Ever on the lookout for good fish restaurants east of San Diego, we decided to try Tiburon, out at the Wildlife World Zoo (and, now, Aquarium) in Litchfield Park. Actually it’s such a long ride it feels like you’ve driven to San Diego. A little past Luke Air Force Base, you may be treated to, or scared to death by, fly-overs from fighter jets.
The Zoo has been refurbished, at least what we could see from the now paved parking lot. Tiburon has a separate entrance. It’s a very attractive restaurant with high bamboo ceilings and a large shark tank - the sharks are small, the tank large - which if you’re lucky, you can sit near. Nice, comfy rattan and wood chairs, table cloths and cloth napkins.
The menu is interesting, but pricey. The fish selection is actually fairly small, outnumbered by meat and poultry entrees.Appetizers ranged from $9.50 for calamari to $14 for crab cakes and shrimp cocktail. Salads were $8-$11. The least expensive entree was a kobe burger at $16 and the most was $29 for either steak or chops (I don’t remember which). The fish dishes ranged from $18 to $22.
Ken started with a cup of clam chowder ($5). The soup was very tasty, but it was loaded with potatoes and almost no clams. My lobster bisque, which the menu stated had crab in it) was again very tasty, but light on the crab. The bread basket had really boring Italian bread which had been toasted some time in the past and left to sit until served.
Our friend Sue’s entree was shrimp tortellini. It was a large sized portion and she had some to take home. Luckily she enjoyed the pasta, and rated it a 9. Pat, visiting us from New York, had chicken in a tomatillo cream sauce. Her rating was not so favorable, in fact it was a 2.5. She said the chicken was undercooked and gamey, and the “crispy potatoes” were moosh. She did like the asparagus and the sauce, but noted that the serving of sauce was skimpy. Ken had stuffed flounder. The fish was quite nice, but the stuffing was very strange. There was way too much cornmeal in it, which gave it an unpleasant texture and taste. Ken gave this entree a 6. I went with the duck taco appetizer as my entree. This was supposedly a “famous” and “award winning” dish. I was expecting something out of the ordinary since the taco shells were actually slices of fried eggplant, and there was feta cheese and carmelized onions mixed in with the duck. Three small tacos were served on a bed of avacado salsa and there were two little piles of a black bean and corn relish on the side, as well as two puddles of a slightly sweet sauce that may have had tamarind in it. All together I didn’t find this to be award winning. Without the salsa and relish it would have been enjoyable as a novelty, but combined it just made no sense. I rated it at 3.5.
We didn’t order dessert after looking at the dessert tray. It contained the ubiquitous corporate desserts: chocolate cake, cheesecake, bread pudding and creme brulee.
The service didn’t get more than a 1. Our waiter never took away the soup cups, they remained on the table through the entire meal. He never offered to refill the bread basket or the drink glasses. On the fly-by he asked if everything was o.k. Lucky for him, he didn’t wait for an answer (maybe he knew what it would be). Ken said the men’s room was filthy. The ladies room was clean enough. After dinner we saw the manager and several of the wait staff hanging around the bar, chatting, even though there were still people dining.
While we will come back to the Zoo when we have out of town guests with kids (we think it’s much better than the Phoenix zoo), we won’t be dining with the sharks again.
Tiburon Restaurant
16501 W. Northern Ave.
Litchfield Park
623-935-5686
open 7 days, 10:30 - 10:30
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