We had such high hopes visiting Stagecoach Country Roadhouse and it wound up quite the rollercoaster ride. Just about an equal amount of highlights and lowlights that I'll describe herein. The restaurant itself is beautiful and clean. A modern, hip, minimalist southwest vibe throughout. All of the staff we encountered were very nice and personable. Drinks were nice with an artful dried lime slice in Lady FoodObs' marg. I was surprised however that my local Cottonwood craft IPA was served in a Bud Light pint glass. I found that somewhat tacky.
Prior to ordering we were provided a lengthy list of items they were "out of" or that we're otherwise unable to order because of the day it was. Unfortunately it included some of the things we had our hearts set on. Including the Bison Short Ribs and Pulled Pork Egg Roll. We spent some time with the menu shifting to Plan B, also considering just going somewhere else. To add insult to injury, Plan B was a bust. We were informed the Wagyu Churrasco Cutlets are "no longer on the menu" despite the fact it was clearly printed on the menus we were holding!
We spent 45 minutes to go 3 miles in horrid Sedona traffic to get here so we stuck it out. We all finally settled in on our main dishes. Jr FoodObs started with an order of the Arizona Corn Chowder and he loved it. Beautifully presented and had a nice smoky flavor. He also had the "Loaded Gun Board" which included a sampling of smoked baby back ribs, pulled pork and andouille sausage. Everything looked and tasted great. Especially the pulled pork which had a nice barky texture and toothsome chew. I had the Jalapeño Cheddar Sausage which was outstanding. I particularly loved the nicely dressed Napa cabbage slaw with its bright flavors. My fries were hot, crispy and tasty. I was surprised though that this sausage dish was not served with any side sauce, like a mustard or BBQ sauce or something like that.
Lade FoodObs ordered the Filet Mignon with Bourbon Compound Butter. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium with a nice amount of pink in the center. The compound butter on the other hand was shocking! Crowning the beef was a huge unmelted disc of what tasted like honey butter. Roughly the size of a small hockey puck. Seemed much more appropriate for cornbread or something. It was as if they topped it with a blob of whipped cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream. I've never experienced anything like that at any of the steakhouses we've dined at across the US or Europe. The poor server was flummoxed and insisted it was not honey butter but it was most definitely sweet which does not pair at all with beef. Maybe there was brown sugar in it, I don't know. I invited her to have the chef/cook taste it. I don't think they did.
I ordered a mac & cheese side for the table to share. It was beautifully presented in a hot cast iron skillet. It looked better than it tasted. The funny thing was the server "warned" us it had bacon in it. As if we were somehow offended by bacon LOL. We assured her the more bacon the better. Oddly though there was not a speck of bacon in the entire dish! I don't think they used any salt in the mac & cheese. It was quite bland and became a chore to eat the more we had. In fairness, the restaurant took our feedback to heart and comped the filet mignon dish. Overall an interesting and memorable experience. This is a place where it definitely depends on what you order. There were 5 star dishes alongside 1 star dishes which leads me to an overall 3 star rating for this establishment.
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