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| - After reading some glowing reviews of Bandera (specifically of their 'best on the planet' cornbread) here on Yelp, Krashawnda just had to try the place. We went on a Friday night and were quoted a wait time of about 45 minutes, though they actually were able to get us in a bit quicker. The hostess was extremely helpful and polite and accommodated us really well; even though we missed our name being called while we were out walking... upon returning she was overly apologetic and concerned with getting us the next available table even though it wasn't her fault... kudos for that.
The ambience in the place is superb. As some others have mentioned it is a little dark, but we enjoyed that and found it to be rather relaxing and romantic. If you happen to be on a date this would be a great place to snuggle up in a booth together to enjoy the night. The darker lighting and decor creates a classy feel without feeling too pretentious like some other Scottsdale locales... although like any nice Scottsdale restaurant it's going to be hard to completely avoid the 'tool factor'... you're still likely to see a few spray tanned Scottsdalians with their collars popped getting fueled for a night of mindless club hopping.
Now for the best thing about this place... the food! The menu is pretty basic, no Cheesecake Factory bible-sized menus; just one page chock full 'o yummy easily recognizable dishes. We started out with a couple of appetizers; the deviled eggs and the much talked about cornbread. First off the deviled eggs were very tasty... I'm not sure what they used in them, but they had this slightly chunky consistency and the taste was different than the usual homemade deviled eggs I'm used to... kind of like deviled eggs on steroids; very good and cheap (About three bucks for four of them, perfect just to try). Next on the docket was the much ballyhooed cornbread. I've never been a huge fan of cornbread... but I have to admit; the other Yelpers are right on the money here; it's the best cornbread I've ever had. Each bite was like little fireworks of buttery crunchy goodness going off in my mouth. They cook the cornbread in this perfect way so that it's crunchy on the outside yet soft and moist on the inside. It really is heavenly... and this is coming from someone who usually passes on cornbread. For our main dish we split the rotisserie chicken sandwich and a half rack of pork ribs. Both were amazing... the ribs fell right of the bone and were served on a bed of super thin crunchy French fries. The chicken in the sandwich was cooked perfectly and just melted in your mouth. The sandwich also came with a small salad which was sprinkled with some kind of nuts and tasted very fresh. The portions were perfect... not too much but certainly enough to fill you up. We saved just enough room to try their 'Homemade Oreo Cookie Sandwiches'... and I'm really glad we did, I squealed with delight each bite I took... it was amazing. They were basically two medium sized crispy chocolate cookies stuffed with homemade Oreo ice cream... served on a bed of hot fudge. It was everything I imagined it would be and more; definitely one of those deserts that doesn't disappoint you when they bring it out. It's one of the best desserts I've had in a while.
To add to everything, the service was also very prompt and courteous. We didn't have to wait long for our food (which is always nice) and our waitress was very attentive and friendly. We definitely got the feeling that they train their wait staff very well, the only close to negative thing I could say is that sometimes they might come off a little fake and disingenuous with how they always have a huge smile on their face; there's that feeling that they might be being nice to your face, then complaining about you when they're not by your table... but that's really nitpicking, in fact I don't know why I even mentioned it. One nice quirk was when they brought us our bill the 'customer copy' of the receipt was neatly folded over the credit card like a little piece of origami... cool little things like that make a big difference when looking back at your dining experience.
From start to finish I'd have to say the place really blew us away... it's definitely the total package and it's somewhere I look forward to eating at again. I can't imagine anyone going here and giving the place anything less than four stars. As it stands right now it's a solid 5/5 from us. If you're in the mood for some solid grub in the medium price range this place is a sure shot
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