Cafe Bink Review (Carefree, AZ)

Ate there this weekend.  The experience was great, but the food was just OK. First off, I would say the patio is a wonderful place to spend a fall afternoon.  Sitting in the shade, looking across Tom Darlington Road at the mountain vista is special.  The restaurant has a killer location, and atmosphere.

Me and my SO each had a bowl of soup, and split a sandwich.  She had the butternut squash soup, which she loved.  They presented the soup, as a bowl, with a crouton in it, then they poured the soup at the table out of a small tureen.  This is a classy service step (and one of the many things they do here, to "turn it up a notch" just a bit)).

I had the french onion soup, which was great as well.  This soup takes a long time to cook right (reduce the onions over and over), so not something I will make at home.  It was pretty good at Cafe Bink.  The flavors were balanced, if a bit salty.

We then split the corned beef sandwich.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the corned beef was obviously home made (in hindsight, I guess most of the items on the menu were probably made from scratch, as that is the Binkley way).  The sandwich was fine, but nothing amazing.

Finally, we split a baby order of french fries.  We are glad we got the baby, as it was a very large portion.  The fries themselves were pretty great.  Crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.  The 3 sauces that came with them (truffle catchup, garlic aioli, and sauce vert) were not great.  The catchup was overwhelmed by the truffle, not balanced, the sauce vert didn't have much of a taste, and I didn't try the aioli (I am mayo averse).

Overall, while the quality of the food was all pretty good, I wouldn't say that any of the dishes were really outstanding, and probably not worth the high prices.  Nothing we had "wowed" us.

I have to give major props to the service.  We had our 14 month old in tow, and the staff bent over backwards to make us comfortable (the server even offered to have the chef make a special macaroni and cheese dish - off the menu for her).  I am the kind of person who is very self conscious of my child interfering with other peoples meals, and generally uncomfortable with taking her out.  The staff really put me at ease, and allowed me to enjoy my meal.  I can't say enough how their attitudes really enhanced our experience.  From what I saw, the service at Cafe Bink is excellent all around.

So bottom line, I can't exactly recommend Cafe Bink as a destination restaurant, it probably isn't worth the drive.  But, if you are already in Cave Creek, or Carefree, you could certainly do worse.  One thing is for sure, the staff will bend over backwards to make sure you have a great experience, and that  says a lot.