is for the Saloon not the restaurant. So all the restaurant options in the area have 2-3 stars on Yelp. Slim pickin's. We were staying at the Grand Hotel and figured it's pretty hard to have a terrible time at the hotel bar, especially if they serve food. -It's expensive. 4 beers, an appetizer, and a burger cost upwards of $70. -There was only one bartender/server and service was REALLY slow, but still friendly. -I asked if I could have my burger cooked medium and apparently the kitchen only cooks one temperature (medium well). Overall the food was ok. While this may sound like a bad review, I still think this was one of the better options in the area. Although for $70 we probably should have gone to one of the steakhouses.
(2)Trevor K.
First it took 15 minutes to put in our order because they were short staffed. We ordered two burgers and a Caesar salad. One burger showed up cold and the other never arrived. The Caesar salad had onions and tomatoes. Not exactly a caesar. Quality was mediocre at best. The server snapped at my girlfriend once and the manager yelled at the table next to us. Stay away. It's not worth it.
(1)John R.
Thought I wouldn't have to write a review of this place... we are staying at hotel in the same building. Sat down at 530. First table to sit down. The food took longer than an hour to get. Even with simple items such as chili and a chicken sandwhich. The service Is terrible, as the server never came back to let us know of the situation. Never came to refill our drinks. Good was okay.. chili was layered with about a half pound of cheese on top and was served cold
(1)Abby K.
My husband and I were staying at the hotel and were hungry. We looked at the menu and thought it would be a great place. Too bad we didn't look at the reviews prior. This place sucks and is not cheap. It first started when we had asked to be seated at a booth. The guy said no because all the remaining booths were reserved for reservations. From start to finish, more than half the booths were not being used. Then, my husband ordered the ribeye which he thought was just OK. his baked potato however was horrible. It was very dry. I ordered the salmon and on the menu it says it came with a blueberry sauce. The "sauce" consisted of pico de gallo w a few blueberries. It was not a sauce at all. When I asked the waiter if he had any type of sauce he said no. The only thing that tasted good was the black bean soup. Would not recommend this place to anybody. Take your money and eat somewhere else.
(1)Charlene W.
This place doesnt deserve the poor ratings. Fresh bread was brought immediately and the berry salad was delish. Our waiter was great. This is the best south rim option for sure!!!
(5)Donalt B.
Ambiance: Typical,cliched South West yeehaw steak house. Big wooden tables, dark steak house lighting. Service: The staff is dead inside. I would be too if I lived up in that area of Arizona. They all acting like they were on death row. With that said, they weren't rude, but you could tell they hated their life/job. They seemed understaffed, as everytime we'd wait forever to place the order, get the order and pay the order. A dining experience that should take an hour took 2 hours bell to bell because of timeliness. It took 40 minutes one morning for them to report back they were out of cinnamon rolls. Poor people, and myself included. Food: A notch below Applebees, with no love or creativity. Now I realize cowboy yippie-yi-cowboy food is supposed to be meat-n-potatoes plain, this all seemed frozen food brought back to life. Wasn't rancid, but was pretty sad. Price: For a tourist trap, priced normally. For the quality of the food, way over priced. Overall: Sadly, there are no options in this area, so bite the bullet or pack your own food. You aren't going to want to drive to Flagstaff for a decent restaurant.
(2)Rick R.
Food was good (we had firecracker shrimp, pork chop, and burger). Staff was really nice, but the overall service experience was definitely a bit odd (we had to wait 15 min for a table even though there were many open tables). Update: Came back a second time and had the pork tenderloin skewers - they were charred, rubbery, and a tiny serving. Way overpriced. Wait staff was too flustered to handle complaints.
(2)Rick M.
We got to the restaurant at 4:30 and the bar was the only thing open. I asked the bar tender where we could get something to eat. He replied very rudely "somewhere else I don't know McDonalds we don't open till 5pm" needles to say we left and went to Big E's steak house and received good service.
(1)Jurgen V.
If you like a really cold place to eat this us the spot... Food is good and the salade excellent. Live music was nice and not desturbing.
(3)Suecia L.
After a long drive to the Grand Canyon, we were really looking forward to a good hearty meal. This place was such a disappointment. The service was slow (and we arrived well ahead of the dinner rush), our server never came to refill our drinks, ask if the food was ok, nor if we needed anything else. Paying $25+ for lukewarm, bland food is not cool. If I could rate this place a zero that's what I would. So it gets a 1 and that is mainly because the wine.
(1)Loren A.
This place has great burgers and beer. However they lose 3 stars for lousy service. It took up to 45 minutes until our burgers arrived. We were in kind of a hurry since we had helicopter reservations to see the Grand Canyon. I informed the waitress of the time crunch. However with all that waiting, I was tempted to just leave and go to Wendy's right across the street. Wow. The waitress appeared to be in a foul mood. We asked for water twice and she snapped at us. Then when it was time to go, I asked for a box...twice. The waitress held out her finger and said "just hold on!" in a rude way.
(2)Mark B.
Do not believe the previously posted reviews, it is much worse. We came into Tusayan and just decided to settle for dinner at the hotel. My pork chop was slightly dry but edible, the ribs were good but can not recommend the soup,or chili. The food was adequate at best. We should have stopped when we were ahead but tempted lunch with breakfast. We waited over ten minutes for the waiter to take out order and were greeted with are you in a hurry not even a good morning. There was only 5 other tables in the place that were occupied. We placed our order. One order of oatmeal two orders of eggs and one french toast and coffee and juice. Another ten minutes for coffee to be brought. Over easy eggs had the yolks broke and and were over hard, sunny side up were fried eggs. Hash browns were ice cold. The pancakes ( came with the eggs) looked good but syrup or butter was never brought. No butter for the French toast and refill for the coffee was asked as we got the check. The staff just seemed uninterested in serving. Very disappointing for a $65 breakfast for four were one order was a bowl of oatmeal.
(1)Rachel S.
They are totally taking advantage of their location and being one of the only restaurants in the area. The food was good, but it was most definitely not worth the price. Service was good, except for the cowboy singing the entire time.
(2)Stephen S.
Horrible! 2 hour wait and left without eating. It took 30 minutes to get seated when the dinning room was less then 1/2 full and had to request a table a 2nd time. Waited 30 minutes for a waiter to take an order. 1 hour later left without seeing the waiter or dinner.
(1)Andrea A.
Excellent food, classy ambiance. Almost didn't eat here because of bad reviews. But everything we ate was superb. From the spicy Caesar salad and black bean soup to fabulous swordfish, salmon, ribs and steak. Our group of seven was delighted!!
(5)Diana S.
The reviews were pretty spot on. The service was slow and neglectful, the food was so-so and the guy playing banjo was almost a joke! I ordered the steak and mashed and it was fine. The hubby got a side salad and the wings which he enjoyed. The kids got a burger (not a hit) and chicken tenders (blah). It certainly was not a $110 meal. We did like the ambiance of the place if only the music were upbeat and fun....
(2)Virginia H.
Too much seemed like it came out of a freezer considering the cost. Service also just adequate. The buffalo brisket was no longer available. Not coming back
(2)Christopher P.
Service is so slow. The servers are not happy to be working here. I literally waited 30 minutes waiting for the check. My family went to bed. The food was actually pretty good. We went with the burger to keep it simple. As I was leaving i wanted to see it the hostess would say thanks or have a good evening but she simply stared blankly at me.
(1)Vi N.
Boyfriend and I, and a couple of friends stayed at the hotel for a weekend. Tired and hungry from our long drive by the time we checked in we didn't bother looking around for places to eat. We went straight to the restaurant. The place was EMPTY maybe only like 4 tables that actually had people sitting there. Walked up to the host and he said to us the wait would be 20-30 minutes. Really? There are at least 20 tables in your restaurant that aren't occupied! 45 minutes later, we finally get seated. 30 minutes after that the waiter takes our order. The food came out quick luckily, since we were starving by this point. Ordered some wings, burgers, potato skins. We scarfed down our food, I couldn't even tell you if it was actually good. After he cleared our table, the waiter waited probably another good 45 minutes before he brought us our check. There isn't much competition restaurant-wise in the area, so maybe they don't feel they need to provide better customer service. There's a Wendy's across the street and a Pizza Hut just down the road, you'll have better luck there.
(2)K S.
Sat in bar area with family. Service wasn't the best but the bartender did get a lot of people walking in at once. The restaurant was dead but we wanted to watch some tv too. We had the "homemade pizza" definitely not like Pizza Bianco in Phoenix! We aso split the potato skins and it was very crunchy-it's apparently fried instead of baked. My son got the kids cheeseburger and fries with milk. The cheeseburger looked pretty good and was huge. The fries were meh. Likely frozen fries. I think it should get 2.5 stars but can't give give 1/2 stars!
(2)Shelby P.
Our family stopped here to eat only to find an underwhelming selection with overwhelming prices. We left before we tried anything- no one looked particularly thrilled to be there. When we first approached the host, our waiter to be, John, was whispering to the Host that he didn't want another table, then declared "it's fine" with a sigh. Once we were seated, my mom asked if there were any specials and he said, "we don't have Specials, we have specialties" to which she clarified, "something like prime rib on Saturdays?". John then shared- "no, but it would sure be nice if we had prime rib". We left 5 dollars on the table and explained to John that we couldn't find anything to fit our appetite. I think I caught a hint of jealousy/envy in the faces of the remaining customers.
(2)Frankie S.
Three out of four diners agree, the service may have been lacking but (for this area) the food was four-star superb! This is because the fourth diner never received his meal... Seriously - it never came and neither the kitchen or the waitress realized this until one of my party marched into the kitchen and said something... With that said, here are the cons: the service was terribly slow considering the place was deserted and the waitress only had two tables, the "entertainment" came in the form of a singing guitarist who was more chit chat than song, and an entire steak went on the lam. When the missing steak finally made its grand entrance, it was perfectly cooked and the veggies were well seasoned. In the end, the waitress was terribly nice and the food was delish! I recommend staying away from the potato and wheat roll bread basket and skipping right to an app. We settled on a bubbling bread bowl filled with spinach dip served with tricolor tortilla chips. The ribeye and filet mignon were great and they had a hearty kids menu to boot. I recommend the lemonade if you're not looking to imbibe - I'm pretty sure it came fresh squeezed but that could just be the bottle of Argentinian Malbec talking...
(3)A J.
I have to say I'm really surprised by all of the bad reviews. We stayed in the grand hotel, and were pleasantly surprised at how good the restaurant was, considering that the hotel is nothing special. The steaks were every bit as good as ruth's chris. Our server was very friendly, and the ambience was pleasant. If you stay at the grand hotel, or anywhere nearby, this steakhouse is a must.
(5)Lars H.
There is unfortunately a complete mismatch among the restaurants decor end even live entertaining and the service and food at horrible prices. We ate a dinner and breakfast as guests at the hotel and we will for sure not come back. It could have been a great experience in these surroundings but was not. Slow and imprecise service, not well prepared food of mediocre quality and extremely overpriced.
(1)R D.
The service was bad, the waitress couldn't have cared less; the bread was inedible. Prices were extremely high. The banjo player was unobtrusive and added to room ambiance. They know you are trapped eating there because the best restaurant in town is Wendy's.
(1)Miki A.
I would give zero stars if I could. There were very few people in the restaurant yet it took forever to be seated. Our waiter decided to chat for 15 mins to the table next to ours but when he came it our table he was cold, curt and extremely unfriendly. He didn't ask us about drinks, appetizers or anything just took our order begrudgingly and left. Our food was bland and my friends steak was greasy and over done. For the price, it was a waste of money much like leaving a tip the horrible service we received. Avoid this place. Its waste of time and money.
(1)Bill W.
Came here for dinner on a recommendation from a local. Just going to list the problems we had, it's easier. 1. Hostess showed us to the table, put a stack of menus on the table and left without a word. 2. Restaurant was about 25% full took waiter 10 minutes to greet us. 3. Friday night dinner at 7:00pm and they were out of Jack Daniels. 4. The table ordered soup and dinner; steaks, jambalaya and pork tenderloin skewers. How hard is that? The menu is also pretty limited too. 5. A full 30 minutes later the steaks and dinner came out. No soup yet though. 6. When the Tortilla Soup came out (after the entrees) it was little more than chicken vegetable out of a can with tortilla strips on top. Not even as good as Campbell's soup. 7. The ribeye was the toughest one I've ever eaten. The mashed potatoes were starchy mush but the steamed veggies were actually decent. 8. The jambalaya was basically the tortilla soup with some chicken strips, sausage and rice and a hell of a lot of cayenne pepper. Overall a super hot bland abortion. 9. Pork Tenderloin on Skewers...ugh, maybe 4 ounces of pork stripped and cut with the grain making them tough as heck...like pork jerky with prickly pear jelly. 10. Finally, $130 later...we let the waiter know we were pretty disappointed and he said "sorry, we kinda had a rush"...really? Those two tables that got seated on Friday night was your rush?!?! Oh and the. Another 15 minutes we waited for him to pick up the check. I WOULD AVOID THIS RESTAURANT LIKE THE PLAGUE...It is WAAAAY OVERPRICED for the food quality and the service was really bad. Next time, go for a double cheeseburger at Wendy's...you'll be way happier you did.
(1)Michael W.
Where do I start. First of all I asked the Hostess, if I should make a reservation and she said, NO, we will have plenty of seating. So my date and I arrived, the place was pretty much empty and the host told me there will be a 30 minutes wait. I looked at my lady perplexed and confused. Anyways, we preceded to be seated cause the other people waiting didn't show up. The food and experience was awful. The steak was grey and the pasta dish was awful. I would not recommend this place even to my enemies. Complete waste of time.
(1)Reed A.
Hidden. Gem. Although many of the reviews are resoundingly negative this place is actually pretty good. One tip: the "Saloon" which is located a few feet from the restaurant does not serve the full menu, I'm not sure why but I can only assume that Saloons just don't serve steak. Also a good place to saddle up, you'll have to see it to know what I mean. The food in the restaurant was very good, steak was perfectly cooked and the service was friendly, fast and attentive. ALSO, world class live entertainment and decor. You probably won't have to worry about getting a table, the place is pretty expansive, oddly so even. If you're lookin for a place to grab some food after a long day in the canyon, don't be afraid of the ratings and give it a try, we were happy we did.
(3)Alaina G.
My dad and I were drawn to the upscale exterior of this hotel and restaurant and decided to eat here for dinner on 12/22. When we arrived in the restaurant, the host, Leland, was quiet and struggled to find us a table in a nearly empty restaurant. He warned us that our server had several tables and we would have to be patient. After 6-7 minutes, David greeted us and brought us water and said "thanks for being patient" (heard that like 5 times throughout the meal). Then he left and returned another 8-9 minutes later to take our drink order. Then he left AGAIN and returned 8-9 minutes later to take our actual order. At this point, my dad and I were ready to walk out. I tried to call our server over to ask him about the status of our meal, and he made eye contact and ignored me. 5-7 minutes later our spinach artichoke dip (really nasty) came out and David complained about how many tables he had and blamed the holiday season for the slow, poor service. About 10 minutes later, our plate was cleared and my dad was served a very very tiny side salad. Our entrees finally came out and my calamari was terribly rubbery and inedible. I called David over and told him I refused to eat it. He kept offering to remake it or get me something else, but I was so done by now. My dad had gotten up amidst my conversation with David and found the manager to express our dissatisfaction with the meal. She comped the bill and we got up and walked out. Save yourself the money and hit up the local McDonald's instead.
(1)Lisa A.
I didn't go to this restaurant on the first night of my stay based on Yelp reviews. However, on the second night, I went out of sheer laziness and wished I had gone the night before as well. I had the Dynamite shrimp as an appetizer, tried some of the Spinach and artichoke dip, the Green Chile shrimp pasta as an entree, and tried the Chipotle Caesar salad with chicken added. The chicken was cold in the salad. The Dynamite Shrimp was amazing! I wanted to order more but I had the pasta to eat which was equally amazing! The portion for the pasta was pretty large so I ended up taking half of it back to my room. The restaurant was connected to a bar and had some pretty good drink options and a few appetizing specials. I didn't get any because I was pretty full. Live entertainment was there - a guy playing the guitar. The restaurant is very big so you won't feel crowded sitting in there. A good bit of the space is set aside for a dance floor. The meal was priced on par with the rest of the area which I considered reasonable. The waiter was very quick, friendly, and attentive. I'd definitely go back to this restaurant again. It was one of the best dishes I had in Tusayan/Grand Canyon.
(4)Kathleen H.
Prompt friendly service. Steak was well seasoned and rare as ordered. Salad with berries, pecans & greens was excellent. Prices are standard for tourist area. Good selection of wine & beers (on tap).
(4)Jennifer M.
Service was not great at all. We came on a Saturday night and there were about 10 tables filled but it still took about 10 minutes for the server to come over. We asked the food runner what type of bread he gave us and he didn't know. The bread was so stale and we asked for new bread and that also was stale. The waiter would be walking away from our table as we were talking to him. For the price they are charging it was certainly not worth it.
(2)Erica L.
Not much to choose from this town but honestly please save yourself the money and go to Wendys. Im not trying to be harsh or rude, but even our server literally said she didnt like anything on the menu. I would have walked out at that point but honestly we had driven hours and were starving. Everything was aweful.... except our wine lol. We enjoyed ourselves because we were in our own world and not expecting anything good. But our server never came back once to refil water or ask about the food (I assumed she knew the answer haha). Only to drop the check about an hour and a half later. Please trust me your better off at wendys.
(1)Russell B.
I almost did not eat here due to the bad reviews. I am glad I came here. The price is great, the food is great, & a large choice of some great draft beers. The service was very relaxed yet fast. Not overly busy. My friend had the buffalo brisket & I had the ribs, both were great. I will absolutely eat here again.
(5)Brandon D.
Fuck this place! Cole slaw was older then the Grand Canyon. Some tweeker was our sever and he was high as a kite. If you enjoy a healthy life stay away.
(1)Steve P.
We dined once in the restaurant and watched football a couple of nights in the bar. The bar was nice and clean and had a friendly environment. The local beer was good, the wine selection and prices were fine and our server, Ashley, was friendly. We tried the pizza in the bar. Their menu says "Forgetaboutit". I agree. It was just okay. I would recommend another selection off their menu for snacking during the game. The main restaurant was another story. The food was excellent. The rib eye was super tender and tasty. We told the server that my wife and I were going to split the rib-eye and a salad. They split the rib eye in half and served us our own plates with the sides equally divided. We were quite happy with the presentation and service. One thing though....The prices were quite high. But, this is a steak house and the quality was excellent.
(4)Mac M.
The service was terrible and the food mediocre. Your hotel will recommend it as one of the best places in town. I am certain that the hotel personnel is given a kickback for every table they refer! I am not sure if there are any good options in town but go for something less expensive. This place is not worth the spend!!!
(1)Felicia M.
We stayed in the hotel on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Came down to the bar for Happy Hour on Friday evening and we were 2 of 6 people in the entire bar. That kind of frightens me, but we persevered and ordered some beers and snacks. The beers were large and they had a couple of nice local brews on tap. Our snacks were buffalo wings and the artichoke dip. They took quite a while to come out, and when they did, the dip was piping hot but the wings were about room temperature. At least they were half price. Our server seemed like she was used to people who are going to be nasty to her - kind of defensive. Once we proved that we were low maintenance and not going to be rude to her, she opened up a bit and seemed to actually not be put out by waiting on us. Probably wouldn't eat here again, but it was convenient and did the trick when we were too tired to go anywhere else.
(3)Karen D.
Stayed at the Grand Hotel with kids and was pleasantly surprised by Canyon Star. I had bacon wrapped shrimp and my husband had a rib eye. Portions were substantial and food was tasty. I gave 5 stars because the staff went out of their way to please my picky kids. We'll definitely be back next time we visit the Grand Canyon.
(5)Akson M.
This place is awful. The staff is unfriendly and slow. My party wanted a large, hot breakfast after a night of camping in the Grand Canyon - so we drove into town. The host was half-asleep and grumpy that we woke him up to be seated. Our waiter took forever to get to our table despite only less than a dozen diners, 2-3 tables being seated. Coffee came quickly, but my sister waited 40 minutes for her orange juice. I had to prompt another waiter for her juice because our waiter was no where to be found. I'm glad they left the pot of coffee at our table or I'm sure we would have waited eons for refills. Still we looked forward to our breakfast. It was almost an hour after placing our order before we got our meals. We were so disappointed. 1) My steak was way overcooked. (I ordered medium.) It was dry like the beef jerky I had in my hiking backpack from the canyon. 2) I ordered eggs over easy and again they were overcooked. So were my sister's omelet. 3) My sister's fiance chicken-fried steak was mediocre and had too little gravy. 4) Everything was under-seasoned, especially the country potatoes. Some potatoes pieces were still cold! 5) I ordered a side of bacon and thank god it wasn't raw or burnt to a crisp. But I did have to point out that my bacon had been missing my dish arrived and our waiter had to make another trip. As we tried to choke down our underwhelming food, other diners were routinely sat down at tables around us. We witnessed and overheard similar unpleasantries - forgotten silverware, vanishing waiters, rude when present and bad food. I think we should stayed at camp and cooked by fire. We would have had faster access to food, better tasting food too. We were just jaded from camping and hoped that a restaurant attached to a big, fancy hotel would have decent food and service. We were terribly disappointed that we got neither.
(1)Lisa A.
We had dinner here last night while staying at hotel. We all had steak which was actually pretty good. Bread was awesome. The waitress was super friendly and spent lots of time giving us tips and ideas for the Grand Canyon. It is a little pricey for the area, but there are very options for dinner.
(3)Luen C.
Okay so this place got rated really low but not sure why. I was a tourist of the grand canyon and I thought the food was great and the service too. I had the Filet Mignon and it was excellent. The waiter talked to us beyond just getting our food and it was a pleasant experience. I asked for sweet tea and the waiter realized there was none sweet tea made so he made us a fresh pot just for our table. Not a fan of country music either, but the background noise of the live country music was relaxing and it fit the resturaunt great.
(5)D C.
In a word. Terrible!
(1)Greg O.
Read lots of mixed reviews, but our meal (and service) was good. Live music, friendly staff. Went with the family (incl 3 kids) and we got in and out for $115 all in. Kids had wings, filet mignon and salmon. My wife had buffalo brisket (excellent!) and I had jambalaya (also very good). Pretty decent food for a town filled with nothing but steak houses...
(4)John D.
Read every bad review here and take it to heart. Outside of the novelty of the décor and the entertainment, a singing cowboy who makes Leon Redbone sound like he's on speed, this was a horrible experience from beginning to end. The reviews here warned us. The bartender at the hotel bar to which this is attached warned us, but my companion was tired of driving and we were in the hotel already so we ate. And we waited. We had an 8 o'clock reservation, but weren't seated until 8:25 even though there seemed to be plenty of seats. Our server seemed especially nervous, as if she was afraid to take our order. Little did I know she was probably shell-shocked from previous customer experiences. Cut to the chase: The salads came out with dressing in the salad instead of on the side as requested. Then the filet mignon, requested at Medium well, was charred to a crisp. It took so long to come out, we couldn't re-order. The waitress seemed flustered and for some reason offered us a smaller children's portion. We declined. When the check came, it was sans the steak, but I had the manager come out and he also comped us my entrée, the Jambalaya which was surprisingly decent and half the price of everything else. Choices are slim in the Grand Canyon, but any choice would be better than this.
(1)Melanie H.
We had two GREAT experiences at the bar and restaurant while staying at another hotel. We came for dinner on a Saturday night and the food was absolutely delicious. The main reason for the five stars come from Sunday. We were staying at the Best Western across the street which advertises their NFL ticket. Well for other Arizonians, we know games start at 10. They would not open until 12 so we called across the street. The staff was great and our server Barry was amazing. They opened up the bar literally four hours early for us so we could watch the game and service was fantastic. We really couldn't have asked for better treatment.
(5)M J.
Excellent food and service. The steak was cooked to perfection. The ribs were melt in your mouth with a delicious barbecue sauce. We were very pleased with our meal. Recommend it highly.
(4)Amber G.
Went for Happy Hour ( 4pm-6pm daily )while staying here at the hotel. They have half price well drinks, beers, wine, wings, potato skins, and artichoke dip. We ordered the wings in BBQ sauce, and a bowl of their homemade chili and sweet corn bread. The chili and cornbread arrived, took a nice big bite, and it was ICE COLD, like from the fridge cold. As we waited for the server I took a bite of the cornbread and it was soggy and stale, like it was heated in the microwave....and come to find out, it was, as admitted by our server !! Also, the server said that the kitchen told him the chili was not done but they told him to serve it to us anyway...lol !!! Wings came out 25 minutes later, lukewarm chicken and cold from the fridge sauce poured all over, such a shame. This place was not busy, we were even the first guests of the evening ordering food, and there were only 2 other tables occupied the whole time we were there. The food was taken off the bill and everyone there was really nice about the situation. I would not recommend eating from the bar menu, just stick to drinks at happy hour.
(2)Boris D.
Mediocre at best. Service is very spotty and so is the food, based on four different orders at two sittings. However, the setting and live background western music is nice. Music and convenience are the main reason to eat at this place NOT the food or service. For the price you pay, one deserves better!
(2)Kim K.
This place is reeeeeeal hokey. The service was dreadful and the food was completely lackluster. The place is so huge but not full at all so the patrons are seated far away from one another. Great for privacy but crappy for attentive service. You are almost instantly forgotten about. Also bad for bussing - tables were left uncleaned way after the diners had left. Oh, and totally overpriced, as much is in the Grand Canyon. The only thing that saved this place was the guy playing Johnny Cash covers on the banjo.
(2)Marlina S.
This place is a complete joke. They take advantage of tourists coming in and out and eating here because there aren't many other places to eat. I ordered a cheese burger with slaw. What I got was this disgusting cardboard texture of a patty (I'm pretty certain had been frozen for some time). The slaw was the WORSE! it was OLD and smelly and just wrong. Come on! you expect people to actually eat this shit?! If you don't want to get sick, DO NOT COME HERE. Go to McDonald's, Wendy's, or Pizza Hut. Gordon Ramsay would have a heart attack at this place.
(1)Ashley S.
Two stars because there is a full bar & I had just completed 3 hours on the Grand Canyon trail with 3 kids under 10. The glass my merlot came in allowed for a generous portion which was much appreciated at the time. To say service is slow would be the understatement of the year, and my family was his only table for a good half hour, but he had to walk a quarter of a mile across the room to get anything for us which increased our wait time drastically & by the time his second table arrived, forget a refill. The food was mediocre at best. The artichoke & spinach dip was pretty good, but I was starving, so my judgement could've been skewed. Kids had chicken tenders & hamburgers, but looked to be straight from the freezer. Hubby & I had steaks, and I've never seen filet mignon look quite like that. Both were cooked properly, but they were poor grades of meat for sure. All in, for an appetizer, 1 glass of wine, 2 soft drinks, 2 kids meals and 2 "steak" dinners = $125 Not. Worth. It.
(1)John S.
This is a Good Three Star, not a Bad Three Star. You won't get earth-shattering culinary greatness here. But you will get a nice burger, some live music, and decent ambiance in the massive Canyon Star Restaurant. With limited options in the Grand Canyon limits, you can get a serviceable meal here and not feel like you're getting ripped off. Unfortunately, the service was dreadfully slow, but this is what I would expect from the bevvy of college students that come in from around the country to work at this place over the summer. Be prepared to wait about 45 minutes for your sandwich and fries. Thankfully, a nice man with a banjo will keep you entertained.
(3)Tori C.
I wasn't that impressed with this place, but it wasn't too bad. The first night my dad and I stayed at the hotel we tried to go down and eat dinner around 8pm. They asked if we had a reservation and we said no. But we didn't think that would make a difference because the restaurant was practically vacant. There were maybe six other groups/couples in the huge restaurant, but we figured it was because the place was short staffed. (Probably hard to find a lot of employees out in this area.) We ended up having to wait like 30 minutes to get a seat. After that the service was ok, food ok. We ordered calamari for an appetizer, and it was super chewy, way more than normal. We also were served bread, which was nice. I think I ordered the filet, but they ended up being out of potatoes (how's that possible...) so I got a bunch of veggies as the side. My dad ordered a different steak and he said he was ok too. We've also eaten there for breakfast twice since it's the easiest. It's not bad. We both got the grand breakfast? I don't remember the name of it but it's the big combo. It's ok, nothing a over ordinary. It'll feed ya. All in all, if I had to eat here again I would, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I'd honestly rather eat in one of the lodges or at the El Tovar. Our ticket was only $5 cheaper at this place than it was at the El Tovar, so I'd rather go there than here. Plus the service was ten times better there.
(2)Mike C.
My jeep tour guide raved about this place. I'm guessing he's never been out of Tusayan. Perhaps it is the best in the area, but it's certainly not what I'm accustomed to. My Salmon was edible, but not really anything spectacular. A little overcooked. The accompanying veggies and potato were average.
(3)M S.
There aren't a lot of dining options at the Grand Canyon, obviously, so you may want to eat here if you have a large group of diners as the dining room is huge. The service was decent, not inspired. Everything moves a little slow in the Canyon Star but that's probably good as most of the diners are on vacation. The food is ok, but seriously way overpriced. I had a burger as it was one of the cheapest entrees. The hotel lobby is pretty cool to hang out, nice big fireplace to keep things cozy in winter. If I had to do it again, I'd eat at McD's.
(2)M M.
Stopped in with a friend on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We were looking for a good Happy Hour and figured this was probably the best choice. We came in and took a seat at the bar. The waitress and bartender failed to acknowledge us for close to 10 minutes. When she came, she said we should have flagged her down. Shouldn't she have realized there were people at the bar? We asked if there were any Happy Hour specials as it was 5:30pm. She said she would tell us what the specials were if there were a happy hour, but we missed it as it was from 2:30-5pm. We decided on 2 Coronas and the painted nachos to tie us over until we could find a real restaurant. The nachos were more like speckled- not painted nachos, like they were listed on the menu. There were specks of cheese and salsa, and there certainly wasn't enough to cover all of the chips. In addition, the chips were greasy. We quickly paid and made our way to a pizza buffet for more real food.
(1)Eliud R.
Got the buffalo brisket ($23) and if it wasn't for the BBQ sauce they "threw" on top of it it would have tasted like cardboard. Just go to Wendy's or something, better food more affordable.
(1)Michelle B.
It was Tuesday night, middle of January -- off season! Noticed that this town is just not that grand at all (minus the canyon, which is awesome). Don't get your hopes up for restaurant selection (alas, I digress). The restaurant was only a 1/5 occupied and yet a 30 minute wait. Ordered the steak, t-bone, and the Cowboy-up salad. Steak was gristly, veggies that came with were under-cooked. Salad was sent back as it was not as described, received a pile of iceberg lettuce, 3 slices of cucumber, and a couple shreds of cheese ($7) -- me thinks not. Would have sent back the $30 steak, but we were starving. Took way too long to get a check, we ended-up leaving cash on the table. No singing cowboy!!! Rude hostess. The two positives: the rolls were very good and the bartender Tony -- that we spent 30 minutes with in the saloon because of the wait to get in--was polite and explained the mismanagement of the Canyon Star. I'd say, skip the steak and head for fast-food. P.S.They do have a fine Grand Canyon Stout.
(1)Bob H.
I loved the filet mignon with red mashed potatoes, and the grilled veggies were fantastic. My daughter's Mac and cheese however was all wrong. Other daughter's burger was good, and wife's pasta dish very good. Tanqueray martini didn't turn out well, but the subsequent G&T was great. There was probably not enough staff...service was timely, and earnest, but i had the feeling the waiter was working extra hard for us. There is also something not right about the lighting; I understand why we need to use fluorescents, but in this hotel they seem to use the "cool" color too often. Needs candles maybe. With the right lighting, the hotel/dining would be nicer. Yay for the live entertainer, he gave the place its character. This would be four stars, except for the macaroni and maybe the lighting. The price was about 12% too high, but I'm on vacay at the Grand Canyon, baby.
(3)Perry M.
Shocking...Not enough staff. Bar area full with only one person working as a waitress and bartender. The staff were hoping we would just leave, which we did.
(1)David A.
Nice meal. Beautiful atmosphere, western theme and live music. Yummy rolls, decent pork chop and strip steak.
(4)Will L.
Surly bartender with some of the most pathetic service I've ever seen in a bar. Excellent beers on tap but would never go back.
(1)Chris F.
Horrible service in the bar! My wife is gulten free so we thought we would keep easy with a salad and no croutons well the salad came loaded with croutons. The bartenders were to busy flirting with each other then serving drinks or their own servers! Horrible bartenders!!
(1)Helene C.
1-star for the bar. 3 -star for the restaurant. The wait for 6 people from beginning to end was about 2hrs. The place seemed dead, but it was SLOW service. The bartender was extremely RUDE! She shut off juke box music, after we picked our selection and put in the money. She told us it was not allowed to be on, and she gave us no other explanation. Our server was nice, but it took an hour for our food to come. The food was ok, but nothing special. Please don't waste your time here.
(3)Victoria H.
Good hotel but pass on the restaurant. Brought my husbands entree 15 min ahead of mine then a second one for him w mine. Coffee pot at breakfast was only water, gave someone else our table while we were at the buffet which was barely edible. The staff was woefully unprepared for only a few patrons in the off season.
(1)Quentin B.
Service was aweful. Food was average but overpriced. Should have left in the first 20 minutes while we were waiting for someone to give us menus.
(1)Benjamin K.
Ok. The food is not mind boggling. It will not be the best meal you have ever had. But overall, in comparison to what else is offered in Tusayan, this is a good bet for a decent meal. The ribs were not bad. The steak was not bad. It was a decent meal which was amplified by the lousiness of all the other restaurants in the area. But what allows me to give these guys a 4 star review is in part due to the Native American entertainment. Also so, was the honesty and kindness exhibited by the staff here. I had left my camera and photo camera, well over $4,000 worth of equipment, at the table. Upon my arrival to the motel I realized I had left it at the restaurant. I freaked out imagining all my pictures gone with with the equipment . Working with photography, I did not even panic about the price of the equipment, but the priceless photographs that were on the memory card. None the less, I ran back to the restaurant. Upon my arrival I met the manager looking up my reservation in order to call me and tell me he has my things. The bus boys immediately gave it to the manager when they discovered the items on the table. I could not have felt a greater sigh of relief when I saw my things. Great staff, great entertainment and pretty good food.
(4)Kathy N.
Got stuck eating here because the host at the Bright Angel Lodge dining room in the Canyon said "15 minute" wait but then told us "Oh, I mean 50"- great- wasted time after dark with out of town guests and a ride back to Flagstaff ahead of us. So, having entered the park from the east side, we exited through Tusayan and began sizing up eateries. With two picky eaters in the party I left it up to them to choose- the steak house seemed the safest. The food was not bad, the server and hostess staff were polite and they even had a guitar soloist performing on a mid-April Tuesday night. I felt sorry for the server because the dining room was so enormous that he should have been given roller blades- there was no station nearby for the wait staff to obtain beverages, condiments, etc. What put this place over the edge on the red side of the scale was the fact that the menu stated that the steaks were Prime grade beef. Not. I know what prime beef looks like, tastes like, and cuts like, and this was not prime beef. I'm not sure it quite made Choice. The USDA abandoned mandatory beef grading decades ago and now it's something that's done by the industry. Our steaks were above roll grade, but not equal but the best marbled Choice. It reminded me of the time I went to a restaurant in NJ and ordered a three pound lobster- what perplexed me that time was that the price of a three pound lobster was exactly three times the price of a one pound lobster. Anybody who buys lobster knows that the larger the lobster, the higher the price per pound whether wholesale, retail, or in a restaurant (the only exception I know of being the Lobster House fish market in Cape May, NJ) Instead of a true three pound whole lobster my plate arrived with a one pound lobster flanked by two fully detached one pound lobster claws. (Lobster buyers also know that the claws are frequently sold detached at a much lower price than detached tails, or whole live lobsters.) Knowing I was being scammed, I explained to the waitress what was wrong with the picture and sent the lobster back. She kind of obfuscated in her response; I could tell she was embarrassed at the kitchen being found out. So, the beef at Canyon Star is like that lobster- advertised as one thing, but entirely something else in reality. Just to be sure I asked one of the diners, my cousin's daughter who worked as a server at Applebee's for three years. She pronounced the steaks as being a little bit better than Applebee's but hardly prime or worth the price paid. Lesson? Don't wait until after sundown if you want to eat at an iconic Harvey House restaurant in a national park, not unless you have a room in the park for the night and/or are not diabetic or hypoglycemic. Oh, and avoid the Canyon Star.
(2)Daniel D.
Food and service was pretty good - at least not disruptive. There was an inexplicable wait for a table at 8pm despite empty tables. I think the wait staff was short staffed. The food was pricey at $28 for a 16 oz rib eye and $12.50 for a grilled chicken sándwich but it is a tourist spot in the middle of nowhere and overpaying is expected. The room was big and clean and open and themed like a party barn. The bar was good. Overall, it was way better than the Yipee I O steakhouse just up the road. No contest.
(3)Stacy J.
Got here to a near half full dining room. They weren't very busy but the staff was clearly overwhelmed. One of the gentleman in our party ordered a beer but we were told the bartender was too busy to change out the keg so the ordered something different. We sat with empty glasses most of our meal & the waiter just kept telling us how busy he was so we didn't get even one refill. I actually got up at one point to get the water pitcher myself only to find it empty. My ribs were cold & covered in too much cold BBQ sauce that wasn't very good either. My husband & brother both ordered sandwiches that showed up sans cheese that they specifically ordered so that had to be fixed. The half chicken was small & just ok ditto for the buffalo brisket. It was over priced & underwhelming. I wouldn't waste my time or money.
(1)Ryan C.
fuck this place the end
(1)Leigh G.
This is the restaurant within the Grand Hotel. We ate here once for dinner and twice for breakfast this past week at the Grand Canyon. Breakfast came with our hotel stay at the Grand Hotel (and I recommend springing the extra couple bucks for that option - it'll save you some money!). They weren't running the buffet, so twice my husband and I had the three-egg omelettes, which comes with a side of toast and some seasoned potatoes. It will fill you up, and wasn't too greasy or runny - so it's a perfect way to start a day of hiking around the rim. Dinner was not great. I had one of the few vegetarian items on the menu (a mandarin orange salad), and the (non-vegetarian) potato soup. I thought the soup was great, but was not impressed with the salad which I think was pre-made bagged salad dressed up with some canned mandarin oranges, nut shavings, cheese, and craisins, topped with a watery (flavorless) dressing. It tasted about as good as that sounded - but regardless, kudos to them for having a vegetarian option. My husband had the BBQ chicken, which he gave me a taste of. It had a good flavor to it, and was one of the cheaper entrees on the menu ($16, I think), so all in all it didn't seem like a bad choice. It came with a side of potatoes and mixed veggies. He ate all the potatoes, so I guess they were good. I have no idea how this place is in summer, but it was dead empty all three times we were there. Dinner was the busiest time, but in that huge dining room there were maybe three or four other parties. Service was an OK speed, too. As Alex H. said, there aren't a lot of food options outside of the park. This was good, quiet, and succeeded in not giving me sticker shock (considering the markup necessary to match the isolated location!). I'd take this place over Bright Angel Lodge's restaurant any day!
(3)Alex H.
Once again, limited options in a small town. See review Yippee-ei-o! Steakhouse for the other steakhouse option. The options are a pasta/pizza place, cafe, and two steakhouses. More expensive than Yippee-ei-o which was $15 for a cowboy steak. The equivalent at The Canyon Star was $23. No gratuity added which is nice to decide for yourself what their service was worth. It comes with less sides. We had a mixed vegetables and a baked potato. Vegetable Medley: same anywhere you go Bake Potato: comes with a side of butter and sour cream, yup that is it Steak: tastier than Yippie and cooked well
(3)Christine W.
Last week was the 2nd time I had eaten here. The first time was nearly 7 years ago. Pretty much the same menu. The food is OK but too expensive . Service couldn't have been much better and they all were pleasant. Live entertainment during our meal was great....a singing cowboy!
(3)Danielle K.
**Review only for the Saloon** **5 stars for the bartender** **3.5 stars for food** **2 stars for management** We stayed at The Grand Hotel for 2 nights while visiting the Grand Canyon. I'm not sure what kind of monopoly the large chain of hotels here have, but I was shocked at the lack of food choices even in the area surrounding the park. So... you're looking at dinner choices with lots of 2-star steak houses popping up on yelp. Bummer! Since this place was right downstairs and had mediocre vs terrible reviews, we grabbed a table at the saloon both nights. I honestly don't think we could have found better dinner with 50 miles. Great beer selection including at least 4 local brews with lots of TVs playing sports. The bartender here is AMAZING. I know some other reviews have said she was short with them and the wait was long.... and yes, you'll need more 30min for a meal here. The bar that serves the saloon and the entire restaurant employs ONE person. ONE person for serving, seating, and clearing about 10 tables, the bar seating, and pouring drinks for the entire steakhouse attached. How she keeps her head on straight, I'm not sure. We had a bunch of appetizers, chili, burgers and many beers in the 2 nights here. Food is pretty good. My burger was cooked to order with lots of fun add-ons, fries were crispy and hot. Chili was homemade and plenty satisfying and the potato skins were downright amazing and a great deal. Four huge boats of cheesy, potato yumminess. Yes its a little pricey, but considering there isn't anything else around, I guess the existing restaurants can charge what they want. Assume you're basically at a ski resort. With all this tourist profit, I expect a little more from management. Maybe eventually the hotel can get rid of Monday night banjo music and hire a few more servers to accommodate the large tourist groups who wind up 'waiting' for a table even though there are plenty of empty tables in the restaurant, but they don't have the staff to seat them. That restaurant waitlist then files into the bar creating a mess for the server trying to take care of the costumers actually patronizing the saloon.
(4)Darlene P.
We just checked in and went to the bar for happy hour the potato skins were excellent and the service was superb
(5)Rachel E.
I can't even believe this place is in operation. Let me start by saying do not eat here... Just don't.... So you're staying in the hotel? There's a Wendy's next door which I could have gone to and come back and still not had my food here. We waited over 45 minutes for calamari and chicken wings. In all honesty it was probably closer to over an hour but I was keeping my hangry boyfriend calm through most of it. It's just ridiculous that management cares so little. Yes I spoke to a manager, no she never cared to check with us after leaving to 'find our food'... were they catching those free range Grand Canyon chickens to order and fishing the squid out of the Colorado river? Who knows she never came back. Whatever the case may be, those poor chickens were burnt rubbery shells of their former delicious selves... and calamari was cold. Another yelper said it best... you're a moron to eat here after this review. We are those morons, save yourselves...
(1)Suzi G.
Since there are slim pickings in this area, I opted for convenience and didn't expect much. There was a wait for a table (even though the restaurant looked empty) so I went to the saloon where as others have mentioned, the bartender serves the saloon and restaurant, but does everything for the saloon (orders, table service, food). Although the saloon was also pretty empty, there was a significant wait for service due to the severe understaffing. I ordered salad, chicken tortilla soup (very good) and bacon wrapped shrimp (overcooked and sad). I gave away the shrimp to a group of guys that came to watch baseball and couldn't finish the bowl of soup (substantial size and totally worth ordering). Intrigued by the Grand Canyon wine, I ordered a glass despite the overpricing. It tasted fine, but definitely overpriced. Nice beer selection also. The best thing about this bar is the random saddle bar stools interspersed with normal chairs. I would have sat in one if I wasn't wearing a skirt.
(3)Justice S.
Oddly slow service considering we're far from a populated area. Sitting at the bar and folks keep coming up to repeatedly request their checks. Apparently no one wants to bring checks and people are begging to leave. We ordered a "quick" appetizer of tortilla chips and queso. Took three inquiries and 40 keep minutes and when it arrived it had a thick skin of, I guess, Velveeta microwaved congeal. Sent it back. On a positive note, Long Island iced teas were on point. The 2 stars are strictly for the drinks.
(1)Steve S.
A GREAT Ribeye with Peppercorn Bleu Cheese butter & a tangy Chipotle Caesar Salad was perfect after a long day at the Canyon. It was late & we weren't too hungry so the waitress split both plates without an additional charge & surely with more sides for each half of the steak than would've been if served as a single portion. The Merlot she recommened was very smooth & went perfectly with the Ribeye, grilled perfectly to the Rare side of Medium-Rare. The bread served prior was tasty with an essence of rosemary, and the local IPA was a nice thirst quencher. Lastly, the guitarist playing selections of Johnny Cash and other old greats through dinner was nice as well.
(4)Tara T.
We stayed at the holiday Inn express a couple nights ago and asked the hotel staff about the steakhouse up the road and we were referred to Canyon Star, right across the street. Upon arrival, the only host was outside the front door smoking a cigarette and followed us inside smelling of cigarettes to seat us. This could have been looked over had the service not been so slow. We were served stale old hard bread and we're seated for a good 10-15 minutes to place a drink and dinner order. We ordered a burger and we're told it could not be served medium due to an e-coli scare so we opted for the only other option-medium well. The burger came out tougher than usual as if it had been cooked first thing in the morning along with the bread and re-heated upon our ordering. The tomatoes were soft and old along with the pickle that appeared to have been sitting out for days. The only saving grace was the 16oz blue moon I ordered. The live banjo player was kinda neat too. I'm pretty sure hotel staff get referral points for referring people to this restaurant. The host took down our name and room number and hotel we were staying at.
(1)Jamie L.
This review is for the Saloon not the restaurant. So all the restaurant options in the area have 2-3 stars on Yelp. Slim pickin's. We were staying at the Grand Hotel and figured it's pretty hard to have a terrible time at the hotel bar, especially if they serve food. -It's expensive. 4 beers, an appetizer, and a burger cost upwards of $70. -There was only one bartender/server and service was REALLY slow, but still friendly. -I asked if I could have my burger cooked medium and apparently the kitchen only cooks one temperature (medium well). Overall the food was ok. While this may sound like a bad review, I still think this was one of the better options in the area. Although for $70 we probably should have gone to one of the steakhouses.
(2)Trevor K.
First it took 15 minutes to put in our order because they were short staffed. We ordered two burgers and a Caesar salad. One burger showed up cold and the other never arrived. The Caesar salad had onions and tomatoes. Not exactly a caesar. Quality was mediocre at best. The server snapped at my girlfriend once and the manager yelled at the table next to us. Stay away. It's not worth it.
(1)John R.
Thought I wouldn't have to write a review of this place... we are staying at hotel in the same building. Sat down at 530. First table to sit down. The food took longer than an hour to get. Even with simple items such as chili and a chicken sandwhich. The service Is terrible, as the server never came back to let us know of the situation. Never came to refill our drinks. Good was okay.. chili was layered with about a half pound of cheese on top and was served cold
(1)Abby K.
My husband and I were staying at the hotel and were hungry. We looked at the menu and thought it would be a great place. Too bad we didn't look at the reviews prior. This place sucks and is not cheap. It first started when we had asked to be seated at a booth. The guy said no because all the remaining booths were reserved for reservations. From start to finish, more than half the booths were not being used. Then, my husband ordered the ribeye which he thought was just OK. his baked potato however was horrible. It was very dry. I ordered the salmon and on the menu it says it came with a blueberry sauce. The "sauce" consisted of pico de gallo w a few blueberries. It was not a sauce at all. When I asked the waiter if he had any type of sauce he said no. The only thing that tasted good was the black bean soup. Would not recommend this place to anybody. Take your money and eat somewhere else.
(1)Charlene W.
This place doesnt deserve the poor ratings. Fresh bread was brought immediately and the berry salad was delish. Our waiter was great. This is the best south rim option for sure!!!
(5)Donalt B.
Ambiance: Typical,cliched South West yeehaw steak house. Big wooden tables, dark steak house lighting. Service: The staff is dead inside. I would be too if I lived up in that area of Arizona. They all acting like they were on death row. With that said, they weren't rude, but you could tell they hated their life/job. They seemed understaffed, as everytime we'd wait forever to place the order, get the order and pay the order. A dining experience that should take an hour took 2 hours bell to bell because of timeliness. It took 40 minutes one morning for them to report back they were out of cinnamon rolls. Poor people, and myself included. Food: A notch below Applebees, with no love or creativity. Now I realize cowboy yippie-yi-cowboy food is supposed to be meat-n-potatoes plain, this all seemed frozen food brought back to life. Wasn't rancid, but was pretty sad. Price: For a tourist trap, priced normally. For the quality of the food, way over priced. Overall: Sadly, there are no options in this area, so bite the bullet or pack your own food. You aren't going to want to drive to Flagstaff for a decent restaurant.
(2)Rick R.
Food was good (we had firecracker shrimp, pork chop, and burger). Staff was really nice, but the overall service experience was definitely a bit odd (we had to wait 15 min for a table even though there were many open tables). Update: Came back a second time and had the pork tenderloin skewers - they were charred, rubbery, and a tiny serving. Way overpriced. Wait staff was too flustered to handle complaints.
(2)Rick M.
We got to the restaurant at 4:30 and the bar was the only thing open. I asked the bar tender where we could get something to eat. He replied very rudely "somewhere else I don't know McDonalds we don't open till 5pm" needles to say we left and went to Big E's steak house and received good service.
(1)Jurgen V.
If you like a really cold place to eat this us the spot... Food is good and the salade excellent. Live music was nice and not desturbing.
(3)Loren A.
This place has great burgers and beer. However they lose 3 stars for lousy service. It took up to 45 minutes until our burgers arrived. We were in kind of a hurry since we had helicopter reservations to see the Grand Canyon. I informed the waitress of the time crunch. However with all that waiting, I was tempted to just leave and go to Wendy's right across the street. Wow. The waitress appeared to be in a foul mood. We asked for water twice and she snapped at us. Then when it was time to go, I asked for a box...twice. The waitress held out her finger and said "just hold on!" in a rude way.
(2)Mary B.
We were starving after catching the sunset at the GC. This was one of the only places open in town where we stayed. The food was pretty good, a bit pricey though. Friendly service.
(5)Doug B.
All of the restaurants in town are on the bad side, but this is one of the better ones. Don't misunderstand me. This place wouldn't survive in a non tourist town. The food was OK, but pricey. $35 for a steak that is Golden Coral level for example. We had potato skins, cheeseburger, small salad, ribs, and steak. All were OK,but nothing great. Beer list was surprisingly long. Banjo player was excellent.
(3)Mark B.
Do not believe the previously posted reviews, it is much worse. We came into Tusayan and just decided to settle for dinner at the hotel. My pork chop was slightly dry but edible, the ribs were good but can not recommend the soup,or chili. The food was adequate at best. We should have stopped when we were ahead but tempted lunch with breakfast. We waited over ten minutes for the waiter to take out order and were greeted with are you in a hurry not even a good morning. There was only 5 other tables in the place that were occupied. We placed our order. One order of oatmeal two orders of eggs and one french toast and coffee and juice. Another ten minutes for coffee to be brought. Over easy eggs had the yolks broke and and were over hard, sunny side up were fried eggs. Hash browns were ice cold. The pancakes ( came with the eggs) looked good but syrup or butter was never brought. No butter for the French toast and refill for the coffee was asked as we got the check. The staff just seemed uninterested in serving. Very disappointing for a $65 breakfast for four were one order was a bowl of oatmeal.
(1)Rachel S.
They are totally taking advantage of their location and being one of the only restaurants in the area. The food was good, but it was most definitely not worth the price. Service was good, except for the cowboy singing the entire time.
(2)Stephen S.
Horrible! 2 hour wait and left without eating. It took 30 minutes to get seated when the dinning room was less then 1/2 full and had to request a table a 2nd time. Waited 30 minutes for a waiter to take an order. 1 hour later left without seeing the waiter or dinner.
(1)Andrea A.
Excellent food, classy ambiance. Almost didn't eat here because of bad reviews. But everything we ate was superb. From the spicy Caesar salad and black bean soup to fabulous swordfish, salmon, ribs and steak. Our group of seven was delighted!!
(5)Diana S.
The reviews were pretty spot on. The service was slow and neglectful, the food was so-so and the guy playing banjo was almost a joke! I ordered the steak and mashed and it was fine. The hubby got a side salad and the wings which he enjoyed. The kids got a burger (not a hit) and chicken tenders (blah). It certainly was not a $110 meal. We did like the ambiance of the place if only the music were upbeat and fun....
(2)Virginia H.
Too much seemed like it came out of a freezer considering the cost. Service also just adequate. The buffalo brisket was no longer available. Not coming back
(2)Christopher P.
Service is so slow. The servers are not happy to be working here. I literally waited 30 minutes waiting for the check. My family went to bed. The food was actually pretty good. We went with the burger to keep it simple. As I was leaving i wanted to see it the hostess would say thanks or have a good evening but she simply stared blankly at me.
(1)Vi N.
Boyfriend and I, and a couple of friends stayed at the hotel for a weekend. Tired and hungry from our long drive by the time we checked in we didn't bother looking around for places to eat. We went straight to the restaurant. The place was EMPTY maybe only like 4 tables that actually had people sitting there. Walked up to the host and he said to us the wait would be 20-30 minutes. Really? There are at least 20 tables in your restaurant that aren't occupied! 45 minutes later, we finally get seated. 30 minutes after that the waiter takes our order. The food came out quick luckily, since we were starving by this point. Ordered some wings, burgers, potato skins. We scarfed down our food, I couldn't even tell you if it was actually good. After he cleared our table, the waiter waited probably another good 45 minutes before he brought us our check. There isn't much competition restaurant-wise in the area, so maybe they don't feel they need to provide better customer service. There's a Wendy's across the street and a Pizza Hut just down the road, you'll have better luck there.
(2)K S.
Sat in bar area with family. Service wasn't the best but the bartender did get a lot of people walking in at once. The restaurant was dead but we wanted to watch some tv too. We had the "homemade pizza" definitely not like Pizza Bianco in Phoenix! We aso split the potato skins and it was very crunchy-it's apparently fried instead of baked. My son got the kids cheeseburger and fries with milk. The cheeseburger looked pretty good and was huge. The fries were meh. Likely frozen fries. I think it should get 2.5 stars but can't give give 1/2 stars!
(2)Shelby P.
Our family stopped here to eat only to find an underwhelming selection with overwhelming prices. We left before we tried anything- no one looked particularly thrilled to be there. When we first approached the host, our waiter to be, John, was whispering to the Host that he didn't want another table, then declared "it's fine" with a sigh. Once we were seated, my mom asked if there were any specials and he said, "we don't have Specials, we have specialties" to which she clarified, "something like prime rib on Saturdays?". John then shared- "no, but it would sure be nice if we had prime rib". We left 5 dollars on the table and explained to John that we couldn't find anything to fit our appetite. I think I caught a hint of jealousy/envy in the faces of the remaining customers.
(2)Frankie S.
Three out of four diners agree, the service may have been lacking but (for this area) the food was four-star superb! This is because the fourth diner never received his meal... Seriously - it never came and neither the kitchen or the waitress realized this until one of my party marched into the kitchen and said something... With that said, here are the cons: the service was terribly slow considering the place was deserted and the waitress only had two tables, the "entertainment" came in the form of a singing guitarist who was more chit chat than song, and an entire steak went on the lam. When the missing steak finally made its grand entrance, it was perfectly cooked and the veggies were well seasoned. In the end, the waitress was terribly nice and the food was delish! I recommend staying away from the potato and wheat roll bread basket and skipping right to an app. We settled on a bubbling bread bowl filled with spinach dip served with tricolor tortilla chips. The ribeye and filet mignon were great and they had a hearty kids menu to boot. I recommend the lemonade if you're not looking to imbibe - I'm pretty sure it came fresh squeezed but that could just be the bottle of Argentinian Malbec talking...
(3)A J.
I have to say I'm really surprised by all of the bad reviews. We stayed in the grand hotel, and were pleasantly surprised at how good the restaurant was, considering that the hotel is nothing special. The steaks were every bit as good as ruth's chris. Our server was very friendly, and the ambience was pleasant. If you stay at the grand hotel, or anywhere nearby, this steakhouse is a must.
(5)Lars H.
There is unfortunately a complete mismatch among the restaurants decor end even live entertaining and the service and food at horrible prices. We ate a dinner and breakfast as guests at the hotel and we will for sure not come back. It could have been a great experience in these surroundings but was not. Slow and imprecise service, not well prepared food of mediocre quality and extremely overpriced.
(1)R D.
The service was bad, the waitress couldn't have cared less; the bread was inedible. Prices were extremely high. The banjo player was unobtrusive and added to room ambiance. They know you are trapped eating there because the best restaurant in town is Wendy's.
(1)Bill W.
Came here for dinner on a recommendation from a local. Just going to list the problems we had, it's easier. 1. Hostess showed us to the table, put a stack of menus on the table and left without a word. 2. Restaurant was about 25% full took waiter 10 minutes to greet us. 3. Friday night dinner at 7:00pm and they were out of Jack Daniels. 4. The table ordered soup and dinner; steaks, jambalaya and pork tenderloin skewers. How hard is that? The menu is also pretty limited too. 5. A full 30 minutes later the steaks and dinner came out. No soup yet though. 6. When the Tortilla Soup came out (after the entrees) it was little more than chicken vegetable out of a can with tortilla strips on top. Not even as good as Campbell's soup. 7. The ribeye was the toughest one I've ever eaten. The mashed potatoes were starchy mush but the steamed veggies were actually decent. 8. The jambalaya was basically the tortilla soup with some chicken strips, sausage and rice and a hell of a lot of cayenne pepper. Overall a super hot bland abortion. 9. Pork Tenderloin on Skewers...ugh, maybe 4 ounces of pork stripped and cut with the grain making them tough as heck...like pork jerky with prickly pear jelly. 10. Finally, $130 later...we let the waiter know we were pretty disappointed and he said "sorry, we kinda had a rush"...really? Those two tables that got seated on Friday night was your rush?!?! Oh and the. Another 15 minutes we waited for him to pick up the check. I WOULD AVOID THIS RESTAURANT LIKE THE PLAGUE...It is WAAAAY OVERPRICED for the food quality and the service was really bad. Next time, go for a double cheeseburger at Wendy's...you'll be way happier you did.
(1)Michael W.
Where do I start. First of all I asked the Hostess, if I should make a reservation and she said, NO, we will have plenty of seating. So my date and I arrived, the place was pretty much empty and the host told me there will be a 30 minutes wait. I looked at my lady perplexed and confused. Anyways, we preceded to be seated cause the other people waiting didn't show up. The food and experience was awful. The steak was grey and the pasta dish was awful. I would not recommend this place even to my enemies. Complete waste of time.
(1)Reed A.
Hidden. Gem. Although many of the reviews are resoundingly negative this place is actually pretty good. One tip: the "Saloon" which is located a few feet from the restaurant does not serve the full menu, I'm not sure why but I can only assume that Saloons just don't serve steak. Also a good place to saddle up, you'll have to see it to know what I mean. The food in the restaurant was very good, steak was perfectly cooked and the service was friendly, fast and attentive. ALSO, world class live entertainment and decor. You probably won't have to worry about getting a table, the place is pretty expansive, oddly so even. If you're lookin for a place to grab some food after a long day in the canyon, don't be afraid of the ratings and give it a try, we were happy we did.
(3)Alaina G.
My dad and I were drawn to the upscale exterior of this hotel and restaurant and decided to eat here for dinner on 12/22. When we arrived in the restaurant, the host, Leland, was quiet and struggled to find us a table in a nearly empty restaurant. He warned us that our server had several tables and we would have to be patient. After 6-7 minutes, David greeted us and brought us water and said "thanks for being patient" (heard that like 5 times throughout the meal). Then he left and returned another 8-9 minutes later to take our drink order. Then he left AGAIN and returned 8-9 minutes later to take our actual order. At this point, my dad and I were ready to walk out. I tried to call our server over to ask him about the status of our meal, and he made eye contact and ignored me. 5-7 minutes later our spinach artichoke dip (really nasty) came out and David complained about how many tables he had and blamed the holiday season for the slow, poor service. About 10 minutes later, our plate was cleared and my dad was served a very very tiny side salad. Our entrees finally came out and my calamari was terribly rubbery and inedible. I called David over and told him I refused to eat it. He kept offering to remake it or get me something else, but I was so done by now. My dad had gotten up amidst my conversation with David and found the manager to express our dissatisfaction with the meal. She comped the bill and we got up and walked out. Save yourself the money and hit up the local McDonald's instead.
(1)Lisa A.
I didn't go to this restaurant on the first night of my stay based on Yelp reviews. However, on the second night, I went out of sheer laziness and wished I had gone the night before as well. I had the Dynamite shrimp as an appetizer, tried some of the Spinach and artichoke dip, the Green Chile shrimp pasta as an entree, and tried the Chipotle Caesar salad with chicken added. The chicken was cold in the salad. The Dynamite Shrimp was amazing! I wanted to order more but I had the pasta to eat which was equally amazing! The portion for the pasta was pretty large so I ended up taking half of it back to my room. The restaurant was connected to a bar and had some pretty good drink options and a few appetizing specials. I didn't get any because I was pretty full. Live entertainment was there - a guy playing the guitar. The restaurant is very big so you won't feel crowded sitting in there. A good bit of the space is set aside for a dance floor. The meal was priced on par with the rest of the area which I considered reasonable. The waiter was very quick, friendly, and attentive. I'd definitely go back to this restaurant again. It was one of the best dishes I had in Tusayan/Grand Canyon.
(4)Kathleen H.
Prompt friendly service. Steak was well seasoned and rare as ordered. Salad with berries, pecans & greens was excellent. Prices are standard for tourist area. Good selection of wine & beers (on tap).
(4)Miki A.
I would give zero stars if I could. There were very few people in the restaurant yet it took forever to be seated. Our waiter decided to chat for 15 mins to the table next to ours but when he came it our table he was cold, curt and extremely unfriendly. He didn't ask us about drinks, appetizers or anything just took our order begrudgingly and left. Our food was bland and my friends steak was greasy and over done. For the price, it was a waste of money much like leaving a tip the horrible service we received. Avoid this place. Its waste of time and money.
(1)Jennifer M.
Service was not great at all. We came on a Saturday night and there were about 10 tables filled but it still took about 10 minutes for the server to come over. We asked the food runner what type of bread he gave us and he didn't know. The bread was so stale and we asked for new bread and that also was stale. The waiter would be walking away from our table as we were talking to him. For the price they are charging it was certainly not worth it.
(2)Erica L.
Not much to choose from this town but honestly please save yourself the money and go to Wendys. Im not trying to be harsh or rude, but even our server literally said she didnt like anything on the menu. I would have walked out at that point but honestly we had driven hours and were starving. Everything was aweful.... except our wine lol. We enjoyed ourselves because we were in our own world and not expecting anything good. But our server never came back once to refil water or ask about the food (I assumed she knew the answer haha). Only to drop the check about an hour and a half later. Please trust me your better off at wendys.
(1)Mac M.
The service was terrible and the food mediocre. Your hotel will recommend it as one of the best places in town. I am certain that the hotel personnel is given a kickback for every table they refer! I am not sure if there are any good options in town but go for something less expensive. This place is not worth the spend!!!
(1)Russell B.
I almost did not eat here due to the bad reviews. I am glad I came here. The price is great, the food is great, & a large choice of some great draft beers. The service was very relaxed yet fast. Not overly busy. My friend had the buffalo brisket & I had the ribs, both were great. I will absolutely eat here again.
(5)Brandon D.
Fuck this place! Cole slaw was older then the Grand Canyon. Some tweeker was our sever and he was high as a kite. If you enjoy a healthy life stay away.
(1)Steve P.
We dined once in the restaurant and watched football a couple of nights in the bar. The bar was nice and clean and had a friendly environment. The local beer was good, the wine selection and prices were fine and our server, Ashley, was friendly. We tried the pizza in the bar. Their menu says "Forgetaboutit". I agree. It was just okay. I would recommend another selection off their menu for snacking during the game. The main restaurant was another story. The food was excellent. The rib eye was super tender and tasty. We told the server that my wife and I were going to split the rib-eye and a salad. They split the rib eye in half and served us our own plates with the sides equally divided. We were quite happy with the presentation and service. One thing though....The prices were quite high. But, this is a steak house and the quality was excellent.
(4)Felicia M.
We stayed in the hotel on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Came down to the bar for Happy Hour on Friday evening and we were 2 of 6 people in the entire bar. That kind of frightens me, but we persevered and ordered some beers and snacks. The beers were large and they had a couple of nice local brews on tap. Our snacks were buffalo wings and the artichoke dip. They took quite a while to come out, and when they did, the dip was piping hot but the wings were about room temperature. At least they were half price. Our server seemed like she was used to people who are going to be nasty to her - kind of defensive. Once we proved that we were low maintenance and not going to be rude to her, she opened up a bit and seemed to actually not be put out by waiting on us. Probably wouldn't eat here again, but it was convenient and did the trick when we were too tired to go anywhere else.
(3)Karen D.
Stayed at the Grand Hotel with kids and was pleasantly surprised by Canyon Star. I had bacon wrapped shrimp and my husband had a rib eye. Portions were substantial and food was tasty. I gave 5 stars because the staff went out of their way to please my picky kids. We'll definitely be back next time we visit the Grand Canyon.
(5)Melanie H.
We had two GREAT experiences at the bar and restaurant while staying at another hotel. We came for dinner on a Saturday night and the food was absolutely delicious. The main reason for the five stars come from Sunday. We were staying at the Best Western across the street which advertises their NFL ticket. Well for other Arizonians, we know games start at 10. They would not open until 12 so we called across the street. The staff was great and our server Barry was amazing. They opened up the bar literally four hours early for us so we could watch the game and service was fantastic. We really couldn't have asked for better treatment.
(5)Akson M.
This place is awful. The staff is unfriendly and slow. My party wanted a large, hot breakfast after a night of camping in the Grand Canyon - so we drove into town. The host was half-asleep and grumpy that we woke him up to be seated. Our waiter took forever to get to our table despite only less than a dozen diners, 2-3 tables being seated. Coffee came quickly, but my sister waited 40 minutes for her orange juice. I had to prompt another waiter for her juice because our waiter was no where to be found. I'm glad they left the pot of coffee at our table or I'm sure we would have waited eons for refills. Still we looked forward to our breakfast. It was almost an hour after placing our order before we got our meals. We were so disappointed. 1) My steak was way overcooked. (I ordered medium.) It was dry like the beef jerky I had in my hiking backpack from the canyon. 2) I ordered eggs over easy and again they were overcooked. So were my sister's omelet. 3) My sister's fiance chicken-fried steak was mediocre and had too little gravy. 4) Everything was under-seasoned, especially the country potatoes. Some potatoes pieces were still cold! 5) I ordered a side of bacon and thank god it wasn't raw or burnt to a crisp. But I did have to point out that my bacon had been missing my dish arrived and our waiter had to make another trip. As we tried to choke down our underwhelming food, other diners were routinely sat down at tables around us. We witnessed and overheard similar unpleasantries - forgotten silverware, vanishing waiters, rude when present and bad food. I think we should stayed at camp and cooked by fire. We would have had faster access to food, better tasting food too. We were just jaded from camping and hoped that a restaurant attached to a big, fancy hotel would have decent food and service. We were terribly disappointed that we got neither.
(1)Lisa A.
We had dinner here last night while staying at hotel. We all had steak which was actually pretty good. Bread was awesome. The waitress was super friendly and spent lots of time giving us tips and ideas for the Grand Canyon. It is a little pricey for the area, but there are very options for dinner.
(3)Luen C.
Okay so this place got rated really low but not sure why. I was a tourist of the grand canyon and I thought the food was great and the service too. I had the Filet Mignon and it was excellent. The waiter talked to us beyond just getting our food and it was a pleasant experience. I asked for sweet tea and the waiter realized there was none sweet tea made so he made us a fresh pot just for our table. Not a fan of country music either, but the background noise of the live country music was relaxing and it fit the resturaunt great.
(5)D C.
In a word. Terrible!
(1)Greg O.
Read lots of mixed reviews, but our meal (and service) was good. Live music, friendly staff. Went with the family (incl 3 kids) and we got in and out for $115 all in. Kids had wings, filet mignon and salmon. My wife had buffalo brisket (excellent!) and I had jambalaya (also very good). Pretty decent food for a town filled with nothing but steak houses...
(4)John D.
Read every bad review here and take it to heart. Outside of the novelty of the décor and the entertainment, a singing cowboy who makes Leon Redbone sound like he's on speed, this was a horrible experience from beginning to end. The reviews here warned us. The bartender at the hotel bar to which this is attached warned us, but my companion was tired of driving and we were in the hotel already so we ate. And we waited. We had an 8 o'clock reservation, but weren't seated until 8:25 even though there seemed to be plenty of seats. Our server seemed especially nervous, as if she was afraid to take our order. Little did I know she was probably shell-shocked from previous customer experiences. Cut to the chase: The salads came out with dressing in the salad instead of on the side as requested. Then the filet mignon, requested at Medium well, was charred to a crisp. It took so long to come out, we couldn't re-order. The waitress seemed flustered and for some reason offered us a smaller children's portion. We declined. When the check came, it was sans the steak, but I had the manager come out and he also comped us my entrée, the Jambalaya which was surprisingly decent and half the price of everything else. Choices are slim in the Grand Canyon, but any choice would be better than this.
(1)M J.
Excellent food and service. The steak was cooked to perfection. The ribs were melt in your mouth with a delicious barbecue sauce. We were very pleased with our meal. Recommend it highly.
(4)Amber G.
Went for Happy Hour ( 4pm-6pm daily )while staying here at the hotel. They have half price well drinks, beers, wine, wings, potato skins, and artichoke dip. We ordered the wings in BBQ sauce, and a bowl of their homemade chili and sweet corn bread. The chili and cornbread arrived, took a nice big bite, and it was ICE COLD, like from the fridge cold. As we waited for the server I took a bite of the cornbread and it was soggy and stale, like it was heated in the microwave....and come to find out, it was, as admitted by our server !! Also, the server said that the kitchen told him the chili was not done but they told him to serve it to us anyway...lol !!! Wings came out 25 minutes later, lukewarm chicken and cold from the fridge sauce poured all over, such a shame. This place was not busy, we were even the first guests of the evening ordering food, and there were only 2 other tables occupied the whole time we were there. The food was taken off the bill and everyone there was really nice about the situation. I would not recommend eating from the bar menu, just stick to drinks at happy hour.
(2)Boris D.
Mediocre at best. Service is very spotty and so is the food, based on four different orders at two sittings. However, the setting and live background western music is nice. Music and convenience are the main reason to eat at this place NOT the food or service. For the price you pay, one deserves better!
(2)Kim K.
This place is reeeeeeal hokey. The service was dreadful and the food was completely lackluster. The place is so huge but not full at all so the patrons are seated far away from one another. Great for privacy but crappy for attentive service. You are almost instantly forgotten about. Also bad for bussing - tables were left uncleaned way after the diners had left. Oh, and totally overpriced, as much is in the Grand Canyon. The only thing that saved this place was the guy playing Johnny Cash covers on the banjo.
(2)David A.
Nice meal. Beautiful atmosphere, western theme and live music. Yummy rolls, decent pork chop and strip steak.
(4)Will L.
Surly bartender with some of the most pathetic service I've ever seen in a bar. Excellent beers on tap but would never go back.
(1)Chris F.
Horrible service in the bar! My wife is gulten free so we thought we would keep easy with a salad and no croutons well the salad came loaded with croutons. The bartenders were to busy flirting with each other then serving drinks or their own servers! Horrible bartenders!!
(1)Helene C.
1-star for the bar. 3 -star for the restaurant. The wait for 6 people from beginning to end was about 2hrs. The place seemed dead, but it was SLOW service. The bartender was extremely RUDE! She shut off juke box music, after we picked our selection and put in the money. She told us it was not allowed to be on, and she gave us no other explanation. Our server was nice, but it took an hour for our food to come. The food was ok, but nothing special. Please don't waste your time here.
(3)Victoria H.
Good hotel but pass on the restaurant. Brought my husbands entree 15 min ahead of mine then a second one for him w mine. Coffee pot at breakfast was only water, gave someone else our table while we were at the buffet which was barely edible. The staff was woefully unprepared for only a few patrons in the off season.
(1)Marlina S.
This place is a complete joke. They take advantage of tourists coming in and out and eating here because there aren't many other places to eat. I ordered a cheese burger with slaw. What I got was this disgusting cardboard texture of a patty (I'm pretty certain had been frozen for some time). The slaw was the WORSE! it was OLD and smelly and just wrong. Come on! you expect people to actually eat this shit?! If you don't want to get sick, DO NOT COME HERE. Go to McDonald's, Wendy's, or Pizza Hut. Gordon Ramsay would have a heart attack at this place.
(1)Ashley S.
Two stars because there is a full bar & I had just completed 3 hours on the Grand Canyon trail with 3 kids under 10. The glass my merlot came in allowed for a generous portion which was much appreciated at the time. To say service is slow would be the understatement of the year, and my family was his only table for a good half hour, but he had to walk a quarter of a mile across the room to get anything for us which increased our wait time drastically & by the time his second table arrived, forget a refill. The food was mediocre at best. The artichoke & spinach dip was pretty good, but I was starving, so my judgement could've been skewed. Kids had chicken tenders & hamburgers, but looked to be straight from the freezer. Hubby & I had steaks, and I've never seen filet mignon look quite like that. Both were cooked properly, but they were poor grades of meat for sure. All in, for an appetizer, 1 glass of wine, 2 soft drinks, 2 kids meals and 2 "steak" dinners = $125 Not. Worth. It.
(1)John S.
This is a Good Three Star, not a Bad Three Star. You won't get earth-shattering culinary greatness here. But you will get a nice burger, some live music, and decent ambiance in the massive Canyon Star Restaurant. With limited options in the Grand Canyon limits, you can get a serviceable meal here and not feel like you're getting ripped off. Unfortunately, the service was dreadfully slow, but this is what I would expect from the bevvy of college students that come in from around the country to work at this place over the summer. Be prepared to wait about 45 minutes for your sandwich and fries. Thankfully, a nice man with a banjo will keep you entertained.
(3)Mike C.
My jeep tour guide raved about this place. I'm guessing he's never been out of Tusayan. Perhaps it is the best in the area, but it's certainly not what I'm accustomed to. My Salmon was edible, but not really anything spectacular. A little overcooked. The accompanying veggies and potato were average.
(3)Tori C.
I wasn't that impressed with this place, but it wasn't too bad. The first night my dad and I stayed at the hotel we tried to go down and eat dinner around 8pm. They asked if we had a reservation and we said no. But we didn't think that would make a difference because the restaurant was practically vacant. There were maybe six other groups/couples in the huge restaurant, but we figured it was because the place was short staffed. (Probably hard to find a lot of employees out in this area.) We ended up having to wait like 30 minutes to get a seat. After that the service was ok, food ok. We ordered calamari for an appetizer, and it was super chewy, way more than normal. We also were served bread, which was nice. I think I ordered the filet, but they ended up being out of potatoes (how's that possible...) so I got a bunch of veggies as the side. My dad ordered a different steak and he said he was ok too. We've also eaten there for breakfast twice since it's the easiest. It's not bad. We both got the grand breakfast? I don't remember the name of it but it's the big combo. It's ok, nothing a over ordinary. It'll feed ya. All in all, if I had to eat here again I would, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I'd honestly rather eat in one of the lodges or at the El Tovar. Our ticket was only $5 cheaper at this place than it was at the El Tovar, so I'd rather go there than here. Plus the service was ten times better there.
(2)M S.
There aren't a lot of dining options at the Grand Canyon, obviously, so you may want to eat here if you have a large group of diners as the dining room is huge. The service was decent, not inspired. Everything moves a little slow in the Canyon Star but that's probably good as most of the diners are on vacation. The food is ok, but seriously way overpriced. I had a burger as it was one of the cheapest entrees. The hotel lobby is pretty cool to hang out, nice big fireplace to keep things cozy in winter. If I had to do it again, I'd eat at McD's.
(2)M M.
Stopped in with a friend on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We were looking for a good Happy Hour and figured this was probably the best choice. We came in and took a seat at the bar. The waitress and bartender failed to acknowledge us for close to 10 minutes. When she came, she said we should have flagged her down. Shouldn't she have realized there were people at the bar? We asked if there were any Happy Hour specials as it was 5:30pm. She said she would tell us what the specials were if there were a happy hour, but we missed it as it was from 2:30-5pm. We decided on 2 Coronas and the painted nachos to tie us over until we could find a real restaurant. The nachos were more like speckled- not painted nachos, like they were listed on the menu. There were specks of cheese and salsa, and there certainly wasn't enough to cover all of the chips. In addition, the chips were greasy. We quickly paid and made our way to a pizza buffet for more real food.
(1)Eliud R.
Got the buffalo brisket ($23) and if it wasn't for the BBQ sauce they "threw" on top of it it would have tasted like cardboard. Just go to Wendy's or something, better food more affordable.
(1)Michelle B.
It was Tuesday night, middle of January -- off season! Noticed that this town is just not that grand at all (minus the canyon, which is awesome). Don't get your hopes up for restaurant selection (alas, I digress). The restaurant was only a 1/5 occupied and yet a 30 minute wait. Ordered the steak, t-bone, and the Cowboy-up salad. Steak was gristly, veggies that came with were under-cooked. Salad was sent back as it was not as described, received a pile of iceberg lettuce, 3 slices of cucumber, and a couple shreds of cheese ($7) -- me thinks not. Would have sent back the $30 steak, but we were starving. Took way too long to get a check, we ended-up leaving cash on the table. No singing cowboy!!! Rude hostess. The two positives: the rolls were very good and the bartender Tony -- that we spent 30 minutes with in the saloon because of the wait to get in--was polite and explained the mismanagement of the Canyon Star. I'd say, skip the steak and head for fast-food. P.S.They do have a fine Grand Canyon Stout.
(1)Bob H.
I loved the filet mignon with red mashed potatoes, and the grilled veggies were fantastic. My daughter's Mac and cheese however was all wrong. Other daughter's burger was good, and wife's pasta dish very good. Tanqueray martini didn't turn out well, but the subsequent G&T was great. There was probably not enough staff...service was timely, and earnest, but i had the feeling the waiter was working extra hard for us. There is also something not right about the lighting; I understand why we need to use fluorescents, but in this hotel they seem to use the "cool" color too often. Needs candles maybe. With the right lighting, the hotel/dining would be nicer. Yay for the live entertainer, he gave the place its character. This would be four stars, except for the macaroni and maybe the lighting. The price was about 12% too high, but I'm on vacay at the Grand Canyon, baby.
(3)Perry M.
Shocking...Not enough staff. Bar area full with only one person working as a waitress and bartender. The staff were hoping we would just leave, which we did.
(1)Kathy N.
Got stuck eating here because the host at the Bright Angel Lodge dining room in the Canyon said "15 minute" wait but then told us "Oh, I mean 50"- great- wasted time after dark with out of town guests and a ride back to Flagstaff ahead of us. So, having entered the park from the east side, we exited through Tusayan and began sizing up eateries. With two picky eaters in the party I left it up to them to choose- the steak house seemed the safest. The food was not bad, the server and hostess staff were polite and they even had a guitar soloist performing on a mid-April Tuesday night. I felt sorry for the server because the dining room was so enormous that he should have been given roller blades- there was no station nearby for the wait staff to obtain beverages, condiments, etc. What put this place over the edge on the red side of the scale was the fact that the menu stated that the steaks were Prime grade beef. Not. I know what prime beef looks like, tastes like, and cuts like, and this was not prime beef. I'm not sure it quite made Choice. The USDA abandoned mandatory beef grading decades ago and now it's something that's done by the industry. Our steaks were above roll grade, but not equal but the best marbled Choice. It reminded me of the time I went to a restaurant in NJ and ordered a three pound lobster- what perplexed me that time was that the price of a three pound lobster was exactly three times the price of a one pound lobster. Anybody who buys lobster knows that the larger the lobster, the higher the price per pound whether wholesale, retail, or in a restaurant (the only exception I know of being the Lobster House fish market in Cape May, NJ) Instead of a true three pound whole lobster my plate arrived with a one pound lobster flanked by two fully detached one pound lobster claws. (Lobster buyers also know that the claws are frequently sold detached at a much lower price than detached tails, or whole live lobsters.) Knowing I was being scammed, I explained to the waitress what was wrong with the picture and sent the lobster back. She kind of obfuscated in her response; I could tell she was embarrassed at the kitchen being found out. So, the beef at Canyon Star is like that lobster- advertised as one thing, but entirely something else in reality. Just to be sure I asked one of the diners, my cousin's daughter who worked as a server at Applebee's for three years. She pronounced the steaks as being a little bit better than Applebee's but hardly prime or worth the price paid. Lesson? Don't wait until after sundown if you want to eat at an iconic Harvey House restaurant in a national park, not unless you have a room in the park for the night and/or are not diabetic or hypoglycemic. Oh, and avoid the Canyon Star.
(2)Daniel D.
Food and service was pretty good - at least not disruptive. There was an inexplicable wait for a table at 8pm despite empty tables. I think the wait staff was short staffed. The food was pricey at $28 for a 16 oz rib eye and $12.50 for a grilled chicken sándwich but it is a tourist spot in the middle of nowhere and overpaying is expected. The room was big and clean and open and themed like a party barn. The bar was good. Overall, it was way better than the Yipee I O steakhouse just up the road. No contest.
(3)Stacy J.
Got here to a near half full dining room. They weren't very busy but the staff was clearly overwhelmed. One of the gentleman in our party ordered a beer but we were told the bartender was too busy to change out the keg so the ordered something different. We sat with empty glasses most of our meal & the waiter just kept telling us how busy he was so we didn't get even one refill. I actually got up at one point to get the water pitcher myself only to find it empty. My ribs were cold & covered in too much cold BBQ sauce that wasn't very good either. My husband & brother both ordered sandwiches that showed up sans cheese that they specifically ordered so that had to be fixed. The half chicken was small & just ok ditto for the buffalo brisket. It was over priced & underwhelming. I wouldn't waste my time or money.
(1)Ryan C.
fuck this place the end
(1)Leigh G.
This is the restaurant within the Grand Hotel. We ate here once for dinner and twice for breakfast this past week at the Grand Canyon. Breakfast came with our hotel stay at the Grand Hotel (and I recommend springing the extra couple bucks for that option - it'll save you some money!). They weren't running the buffet, so twice my husband and I had the three-egg omelettes, which comes with a side of toast and some seasoned potatoes. It will fill you up, and wasn't too greasy or runny - so it's a perfect way to start a day of hiking around the rim. Dinner was not great. I had one of the few vegetarian items on the menu (a mandarin orange salad), and the (non-vegetarian) potato soup. I thought the soup was great, but was not impressed with the salad which I think was pre-made bagged salad dressed up with some canned mandarin oranges, nut shavings, cheese, and craisins, topped with a watery (flavorless) dressing. It tasted about as good as that sounded - but regardless, kudos to them for having a vegetarian option. My husband had the BBQ chicken, which he gave me a taste of. It had a good flavor to it, and was one of the cheaper entrees on the menu ($16, I think), so all in all it didn't seem like a bad choice. It came with a side of potatoes and mixed veggies. He ate all the potatoes, so I guess they were good. I have no idea how this place is in summer, but it was dead empty all three times we were there. Dinner was the busiest time, but in that huge dining room there were maybe three or four other parties. Service was an OK speed, too. As Alex H. said, there aren't a lot of food options outside of the park. This was good, quiet, and succeeded in not giving me sticker shock (considering the markup necessary to match the isolated location!). I'd take this place over Bright Angel Lodge's restaurant any day!
(3)Alex H.
Once again, limited options in a small town. See review Yippee-ei-o! Steakhouse for the other steakhouse option. The options are a pasta/pizza place, cafe, and two steakhouses. More expensive than Yippee-ei-o which was $15 for a cowboy steak. The equivalent at The Canyon Star was $23. No gratuity added which is nice to decide for yourself what their service was worth. It comes with less sides. We had a mixed vegetables and a baked potato. Vegetable Medley: same anywhere you go Bake Potato: comes with a side of butter and sour cream, yup that is it Steak: tastier than Yippie and cooked well
(3)Quentin B.
Service was aweful. Food was average but overpriced. Should have left in the first 20 minutes while we were waiting for someone to give us menus.
(1)Benjamin K.
Ok. The food is not mind boggling. It will not be the best meal you have ever had. But overall, in comparison to what else is offered in Tusayan, this is a good bet for a decent meal. The ribs were not bad. The steak was not bad. It was a decent meal which was amplified by the lousiness of all the other restaurants in the area. But what allows me to give these guys a 4 star review is in part due to the Native American entertainment. Also so, was the honesty and kindness exhibited by the staff here. I had left my camera and photo camera, well over $4,000 worth of equipment, at the table. Upon my arrival to the motel I realized I had left it at the restaurant. I freaked out imagining all my pictures gone with with the equipment . Working with photography, I did not even panic about the price of the equipment, but the priceless photographs that were on the memory card. None the less, I ran back to the restaurant. Upon my arrival I met the manager looking up my reservation in order to call me and tell me he has my things. The bus boys immediately gave it to the manager when they discovered the items on the table. I could not have felt a greater sigh of relief when I saw my things. Great staff, great entertainment and pretty good food.
(4)Christine W.
Last week was the 2nd time I had eaten here. The first time was nearly 7 years ago. Pretty much the same menu. The food is OK but too expensive . Service couldn't have been much better and they all were pleasant. Live entertainment during our meal was great....a singing cowboy!
(3)Lauren S.
Food and service was great and live music was a nice bonus. My party's order included ribeye, filet, salmon and uno wahoo and all was cooked perfectly. Nice end to a day at the Grand Canyon.
(4)Ian M.
My expectations going here were not that high but since the quality of the hotel was good I expected more. Before even being seated we had questions on gluten free and vegetarian options. The manager did not know what gluten was and we had to explain it. Finally he said that they could make a baked potato. As for vegetarian options there was few but this is to be expected at a steak house. As we sat down they served us bread and butter. The bread was literally as hard as a rock. Not even joking it could have been sold at a rock store. It was so hard that my cousin even ended up drawing on it. We then ordered and we asked for one cup of ice. The waitress moaned and said it was "not her job." After about 45 minutes we got our food. The sandwich was bland and the burger was barely acceptable. I ordered pizza and the sauce was extremely sugary. Also there was a layer of flour at the bottom that was like dust. All in all it costed over $90 Mc Donald's would have been better
(1)Morgan L.
I would give this place zero stars, if I could. This review is for the bar portion only (we didn't eat in the actual restaurant). I've never experienced such a rude bartender. After wait nearly 15 minutes at a nearby table, I finally went up to the bar to order waters, our drinks and our food orders. The bartender acted surprised that I was even there. When he finally brought us the food (which was actually decent, by the way), he said "we're really busy" and there are probably 10 empty tables in the place. What's worse is when I went to ask the manager where I was supposed to order while we were waiting, he told me to "wait for the bartender to come to my table." Long story short, if you can't accommodate table seating at the bar, don't offer it. Horrible experience.
(1)L P.
Only bad experience on our Grand Canyon Trip. After a long hike on the Bright Angle trail we were starving. We were staying at the Grand Hotel , so we took a quick shower and headed downstairs to the onsite restaurant "The Canyon Star Restaurant and Saloon". It was 7:30pm and they asked if we had reservations, we didn't and they said the next seating was 8:15pm. Normally not an issue, except the restaurant was half empty. So we went to plan B and sat at the bar area. The waitress stopped by once and disappeared for 20 minutes never to check on us and several other guests. Unacceptable. Maybe the customer service is so poor because there are so few dining choices in the Tusayan or maybe they were understaffed that night. We enjoyed the hotel and service was excellent the polar opposite of the restaurant. First impressions are everything and the greeters and waitstaff failed miserably. We did thoroughly enjoy the service and food at the Plaza Bonita and will be going back there tonight.
(1)Austin P.
I sat down at the Canyon Star with the desperate hope that all the Yelp reviews were wrong. However, my laziness of not wanting to leave my hotel forced me to test that thought. Our waiter Kevin was the one bright spot of the evening, he was attentive and courteous. The overpriced steaks weren't anywhere close to the $30 and up price tag attached. The steaks were poorly seasoned, tough, and overall sub-par quality . My mother got the roasted chicken and the breast meat was so dry that she likened it to the nearby desert. Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone who cares about money or quality.
(2)Christian P.
All I can say about this place is that it feels like eating at a defunct Wild West-themed cafeteria in the Twilight Zone. The servers are dispassionate, awkward, unfriendly and generally make you feel uncomfortable, as if you walked into their quiet, creepy home unannounced and demanded food. Our guy asked us where we were from and then walked away immediately before we even had time to answer. The food is horrendous- which is probably why it was close to dead empty (lending to the eerie vibe). I wasn't expecting 5-star fare, but I was kind of hoping not to have violent diarrhea the next day hiking down into the canyon. Their "famous" pork skewers are, I believe, just grilled rubber on a stick with black pepper. My well-done burger was half rare and half well done, however the hell that is possible. We heard our waiter tell the only other couple in the place which dish NOT to order because it "gets sent back all the time." My question is, how did he choose just one? They could all seemingly be candidates for this dubious distinction. The desserts were freshly thawed from the freezer. Mine only partially... We were so incredibly disappointed by the restaurant (and the hotel in general) that we cut our stay short and headed back to Sedona. Oh- and if you don't heed rational advice and eat here anyway, get your wallet warmed up. This is the priciest disappointing culinary experience you'll likely see for quite some time.
(1)Amelia R.
Ambiance is upscale cowboy!! They had live music which was really fun. Service is good. Bread was ok. I had buffalo brisket with red skinned mashed 5.0, my daughter had baby backs with Spanish rice 3.0, my husband the chicken with baked potato 4.0 and my son had the burger 4.0.
(4)Venita J.
Good food with live entertainment, a quiet atmosphere, and attentive staff. I will return with my grandchildren ~
(5)Suecia L.
After a long drive to the Grand Canyon, we were really looking forward to a good hearty meal. This place was such a disappointment. The service was slow (and we arrived well ahead of the dinner rush), our server never came to refill our drinks, ask if the food was ok, nor if we needed anything else. Paying $25+ for lukewarm, bland food is not cool. If I could rate this place a zero that's what I would. So it gets a 1 and that is mainly because the wine.
(1)Drew H.
Went for happy hour. Our bartender was rude, slow, and unwelcoming. The drinks sucked too. Not as bad as a 1 star, but pretty darn close. Don't waste your time or money here.
(2)Thomas L.
If you read this review and still decide to eat there, well...You are a moron. Please take that as future advice, not trying to be mean, but being brutally honest..... Where do I start. My girlfriend and I checked in at their hotel, asked the front desk, should I make a reservation, and he said...No, need the restaurant shouldn't be that busy tonight. We went to our room showered and relaxed a bit. Then we headed downstairs for dinner. As we approached the EMPTY restaurant the host, said it's going to be a 20 to 30 minute wait. I thought I was in the twlight zone as I looked at the restaurant and saw maybe 5 tables that had people eating, and the rest empty. I then told the host, forget it then, we'll eat somewhere else, then he said, sorry I can seat you right away. Probably one of the strangest feelings I ever gotten from this place. Food- Absolutely terrible. We ordered some queso, that was neon orange and had some weird chunks of meat in it. Terrible. We couldn't eat it. It was awful. My lady ordered a steak and I ordered the Jambayla. Both were a disgrace to the food it was trying to represent. The steak was GREY. I have never seen anything like it before. My dish was a joke. Zero flavor, and all you could taste was the red onion in the dish. Seriously I rather eaten Hamburger helper that the crap we eat at this establishment. I forgot to mention that I ordered a coke and it was served warm with 3 tiny pieces of ice. I asked the waitress for more ice. I also forgot to mentioned the busboy (an old man) Came up to our table and noticed I was wearing a Chicago Bears shirt. He said wow, I love that team, they had a great year, can't wait to see them play. Then he asked where I was from, before I could answer, he walked away....Seriously I was constantly shaking my head in complete disbelief of this place. Our check was about 60 bucks. I felt I was completely robbed considering I barely ask any of the sh*t that we ordered...by the way an hour later I drove to Wendy's and had the best meal of the day there. Unreal. So if you decide to read this review and still eat at this place....All I can say is...To each it's own and good luck.
(1)Gabe R.
Disclaimer: I only ate in the saloon part which is connected to the restaurant itself but with a smaller menu. After hiking the canyon and driving around the entire day, I didn't want to get dressed up for a meal and I didn't want Wendy's or McDonald's like my kiddos so I came into check this place out. The 1st thing I noticed was about 20 beers on tap, I had me a Hefeweissen which was perfect on a hot day. Aaaah I can still taste it. I then ordered a cup of chicken tortilla soup and some pork tenderloin skewers. The tortilla soup came out 1st. It had an ample amount of chicken, celery, carrots, tomatoes, onion and the perfect amount of pepper. The bartender asked if it was spicy and I told him a little peppery but not spicy. He said sometimes it's really spicy and then gave me a lemon wedge to squeeze in it. He said it really adds something to it. So I added it and it was interesting but I'm not sure if it was better at that point. The pork tenderloin skewers were smokey, slightly charred and covered (but not smothered) with their blackberry BBQ sauce. It was sweet but not too sweet. These were great. Add in another Hefe and I was 1 happy dude. The saloon allows kids as long as they sit at the tables and not the bar itself. They also have burgers and sandwiches plus a few salads, 2 soups and a handful of apps. The bartender was attentive and friendly. If I ever make it back to the Grand Canyon, this will be my go to spot.
(4)Mark G.
Very bad experience in this restaurant. Would like to echo someone saying it was a creepy vibe throughout. With the vast emptiness of the room, the banjo playing cowboy singing softly (though he was good), and the odd wait staff providing poor service, it felt like I was in a long single shot of a Kubrick film. As for the food I'll say that the bread was very bland. It was warm, though I don't know if it was freshly baked or freshly heat up on the oven. Either way somebody needs to put salt in that recipe because it tasted like little yeast bombs. I had the jambalaya, and the flavor of which was decent, to a point. And that point came to a head at the red onions. Of course recipes and foods are always free to interpretation, so if they want some red onion in their jambalaya, then so be it. Find that balance and try and make it work. But WOW, there was a LOT of red onion in this thing. It quickly began to overpower the dish and make it so every bite my taste buds had to dance around the onions looking for other flavors, even the high spice level took a back seat to it. Once I finished the andouille in the dish it was all that I could taste. At the end we through a little caution to the wind and got two desserts even though they were big because, well, vacation. Tiramisu and fried ice cream. Tiramisu was fresh out of the box from the freezer and hard. Fried ice cream was the same, a pre packaged mess. Both were boring and incredibly disappointing. The drinks we had were average at best. Decently strong but odd ratios. Hard to mess up a long island, but it happened. Just avoid this place and save yourself the terrible experience.
(1)CB C.
The Canyon Star Steakhouse is a joke. The blatant cynicism of ripping off tourists is nowhere more evident this place. The food is just plain awful.. worse than Denny's but for twice the price. Service was surly at best and nearly non-existent. They wouldn't refill our water glasses. They murdered my porkchop.. it was dried to jerky and slathered in some kind of vile food service bbq sauce. The baked potato came with.... butter. No chives, no sour cream, no bacon bits, no nothing! All for $22.95. The Cheeseburger arrived devoid of condiments. It took 10 minutes for a bottle of ketchup to arrive.. and in a nearly empty dining room at that. The $5 glass of lemonade was nothing but powdered drink mix. The meal could have been free and we still would have felt ripped off. The place is not worthy of its proximity to the international attraction that is the Grand Canyon, and is an extremely poor representative of American hospitality.
(1)Mark K.
Food was good, in particular the salads. Service was slow. The reception was not very welcoming.
(3)Denny L.
There were NO reasonable priced places to eat near the South Rim but this was the worst and most pricey place to eat. The steak was though and unreasonably priced for the quality. Most of the food we had would rank as poor at best. NEVER want to eat there again!
(1)ps z.
Solid 3 stars for this place... We were a little hesitant about eating here after all the less than positive reviews, but figured it was convenient after a long day of hiking and it was steps away from our room at The Grand Hotel. We were pretty pleasantly surprised by the food and the cost. We both ordered cups of soup (chicken tortilla & chili) as well as the grilles chicken sandwich. The price for the entrees are a bit on the high side for the location, but you can't really expect anything else when there are not many options. The prices are normal for a "tourist" place. The grilles chicken sandwiches we ordered each came with 2 pieces of chicken, and wasn't over cooked. It was decent food starting at $12.95 for the sandwiches. Cheese as extras like mushrooms or bacon are all add-one fr $1-2 more. Jamie was our server and he was a very friendly local kid working for the summer or extra money. He was friendly and quick to get us everything we asked for. Don't have high expectations when going to any of the places in town is the best advice I would give. It's a little town just outside of the Grand Canyon with limited options for quality food.
(3)Sydney M.
Eh. This place was a bit of a bust. My party had to wait forever for a table, even though the restaurant was enormous (and nearly empty). We figured they made us wait for so long so that we would spend time in their adjacent gift shop and buy crappy trinkets. Then, our server was super-slow, not very personable, and unapologetic about it all. The live music was nice, however, which is the only reason I'm giving this place two stars* -- great banjo playing! Also, the bread rolls and butter were fairly tasty (interesting that so many people gave poor reviews for the rolls). There was not a steak under $30.00 and the pasta dishes were $17.00 -- a bit steep, I'd say. I think there were two veggie options on the whole menu, also a bit disappointing. I wish we had tried the other steak house down the street. *I changed my mind -- this place gets one.
(1)Su L.
In my opinion, this is the nicest restaurant in the Grand Canyon Village. It is pricey, especially you go for a steak dinner, but food was decent and the atmosphere was great. There was live music! We ordered chilli, steak and ribs. Everything was decent - not amazing - but you'll still have a great time especially if you order some cocktail (not on menu so you have to ask for it)!
(3)Kris M.
Better than what I expected. After reading the other reviews, I was expecting the worst, but all in all it wasn't bad. We ate in the saloon, our server was attentive and accommodating. Service was average for us, no long waits, but it wasn't very busy. Food was pretty good. The BBQ wings were good and my tortilla soup was delicious, but didn't have much kick and a cup was plenty. My husband enjoyed his chili which also had no kick, but was still good and filling. Prices were a bit high, but not extreme. Maybe we just got lucky, but I would go back.
(4)Steven G.
I'm giving it one star because the guy playing the banjo and singing on stage was decent....otherwise I promise you without going rip city in detail-don't waste your time or money.
(1)