Lunch is apparently over at 2pm in the nice restaurant, T. Carl's.  After that, restaurant goers can eat in the Poco's 10th Hole Lounge, a sports bar and lounge that features six televisions, a large projector screen and a full food and beverage menu. Hours: 2pm-11pm.

We arrived at 1:45pm and were told by a waiter that we'd be better off eating in the bar, that we wouldn't be rushed or bothered by cleaning up, or whatever. We said we'd like to eat in the nice open restaurant with the many windows overlooking the golf course instead of eating in the windowless, dark bar. It's good to watch some sports in, but I didn't want to eat lunch in there. I owned a restaurant for 16 years. What this waiter speak translates into is "God, it's 15 minutes before we close, please don't eat here, because I've got something to do at 2:05pm." Sorry, T. Carl's it is!

So, we get seated, look at the menus, and order our food and drinks at the same time right off the bat. We don't want the waitstaff to stay late on account of us!

The order is two ice teas, a hamburger without a bun (my wife) and a French Dip Sandwich which is made with Prime Rib. I love Prime Rib. Both come with fries. First comes the ice tea. It's poured into the red wine glasses that were on our table stuffed with napkins. A small red wine glass makes for a small glass of iced tea. Plus, we were given 8 inch long drink straws. That would have looked kind of ridiculous! An 8 inch long McDonald's type straw in a small red wineglass. We looked at the other tables and they had slightly larger water type glasses. They must have run out of those when they got to our table, or somebody made a mistake.

Patio dining at T. Carl's at the Radisson Poco Diablo located at 1752 S Hwy 179. Inset: view of the 9 hole executive golf course.

Next came our food. My wife's burger was prepared the way she ordered it. It tasted great and my wife enjoyed it. The only problem was that the fries were cold and not crispy enough (same with me). It's funny how you get those fries that are cooked until there's no moisture left in them at all and are hard little nubs and at the same time you also get the ones that aren't cooked enough.

On to my French Dip sandwich. The Au Jus was way too salty. Was the beef Prime Rib? It was cut thin like roast beef, but I did not get any prime rib flavor or texture from it. A little thicker cut would be nice and a little more beef would be nice too. I don't think there was a quarter pound on there and at $10 I would expect at least a quarter pound of meat on the sandwich. Let's be honest, T. Carl's isn't cooking prime rib fresh to make this sandwich. It's leftover from maybe the night before or whenever. This isn't a problem. Its done everywhere.  I did it when I had my restaurant! Leftover Prime Rib? You bet I'm going to use it some way. If it's a sandwich, just put some meat on it! If I get less than a quarter pound of meat for a $10 sandwich, then your telling me you sell a 16 ounce cut of prime rib for $40? Yikes!

My French Dip.	My wife's burger.

So, here I go again! The meal turns into a question of value. We ate all of our lunch except for some fries, so it must have been pretty good. But it cost us $36. Which is apparently normal for Sedona. Wouldn't it be wild (and nice) to have a good lunch in Sedona for under $10 per person? After we asked the waitstaff for some higher up people to talk to about their upcoming December small party event, they became very pleasant and accommodating. Hmm. And the higher up person was very nice, spent a lot of time with us, showed us around the resort, showed us a room and the ballroom where their 2nd annual "little BIG Party" is going to be held on December 18th. So the people there can definitely be nice.

So what's the final verdict? Lunch was ok. But there are a lot of places to eat lunch in Sedona that are ok. You've got to wow people to get them to come back. I'm looking for value and I think a lot of other people are too. It's a good thing we had such a nice experience with Amy and Marian talking about the resort. So we're going to back Poco Diablo for dinner. That will be the real test. And we'll try and get there at least an hour before closing!

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