Most restaurants in Kingman are chain restaurants; and many I have already visited in other locations. For example Denny's is Denny's. We use to love Denny's when our kids were young because they had the $1.99 grand slam breakfast. They still have the same breakfast but now it is $10 or more. I visited Denny's in Kingman (there are two across Andy Divine from each other. I visited the one on the west side. I went for breakfast, and wasn't too impressed. However the hot chocolate was great and they offered refills. 3/2023 I have now visited the Denny's at the truck stop. I think it was more disappointing than the Denny's across the street. Service was mediocre and the restroom was in the gas station and hard to get to.
Another chain we have in Kingman, which I had not seen anyplace else is Cracker Barrel. This is a nice restaurant, with a store. There food is very good, and reasonably price. It seems to always be busy. The only unpleasant thing is you have to pay at the store which sometimes has a line. But they want you to maybe buy something in addition to the food. It has a southern style food theme.
Of course we have been to several of the regular restaurants. Arby's makes a good beef sandwich but their wraps have too much mustard. I like the Beef and Cheddar. I have grown a new fondness for Burger King. Their Whooper is great. I love the white sauce they put on them. (More lately I find the Whooper to be rather dry and haven't been to Burger King for a while.)
Five Guys was a bit of a disappointment. Their hamburgers are the same, and I love it with mushrooms. I always order the baby because two patties of the regular overwhelm the flavor of the mushrooms. In Kingman the store does not have ice cream. I was looking forward to a caramel shake. Instead they told me to go to Baskin Robins next door. Five Guts in Kingman does not have ice cream.
Chili's Kingman seems to take the bill over Chili's Manteca. The food was fresher and we were able to go in and sit down. I had the mushroom burger which was excellent dipped in ketchup. Sheri had fajitas and they seem to always be underdone in Manteca but were better in Kingman. Tony appreciated the freshness of his Cajun chicken pasta.
A restaurant we visited which is not a franchise is Dambar Steak House. This is at the corner of Andy Divine (Route 66) and Stockton Hill Road which turns in Hualapai. The food was good, but the price for steak always causes sticker shock. Tony and Sheri both had ribs while I had a steak. I ordered medium rare but it was underdone even for me. The western theme of the restaurant was well presented.
Airport Cafe is a very nice family restaurant at the Kingman Airport. It is open until 2 p.m. and they serve breakfast and lunch.
Mr. Dz Route 66 Diner is an iconic restaurant with great food, great ice cream and vintage cars.
Hualapai Mountain Resort Restaurant is sure to please with their location and specialty items.
Dairy Queen is a franchise I have enjoyed over the yers. I like their butterscotch dipped cone. However they have become noted lately for their "Blizzard" shakes. The Dairy Queen in Kingman has butterscotch dipped cones; Manteca did not while San Jose did. I was happy. Tony was happy with chicken strips and a Blizzard. I don't know why they add toast to their chicken basket. It just gets thrown away. This restaurant has a similar problem to the Manteca Dairy Queen--they are terribly slow. We waited in the line at the window waiting for our order for an excessively long time.
In and Out is consistent throughout their stores with an efficient way of getting people through their line, and then your food is ready when you get there. However their shakes do not stack up to those from Dairy Queen. They are so small for the price. It seems many restaurants lowered the size of shakes responding to worries about obesity, but did not lower the price.
KFC is KFC wherever you go. I think their original recipe is the best chicken ever, especially the thighs. Tony loves their macaroni and cheese but I not so much.
Wendy's is Wendy's. Tony really enjoyed his classic chicken sandwich and I went with the single. Nothing quite compares to a Frosty. I usually get the 4 for $4 bag but splurged this time.
We have discovered Federico's Mexican Food on Northern. They make a very nice carne asada taco and burritos. I ordered tamales which is not their specialty. At any rate Federico's has quickly become our place for tacos. There is another Federico's on Beale in downtown Kingman.
Another franchise with which I wasn't familiar is Culver's. This is a restaurant out of Wisconsin with fried curd, frozen custard and butterburgers. Their frozen custard seemed to be over priced but it is very good and worth it. The curd was breaded and fried. I would have preferred just curd or squeaky cheese like that have at the Ag center at Utah State. Their burger was good.
Vito's Italian is on Northern. They have traditional Italian and pizza. It is very good. They specialize in desserts. Black Bear Diner is another franchise that actually comes out of California. It was very similar; although the service was a bit slow which maybe COVID related. Black Bear has huge portions, and you have to take most of it home. I had biscuits and gravy and was eating them for about a week.
La Catrina is on Route 66 and has a Day of the Dead theme.
Calicos is very nice. Great clam chowder. Nice decor.
Mi Jalisco is a Mexican Restaurant with the decor of Mexican cinema.
Stromboli's is a good pizza restaurant. The Stromboli is excellent.
