On my travel project in Tempe, AZ on a Wed night went for dinner for my going away.
The place stays packed and they don't take reservations. Got there about 6:30 but before 7 for a party 5. They said the wait was about 15 mins or so.
There was definitely open tables as we walked the restaurant looking for the other half of our party; since we took 2 cars from the office and assume the 3 from our party were already there since they left earlier.
I went to the restroom and when I got back to the hostess stand they had already seated us at a booth.
Service and time to get our food was slow. I guess that was why there was lag time in seating us.
Food was piping hot coming out. My salmon dish with risotto was good for high end bar food. The salmon filet was not as thick as I would expect and the risotto was too heavy and the portion was huge.
The other salmon dish looked more colorful but the quinoa was too healthy. A carb dish between risotto and quinoa would have been better.
This is a small chain restaurant. They have 2 locations in Denver. I so happened to be in Downtown Denver and saw a Thirsty Lion. I googled it and they have 9 locations in total.