Not sure what all the hype is about this place. I wanted to like it based on my parents enthusiasm for the place. From food to service it was all bad to worse.
Stopped in with my parents on a Sunday evening since they recommended this place as they had eaten there multiple times in the previous 7 days. Since it was a beautiful AZ night we opted to sit on the patio out back. They had a few picnic tables full with patrons so we figured that someone would be around shortly. We waited for more than 5 minutes before my Dad got anxious & wanted to go inside to the bar & get the drinks ourselves. So we ventured on in & bartender (male) was just horrible. I understand a person is busy but when you have 2 patrons standing there 2 feet away from you & you actually walked past them on a couple of occasions at least acknowledge they are there & just say "I'll be with you in a minute" instead of completely ignoring them. I used to tend bar & waitress so I get it. If we hadn't driven 18 miles there one way I would have walked out right then & taken my money elsewhere. I get that they were busy but an acknowledgement & a smile can go a long way on many levels. While the was a bartender ignoring us one of the waitresses walked past behind the bar & completely ignored us as well. Finally after standing in front of the bar for approximately 5 minutes without a single acknowledgement the bartender finally comes over & asks us what we want. No Hello or Hi. We got our beers & then happened to ask the the blonde waitress (as she whizzed past us while my Dad was waiting for his change for the beer) if there was a waitress for outside or if we put our orders in with the inside crew. She just says "She's out there." OK well in the 5 minutes we sat waiting for a waitress there was no one that was walking around outside. We ventured back outside to my Mom who was still at the picnic table. Waited another 10 minutes before a waitress finally came by to see if we had been served yet. Mind you the blonde was delivering drinks & food to the table next to us prior to this & saw us but never came over to see if we needed food orders taken & obviously we did since we asked her inside if we ordered outside or inside. Finally get our orders in with the brunette waitress & ordered Swiss burger medium. When burger was delivered (not by order taker) it was said to be medium-well. I told her I ordered it medium. Burger gets taken back into the kitchen & then right back out to me & she tells me it's medium. OK...you just said it was medium well so how did it get cooked less in the 45 seconds you ran it inside? She says the cooks said there's still some pink inside. OK. Whatever. By this point I didn't care anymore because I wasn't going to wait another 30 minutes for a burger to come out while my parents ate. Burger was plain to me as it didn't have a lot of flavor. It wasn't anything special. I grew up on a beef farm so I guess I know what good beef tastes like. I specifically ordered the Swiss burger for the rye bread but you couldn't taste anything but white bread. The bottom piece of bread was toasted pretty hard while the top piece was not toasted at all so the top piece of bread got all squishy & started to fall apart. And $0.99 for a few canned mushrooms? Really?
At the end as night was settling in we waited for the bill to be brought out to the table. Yet again another 15 minute wait before we finally got up & walked into the bar & had to ask for the check. This time it was our waitress that was behind the bar that said "oh you need your check?" Seriously we have to ask for the check as well? Just from watching body language & attitude of the waitresses it seemed like they catered to those that were bikers & were far more friendly to them instead of giving all patrons a friendly smile. Had I known that I would have brought my brother who is a biker. The only positive things I can say about the place it that they had cheap food & beers. And it was nice to sit outside where the music wasn't blaring like inside.
My Mom had actually eaten there 3 times that week (Dad twice) & she did say the 1st time was much better than the time I was there with her. Unfortunately for them when I am visiting Phoenix I won't be taking my money back there. I am used to hole in the wall burger joints & have been to many a great ones but unfortunately Wild Horse West doesn't fit into that category for me based on the crappy service as well as the mediocre food we experienced.