Where to Eat in Tombstone

When visiting Tombstone, just north of the Mexican border in Arizona, you're bound to get hungry. Tantalizing scents hit you when you peruse the shops and attractions lining the historic district, reminding you in case you forget. There are no fast-food restaurants in Tombstone. For first-time visitors, it can be tough to figure out which of the local restaurants offers the best food for the best price. The answers from locals may be influenced by friendships (the inevitable small-town connections) or enemies (for the flipside of the same.) Or maybe you're hungry for Mexican food and you're not finding anything but burgers and steaks.

Keep in mind that Tombstone has a population of some 1200 people. That's not a lot of locals to support restaurants, so every food outlet in town caters to visitors. That's good and bad. The bad is that it costs more to eat in Tombstone than for comparable food elsewhere, and service at some locations leaves much to be desired. The good is that in general, food quality is good to excellent wherever you go.

Mexican Food

The best Mexican Restaurant in Tombstone is the Lamplight Room, one of three recommended eateries located just outside the historic district. It's a white stucco structure located on 4th Street, one block north of Highway 80. There is clear signage on the main highway , with an arrow pointing you to the restaurant. Adding to the fact are the words "fine dining" painted under the eaves of the converted house. It's pretty easy to spot even from the highway.

Prices are modest, particularly when you consider the generous portion sizes. Meals are prepared to order. Servers here are unfailingly polite, though service is a bit slow. (To be fair, companion and I ate there on a busy Friday night.) The Lamplight Room boasts a full bar. In fact, their bar is the first thing you see when you step into their extremely-tiny reception area.

The food skews slightly to the peppery-hot side. Take that into account when ordering. As previously mentioned, portions at the Lamplight Room are quite generous. While Companion polished off his meal, I was only able to eat half of my meat-filled burrito, and I was famished upon arrival. Their menu encompasses most south-of-the-border standards, plus a passable chili relleno. The relleno was my sole disappointment, but only because I didn't specify to substitute cheese for the tomato-based sauce.

The atmosphere is quaint and intimate, unlike some of the more raucous downtown bars and grills. Weekend evenings, a Spanish guitarist provides a live concert to enhance the dining experience. When weather permits, the music moves outside, where a light-festooned patio permits outdoor dining. As of March 1, 2007, The Lamplight Room is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

www.tombstoneboardinghouse.com

Homestyle Cooking

Walking into Nellie Cashman's restaurant is a bit like walking into your grandmother's house. There are dozens of old photographs lining the walls, and glass-front cases display treasured items from yesteryear. The tables are covered with cheery mismatched checked and plaid tablecloths. The simple, homey quality carries over to the food, as well.

Companion ordered a burger and fries, whereas I decided to try the open-face hot roast beef sandwich. Unfortunately our server informed me that they'd run out of the hot beef. Given that we arrived an hour or so past lunchtime, the lack was disappointing but understandable. Substitution was an open-face hot turkey sandwich and a side salad, at my request.

Our food arrived quickly. The salad was first, suitably fresh, and won high marks for avoiding the cliche of iceberg lettuce. The bed of greens was a simple accompaniment, garnished with tomato and onion and a reasonable portion of bleu cheese dressing. At $1.95, it was a good value for the money. Our hot food arrived just in time to coincide with the end of the salad, as is optimal. Companion's burger was generous and homemade, the meat demonstrating the telltale shape and thickness of a hand-formed patty. The burger was cooked to order and the combined sandwich and fries formed a full meal for Companion, who has a rather largish appetite.

My own meal arrived simultaneously and consisted of the large open-face sandwich, smothered with home-style white gravy poured over the sandwich and the real mashed potatoes. The potatoes were themselves the product of grandma's kitchen, lumps and all. This isn't a bad thing: there was absolutely no mistaking that these were real and not some freeze-dried reconstituted potato substitute. All of the hot food arrived piping hot.

Nellie Cashman's menu also includes such staples as pork chops and various sandwiches. The restaurant is located on the corner of 5th and Toughnut, just south of Allen Street. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

http://www.nelliecashman.freeservers.com/

American Upscale

In the land of the Old West, the steak is king and chicken is a close second. Virtually every restaurant in town serves some version thereof, with varying results.

This reviewer has not yet tried one steakhouse, but in the interest of fairness felt it should be noted. The Depot, located just off of Highway 80 at the eastern end of town, has acquired many a fan among local denizens and is known for its generous portions.

Other restaurants in the area are something of a mixed bag.

At the northwest corner of Tombstone on Highway 80, the Ranch 22 Restaurant and Bar is part of the Best Western Lookout Lodge. Upscale compared to other local restaurants, Ranch 22 offers a menu of steak, chicken, seafood, pasta and salads. The food is definitely on the pricey side, with a fairly small steak running $28 as of this writing. In all fairness, Ranch 22 offers range-fed beef and chicken, with other ingredients likewise top of the line in quality. They have a limited bar, including beer, wine and a few light mixed drinks.

Food is cooked to order. Unfortunately, the quality of the meal hinges on who's in the kitchen on any given night and what specific meal is ordered. The alfredo, while fairly generous in portion and made with excellent ingredients, was very salty on at least two different occasions - once too salty for this reviewer to eat. Burgers start at $12 and a salad can set you back as much as $18. Salads on the whole are a good bet; but again, it depends on who's cooking and what is ordered. More than once, the blackened salmon salad, garnished with hot crossed asparagus spears, was far too blackened for this reviewer's taste.

Returning an unacceptable meal is not well handled by staff. Some guests are offered a percent off on unacceptable meals, but no substitutions were offered and meals were never comped when the problem arose. Staff personalities are mixed, ranging from good to indifferent to downright rude.

Presentation is flawless and the dining room's visual atmosphere is good, but in this reviewer's opinion the pricing is out of sync with the uneven quality and even more irregular service. Despite the aforementioned problems, Ranch 22's menu and overall quality merits recognition among the better eateries in Tombstone.

Ranch 22 is open for breakfast and dinner, seven days a week.

http://www.bestwesterntombstone.com/

Low Cost

Prominent on Historic Allen Street, the Longhorn Restaurant is open from 8am to 9pm, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. It offers the standard fare of steaks and burgers, sandwiches and the like. Prices are very modest for this tourist community, with food quality consistent, if not top of the line.

Companion and I had breakfast at the Longhorn. Service was prompt and our portions were generous and low priced. The food was serviceable and cooked to order. Companion's over-easy eggs truly were over easy, which is itself something of a miracle. Coffee and tea were kept warm, and our server was pleasant throughout. Other subsequent meals at the Longhorn have shown comparable in quality and service.

While it certainly isn't five-star, The Longhorn Restaurant Tombstone's answer to McDonalds: inexpensive, with reliable food quality.

http://www.bignosekate.com/dining.htm

Avoid Like the Plague

On Highway 80 just as you're entering Tombstone, there's a small restaurant known as Top of the Hill. A sign advertises breakfast for $3.99, which would be a good deal if it were any other place in the area. Unfortunately, Top of the Hill may just be the worst restaurant ever experienced by this reviewer, and other patrons have expressed similarly bad experiences.

The cavernous dining area lacked anything that could be considered decor, despite a reported recent (and expensive) redecorating effort. Service was extremely slow and when the food finally arrived, Companion and I expressed wonder that it was being served as a meal, rather than tossed into the dumpster. Companion had a breakfast of chorizo and eggs, while I had a meat burrito.

My tortilla was cracked and stale. The meat filling was dry, skimpy and tasted at least a week old. There was no sauce, no accompaniment, just a dry tortilla wrapped around leathery strings of what I believe was once beef. Companion complained that his meal followed the same pattern: extremely stale and dry. The chorizo, if it was ever that, resembled odd-shaped sandy pebbles. We left feeling more than a bit queasy, vowing never to return.