Elephant Bar Restaurant

This is great. Angela is a terrific bartender. Good drinks, excellent service, personable, and makes our business meetings go smoothly. Stop by, ask for Angela and Enjoy the best experience ever. (Food is great too) — don’t miss this chance to relax and enjoy. Yum
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I hate seeing good places get in trouble but… alas EB has closed. It seems they are closing many locations which is a shame as they’ve been a standard for decades. Good luck everyone in the reaming locations.

My nephew decided to take the family out for dinner and, of course, we decided to go to a busy restaurant during the dinner rush. Our server, Eddie, appeared to be overwhelmed at first, a little rushed with his drink orders, then a little more patient but still stressed with dinner orders.
As I mentioned it was busy. Everyone got their food, including me, but I got the wrong dish. I ordered the Kona ribs with fries and got Kona ribs and chicken with brown rice instead. (I do NOT like brown rice.) Eddie offered the menu back — I knew when he asked if I wanted white or brown rice, something was wrong, and I should’ve mentioned it.
Needless to say, I showed him what I ordered… He was awesome. No argument, no rude remarks, just an explanation of the item. I placed my order again and it was delicious! So happy. My mom, the kids, my brother and my nephew all enjoyed the night. And because Eddie was so kind, he got that extra tip!
Dinner choices and overall thoughts (I tasted the ahi salad and got reviews around the table):
French onion soups, cheesy and delish
Side green salad, side Caesar salad, typical, but good
Seared Ahi tuna salad, delish though just a little salty for my taste
Lamb shanks, tender and full of flavor, potatoes were smooth and very good, veggies were good enough to eat
Kona pork ribs, sweet and tender, delish, coleslaw was a little wet for my taste so my daughter stole it, fries were hot and salty (the kind of salty I like), and the apple «relish» was really yummy. The boys attacked.
They were out of the Giant Cookie ice cream sandwich, so we were «forced» to order the strawberry shortcake. Oh my gosh, we DEVOURED that thing.

After a morning of shopping in busy Scottsdale we decided to stop at Elephant Bar on Mayo to get out of the craziness that can be Scottsdale Road area. We had been to this location before and remember it as being ok for drinks and appetizers so off we went.
We were greeted immediately by a friendly fellow and shown to a table in the bar. When I asked why we couldn’t sit in the restaurant the waiter said we could and no problem. Maybe we look like big drinkers and he thought we’d want to be seated close to the liquor. LOL.
My husband ordered a Ahi Tuna Salad and said the tuna was really fishy but the greens were fine. Instead of a regular entrée I opted to order off the appetizer menu and got the chicken lettuce wraps. PF Chang’s has nothing to worry about. Theirs are far superior to the ones I just had at EB. Very boring. We shared another appetizer, the crispy green beans. I don’t think they got their grease hot enough because these were incredibly greasy and smelled of old grease. The chipotle sauce served with them was ok and the only thing that made the greasy green beans even a little bit edible.
If I would have noticed how horribly stained the booth was that they seated us in I probably would have insisted on leaving. Unfortunately I did not see how dirty it was until my husband stood up to go to the restroom.
I will pass on Elephant Bar the next time I am in the mood for Ahi Tuna, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, crispy green beans or a clean booth to sit in!

Manager was nice as he comped my meal today. Chicken tacos were prepared differently with the chicken chopped, but that was a slight improvement over the full filet version. Some ingredients were missing though on this new version and the salad they served this time was a complete embarrassment. It was old wilted lettuce with no dressing as the oriental salad of last time disappeared. Angela was still nice and chatty and the bar was 100 percent empty again, so it was good to see at least that didn’t change.

Always good. Great lunch spot, great food, great service.

Confused by the amount of 3+ stars. Gave this place a chance and it did not meet my expectations.
Service was awful. Food was terrible. I got the spaghetti and didn’t think you could go wrong with that but evidently you can. Friends got Mac and cheese and have never tasted anything more oily and bland.
3 stars for the appearance and ribs.

Food and drinks here are on point. Good happy hour.
However I’m not fond of the bartender Angela who has serviced us.
I’ve gone to this location several times with friends and we sit in the bar area, makes for faster and more casual service.
I’m hesitant to score this place a 4 just because of her demeanor.
She acts like she is doing us a favor by servicing us. I like a bartender or waitress/​waiter to be funny and crack jokes but she just comes off like she’s annoyed with our presence.
Just to point out we are not a roudy rambunctious bunch, last time we were with my husband’s parents.
When Angela came to give us our checks she was eating something. I’m not well versed in restaurant health code but my personal opinion is that is unsanitary.

I really like this place.
After eating here a few times, and loving it of course… The food is always great, the service is fantastic and the menu is wowzers, BIG. There are many choices and it’s fun to share and sample, as the food portions are large.
In the summer, stay away from the beautiful semi-​enclosed wooden benches in the back. The air does not circulate well inside of them and I almost melted.
Yay! I’m a fan!!!

I love the coconut shrimp appetizer. The sauces are great and the shrimp is yummy. However, they put a side salad on the plate, which is good to cut the sweetness of the dish. However, it is literally a pile of dry lettuce. It needs some sort of drizzle of balsamic /​citrus vinegarette.
When I asked the waitress about it, she said a lot of people ask for dressing. Perhaps management should listen.

This place has such a cool mix of different foods. The happy hour is actually affordable. It’s a great place to hang out with friends and great place to bring out of town guests.

Coupons! Yes, there I said it. Coupons. Every couple weeks there are 2 for $ 20 coupons in the newspaper (that thing made out of paper that someone throws on your driveway in the wee hours of the morning) For $ 20 bucks you get your choice of three appetizers or a dessert and two entrees (choose from six select items). Plenty of food for two! It’s a great deal if you like the entrée choices.
This week they changed it up a bit and now it’s 2 for $ 25 and includes 2 salads, 2 entrees and a dessert to share. Either way it’s still a very good deal.
Here’s the catch. The food is good, we typically get decent service, but without the coupons it wouldn’t be worth it. They typically provide a «before» and «after» bill and today’s meal would have been almost $ 45. With the coupon it was only $ 28.
Next time we’re going to try Happy Hour. The menu looked to have a good selection and the prices seemed reasonable.

Meh… I was not impressed with the food and won’t be returning. Nice waitress, a little chatty and liked to linger at our table, but she tried really hard to answer all of our questions and make sure we got what we wanted.
First issue was with my Cobb Salad. They chop the iceberg lettuce into little pieces (maybe to hide the fact that the lettuce is old and wilted?). Not only did the lettuce taste like dirt, but upon closer inspection the lettuce looked overly brown; not very appetizing. My husband had a French dip, but ran out of aus jus by the second half of his sandwich (the aus jus came in the smallest ramekin I have ever seen; maybe more of a condiment container). He said the sandwich was edible, but rather bland. His sweet potato fries were pretty good. My son had a quesadilla, and I would have rather eaten that than my Cobb salad.

I read all the reviews and didn’t think I would try this place out but my dad wanted to go so we went.
Our service was impeccable (thanks Nicole!!) and the food was very good. We had the korean tacos and the calamari and I have to say that the calamari was some of the best I’ve ever had… tender and delicious.
Lamb Shanks, chicken and shrimp, shrimp three ways and mongolian beef were all excellent.
Give it a shot and see how it goes… we got lucky I guess and had a great experience.

Very extensive menu so good place to bring the family. They specialize in wok style cooking so definitely check out that section of the menu. If you’re not in the mood for that they have a large selection of salads (I love the Ahi Tuna Salad) and sandwiches. There is also a Build Your Own Burger (beef patty, chicken breast, gardenburger, salmon/​mahi filet) option which is great. The kitchen is equipped with a wood fired grill so burgers/​chicken/​steaks etc have that great grilled flavor.
There are several specialty cocktails on the menu, like the habenero lime margarita and black cherry mojito… YUM! Staff is friendly and well versed on the menu. Would highly recommend checking this place out!

Restaurant including restrooms — clean — check
Waitress — friendly and helpful — check
Food flavor — incredibly edible — check
Price, acceptance of credit cards and ample free parking — check
This place was by far one of the best I’ve been to and worth the five star rating. We were greeted and quickly seated, our drink selections were assisted by a very friendly waitress names Theresa and our order was taken efficiently with even more suggestions by Theresa. I might also add — Theresa made perfect suggestions.
We had the Parmesan Encrusted Green Bean and Seared Ahi Tuna for starers and followed that with a Chinese Shrimp and Chicken dish that had all the right flavor, a Korean Chicken BBQ Kona, Thai Chicken salad and the surf and turf trio — ALL cooked to order and included some unusual requested alterations.
A special shout out to Theresa who made our night out memorable and treated us like family — good or bad she made the place 5 stars!

Our server Emily A. was definitely the most memorable server we’ve had in a long time, not in a good way. I can’t believe I waited so long to write about her.
Elephant Bar and Grill is Americanized version of Asian food. The food is edible and there is a good variety to choose from. Keep an eye out for coupons in your Sunday coupon section.
Unfortunately, our server was totally kooky. When we had a couple questions about the menu, she would answer randomly and incorrectly as we later found out. Some entrees come with rice and some come with sushi style (vinegar & sugar) rice. We gave up on getting any clear answers from her. When we asked for low sodium soy sauce (the one with the green cap) she said they didn’t have any. We thought that was strange but continued with our lunch. Then near the end of our meal, she comes out with a low sodium soy sauce bottle and asks with the most unsure, weird expression, «Is THIS what you wanted?» Yes, that’s what we wanted, but now we’re almost done eating. Thanks.
There was also an issue with the bill being calculated incorrectly which the manager had to correct. The food was okay, but the service is lacking.

Unilocalers, If you don’t read only one review this year, don’t read this one; the service was bland, but so was the food — this review can’t be much better.
Quick tip, Phoenix in the summer months is not ALWAYS hot, carry a light jacket or sweater in your car, sometimes it’s coooold, brrrr. Why some establishments think that 100+ degrees outside means it should be 65– degrees inside is byeond me. We visited on a Saturday before a movie and they seated us just under what seemed to be an ice vent, I was glad I had that sweater in the car.
My first impression of the Elephant Bar was «What type of food do they serve here?» Are they Mexi-​merican, Italian, American, BBQ, sandwich, Asian Fusion? I’m not sure, and neither does their 30+ page menu. They’ve got the most confusing menu I’ve seen from just about any restaurant. I think I saw the same menu item on three separate pages with at least two separate items, why? Don’t ask me.
I FINALLY, after about 25 minutes, ordered a barbecue glazed chicken sandwich with the macaroni and cheese side — which they touted all over the menu and table top flyers (the mac n cheese that is). By the way, turns out that their idea of barbecue glazed is a bland piece of chicken with barbecue sauce added after it’s put on your sandwich. I could have sworn that barbecue glazed means it’s cooked in a fire roaster /​oven with the sauce.
I ended up sending the macoroni and cheese back after 4 or 5 bites, the noodles were way over cooked and the cheese was bland, I guess I could have added salt, but didn’t really feel like paying for mediocre macoroni. I also requested them to add jalepenos to my chicken sandwich, and they sent out basically an entire jalepeno pepper on the side not peeled, not chopped, not diced, but sliced about 5 times — I ended up cutting it into smaller pieces myself with the butter knife they supplied me so I could actually add it to my sandwich.
The chicken wasn’t pink, so I THINK it was cooked, but it was walking the line of cooked and not cooked. After about one fifth of the chicken sandwich I decided the flavor wasn’t going to get much better and ended up sending that back also.
The bill arrived and to my surprise the chicken sandwich was still on there. I asked the waitress «are you really going to charge me for that meal?». She went and found the manager to which I had to explain again all the reasons I didn’t want to eat the food they provided and why I didn’t want to order something else instead.
My wife’s hambruger was good though. If you’re here, hungry, and confused at what to order, get a burger; I think it’s the best thing on the menu and difficult to get wrong. Who knows, maybe they can. :-/

You could describe the Elephant Bar chain of restaurants as comfort food with an Asian accent. The menu is fairly large, and contains Chinese style wok-​fired items, sandwiches, ribs, fish and chips, etc. You get the idea. Some of the food is better than what you would expect in a chain — the barbequed ribs and crispy salmon tempura, for example, but much of it is average or even subpar (like the patty melt — dry and tasteless).
I would only grant Elephant Bar two stars, but the prices make it clear that they are not trying to do much more than they accomplish. It is honestly mediocre. That’s something. I guess.
Go here for a quick average meal after the movies, if you go at all.
Note: Seniors, over 60, get 20% off with a «Safari card», and there are often coupons and discounts available.

I remember the first time going into the Elephant Bar and thinking the has to extensive a menu. For me that is usually a sign that overall the food is not going to be consisten, just to much of a variety. My compliments to the chef, I have never had anything that hasn’t been quite good. That is saying something as I over all over the menu. My dining companion has looked at what at my entrée more than once and said «you are going to eat that?» The ambience of the Elephant Bar is rather nice as well. Not that you don’t see the cutoffs and flip flop crowd but it is some place that one can enjoy dressing a bit for a nicer casual dinner.
The only drawback of the Elephant Bar is the service. As a whole it is usually very good but occasionally you do get a zinger. To the management’s credit, those people usually don’t last.

This place is cheese-​tastic to the max.
The décor reminds me of a place you would find inside a Six Flags or safari themed adventure daycare or something. There are elephants EVERYwhere. I get it, Elephant Bar, but there’s a way to do it and theres a way to beat a dead elephant into the ground and then run it over with a safari jeep and then wear it as a hat.
My friend and I had just seen that Chimpanzee movie in the same complex so we thought we would be clever and come here for a beer. I can’t report on the food, since we weren’t hungry. We did check out the menu though and holy crap it’s huge. I really dislike huge menus, it’s usually a sign of lack of focus. It’s all sort of fusion stuff, and if you don’t know what Fried Shrimp or Mac n Cheese looks like, don’t despair, there are pictures of every dish. Ugh.
It’s interesting that every inch of this place is covered with safari themed décor, but the patio is completely devoid of decoration. It’s just a few patio chairs and tables fenced in on the side of the building as an afterthought. I guess it was a nice respite from all the elephants and giraffes and nonsense.
$ 22 gets you three large beers not including tip for the nice, but completely average bartender who called me «dude».
Meh.