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| - Bah. I expected so much more. Noca (one of my top 3 in AZ) is less than a mile away and I expected Tarbell's to be at least near the level of quality. Now, I must say, the service was 5 stars (great server and charming Mr. Tarbell came by and chatted with us) However, the quality of what was on our table just simply wasn't there.
Two people in our party of three ordered off the restaurant week menu. The fresh mozzarella appetizer was described as "delicious, but lacking pesto". I ordered the Grilled Organic Salmon on Crispy Potato Cake molasses, lime, McClendon's honey. The salmon was cooked to perfection and I thoroughly enjoyed the tangy glaze. But OMG!!-- the crispy potato cake confused the hell out of me-- it tasted like burnt shoestring potato pieces. Seriously. I expected crisp fritter or hash...something edible and not over-deep-fried. Onto dessert.....I opted out, but the other 2 were given dessert with the restaurant week deal. The mousse was terrific! (props to that) The doughnut holes were a letdown. Like my potatoes, they where very overcooked. In fact, one was ridiculously dark brown-- visibly over-fried. We were kind of surprised it was even brought to our table like that. For the price that we paid for average food, I really wished we would have gone across the street to Noca :(
Highlights: service, atmosphere, mozzarella, mousse
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