Cow Palace

It was far from what I anticipated… Cow Palace?
I was pleasantly surprised… reminiscent of an old Top Shelf Steak House… Food.Service.Ambience. .Excellent…I will be back.

Fist time at the Cow Palace, and it was great. The wife and I had great meals. She had the round up she said it was amazing! I had the western dip, also very good. We also ordered the chips and salsa. At first glance the salsa didn’t look that great, however it was perfect. Not to hot and great flavor. I would recommend the Cow Palace to anyone.

We drove down on 4÷2÷16. It said, «closed. We found Jesus.»

Excellent service and food. We both had the bacon cheeseburgers, one with fries and one with onion rings ($ 1 up charge but I didn’t mind). Presentation, taste, temperature, portion all excellent. We’ll be back! What impressed us most was that staff kept busy with general cleaning, etc., while they weren’t busy with customers.

We traveled a bit out of the way to have dinner here, and we’re glad we did. We used to come here while visited a family member from Green Valley and would always order chimichangas, so you can imagine our hearts sinking when we return almost twenty years later to find they are no longer on the menu. The staff was great and were able to accommodate us by frying the burrito. For this we will be forever grateful.
I had the chicken chimichanga and my dad had beef and loved them. Wished they were fried a little more, but also glad they weren’t. We started with chips, salsa, nothing special, and guacamole. The guac was fantastic. I was so impressed with the tomatoes, their freshness and taste. I am a brutal tomato snob, almost always choosing not to eat them, so I quite mean what I say here. The ranch beans were very tasty.
Overall, don’t miss the guacamole people!

The cow palace had nice people working there but the food was horrible. The men’s room was really pathetic. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere.

Disappointing visit. Waited for what seemed like 10 minutes to be seated–
Service marginal & food poorly presented. Cute décor

We have visited the Cow Palace twice now and both times it was fantastic. I really dont understand anything negative people have to say about it. Both times we had parties of 6 or more people, all of our meals were brought in together, they were all fantastic, all the right temperature, reasonably priced and the service was attentive.
The portions are so large we usually take at least a quarter to half of our meal home. My extra large teen boys cannot even finish their burgers.
If I was going to say anything negative. all I would say is that they should redo their bathrooms, but I’m sure legislation and cost make that prohibitive. Other than that is a great place to eat.
It’s very close to Madera Canyon, which is a great place to hike or camp. It has a fantastic western atmosphere and has been around since the 1920s. If you love the Old West, this is one of the very few places in the Tucson area that still hang onto that history.
So far we have tried the Reuben, barbecued burger, Mandarin chicken salad, Western dip, & a couple of other burgers and they’ve all been wonderful

Location:
In Amado, AZ south of Tucson off of I-​19, exit 48. Easy to find right off the interstate. «Quaint» little area.
First Impression:
Very rancher style design. Waiting area has saddle’s you and such you can take photos with, etc. Very clean area. They had a lot of mounted animals on the wall which I thought was nice but if you don’t like that design, this would not be the place for you. I was all about it as I am from the South.
Food:
The food was excellent. This review would actual encompass the second time I have been here with my family. The service was excellent with the staff being very attentive, ordering went quick and drinks were out in no time. The restaurant was about ¼−½ packed when we went so it was not bad. The food was excellent. I had the «Sunday Dinner» and my wife had one of their burgers. Both of them were cooked very well and extremely tasty. The food was not over-​salted like most places would do to cover up bad food. The food was very filling and was what I consider Rancher Style Comfort Food. I want to try the steaks but they are a little on the high side. Although, if the quality of the steaks are like the rest of their food… I’m sure it will be top-​notch.
Refill Meter (new rating for me):
1 – 10: 8
They did well coming back to refill me as I am bottomless pit of Ice-​Tea when I go to a restaurant.
Overall:
Would I go back? Definitely yes. The food was excellent and service was great. They even had coloring books for the kids while we waited (not just coloring sheets, actual books). It is definitely worth a shot if you want something a little different from the regular Tucson-​fare.

I’d stopped going to the Cow Palace — food was terrible and service matched. But we heard there was new management and tried it out — boy are we glad to be able to add this back to our list of local restaurants.
Steak was cooked perfectly to my order and tender. Water and iced tea glasses were kept full. Service was very good without being obsequious. Prices aren’t too bad for a steakhouse and we certainly thought it a value. We’ll be back!

Cow Palace did not disappoint. Had Fish Fry. Lots of food for the money. Bartender Rachel super kind and helpful with menu. Great Margarita. Owner Lynn stopped by to be sure we were happy. Way to Go!

Sonoran burger was awesome. Fries were really good too. Really close to interstate. I will bring back friends for the sandwiches.

The best Monte Cristo I’ve had in years. Will for sure be back next time I am in town. Service was quick and friendly, cute western theme. I’m hesitant to try anything else on the menu as this sandwich was that good!

Delicious homemade soup, fresh salad. Served with rolls and butter. We had a good steak sandwich with the baked beans. Recommend it!

Let me preface this by saying part of my frustration is that I move at 150 mph and sometimes I forget that small town America doesn’t… This place was not what I expected but I was pleasantly surprised. What was truly pictured in my mind was a huge restaurant, burn em & turn em kind of place. Instead we found the place quaint and on the smaller side. We say ourselves and the server acknowledged us right away stating so-​and-​so would be right over. We waited 10 for the other server before the original one came back and took our order. I do no exaggerate the time. I checked in on Unilocal right when we walked in and used that as a base. The server was so friendly we couldn’t be upset. We both ordered burgers: mine was the bacon & blue cheez burger. Wow! Who knew! The burgers are ¹⁄₃ pound and filling. There were 3 very large, thick pieces of bacon. No skimping here.
In the meantime, the other server was wandering around aimlessly not really doing much of anything whole our server was taking care of everyone.
I read some of the reviews of late. We were on the fence about trying this place after reading the more recent ones. I’m glad we did. It was worth the stop and the wait time (remember you are in small town America).

Yep, it’s western in here! Our party of four ordered two burgers, a half rack of ribs, and a small sirloin. Burgers were excellent, fries not quite crispy enough. My friend said the ribs weren’t quite done enough – they stuck a little too hard to the bones.
The food is standard roadhouse food, nothing especially interesting or exceptional, but fresh and good, a nice break from ho-​hum Tex-​Mex at many nearby restaurants.
Service was friendly but a bit clueless. I had to ask a couple times for water refills, and at the end the waitress asked if we wanted separate checks. We said yes, and no less than a minute later she came back with one check for the whole group. Also note Green Valley hours: they close at 8 pm.

My wife and I haven’t been back to the Cow Palace since it changed hands a few weeks ago. Went there for dinner tonight (Saturday evening). Good food, excellent service.
We ordered an appetizer of calamari, which was, by any standard, excellent. Light, very tasty and of good quantity. We both had a clam chowder soup. As we live on Cape Cod for half the year, we know clam chowder! This was a very different (in a good way) flavor from what we were used to. I regret not asking the waitress how the dish was prepared, but it was not like the creamy soups of the Cape or the other, NY style version, which is lighter.
My wife had liver and I ordered prime rib. The meat was tasty and the potato that came with the dish was done properly, and served with plenty of butter and sour cream.
Service was excellent, with a lot of personal attention paid to each table by the owner as well as staff. I noted that there was a goodly flow of customers coming and going into and out of the restaurant. Keep in mind, Amado is a small, rather out of the way town, so that’s a good sign.
We’ll be going back.

Solid cooking, friendly service. Western, relaxed atmosphere with a wide variety of choices for food. My family consists of gluten free, dairy free, palo, and meatless needs, all of which were met with no trouble and with resounding (read: delicious) success. And there are those of us with a desire for meat — cooked just to my liking (medium rare) and perfectly seasoned.
Flavor profiles for many of the dishes are surprisingly sophisticated for a restaurant right off the I-​19. But, really, almost everything about this place was beyond initial expectation. If you’re anywhere nearby, I strongly encourage you to stop by and check it out. When I’m back in town, I look forward to spending some time in their bar — I saw a number of TVs and the cocktail I tried from my father was tasty.

Ordered the T-​Bone for $ 17.99. Maybe the worst steak I ever had. Grizzle. Hardly any meat. Not a good cut. The cut did not contain both sides of meat. Served with baked potato and 3 onion rings. Service was very good.

Good basic food. Good service. Fun wait staff. Music is good down home tunes on a weekend night with space to dance.
I will go again.
I enjoyed my burger.