Rita’s Kitchen & R Bar

Great for breakfast but just ok for dinner. The outside dining has a beautiful view and inside is romantic but loses its appeal because of the loud bar across the room. The bar can get loud that it can get distracting. Dinner was just ok but breakfast was awesome. The service in this entire resort is bar none. They truly care that you have a great experience. Hostess and wait staff were just amazing.

There is so much to like about Rita’s! The nightly live music, the chips, the guac, the happy hour menu, the service and the setting were all hits for me. I tried both the steak and the chicken quesadillas. The chicken one was absolutely delicious – straight candy. The steak was good, but I was too biased from the chicken to love. The mood there is completely casual and the service is really sweet. Sitting in their outside lounge after dinner is part of the experience, so don’t skip that.

Great outdoor patio, good service, amazing drinks and tasty food!
Next time I am in Arizona I will definitely go back.

atmosphere 5 out of 5
parking 3 out of 5
service 5 out of 5
food 2 out of 5
value 2 out 5
loved the outdoor seating and the people are very nice

Best brunch for seafood etc. Great for a birthday or other special occasion. Save space for the desert at the end!

Reservation for 1pm on Sunday. We were seated at 1:25 pm. Server took our drink order at 1:35pm. We got our drinks at 2pm. Took our food order at 2:10 pm… We received our food at 3pm. It was almost as amazing as dennys food. Server was cool. I’m guessing he was not informed by management that the reservation went almost half n hour over. Zero sense of urgency. I watched a party of 8 sit down drink and eat and leave an hour before us. Super bummed. It was a really special occasion and just put a funk on the day. Still waiting for a check. It’s 330pm. 2 and a half hours for a really bad experience. Hope no one has this happen to them

We grabbed a quick lunch here before we went to the airport, and it was well worth the drive from the other J.W. Marriott in Phoenix (where we had stayed the night before). I just got a side cobb salad with chicken and the chicken tortilla soup. The cobb salad had a lime cilantro dressing on it that was amazing. I highly recommend. The tortilla soup was not spicy at all, which is just how I like it. Our server was very on top of it, and he was very professional. Thank you for the great service and lunch!

This place as a killer breakfast buffet. Many food stations — grill it your way, sides, fruit, salmon plate, fruit bar, grains, pastries — they have it all. Chef Ricketts is a powerhouse — can serve 15 people simultaneously with 9 omelette pans, two waffles and two scrambles all going at once.
Beautiful patio Dining with great views, friendly wait staff and plenty of umbrellas for shade and a few fire pits when the temp drops.

Came here today for my buddy’s surprise birthday and enjoyed the Sunday brunch buffet. It was amazing! The mountain views within the patio were beautiful and the buffet spread was top notch. Dined on delicious crab claws, other seafood like scallops & shrimp, sushi rolls, prime rib, filet mignon, Mexican classics like carne asada & tacos, an array of salads, and more! The price for brunch is quite steep, but this is an opulent buffet with high-​end dishes. To top it all off, the service was impeccable. Will return again with family!

Best happy hour in the valley. Popovers and escargot are great! Beautiful sunset view too!

The filet here is my favorite! I’ve been here for dinner about 6 times and the drinks, food and service are always great! Beautiful restaurant and live music.

Best brunch in AZ! The buffet spread is delicious and you certainly get your monies worth. Served is everything from crab legs to cheese to omelets to quesadillas. Mimosas are included and you can’t beat the gorgeous views!

Supremely underwhelming IMO. Boyfriend and I came here on New Year’s Day for their brunch buffet. We didn’t want to be useless for the rest of the day so we opted out of the full buffet and just stuck to the breakfast items.
The eggs and pancakes to order was pretty nice, but that’s the extent of it. Everything else is pretty much what you would expect from a hotel continental breakfast. Nothing spectacular and definitely not worth $ 25 per person.
I’m assuming the full buffet is much better, since I saw everything from a raw bar to prime rib being served. However, it still doesn’t really seem worth the money to be served food from under a heat lamp.
If you’re a buffet person, this definitely seems like a good one. But if you’re on the fence, just sit this one out and order off the menu.

I love this place, the food was excellent and Gigi and Alan were remarkable. Try the chicken enchiladas.

Went for the smaller buffet on Sunday. The huevos rancheros were dried and tasteless. Husband’s eggs benedict had to be sent back — they were served almost cold. Pancakes were so-​so. Very disappointed.

Was there yesterday. Sat out back for happy hour. They are clearly understaffed at that time because after sitting awhile I went to go find someone. She came out to impatiently take our order but we had no menus. She brought menus and then disappeared again. We managed to get drinks but after she dropped them and 10 minutes went by, I went inside only to be further annoyed by the surly and unhelpful bartender. The other outside server was super nice. I wish she had been helping us. The resort is lovely but mediocre food and discourteous staff do not warrant a return trip.

Amazing. Host was wonderful, the wait staff were first class. Met the manager and let her know the team was outstanding. True fine dining experience.

Over the thanksgiving holiday, my parents and I stayed at the Marriott Camelback Inn, where Rita’s is located. I enjoyed two of the most delicious meals here. We were lucky enough to devour their Thanksgiving brunch, which included an assortment of every type of food imaginable. We sat their from 1130−5pm, listening to the live music and enjoying the amazing food and bottomless mimosas! Even though the brunch ended at 2, our server Elizabeth was more than happy to serve us and many others until the end of the day. On Saturday, we sat by the fire on comfy sofas for happy hour. We ordered the Filet Sliders, Crispy Fries, and Grilled Cheese, which were all mouthwatering. To drink, we ordered three Lincoln drives– tasted like pink lemonade, was refreshing and delightful. Overall, my experience at the JW Marriott and Rita’s was spectacular. Rita’s went above and beyond to ensure my family had the best Thanksgiving weekend. The service, the atmosphere, and the food was outstanding.

Great food in a delightful atmosphere. A wide variety of choices. Good service from people who seem to enjoy their work.

It’s $ 65 for the buffet but oh, what a buffet! I ate about 30 Alaskan crab claws, scallops, smoked salmon, shrimp, tenderloin, crab cakes, carne asada, crepes Suzette, crème brûlée. Add to it there are bottomless mimosas and… damn. I’m in a food coma. So great!

The perfect late, light, lunch. Beautiful patio, really tasty gaspacho and flawless salads. Garden green salad fresh, crunchy and interesting, the added flank steak was charred yet still very tender and moist. Wife similarly raved about the chop salad with chicken. Would highly recommend and will not hesitate to return.

Best Sunday Brunch Buffet. Our experience ce was wonderful! Friendly & helpful staff in a wonderful atmosphere, and the food was delicious & excellent quality

We had brunch here and went with the buffet that was recommended to us. I wish they had more selection of breakfast items as part of the buffet (eggs Benedict, crab legs or sushi, some dessert items, homemade cream cheese spreads, etc) but everything they did have was fresh and of good quality. I particularly liked the smoked salmon, pain au chocolat, omelette station, and their coffee. Price was very reasonable for the buffet and not too crowded even on a Saturday morning.

Came for the brunch and wow it was fantastic and only $ 39. Great selection that you see at most places including breakfast buffet, omelette station, antipasti, warm lunch food, and cold breakfast items. I love the dessert tower they bring out at the end what a great touch. Also bottomless cupcake mimosas. The JW is absolutely killing it on Sunday brunch. Also Orlando our server was fantastic beat server I have ever had at a hotel three meal.

I’ve been to the R Bar several times… always on a Saturday evening though.. And it’s never crowded. Very welcoming and relaxed atmosphere. There is indoor/​outdoor seating. I love the music! One man band plays until 10pm or 11pm. The staff is helpful. They’re there when you need them. I’ve tried several of their dishes. The baja shrimp cocktail is my favorite! The chicken chopped salad is my least favorite. It is a chopped salad, but the chicken breast wasn’t chopped (hmmmm), I could’nt stop eating the calamari! Definitely put R Bar on your list if you have looking for a place to mellow out.

Came for the Mother’s Day brunch and I must say that it was one of the best brunches I have ever had. Such a great diversity and delicious foods appetizers cheeses hot and cold meat stations breakfast station and so much more and most of all it was all prepared perfectly.

Firstly, the ambiance at this place is unparalleled. There are fire pits, live music, lightbulb strings, you name it! Unfortunately, the food I tried didn’t deliver as well as I would’ve liked. The chips and guacamole tasted bland and uninteresting and the sweet potato tots were tasty but I felt there should’ve been different sauce options. I must admit the redeeming factor was probably the Desert Pear Cosmo– this drink was absolutely delicious! Not too sweet and with a niche flavor I loved to find in the desert. I’ll give this place another shot but ultimately felt the food/​drink execution was hit or miss.
Last but not least the guitar player on ³⁄₂₃ was so talented! He was one of the highlights of our experiences at Camelback Inn.

I wouldn’t normally write a separate review for the in-​house restaurant at a hotel, but the breakfast buffet was so delicious that I feel compelled to write.
It’s the details that make a place 5 stars and here, it was was quality of the cheese danishes, the chocolate croissants, the perfectly crisp hash browns… and the omelet bar. Also, a lot of fresh fruit, smoked salmon, — basically, this was a gourmet quality breakfast place with a wide selection of anything you could want in the morning.
I think they charge $ 24 and that is a bargain for a fancy breakfast buffet.

The chicken tortilla soup was pretty good but the Rita’s chop salad was very bland and uninteresting. Service was great though and the outside area has a great view of the mountains.

Extremely nice staff! But not nice enough to make up for the subpar service & mediocre food. Cats, did I mention freaking stray cats? As someone allergic cats I was immediately turned off.
Ok, let’s break down this visit. Waitress was very nice, a little «green,» but a complete sweetheart who seemed to try her best. My warm water was never delivered, my daughter’s drink was never refilled & she never offered condiments with my daughter’s leftovers. I feel bad for critiquing her because she was so nice but she has more to learn. On a good note, they prebussed well.
I ordered a chips & salsa tree. Three out of the four were good but the guacamole/​tomatillo salsa was missing something. I thought there green salsa tasted store bought. The chips weren’t too salty & were nice & crispy.
At this point, I’m pretty excited to try my shrimp & carne asada. I’m thinking it’s going to be amazing & I’ll finally get to try elote. (I was definitely curious about my husband’s shrimp verdes enchiladas)
Food comes & that’s about the best thing I can say about it. I looked at my corn & it was clearly drying out from sitting around a while. There was a weird stabbed key lime on the plate as well, also dry. The shrimp, all three of them were eh but cooked appropriately (all 3 of them). The beans were pretty good but nothing that really stood out to me. Ok the best letdown was the carne asada. It was a thick slab of meat not thinner slices, which is more traditional. I ordered it medium rare & it was delivered slightly overcooked. I was pleased with the tenderness of the meat but the flavor just tasted burned. I called it charburned instead of charbroiled.
I asked for tortillas for my carne & she brought me three dried out tortillas that sat wrapped up so long they broke apart as i unrolled them. I asked for more & they weren’t much better.
I tasted one bite of my husband’s enchiladas & was disappointed to taste that it was covered with that horrible store bought tasting green salsa. I did not return for another bite.
I had high hopes for this place. :/​
P. S. my tourist friends loved it. Perhaps they just didn’t know better.

Loved our late night snack at the R Bar. The filet mignon sliders with blue cheese were done to perfection. The setting was so relaxing.
The following afternoon we returned for iced teas, chips, salsa and guacamole. Again, the food was fabulous, the setting was lovely and the misters felt wonderful under the desert heat.

When I was pondering where to go for a breakfast meeting a few weeks ago, my husband suggested choosing from one of the many local resort restaurants…
It was a great idea, and I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it on my own. I took it and ran with it and headed to Rita’s with Lindsey D. Rita’s was awesome for breakfast that day… we both found great parking spots and walked right in. There was not a wait and the weather was perfect for us to dine alfresco. Service was top notch and food was fabulous too! And the best thing? They didn’t seem to mind that we stayed after our meal to take advantage of their free wifi to work for a bit!
So why only three stars, you might be wondering?
Well, I had such a wonderful breakfast that day, that I ended up suggesting Rita’s for a group dinner the following week, and I’ve since been back two more times; once for lunch and another time for dinner with my husband. After those three additional visits, I can say that I still recommend Rita’s for the following:
*breakfast
*drinks alfresco with a fabulous view
*chips and tableside prepared guacamole
*lunch if you don’t mind paying a premium for the setting
*a kid friendly environment
*live music in the evenings 7 days a week
I find that while breakfast at Rita’s is reasonably priced, lunch and dinner can get pricey and the food is really nothing to write home about. I had a salad for lunch, a fish entrée for one dinner, and the chicken tortilla soup at the other dinner. I also sampled my husband’s chicken wings and chicken entrée. If you go for lunch or dinner, Rita’s Chopped Salad is tasty, but the entrée portion is small… so is the starter portion, but I expected that from a starter. I do not recommend the chicken tortilla soup, chicken wings, halibut, or chicken entrée. I’d probably go for a burger or tacos if I end up at Rita’s for dinner in the future.
If you care less about food quality and more about convenience, ambiance, the ability to reserve a table for a group, and/​or a place that is kid-​friendly… don’t hesitate to head to Rita’s. I am indeed a fan of this local resort gem for the entire experience (save for some of the aforementioned menu items). I’m sure I’ll head back (likely for breakfast), but won’t be rushing to Rita’s for lunch or dinner anytime too soon.