![]() In hindsight, that sends a message about who matters to this establishment. But then the Tinderbox website does describe their "crew" as "unpredictable." Tinderbox does not take reservations for dining groups smaller than five. While I was very pleased with my meal, I must note my displeasure with the lack of effort and attentiveness of my waitress. Very near the top of the list, unfortunately, now sits Tinderbox Kitchen. I have raised this issue in other reviews: the shoddy treatment of the solo diner. I'm not sure I would recommend going for dinner based off of that night. I would say go there for a cocktail or two and an app (maybe at the bar?) and move along. Not quite a gripe, but more of room for improvement. They all did the chef tasting, so it wasn't a matter of keeping the orders straight. One thing we noticed about another table was the server didn't serve the lady first. It was slow but they only had one server, so it took a while to get attention for pretty much anything. Maybe it was just that section by the kitchen that has the problem. In our case, we were still able to reach, but feeding a forkful caused one person to basically stand. I kept thinking of the 1989 Batman movie when Vicki Vale asks Bruce Wayne to pass the salt. ![]() The chair side seemed to be the correct height for the table. The bench side was lower than the chair before you even sat down. One side was bench/sofa, the other a wooden chair. There was some 50's-60's doo-wop songs, a Ray Charles song that played twice within an hour, and a Sinatra song. I didn't really get that from the menu (except for buffalo meat loaf with mashed potato), the music, or the furnishings. ![]() The chef tasting is $50 per person and would have been 4 courses, but a bit smaller portions. So, the breakdown for 3 cocktails, 1 appetizer and 2 entrees was just $99.90 before tip. ![]() The desserts didn't sound too impressive, but it would have taken something extraordinary for us to make room. It was served over a beet salad, which I really liked even though I don't usually care for beets. I had the lamb and it wasn't bad, but is just wasn't much and didn't really have a flavor I could pick out. The polenta was creamy and spicy, but not too hot. The pork porterhouse with polenta was a heck of a dish (and one of the less expensive). It seemed a bit more room temperature that I was expecting, the slices were thin (good) but huge (fine, but not as easy to eat) and for the 4 slices, we only got about 1.5 crostini (small, thin, crunchy toast-like. It was tasty with the capers, onions and creamy horseradish. For an appetizer we had salmon carpaccio. The fresh baked focaccia was nice and moist and ended up being really good for cleaning up the appetizer leftovers. Some classics, and some classics with a subtle twist (just enough to change the flavors, but not too much that you didn't recall the original). Definitely what you would expect at a nice updated restaurant. We had three cocktails and they were delicious. Especially when the meals average $28 a plate. There are many fine restaurants in Flagstaff, but I can honestly say you'd be hard-pressed to find one better.Going into a place you have some expectations. And our waitress was attentive and extraordinarily helpful (the spaetzle definition alone was worthy of a fine gratuity!). The Southwest decor was simple with a sense of humor. It was eclectic, it was basic, it was hip, it was upscale, it was jeans and flannels - something for everyone. But in addition to the great food, I loved the vibe of Tinderbox. Others had the ribeye, chicken breast and the butterfish - and everyone raved (I sampled the chicken and it was fab). It was a fabulous rendition of a noodle dish I had first tasted in Germany many years ago. My entree was the salmon fillet and it was perfectly cooked - and as a New England native, I'm a bit particular about my fish! We shared brussel sprouts and my wife's inquiry about "spaetzle" led us to order that as a side, as well. I loved everything about Tinderbox! For me it starts and ends with the food, and all four of our choices were superb.
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