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| - The GF and I have heard so many good things about Binkley's over the years from people that we know that have dined there and from reading reviews online. We finally decided that we had to try it to see how it stacked up against Kai, which is our favorite restaurant in the PHX area. I made reservations for Friday night of Memorial Day weekend a little over a week in advance. Since Binkley's is about 35 miles from the neighborhood that we both live in, we decided to make a weekend of it and stay at The Boulders. The week leading up to the meal, we were both so excited that we both joked that we were getting very little work done due to the anticipation of the amazing meal we were going to have on Friday night.
Friday finally came and we arrived right on time for our 7p reservation. We were promptly greeted by the hostess and promptly seated at the absolute worst table in the house. It was in the bar area, right next to the front door. The most insulting part of it was the hostess tried to tell us what an amazing table it was because the vases of flowers that separated our table from the front door were so pretty. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal if you wow us with the food. After all, we knew from many reviews that atmosphere is not the strong selling point of the restaurant.
After we were seated, we waited for a good 15 minutes before being greeted by a server. This is one of my pet peeves in a fine dining establishment. I like to be greeted promptly by the server and offered a cocktail so I can enjoy a drink while reviewing the menu. Once we were finally greeted we ordered cocktails and enjoyed them when they were finally served. Being that this was our first Binkley's experience, we both decided that we would go "whole hog" and order the 6 course tasting menu with the $50/ea wine pairing. As has been mentioned in may other reviews online, a meal at Binkley's consists of a long parade of amuses. Sadly, in a meal of more misses than hits, the amuses provided more of the hits.
The big hit of the night was the summer truffle grits that the GF ordered as her hot appetizer. Both of us agreed that these were amazing. Unfortunately, most everything else was relatively forgettable (her halibut fish course was absolutely boring). My quail meat course was quite good, but not something that I would drive 35 miles to experience again.
Throughout the night, the service and the pacing was uneven. Sometimes there was a very lengthy time between courses while other courses were brought to quickly. While our main server was perfectly friendly, she lacked fine dining polish and disappeared for long periods of time (especially when it was time for the check!) several times over the course of the evening.
As for the wine pairings, those were also hits and misses. The pourings themselves were quite anemic and with long times between courses, there were several times that I had finished my pour before the course even arrived. For a total of $100 between the two of us, I felt the wine was a weak spot in the evening.
The most entertaining part of the meal was the Gordon Ramsay-esque, f-bomb laced tirade that Chef Binkley went on at some point during the meal. Apparently his kitchen staff wasn't doing things his way and he was letting them know. Quite comical, although a little uncomfortable to other diners around as we could clearly hear every word that he screamed at his staff.
When all was said and done, we spent a little over $400 with tip for dinner. While it certainly wasn't the worst meal of either of our lives, we both agreed that it didn't even come near cracking the top 20. We were both glad that we dined at Binkley's to have the firsthand experience, but we both left feeling that it was overrated. Perhaps they were having an off night, maybe it has slipped over the years, or maybe it's just a victim of being over-hyped. Whatever the case, I don't think we will be dining at Binkley's in the future.
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