This review is for two family visits to the Rock Springs Cafe; one on Monday, May 18, 2026 and the…read moreother on Saturday, May 23, the start of the Memorial Day weekend. The reason we came back on May 23 was because the food and service was so good on our first visit, as we were heading to the Grand Canyon, that we resolved to stop in on our return to Phoenix later that week.
Our server on our first visit was Julie, and she was friendly, attentive, and very professional. My wife ordered the taco salad with ground beef. Julie explained that the ground beef used is also used for the chili, and that it was a little spicy. My wife is sensitive to spicy food, but she decided to give it a try. It was the highlight of her meal; just the right amount of heat and not overly spicy, and rest of the salad was fresh and tasty. The cranberry walnut salad I ordered was also fresh and tasty, although the chicken was a bit dry. Our son ordered the home made biscuits and gravy, which he said were delicious. The gravy was amongst the best he's had, and it contained bits of sausage. The serving sizes were all very generous, so there was no room for pie, unfortunately. Julie invited us to come back next week and leave room for pie, so we did just that. It was a really good meal, and a great way to start our vacation, worthy of five stars.
Business was relatively slow on our first visit, but, when we visited the following Saturday, the restaurant was packed, since Memorial Day is the start of the summer travel season. We were seated within 15 minutes and were promptly greeted by Dakota. She told us the kitchen was out of numerous items and gave us a few minutes to look over the menus. One of the menus was quite dirty, with what seemed like maple syrup on the plastic-covered page. This time, I ordered the rib basket appetizer, my wife ordered a chopped salad with grilled chicken, and our son ordered the Rock Springs burger. On our first visit, the food took 10-15 minutes to arrive, on this visit, it took nearly 30 minutes. The ribs were meaty, but were room temperature, and seasoning was light and unremarkable. My wife's chopped salad was stacked high and served on a regular plate. There was so much salad that it was difficult for her to eat without the salad ending up on the table and, after 15 minutes, it looked like she'd hardly made a dent in it. She said the chicken was very dry, and ended up leaving more than half or her salad uneaten. Our son had no complaints about the burger, which appeared to be cooked perfectly. We each ended up getting a slice of the Dutch crust apple pie ala mode, which was served warm with a generous scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream.
Rock Springs Cafe has quite a history, and the decor really shows its Western history. However, it looks like it hasn't been refreshed in nearly 20 years, and some of the posters, plaques and other things on the wall are in rough shape. The men's bathroom are unique, furnished with urinals made from beer kegs and more license plates than you can count.
Rock Springs Cafe was a great stop for us, twice, and we plan to return on our next visit to the Grand Canyon.