After writing about our delicious lunch at La Posta de Mesilla near Las Cruces, NM, reader GringoLoco recommended that we check out Carlsbad Tavern if we were near Scottsdale while in Arizona.
Well, we ended up staying three times at the Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North in April and May. That was only about a 15 minute drive from Carlsbad Tavern, so we headed there for lunch one afternoon.
As you might have picked up from the name, Carlsbad Tavern is a play on Carlsbad Caverns, a National Park we visited in New Mexico before arriving in Arizona. The restaurant has a New Mexican theme throughout, from the bats as you enter to the food on the menu to The Guano Canal that runs along outside.
We’d had our second COVID vaccinations by that point, but we were still eating outside while we could at that point, so we asked for a table out on the porch.
It was a pretty warm day seeing as it was mid-May in Phoenix, so they turned on some water misters to help us outdoor diners stay cool.
I had stuff I wanted to work on that afternoon, so I stuck to water. GringoLoco had mentioned in their comment that Carlsbad Tavern had the best prickly pear margaritas, something Shae had fallen in love with at La Posta de Mesilla.
Shae therefore ordered one to see if it really was the best prickly pear margarita. It was very good and certainly better than a couple of other prickly pear margs she’d had since La Posta, but I’m afraid she still thinks the first one she ever had at La Posta was the best ever!
As for food, here’s what’s on the menu at Carlsbad Tavern.
While we decided what to order, our server brought out some chips and salsa.
With Carlsbad Tavern being a New Mexican restaurant, I felt like I should order New Mexican food. However, there was a non-New Mexican meal on the menu that caught my eye which sounded great. We’d gotten to eat quite a lot of New Mexican food during our two months in New Mexico and we’ll be heading back to Albuquerque in the fall for the International Balloon Fiesta, so I didn’t feel like I’d be missing out if I ordered Ruben’s chicken-fried chicken.
This was buttermilk-marinated chicken breast on a slice of sourdough bread, topped with chorizo gravy and served with green chile mashed potatoes and salad.
The meal wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it was very tasty nonetheless. I thought that both the chorizo gravy and green chile mashed potato would’ve been more spicy than they were, but all of it was very flavorful and a great choice – definitely something I’d order again in the future.
Shae was more than happy having New Mexican food again, so she ordered the green chile burrito that came with rice and black beans.
She loved her lunch too, with both the burrito and its sides being delicious.
After testing out their prickly pear margarita, Shae decided to see what other cocktails were on the menu. Our server suggested the New Mexican Breeze which contains Deep Eddy Peach, lemonade and a splash of cranberry, so Shae ordered one of those. Although she liked the prickly pear marg, she liked the New Mexican Breeze even more.
We were both really full after all our food, but you can’t come all the way to almost-New Mexico and not get a sopaipilla with honey.
Overall, it was an extremely tasty meal for both of us at Carlsbad Tavern and a great recommendation by GringoLoco!
Address
Carlsbad Tavern, 3313 N Hayden Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Hurrah! Soooo glad you enjoyed my favorite restaurant! Just did a quick recall — I think close to 30 original members of FlyerTalk have dined at the Tavern, many of them on multiple occasions…
Thanks again for the recommendation!