raven cafe

i love the rooftop area . nice view of thumbutte , located in the heart of downtown prescott . the service is lacking for sure . you have to wait in line at the bar downstairs to place even a drinkorder. then carry it upstairs . staff will bring foodorderto you ; however if you want a to replenish you drink . gotta treck back downstairs to do so . on the other hand , the beer and wine collection is quality . the raven supports local growers . menu is healthy and mainly organic . if they could vamp up service it would be helpful .

my favorite eatery in prescott - sometimes we'll make a day trip from phoenix just for their delicious breakfast. as a gluten and dairy free nosher i always feel comfortable coming here on vacation. i usuallyorderthe eggs with potatoes and bell pepper and a piping hot vegan rice milk vanilla latte and everything is delicious! a side note: they do use traditional ketchup, so if you can't have corn, bring a small bit of your own :)

never more......... my family and i went to the raven about 18 months ago and we loved it. went back this past weekend and it was terrible. worse yet, we had been warned by other locals that it was in decline, but we went forward anyway, big mistake.

service was aloof, we ordered two coffee drinks and two breakfast sandwiches. we tried toordera pastry of some sort but were told they had none. (a cafe with no pastries?).

so we waited, and waited, and waited. finally after 35 minutes the 2 egg sandwiches came out, just the sandwiches. the accompanying sides were absent. our server mumbled something about a fryer being *something* as he briskly retreated. ten minutes later the home fries showed up, hot, which was the highlight of the meal. the sandwiches were bland and un-seasoned, the breads were soggy and untoasted, the melted cheese was waxy, the whole thing was just above room temperature, and the tomatoes looked like yesterdays (or they were sliced with a hammer).

i tried to find a salt shaker for the fries, there were 5 for the entire dining room, 1 ketchup bottle, and the 1/2 and 1/2 thermos was broken so it weebled and wobbled and fell down.

frustrated and underwhelmed, we were getting ready to leave when a server approached us with a pained expression.
"is everything okay?" i said "no, not really....," but before i could say anymore she backed away saying "i'm really sorry, i don't know what's going on in the kitchen," and practically ran away.

so, you should run away from the raven, and return never more.

great local food, beer, and coffee. the raven is my favorite place in prescott to eat and drink coffee. they have a board with listings of local and organic ingredients. the coffee is made from local prescott coffee roasters, and the beer selection is enormous! the place does fill and get busy, especially in the evenings when there is a band. food and drinks are all ordered at the counter and seating is first come, first served. the staff is genuine and helpful. when the weather is nice, the upstairs outdoor patio is a great place to hang out (they have an additional bar toorderfrom upstairs). during the afternoon this is also a great place to relax or study. it also appeared like a great meet-up place for locals to socialize.

grrrrrr. miserable service. went in for coffee in the morning. the person behind the counter was taking theorderof a couple in front of us. theorderwas quite complicated and as the line grew, he not only kept going over and over it, but he then left the counter to process theorderfrom start to finish, including preparing several items, leaving everyone else waiting. whatever happened to giving people a number and having them wait at a table or on the side while serving the next people in line?

this is our second visit here, stopped for lunch. it was raining so we could not sit in he upper deck patio. the dining area was busy and buzzing with the lunch crowd. the atmosphere is very casual, with unique art prints on the wall. it is a very casual restaurant, with plenty of wine, and beer selections on tap, and in bottle, if you can't what you like i'd be surprised. we bothorderthe special prosciutto with fresh mozzarella on a baguette bread, it also had roasted red peppers, and pesto, lot's a flavors coming together. we started with the soup of the day which was italian wedding, but with no pasta, all veggies, excellent.


-----05 apr, 2010-----

our new afternoon hang out. great selection of beer and wine to just kick back with friends, enjoy the upstairs patio.