Eli’s American Grille

I am complety heartbroken! Eli’s is where Cole & I would go for a guaranteed good time. The food was good but the Tucson Burger was the best. The live band & dancing was always a riot. It was a great place to go and watch the 50 & over «hump around» & «bump & grind» on each other. Bet money you laughed your ass off. We would take our friends here just to watch the old rich people get it on. One night I let Cole dance with a 70 year old man for his bday… his junk made wood! Glad we could help make his bday special. R. I. P. Eli’s. I’ll miss you!

Was surprised to find out they closed. Seemed like they were doing well, especially on the weekends. Without a doubt, the best part about Eli’s was the staff. Everyone was always extremely friendly.
The restaurant layout itself was ok at best. It was laid out where if you weren’t sitting at the bar, you felt like you were alone on an island. If we didn’t get a seat at the bar, we generally just left.
The food on the other hand was delicious with nice portion sizes and reasonably priced.
Considering there is so little to do in regards to decent bars, it was unfortunate to see them close.

Bummed to hear they have closed. Robbie was one of the best bartenders I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. He was a true old school bartender. Eli’s itself was o.k. Every time I was there I sat at the bar and had bar food, Nacho’s etc… Robbie made great drinks and the food was fine.

Always a great place. Sliders are amazing and great happy hour drinks and prices. I used to be a regular but had a kid so this was my first time back in a while. Definitely miss it. Hopefully I’ll be back soon

Their sliders are great get the tenderloin and you will see what I mean.
The fish and chips are also a nice buy.

Was excited to check this place out but the excitement didn’t last long. Bar staff was extremely rude to my friends and I and the customers were no better. Apparently if you are under 50 there you don’t belong. This is like a sad retirement home birthday party. Very depressing

Went in today around 1pm to get lunch (Sun) and it was crowded for the football game but they still had several tables available. We were able to order a drink but had to wait over 30 min just to get a menu! Tried to wave down the waitress to ask for one and she told us to wait, she had another table to attend to. We have had slow service here before but not like this. If they were short handed, just say so and give us menus to look over until you can take our order. I watched her take another tables order and walked away with the menus. Decided not to stay and went to the Temple Bar Sports Grill instead and were waited on right away and had a great lunch.

My wife and I decided to try Eli’s last night and was surprised that it was not very busy at dinner time on a Saturday night. We should have heeded that warning, but instead, went in and ordered dinner. Now we know why most of the reviews here are about Karaōke, bands and drinking and NOT the food.
The first problem we had is the place is so dark inside, you can barely see. The first booth they sat us at stunk so badly of vinegar my eyes were watering and my stomach started to turn. The waitress then moved us to another booth, but it still had that vinegar smell that was making me ill, but not as strong.
We decided to split the fish and chips combo (with fried jumbo shrimp) and waffle fries.
The waitress brought us fried jumbo shrimp, charged us $ 1 extra for a ‘plating fee’ (for splitting the food among two plates). I asked where the fish was and she looked dumb-​founded. Then she left to correct the error, never offering to refill my drink.
Ensuring a dining customer always has something to wash down their food is waiting tables 101. If the wait staff doesn’t have the time or the desire to keep refilling drinks, they should either offer larger drinking glasses (for soda and other free refill drinks) or the server should have brought two so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. It costs her nothing whether I touch the second one or not, and it saves her time should I need a refill after that. Or, let the customer get their own fountain drinks, as many other establishments do. The irony is I drank that soda while waiting for the food to arrive. While the food was served hot, my drink was dry and the waitress just vanished on us, leaving us no choice but to sit there and watch for her (in a very dark building) to get her attention while our food grew cold.
The jumbo shrimp was very good. The waffle fries tasted like frozen Orieda fries you can buy at any grocery store. They didn’t taste bad, but they didn’t taste fresh. Done eating our shrimp and fries, the fish finally showed up. Two pieces actually. The amount of fish was less than expected, considering we were served 6 of the jumbo fried shrimp. But after we tasted the fish, we agreed any more would have been a waste. The fish was flavorless. Not only was it bland, it had a very fishy taste to it.
Adding insult to injury was the price. That ONE meal with two drinks (both non-​alcoholic) came out to $ 30+.
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a bar to buy over-​priced drinks, listen to drunk people sing off-​key and watch sports on numerous TVs that you cannot hear, this is, apparently, the place to be. They typically call these types of places a KARAOKE BAR. On the other hand, If you’re looking for a nice, sit down RESTAURANT, go to Guido’s on the other side of the street. It’s well lit on the inside, far cheaper and Guido’s broasted fish and chicken are to die for! Lesson learned.

Not my cup of tea. I came here after a long day of business hoping to avoid the old Denny’s fall back, but I think I actually would of preferred to eat at the classic dinner. The food at Eli’s was only okay, service was poor (but passable because I was in no rush), and there was a band playing oldies which made the environment different than I would like. I suppose it’s not bad as a bar, I was under the impression it was more than that and came to eat, which at my current state was a mistake.

This place is good for Happy Hour with cheap drinks and edible bar food.
I returned on a weekend night to see the band. They were decent and get the crowd shaking. I tried to act like a regular but they know I’m not so the wait staff is like, «What do you want?» Or maybe they treat everyone that way.
The other interesting thing is there were the usual prowlers — men whose eyes go thru everything else and just hunt for females. And maybe a couple of cougars and milfs here and there.
If it gets too noisy or stuffy you can get out to the covered patio. Sit at tables and you can see the bar and all the action inside. But right behind the chairs is the parking lot so someone can knock you unconscious and kidnap your date.

Excellent place to grab a drink ins dinner and. Watch the sports on flatscreens TV. The food is always prepaired to taste and they are willing to customize your order.

Our waitress was doing her best to cover for marginal food and overpriced drinks. A $ 10 can of Guinness Draught was delivered to the table opened with all the nitrogen long gone. When we were asked how everything was by our waitres we told her «could be better» to which she responded «great» and headed off. My lovely wife insisted on tipping 20% and promised me that we would never have to go back.

I started going to Eli’s dancing with some friends and during this time I have noticed their hot wings several times. I finally went here for lunch just to have some wings. I have to say, these are the best wings I’ve found since moving to AZ from Ohio. I also had one of their burgers and it was very tasty as well.
The dancing to live music is also fun making Eli’s a great place to eat and have fun.

Checked this place out with Reese and Andrea for Karaōke with a live band on Tuesday night. So this review will contain a lot about the Karaōke experience.

The vibe in Eli’s on Tuesday was fantastic. The audience was very participative with lots of applause and dancing. What an awesome band and I loved the fact that people in the audience got up and danced. Even I danced a jig with a gentleman who twirled me around the dance floor. I’m not the best twirler, but I definitely did enjoy the offer for the dance. Shout-​out to Reese and Andrea for performing lovely songs. Reese sang one of my favorite songs, Summertime (Porgy and Bess, Gershwin) and so appropriate for the season! But the HYPE award has to go to Andrea’s friend Rusty. Whoot whoot, he sang Robin Thicke’s 2013 summer smash hit, Blurred Lines, and got everyone in the restaurant off their feet and dancing. Look, this is not your amateur karaōke night! These people singing practice! A lot.

I was also hungry when I arrived. I ordered the cheeseburger sliders (half order — 3 sliders), because everyone says they are the best. I got a few fries and a side salad. The sliders were good. Nothing stellar to write home about. The bread that they use is amazingly delicious. The cheeseburger sliders come with an au jus and that bread THE perfect bread for aus jus. The bread was dense, moist and somewhat spongy, so it absorbed a nice amount of au jus in a double dip without the bread becoming soggy. I enjoyed a couple of bites and packed the 2.5 sliders for lunch the next day. They have great waffle fries and I enjoyed the green house salad.

My return factor is 100% when Reese is going to sing. Otherwise, it is not a place I would go on my own.

One final update for their self proclaimed famous baby back Ribs. It was a good deal at $ 10.99 for happy Hour (3 – 7). You get a half-​rack and some top-​notch homemade coleslaw. Normally, the half rack is $ 15.99. Yes, the ribs do fall off the bone and if you put some of their excellent BBQ sauce (it comes unsauced and basically unseasoned) it turns into a three-​star ribs. These were a bit fatty though and I’m not sure they were truly baby backs, but overall they were good, just nothing that would be worth ordering again. The bartenders are always friendly here and you get good service if it’s not crowded and your not a regular. If it’s crowded, forget it, unless you know one of these guys for years like most people do at Eli’s.

«Oooh! Yah gotta come up here! It’s like MILF haven up here!» said my friend that night.
«Hmm», I thought to myself. Then I got in my car.
Well, yeah, I guess any woman old enough to be my mom would be in her early to mid-​sixties by now.
At least they have live music.

We happened to wander into this bar & restaurant and we are so glad we did! The outside is not very impressive but when you walk in, there is a HUGE bar! The wait staff were super friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. The menu is your typical bar food menu but the food quality is not the normal bar food!
The portions were big — we had the waffle fries with cheese and I think this is the best cheesy fries I’ve ever had. They were crispy and the cheese was browned nicely. We also had the onion rings (very tasty) and spinach and artichoke dip was super delish.
We learned that they have live music every night except Monday. We will definitely be back the next time we are in Scottsdale.

Showed up at 7:05 pm on a Thu night to use a Groupon. They had some ridiculous comedy show that was starting at 8 pm and were requiring tickets. The guy at the front door says «Sorry, no Groupons today, it says there right on the door»
Me — «The Groupon says Sun-​Thu.»
Him — «The Groupon also says not valid on special events. Tonight is a special event.»
Me — «We checked the website before we drove all the way down here just so we can get notified at the door about a special event?! The website doesn’t say anything about a special event tonight. We don’t care about the comedy show, we just want to use our Groupon… we’ll eat and get out of there before the stupid comedy show starts.»
Him — «I’m sorry, no.»
We storm out of there. What a sham… we drove all the way to this dump just to be notified at the door that it’s a special event?! What kind of notification is that? If I would’ve known about this I wouldn’t have purchased the stupid thing. I promptly emailed Groupon and requested a refund, which they promptly gave to me within 12 hrs.
I’ve been here before to play pool and have a few Beers… but no mas, Eli’s you’ve lost my business.
Return Factor — 0.005%

What a long strange trip it was to eat at Eli’s. We were talking to this guy at the ballpark and he was raving about Eli’s ribs. So I completely forgot about it until a couple of weeks later my wife said there was this great Groupon deal for Eli’s. Fast forward another couple of weeks and we finally made our way over to Eli’s.
This place is your typical bar that serves food. It looks like the owner is from Wisconsin. So you Badger and Packer lovers would probably love this place. They do have a lot of menu choices. Looks like they have a lot of Happy Hour choices as well. I had the ribs, which were definitely priced lower than a lot of places along with two sides. I ordered the sweet potato fries for my wife and I had the garlic mashed potatoes for me. Both of the sides were excellent. The Sweet potato fries were bigger than steak fries. The ribs were not too tasty. I’m not sure if it was the BBQ sauce or what. But the ribs were very meaty but too pedestrian for my taste.
I might stop back and try some other menu items.

Coug-​tastic!
Came here with some friends for a low-​key Friday night, not expecting much excitement and ended up having a blast! We got there around 7:30 (just missed their HH which stops at 7pm) to have a few drinks and some apps. I like that they have a «skinny menu» for those that are calorie conscious. I ordered their Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka (iced tea mixed with, guess what, sweet tea vodka) that only costs me 66 calories and was delicious. We split their wings, but were encouraged by the waitress to try their sliders as that is really what they are known for. But, alas, we weren’t super hungry so we just had the wings, which were pretty good and watched some college football. The bar has tons of televisions that had various games on and there is also a section with two pool tables and a few arcade games.
The place had about half of their tables filled with a mixed crowd of cowboys and younger tattooed folk until about 8:30 when my friends and I became the only ones under 45 years old. Apparently at 9pm a cover band called the Aaron Nelson Project comes on for some live music that really gets the crowd moving. My one friend and I couldn’t help but join in on the fun to a few songs, but we all agreed the songs they played reminded us of being at a wedding. Anyhoo, this place gets packed with 45+ cougars and sugar daddies all on the prowl and thanks to our guy friend, we got free shots from one of the cougars! If you are a twenty or thirty-​something looking for something a little different on a weekend night, I would give Eli’s a try!
Recap:
a) Happy hour ends at 7pm
b) multiple large TV’s that are great for games
c) around 8:30 the cougars and sugar daddies come out
d) bring a younger guy friend for free shots from the decked out cougs!
P. S. You might see me prowlin’ here in 20 years ;)